History for Adults

This isn't some sketchy R-rated section for those 18 and over. The heading merely indicates that these aren't titles of a specifically "educational" nature, in the sense that they'd fit well into a K-8 curriculum. That said, you probably don't want your kiddos reading Intellectuals by Paul Johnson.

We believe it's important for parents to know at least as much history as their children, especially during a child's formative years, and especially especially if you're teaching him or her at home. This isn't just so you can answer questions more easily—how can we impart a sense of the trajectory of the human story to our kids if we have a truncated or incomplete view ourselves?

A lot of the books here aren't "comprehensive" in the sense that they span continents and epochs. Many of them are, but the point isn't to give you the whole picture, but to fill in gaps and make connections. Plus, history is just plain interesting, and while it's still beneficial, reading about the Chinese dynasties or the first overland railroad is as fun as it is instructive.

These aren't primarily "literary" histories. Many excellent writers are represented, but most of them are first and foremost professional historians, and they approach their subjects as academics and scholars rather than artists. Sadly, the two have grown increasingly apart since the days of men like Hakluyt and the Venerable Bede.

Have fun browsing our collection. Its construction has been less intentional on our part than that of many other categories, but we haven't chosen anything that looks boring, weighted too heavily against (at the least) a fairly conservative worldview, or treats topics best unconsidered. While we specifically designate "adults" as the prime beneficiaries of this section, many high school students would be just as comfortable and have just as much fun here. If you think learning shouldn't be fun, we could surely find you some really dreary titles if you ask nicely.

Review by C. Hollis Crossman
C. Hollis Crossman used to be a child. Now he's a husband and father who loves church, good food, and weird stuff. He might be a mythical creature, but he's definitely not a centaur. Read more of his reviews here.
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112 Items found Print
Active Filters: Trade Paperback, In-Stock Books & Materials
1066: The Year of the Conquest
by David Howarth
from Penguin Putnam
for 9th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$16.00 $8.00 (1 in stock)
1776
by David McCullough
from Simon and Schuster
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$14.00
1861: The Civil War Awakening
by Adam Goodheart
from Vintage Books
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
5 Cities That Ruled the World
by Douglas Wilson
from Thomas Nelson Publishers
in Art & Culture (Location: XCU-ART)
$13.50
Age of Religious Wars
by Richard S. Dunn
2nd edition from W. W. Norton and Co.
for 11th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Alexander Hamilton
by Ron Chernow
from Penguin Random House
for 11th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$10.00 (2 in stock)
America's Longest War
by George C. Herring
2nd edition from McGraw-Hill
for 11th-Adult
in Clearance: History & Geography (Location: ZCLE-HIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
American Civil War
by John Keegan
from Vintage Books
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$18.95
American Passage
by Vincent J. Cannato
from Harper Perennial
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Americanization of Benjamin Franklin
by Gordon S. Wood
from Penguin Books
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Arguing about Slavery
by William Lee Miller
from Vintage Books
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$17.95
Band of Brothers
by Stephen Ambrose, Foreword by Tom Hanks
25th anniversary from Simon and Schuster
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$18.99
Battle Cry of Freedom
Oxford History of the United States
by James M. McPherson
from Oxford University
for 11th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$24.95
Birth of the Modern
by Paul Johnson
from HarperCollins
Social Commentary for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$12.00
Bitter Woods: The Battle of the Bulge
by John S. D. Eisenhower
1st edition from Da Capo Press
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Buffalo Bill and the Wild West
by Henry Blackman Sell and Victor Weybright
Reprint from International Cody Family Assoc.
for Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$15.00 (1 in stock)
By the Sword
by Richard Cohen
from Modern Library
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Carolingian Chronicles
by Bernhard Walter Scholz (translator) with Barbara Rogers
2000 Printing from University of Michigan Press
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Churchill: Walking with Destiny
by Andrew Roberts
from Penguin Books
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Citizen Soldiers
by Stephen Ambrose
from Simon and Schuster
Historical Non-Fiction for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$20.99
Civil War: A History
by Harry Hansen, Introduction by Richard S. Wheeler, Foreword by Gary Gallagher
from New American Library
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Civil War: A Narrative - 3 Volume Set
by Shelby Foote
1st Vintage Books Ed from Vintage Classics
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$88.00
Civilization of Europe in the Renaissance
by John R. Hale
from HarperCollins
for 9th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Colonial Period: 1607-1750
American History by Era Volume 2
by Brenda Stalcup (editor)
from Greenhaven Press
for 9th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$11.00 (1 in stock)
Czech Reader
by Jan Bazant, Nina Bazantova, and Frances Starn, editors
from Duke University Press
for 11th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Daily Life in Johnson's London
by Richard B. Schwartz
1st edition
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
Daughter of Auschwitz
by Tova Friedman and Malcolm Brabant
from Hanover Square Press
for 10th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Debunking Howard Zinn
by Mary Grabar
from Regnery Publishing, Inc.
for 10th-Adult
in American History Reference (Location: HISA-REF)
$16.00
Defining Moment
by Jonathan Alter
from Simon and Schuster
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Devil in Massachusetts
by Marion L. Starkey
from Anchor Books
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Discoverers
by Daniel J. Boorstin
from Vintage Classics
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$22.00
Earth is Weeping
by Peter Cozzens
from Vintage Books
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Eighteenth Century Europe
by Isser Woloch
from W. W. Norton and Co.
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Einstein's Cosmos
by Michio Kaku
from W. W. Norton and Co.
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$4.50 (1 in stock)
Emancipating Slaves, Enslaving Free Men
by Jeffrey Rogers Hummel
1st edition from Open Court Publishing
for 9th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.00 (2 in stock)
Emergence of Latin America in the Nineteenth Century
by David Bushnell & Neill Macaulay
from Oxford University
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
England's Glorious Revolution 1688-1689
by Steven C. A. Pincus
from Bedford Press
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
FDR
by Jean Edward Smith
from Random House
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Forever Free
by Eric Foner, illustrations edited with commentary by Joshua Brown
from Vintage Classics
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$4.00 (2 in stock)
Franklin and Winston
by Jon Meacham
from Random House
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
From Distant Days
by Benjamin R. Foster
from CDL Press
for 4th-8th grade
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Gettysburg: The Last Invasion
by Allen C. Guelzo
from Vintage Books
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Girl in the Picture
by Denise Chong
from Charles Scribner's Sons
for 10th-Adult
in Vietnam War (1957-1975) (Location: HISA-20VIE)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
God's Battalions
by Rodney Stark
Reprint from HarperOne
for 11th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$17.99
Great Bridge
by David McCullough
from Simon and Schuster
for 11th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$20.00 $9.00 (1 in stock)
Great Crash: 1929
by John Kenneth Galbraith
from Mariner Books
for 10th-Adult
in Great Depression (1929-1939) (Location: HISA-20GD)
$16.99
Guns, Germs, and Steel
by Jared Diamond
from W. W. Norton and Co.
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Heyday
by Ben Wilson
from Weidenfeld & Nicolson
for 8th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
History of Britain 2
History of Britain Trilogy #2
by Simon Schama
from BBC Books
for 9th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
History of Britain 3
History of Britain Trilogy #3
by Simon Schama
from BBC Books
for 9th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
History of the American People
by Paul Johnson
from HarperCollins
for 11th-Adult
in American History Reference (Location: HISA-REF)
$22.99
History of the Twentieth Century
by Martin Gilbert
Reprint from William Morrow & Company
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$23.99
History of the World in 6 Glasses
by Tom Standage
from Bloomsbury Publishing
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$18.00
Honor in the Dust
by Gregg Jones
from New American Library
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
How the West Won
by Rodney Stark
from Intercollegiate Studies Institute
for 12th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$18.00
Hubbell Trading Post
by Erica Cottam
from University of Oklahoma Press
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
In Search of the Dark Ages
by Michael Wood
from Facts On File
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Invention of Nature
by Andrea Wulf
from Vintage Books
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Island at the Center of the World
by Russell Shorto
from Vintage Books
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
John Adams
by David McCullough
from Simon and Schuster
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$22.00 $12.00 (1 in stock)
Junior Officer's Reading Club
by Patrick Hennessey
from Riverhead Books
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Labor's Untold Story
by Herbert M. Morais, Richard O. Boyer
3rd edition from United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of Amer
for 9th-Adult
in Industrialization & Organized Labor (Location: HISA-19IND)
$5.00 (2 in stock)
Legacy of John Calvin
The Calvin 500 Series
by David W. Hall
from P&R Publishing
Biography for 9th-Adult
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Lies My Teacher Told Me
by James W. Loewen
1st edition from Touchstone
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Lies My Teacher Told Me
by James W. Loewen
2nd edition from Touchstone
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Life in Medieval Times
by Marjorie Rowling
Reissue from Perigee Books
for 8th-12th grade
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Mayflower
by Nathaniel Philbrick
from Penguin Putnam
for 9th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Memoirs of the Second World War
by Winston S. Churchill, abridged by Denis Kelly
from HarperCollins
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$25.99
Monuments Men
by Robert M. Edsel with Bret Witter
from Center Street
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Mountain Men and Fur Traders of the Far West
by LeRoy R. Hafen & Harvey L. Carter
from University of Nebraska
Biography for 9th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$21.95 $12.00 (1 in stock)
Mummy
by Ernest A. Wallis Budge
New edition from Senate
for 8th-12th grade
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Omar Bradley: General at War
by Jim DeFelice
from Regnery Publishing, Inc.
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
On the Edge
by David D. Lee, David Horowitz, Peter N. Carroll
1st edition
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Oysters of Locmariaquer
by Eleanor Clark, illustrated by Leonid
from University of Chicago
Oyster Farming for Adult
1964 National Book Award in Arts and Letters
in France (Location: HISMC-FRA)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Paris 1919
by Margaret Macmillan
from Random House
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Patriot's History of the United States
by Larry Schweikart & Michael Allen
from Sentinel
for 10th-Adult
in American History Reference (Location: HISA-REF)
$28.00
People's School, The
by William G. Robbins
from Oregon State University Press
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Pioneer Children on the Journey West
by Emmy E. Werner
from Westview Press
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Protestant Reformation: Major Documents
by Lewis W. Spitz
from Concordia Publishing House
in Church History (Location: XCH-HIS)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Renaissance
by Paul Johnson
from Modern Library
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$17.00 $9.00 (1 in stock)
Revolution & Regeneration
by Peter Charles Hoffer
from University of Georgia Press
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Revolutionary Era: 1789-1850
by Charles Breunig & Matthew Levinger
3rd edition from W. W. Norton and Co.
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$14.00 (1 in stock)
Revolutionary Period: 1750-1783
American History by Era Volume 3
by Bruce Thompson (Book Editor)
from Greenhaven Press
for 9th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$13.00 (1 in stock)
Rewriting of America's History
by Catherine Millard
from Horizon Books
for 10th-Adult
in America's Christian Heritage (Location: HISA-CH)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Rubicon
by Tom Holland
from Abacus Fiction
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Runaway Slaves
by John Hope Franklin
from Oxford University
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Saints and Strangers
by George F. Wilson
from Time Inc.
for 4th-8th grade
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
Soul of the Lion
by Willard M. Wallace
Reprint from Stan Clark Military Books
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
South in Modern America
by Dewey W. Grantham
from University of Arkansas Press
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Such Troops as These
by Bevin Alexander
from Dutton Caliber
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Sugar and Slaves
by Richard S. Dunn, foreword by Gary B. Nash
from University of North Carolina Press
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Team of Rivals
by Doris Kearns Goodwin
from Simon and Schuster
for 9th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
The Gate
by John Van Der Zee
from Touchstone
for 8th-12th grade
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
They Marched Into Sunlight
by David Maraniss
from Simon and Schuster
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Truman
by David McCullough
from Simon and Schuster
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Twentieth Maine
by John J. Pullen
from Morningside House, Inc.
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Undaunted Courage
by Stephen Ambrose
from Simon and Schuster
for 9th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$20.00 $11.00 (1 in stock)
Union War
by Gary W. Gallagher
from Harvard University Press
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Victorian Internet
by Tom Standage
from Walker and Company
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Victory of Reason
by Rodney Stark
from Random House
for 11th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$18.00
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