The 10 Best History Textbooks

Editor's Notes

February 06, 2020:

There are history books about nearly everything -- from art history to music and language and anything in between. Our focus for this list included texts that mainly focus on empires and civilization in a broad sense, with a few alternatives thrown in for good measure. You'll find comprehensive volumes on Africa with History of Africa and Africa in World History, as well as texts that concentrate on the United States, like United States History and American History: Connecting with the Past. We also cherry-picked books on ancient, medieval, world, and European history. You'll find options for middle and high school students as well as those in college.

In this latest update, we rounded this list out to an even ten items and brought A History of Modern Europe and History of Africa up to their most recent editions. We added Lies My Teacher Told Me, another book focused on America, but with a twist. This selection tackles the often overlooked issues with many standard textbooks that are written with bias or gloss over facts and addresses them with a lighthearted style and well-researched information. We also introduced Cowen's History of Life as a bit of a departure for those who want to know more about our and other species' origins and the history of the planet.

We prioritized books written by respected scholars, with helpful pedagogy like colorful visuals and maps, as well as useful glossaries, indexes, recommendations for further reading, and online resources. We're fully aware that history can be boring for many learners, so we chose books with passionate, lively prose that try to avoid bias and bring history to life without getting mired in controversy or ignoring it completely.