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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210 Items found Print
Active Filters: Hardcover
13 Soldiers
by John McCain and Mark Salter
from Simon and Schuster
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
1776
by David McCullough
1st edition from Simon and Schuster
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
1944: FDR and the Year That Changed History
by Jay Winik
from Simon and Schuster
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
African Kingdoms
Great Ages of Man
by Basil Davidson
from Time-Life Books
for 9th-Adult
in Great Ages of Man (Location: ADU-HISGAM)
Age of Enlightenment
Great Ages of Man
by Peter Gay
from Time-Life Books
for 9th-Adult
in Great Ages of Man (Location: ADU-HISGAM)
Age of Exploration
Great Ages of Man
by John R. Hale
from Time-Life Books
for 9th-Adult
in Great Ages of Man (Location: ADU-HISGAM)
Age of Faith
Story of Civilization IV
by Will Durant
from Simon and Schuster
for 11th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$15.00 (1 in stock)
Age of Kings
Great Ages of Man
by Charles Blitzer
from Time-Life Books
for 9th-Adult
in Great Ages of Man (Location: ADU-HISGAM)
Age of Louis XIV
Story of Civilization VIII
by Will & Ariel Durant
from Simon and Schuster
for 11th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
Age of Napoleon
Story of Civilization XI
by Will Durant
from Simon and Schuster
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
Age of Reason Begins
Story of Civilization VII
by Will Durant
from Simon and Schuster
for 11th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
Age of Voltaire
Story of Civilization IX
by Will & Ariel Durant
from Simon and Schuster
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$15.00 (1 in stock)
Air Forces of the World
by Sue Butterworth, editor
from Chartwell Books
for 9th-Adult
in Aviation History (Location: HISV-AVIA)
$18.00 (1 in stock)
Album of Memories
by Tom Brokaw
from Random House
for 9th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
Alchemy, the Ancient Science
by Neil Powell
from Doubleday & Company
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Alexander the Great, Killer of Men
by David J. Lonsdale
from Carroll & Graf Publishers
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$5.00 (2 in stock)
Alice
by Stacey A. Cordery
from Viking Press
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
All Shook Up
Pivotal Moments in American History
by Glenn C. Altschuler
from Oxford University
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
America 1933
by Michael Golay
from Free Press
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
America the Beautiful
by Ben Carson with Candy Carson
from Zondervan
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.40 (1 in stock)
American Caesar
by William Manchester
from Little, Brown & Company
for 10th grade-adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House
by Jon Meacham
from Random House
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
An Autobiography or The Story of My Experiments with Truth
by M. K. Gandhi
from Navajivan Publishing House
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$4.80 (1 in stock)
Ancient America
Great Ages of Man
by Jonathan Norton Leonard
from Time-Life Books
for 9th-Adult
in Great Ages of Man (Location: ADU-HISGAM)
Ancient China
Great Ages of Man
by Edward H. Schafer
from Time-Life Books
for 9th-Adult
in Great Ages of Man (Location: ADU-HISGAM)
Andersonville
by MacKinlay Kantor
from World Publishing Company
for 9th-Adult
1955 Pulitzer Prize Winner
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Army of the Potomac - 3 Volumes
by Bruce Catton
from Doubleday & Company
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
Assassins
by Bernard Lewis
from The Folio Society
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
Bad Faith
by Carmen Callil
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Battle for the Falklands
by Max Hastings and Simon Jenkins
from W. W. Norton and Co.
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
Battle from the Start
by Brian Steel Wills
from HarperCollins
for 9th grade-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Behind the Scenes
by Elizabeth Keckley, edited by Frances Smith Foster
from Lakeside Press
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Being American in Europe 1750-1860
by Daniel Kilbride
from Johns Hopkins University Press
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$14.00 (1 in stock)
Better a Shield Than a Sword
by Edward Teller
from Free Press
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.40 (1 in stock)
Big Burn
by Timothy Egan
from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
Blood Rites
by Barbara Ehrenreich
from Metropolitan Books
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Book of Insults Ancient & Modern
by Nancy McPhee
from St. Martin's Press
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
Brave Men
by Ernie Pyle
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 10th-Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
British and European Combat Aircraft
Combat Aircraft Library
by Paul A. Jackson
from Crescent Books
for Adult
in Aviation History (Location: HISV-AVIA)
British are Coming
The Revolution Trilogy #1 of 3
by Rick Atkinson
from Henry Holt and Company
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Bully Pulpit
by Doris Kearns Goodwin
from Simon and Schuster
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
Caesar and Christ
Story of Civilization III
by Will Durant
from Simon and Schuster
for 11th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
Centennial History of the Civil War - 3 Volumes
by Bruce Catton
from Doubleday & Company
for 10th-Adult
in American Civil War Era (1850-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
Chickamauga
by Horace Porter
from Konecky & Konecky
for 9th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Christ in the Camp
by J. William Jones
from Sprinkle Publications
Historical Reference for 10th-Adult
in American Civil War Era (1850-1865) (Location: HISA-19CW)
Christians on the Oregon Trail
from College Press
for Adult
in Church History (Location: XCH-HIS)
Churchill and Empire
by Lawrence James
from Pegasus Books
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
Conquerors
by Michael Beschloss
from Simon and Schuster
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Cradle of Civilization
by Samuel Noah Kramer
from Time-Life Books
for 9th-Adult
in Great Ages of Man (Location: ADU-HISGAM)
Crusades
by Michael Paine
from Chartwell Books
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
Cry of the Kalahari
by Mark and Delia Owens
from Houghton Mifflin
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$4.80 (1 in stock)
Dante
Penguin Lives
by R.W.B. Lewis
from Penguin Putnam
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$4.80 (1 in stock)
Dead and Those About to Die
by John C. McManus
from New American Library
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Dearest Mama
by Roger Fulford, editor
from Evans Brothers Limited
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Decorative Arts of the Mariner
by Gervis Frere-Cook (editor)
from Little, Brown & Company
for Adult
in Nautical History (Location: VIN-NAUT)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Diary of a Napoleonic Foot Soldier
by Jakob Walter, edited and introduced by Marc Raeff
from Doubleday & Company
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Dirt: A Social History
by Terence McLaughlin
from Stein and Day
for Adult
in Vintage Science & Math (Location: VIN-SCI)
$42.00 (1 in stock)
Distant Mirror
by Barbara W. Tuchman
from Ballantine Books
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$20.00
Early Islam
Great Ages of Man
by Desmond Stewart
from Time-Life Books
for 9th-Adult
in Great Ages of Man (Location: ADU-HISGAM)
Easy Company Soldier
by Sgt. Don Malarkey
from St. Martin's Press
for 11th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
Egyptian Religion
by Sir Wallis Budge
from G. Bell and Sons, Ltd.
for 9th-12th grade
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
Eighty Days
by Matthew Goodman
from Ballantine Books
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Einstein's Clocks, Poincare's Maps
by Peter Galison
from W. W. Norton and Co.
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Elizabeth and Essex: A Tragic History
by Lytton Strachey
4th Printing from Harcourt, Brace & Company
for Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Embattled Rebel
by James M. McPherson
from Penguin Press
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$7.20 (1 in stock)
Emperor of China
by Jonathan D. Spence
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
Everyday Life in the Viking Age
by Jacqueline Simpson, drawings by Eva Wilson
from Dorset Press
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Extravagant Hunger
by Anne Zimmerman
from Counterpoint, LLC
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$6.40 (1 in stock)
Fight for Jerusalem
by Dore Gold
from Regnery Publishing, Inc.
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Fighting for Liberty and Virtue
by Marvin Olasky
from Crossway Books
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
First Great Civilizations
by Jacquetta Hawkes
1st edition from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
First Lady of the Revolution
by Katharine Anthony
from Doubleday & Company
for Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Flushed
from Atria Books
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Friends Divided: John Adams and Thomas Jefferson
by Gordon S. Wood
from Penguin Press
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$7.20 (1 in stock)
From a Name to a Number
by Alter Wiener
from Authorhouse
for 11th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$10.40 (1 in stock)
Frontiersmen
by Allan Eckert
from Little, Brown & Company
for Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Gettysburg: The Last Invasion
by Allen C. Guelzo
from Vintage Books
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Gilded Age: A History in Documents
Pages From History
by Janette Thomas Greenwood
from Oxford University
for 9th-12th grade
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$12.00 (1 in stock)
Glory and the Dream - Volume 1
by William Manchester
from Little, Brown & Company
for 10th grade-adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
Glory and the Dream - Volume 2
by William Manchester
from Little, Brown & Company
for 10th grade-adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
Grant and Twain
by Mark Perry
from Random House
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
Grant Moves South
by Bruce Catton
from Back Bay Books
for 9th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
Greatest Generation
by Tom Brokaw
1st edition from Random House
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$5.00 (2 in stock)
Greatest Generation Speaks
by Tom Brokaw
1st edition from Random House
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Heir to the Empire City
by Edward P. Kohn
from Basic Books
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Heritage of Persia
by Richard N. Frye
First Ediition from World Publishing Company
for Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
Hidden Life of Otto Frank
by Carol Ann Lee
from William Morrow & Company
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$3.20 (1 in stock)
High Flew the Falcons
by Herbert Molloy Mason, Jr.
1st edition from J.B. Lippincott Co.
for Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
History of Aviation
by John W.R. Taylor & Kenneth Munson
from Crown Publishers
for Adult
in Aviation History (Location: HISV-AVIA)
History of the Arab Peoples
by Albert Hourani
from Harvard University Press
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
History of the English-Speaking Peoples Volume 1
by Winston S. Churchill
from Dodd, Mead & Co.
for 7th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
History of the Medieval World
by Susan Wise Bauer
1st edition from W. W. Norton and Co.
for Adult
in Story of the World (Location: HISCUR-SoW)
$39.99
History of the Western Railroads
by Jane Eliot
from Exeter Books
for Adult
in Trains & Railroads (Location: TTG-TRAIN)
Hitler
by Ernst Hanfstaengl, translated and introduction by John Willard Toland, Afterword by Egon Hanfstaegl
from Arcade Publishing
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Honor in the Dust
by Gregg Jones
from New American Library
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
Hostile Skies
by James J. Hudson
1st edition from Syracuse University Press
for Adult
in Vintage History & Biographies (Location: VIN-HIS)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
How We Got to Now
by Steven Johnson
from Riverhead Books
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Ike's Bluff
by Evan Thomas
from Little, Brown & Company
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$7.50 (1 in stock)
In Search of History
by Theodore H. White
from Harper & Row
for Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
In the Arena: A Memoir of Victory, Defeat and Renewal
by Richard Nixon
1st edition from Simon & Schuster Macmillan
for 10th-Adult
in History for Adults (Location: ADU-HIS)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
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