The Best History Books of 2021 (A Year-End List Aggregation)
“What are the best History books released in 2021?” We looked at 203 of the top History books, aggregating and ranking them so we could answer that very question!
The top 28 books, all appearing on 2 or more “Best History” book lists, are ranked below by how many times they appear. The remaining 150+ titles, as well as the sources we used, are in alphabetical order on the bottom of the page.
Our other Best Of 2021 Articles:
- The Best Art, Photography, And Coffee Table Books
- The Best AudioBooks
- The Best Biography And Memoir Books
- The Best Graphic Novels And Comics
- The Best Cookbooks
- The Best Fiction Books
- The Best Books (All Catergories)
- The Best History Books
- The Best Kids, Children, and Youth Books
- The Best Mystery, Horror, and Thriller Books
- The Best Nonfiction Books
- The Best Poetry Books
- The Best Science And Nature Books
- The Best Science Fiction And Fantasy Books
- The Best Young Adult Books
Previous Years: 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015
Happy Scrolling!
Top 28 Best History Books From 2021
28.) All That She Carried written by Tiya Miles
Lists It Appears On:
- Kirkus
- NPR
NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER – A renowned historian traces the life of a single object handed down through three generations of Black women to craft an …
27.) America on Fire written by Elizabeth Hinton
Lists It Appears On:
- History Extra
- Smithsonian
What began in spring 2020 as local protests in response to the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police quickly exploded into a massive nationwid…
26.) Born in Blackness: Africa, Africans, and the Making of the Modern World, 1471 to the Second World War written by Howard W French
Lists It Appears On:
- Amazon
- History Extra
Traditional accounts of the making of the modern world afford a place of primacy to European history. Some credit the fifteenth-century Age of Discove…
25.) Brothers in Arms written by James Holland
Lists It Appears On:
- History Extra
- Waterstones
Celebrated military historian James Holland chronicles the experiences in World War II of the legendary tank unit, the Sherwood RangersIn the annals o…
24.) Covered with Night written by Nicole Eustace
Lists It Appears On:
- Kirkus
- Smithsonian
On the eve of a major treaty conference between Iroquois leaders and European colonists in the distant summer of 1722, two white fur traders attacked …
23.) Facing the Mountain: A True Story of Japanese American Heroes in World War II written by Daniel James Brown
Lists It Appears On:
- Goodreads
- NPR
A “Masterly. An epic story of four Japanese-American families and their sons who volunteered for military service and displayed uncommon heroism… P…
22.) Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019 written by Ibram X. Kendi & Keisha N. Blain
Lists It Appears On:
- Amazon
- Goodreads
A chorus of extraordinary voices tells the epic story of the four-hundred-year journey of African Americans from 1619 to the present–edited by Ibram …
21.) Hidden Hands written by Mary Wellesley
Lists It Appears On:
- History Extra
- Waterstones
…
20.) London and the Seventeenth Century written by Margarette Lincoln
Lists It Appears On:
- Financial Times
- Waterstones
The first comprehensive history of seventeenth-century London, told through the lives of those who experienced it “Lively and arresting. . . . [Lincol…
19.) Madhouse at the End of the Earth: The Belgica’s Journey into the Dark Antarctic Night written by Julian Sancton
Lists It Appears On:
- Barnes & Noble
- Goodreads
The “exquisitely researched and deeply engrossing” (The New York Times) true survival story of an early polar expedition that went terribly awry–with…
18.) Napoleon: a Life in Gardens and Shadows written by Ruth Scurr
Lists It Appears On:
- Financial Times
- Five Books
“How should one envisage this subject? With a great pomp of words, or with simplicity?” –Charlotte Brontë, “The Death of Napoleon” The most celebrate…
17.) On Juneteenth written by Annette Gordon-Reed
Lists It Appears On:
- Goodreads
- NPR
Weaving together American history, dramatic family chronicle, and searing episodes of memoir, Annette Gordon-Reed’s On Juneteenth provides a historian…
16.) Storyland: A New Mythology of Britain written by Amy Jeffs
Lists It Appears On:
- History Extra
- Waterstones
…
15.) The Anglo-Saxons written by Marc Morris
Lists It Appears On:
- History Extra
- Waterstones
A sweeping and original history of the Anglo-Saxons by national bestselling author Marc Morris.Sixteen hundred years ago Britain left the Roman Empire…
14.) The Light of Days: The Untold Story of Women Resistance Fighters in Hitler’s Ghettos written by Judy Batalion
Lists It Appears On:
- Goodreads
- NPR
THE !Also on the USA Today, Washington Post, Boston Globe, Globe and Mail, Publishers Weekly, and Indie bestseller lists.One of the most important sto…
13.) The Ruin of All Witches written by Malcolm Gaskill
Lists It Appears On:
- History Extra
- Waterstones
…
12.) The Woman They Could Not Silence: One Woman, Her Incredible Fight for Freedom, and the Men Who Tried to Make Her Disappear written by Kate Moore
Lists It Appears On:
- Goodreads
- Readings
From the New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of The Radium Girls comes another dark and dramatic but ultimately upli…
11.) Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty written by Anderson Cooper
Lists It Appears On:
- Amazon
- Goodreads
New York Times bestselling author and journalist Anderson Cooper teams with New York Times bestselling historian and novelist Katherine Howe to chroni…
10.) Walk in My Combat Boots: True Stories from America’s Bravest Warriors written by James Patterson
Lists It Appears On:
- Amazon
- Goodreads
Discover “the stories America needs to hear” (Admiral William H. McRaven, US Navy (Ret.)) with these moving and powerful recollections of war, told by…
9.) Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age written by Annalee Newitz
Lists It Appears On:
- Goodreads
- NPR
- Smithsonian
In Four Lost Cities, acclaimed science journalist Annalee Newitz takes readers on an entertaining and mind-bending adventure into the deep history of …
8.) How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America written by Clint Smith
Lists It Appears On:
- Amazon
- Barnes & Noble
- Goodreads
#1 Longlisted for the 2021 National Book Award for Nonfiction Beginning in his hometown of New Orleans, Clint Smith leads the reader on an unforgetta…
7.) The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story written by Nikole Hannah-Jones
Lists It Appears On:
- Amazon
- Barnes & Noble
- Kirkus
A dramatic expansion of a groundbreaking work of journalism, The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story offers a profoundly revealing vision of the American…
6.) The Bomber Mafia written by Malcolm Gladwell
Lists It Appears On:
- Goodreads
- Kirkus
- Waterstones
An exploration of how technology and best intentions collide in the heat of war A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice In The Bomber Mafia, Malc…
5.) The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity written by David Graeber and David Wengrow
Lists It Appears On:
- History Extra
- NPR
- Waterstones
A dramatically new understanding of human history, challenging our most fundamental assumptions about social evolution–from the development of agricu…
4.) The Gun, the Ship and the Pen written by Linda Colley
Lists It Appears On:
- Financial Times
- History Extra
- Waterstones
A work of extraordinary range and striking originality, The Gun, the Ship, and the Pen traces the global history of written constitutions from the 175…
3.) The Three Mothers: How the Mothers of Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and James Baldwin Shaped a Nation written by Anna Malaika Tubbs
Lists It Appears On:
- Amazon
- Goodreads
- NPR
Tubbs’ connection to these women is palpable on the page — as both a mother and a scholar of the impact Black motherhood has had on America. Through …
2.) Twelve Caesars: Images of Power from the Ancient World to the Modern written by Mary Beard
Lists It Appears On:
- Barnes & Noble
- Readings
- Waterstones
From the bestselling author of SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome, the fascinating story of how images of Roman autocrats have influenced art, culture, a…
1.) Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty written by Patrick Radden Keefe
Lists It Appears On:
- Amazon
- Barnes & Noble
- Goodreads
- Smithsonian
A grand, devastating portrait of three generations of the Sackler family, famed for their philanthropy, whose fortune was built by Valium and whose re…
The 150+ Additional Best History Books Released In 2021
29) A Fatal Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum: Murder in Ancient Rome – Emma Southon List: NPR
30) A Singing Army: Zilphia Horton and the Highlander Folk School – Kim Ruehl List: NPR
31) A WORSE PLACE THAN HELL – John Matteson List: Kirkus
32) About Time: A History of Civilization in Twelve Clocks – David Rooney List: Smithsonian
33) African Europeans: An Untold History – Olivette Otele List: Smithsonian
34) Aftermath – Harald Jähner List: Financial Times
35) Alexandria – Dr Edmund Richardson List: Waterstones
36) All In It Together – Alwyn Turner List: Waterstones
37) All the Frequent Troubles of Our Days – Rebecca Donner List: Barnes & Noble
38) Amazon Unbound: Jeff Bezos and the Invention of a Global Empire – Brad Stone List: Goodreads
39) American Baby: A Mother, a Child, and the Shadow History of Adoption – Gabrielle Glaser List: NPR
40) Ancestors – Alice Roberts List: Waterstones
41) Another Day in the Colony – Chelsea Watego List: Readings
42) Ask A Historian – Greg Jenner List: Waterstones
43) Bag Man: The Wild Crimes, Audacious Cover-Up, and Spectacular Downfall of a Brazen Crook in the White House – List: Goodreads
44) Barbarossa – Jonathan Dimbleby List: Waterstones
45) Between Two Hells – Diarmaid Ferriter List: Waterstones
46) Black Drop – Leonora Nattrass List: History Extra
47) Black Gold – Jeremy Paxman List: Waterstones
48) Blood and Iron – Katja Hoyer List: Waterstones
49) Blood and Ruins – Richard Overy List: Waterstones
50) Blood Legacy – Alex Renton List: Waterstones
51) Burning Boy: The Life and Work of Stephen Crane – Paul Auster List: Amazon
52) Cathedral – Ben Hopkins List: History Extra
53) Chasing Me to My Grave: An Artist’s Memoir of the Jim Crow South – Winfred Rembert and Erin I. Kelly List: NPR
54) Churchill’s Shadow: The Life and Afterlife of Winston Churchill – Geoffrey Wheatcroft List: Amazon
55) Circus of Wonders – Elizabeth Macneal List: History Extra
56) Colorization: One Hundred Years of Black Films in a White World – Wil Haygood List: NPR
57) Come Fly the World: The Jet-Age Story of the Women of Pan Am – List: Goodreads
58) Crown & Sceptre – Tracy Borman List: Waterstones
59) Cuba: An American History – Ada Ferrer List: History Extra
60) Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism – Amanda Montell List: NPR
61) Curb – Divya Victor List: NPR
62) Daring to Hope: My Life in the 1970s – Sheila Rowbotham List: History Extra
63) Daughters of Night – Laura Shepherd-Robinson List: History Extra
64) Devil-Land – Clare Jackson List: Waterstones
65) Disruption – Aki J. Peritz List: Kirkus
66) Doing Feminism – Anne Marsh List: Readings
67) Doom: The Politics of Catastrophe – Niall Ferguson List: Waterstones
68) ECONOMY HALL – Fatima Shaik List: Kirkus
69) Elegy for Mary Turner: An Illustrated Account of a Lynching – Rachel Marie-Crane Williams List: NPR
70) Elizabeth Stuart: Queen of Hearts – Nadine Akkerman List: History Extra
71) Empire and Jihad: The Anglo-Arab Wars of 1870–1920 – Neil Faulkner List: History Extra
72) Extra Life: A Short History of Living Longer – Steven Johnson List: History Extra
73) Fabric – Victoria Finlay List: Waterstones
74) Flight of the Diamond Smugglers: A Tale of Pigeons, Obsession, and Greed Along Coastal South Africa – Matthew Gavin Frank List: NPR
75) France: A Short History – Jeremy Black List: Waterstones
76) From a Whisper to a Rallying Cry: The Killing of Vincent Chin and the Trial That Galvanized the Asian American Movement – Paula Yoo List: NPR
77) Fulfillment: Winning and Losing in One-Click America – Alec MacGillis List: NPR
78) Gay Bar: Why We Went Out – Jeremy Atherton Lin List: NPR
79) George III – Andrew Roberts List: Waterstones
80) George V – Jane Ridley List: Waterstones
81) Going with the Boys – Judith Mackrell List: Waterstones
82) Greek Myths – Charlotte Higgins, Chris Ofili List: Waterstones
83) Harlem Nights – Deirdre O’Connell List: Readings
84) Hidden Heritage – Fatima Manji List: Waterstones
85) I Never Promised You a Rose Garden – Mannie Murphy List: NPR
86) Imperial Nostalgia: How the British Conquered Themselves – Peter Mitchell List: History Extra
87) Into the Forest: A Holocaust Story of Survival, Triumph, and Love – Rebecca Frankel List: Smithsonian
88) Kennedy’s Avenger: Assassination, Conspiracy, and the Forgotten Trial of Jack Ruby – Dan Abrams and David Fisher List: NPR
89) Land – Simon Winchester List: Waterstones
90) Last Call: A True Story of Love, Lust, and Murder in Queer New York – Elon Green List: NPR
91) Let the Record Show: A Political History of ACT UP New York, 1987-1993 – Sarah Schulman List: NPR
92) LIBERTY IS SWEET – Woody Holton List: Kirkus
93) Lies, Damned, Lies – Claire G. Coleman List: Readings
94) Lily’s Promise – Lily Ebert, Dov Forman List: Waterstones
95) London’s ‘Golden Mile’: The Great Houses of the Strand, 1550–1650 – Manolo Guerci List: Five Books
96) Looking for the Good War:… – Elizabeth D. Samet List: Barnes & Noble
97) Murder: The Biography – Kate Morgan List: Waterstones
98) My Monticello – Jocelyn Nicole Johnson List: NPR
99) Nicky & Vera: A Quiet Hero of the Holocaust and the Children He Rescued – Peter Sis List: NPR
100) Nina: A Story of Nina Simone – Traci N. Todd, illustrated by Christian Robinson List: NPR
101) Noble Ambitions – Adrian Tinniswood List: Waterstones
102) Norse America – List: Financial Times
103) Nuclear Folly – Serhii Plokhy List: Waterstones
104) Operation Jubilee – Patrick Bishop List: Waterstones
105) Operation Pedestal – Max Hastings List: Waterstones
106) People Love Dead Jews: Reports from a Haunted Present – Dara Horn List: NPR
107) Plunder: Napoleon’s Theft of Veronese’s Feast – Cynthia Saltzman List: Five Books
108) POWER AND LIBERTY – Gordon S. Wood List: Kirkus
109) Powers and Thrones: A New History of the Middle Ages – Dan Jones List: Waterstones
110) Putting It Together: How Stephen Sondheim and I Created “Sunday in the Park With George – James Lapine List: NPR
111) Revolution in Our Time: The Black Panther Party’s Promise to the People – Kekla Magoon List: NPR
112) Robert E. Lee and Me: A Southerner’s Reckoning with the Myth of the Lost Cause – Ty Seidule List: NPR
113) Roman Britain’s Missing Legion: What Really Happened to IX Hispana? – Simon Elliott List: History Extra
114) Rose Nicolson – Andrew Greig List: History Extra
115) Run: Book One – John Lewis List: Barnes & Noble
116) SAS Great Escapes – Damien Lewis List: Waterstones
117) SBS – Silent Warriors – Saul David List: Waterstones
118) Scenes from Prehistoric Life – Francis Pryor List: Waterstones
119) Shaking the Gates of Hell: A Search for Family and Truth in the Wake of the Civil Rights Revolution – John Archibald List: NPR
120) Shooting Midnight Cowboy: Art, Sex, Loneliness, Liberation, and the Making of a Dark Classic – Glenn Frankel List: NPR
121) Singing Like Germans: Black Musicians in the Land of Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms – Kira Thurman List: NPR
122) Spymaster – Helen Fry List: Waterstones
123) Squirrel Hill: The Tree of Life Synagogue Shooting and the Soul of a Neighborhood – Mark Oppenheimer List: Amazon
124) The 1619 Project: Born on the Water – Nikole Hannah-Jones and Renée Watson List: NPR
125) The Anthropocene Reviewed – John Green List: NPR
126) The Burgundians – Bart Van Loo List: Waterstones
127) The Case of the Married Woman – Antonia Fraser List: Waterstones
128) The Cause: The American Revolution and its Discontents, 1773-1783 – Joseph J. Ellis Ph.D. List: Amazon
129) The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race – Walter Isaacson List: Goodreads
130) The Confidence Men: How Two Prisoners of War Engineered the Most Remarkable Escape in History – Margalit Fox List: NPR
131) The Cruelty Is the Point: The Past, Present, and Future of Trump’s America – Adam Serwer List: NPR
132) The Devil’s Atlas – Edward Brooke-Hitching List: Waterstones
133) The Dissolution of the Monasteries: A New History – James Clark List: History Extra
134) The Doctors Blackwell: How Two Pioneering Sisters Brought Medicine to Women and Women to Medicine – List: Goodreads
135) The Dope: The Real History of the Mexican Drug Trade – Benjamin T. Smith List: Amazon
136) The Dream of Europe – Geert Mak, Liz Waters List: Waterstones
137) The Eagles of Heart Mountain – Bradford Pearson List: Smithsonian
138) The Enlightenment: The Pursuit… – Ritchie Robertson List: Barnes & Noble
139) The Fall of Robespierre – List: Financial Times
140) The Family Roe: An American Story – Joshua Prager List: NPR
141) The Florentines – Paul Strathern List: Waterstones
142) The Free World: Art and Thought in the Cold War – Louis Menand List: NPR
143) The Gate to China: A New History of the People’s Republic and Hong Kong – Michael Sheridan List: History Extra
144) The Genius Under the Table: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain – Eugene Yelchin List: NPR
145) The Ground Breaking: An American City and Its Search for Justice – Scott Ellsworth List: Kirkus
146) The Habsburgs: To Rule the World – Martyn Rady List: Five Books
147) The Haunting of Alma Fielding: A True Ghost Story – Kate Summerscale List: NPR
148) The Horde – List: Financial Times
149) The Horde: How the Mongols Changed the World – Marie Favereau List: Five Books
150) The King’s Painter: The Life and Times of Hans Holbein – Franny Moyle List: History Extra
151) The Last King of America: The… – Andrew Roberts List: Barnes & Noble
152) The Lost Cafe Schindler – Meriel Schindler List: Waterstones
153) The Making of Oliver Cromwell – Ronald Hutton List: History Extra
154) The Man Who Hated Women: Sex, Censorship, and Civil Liberties in the Gilded Age – Amy Sohn List: Smithsonian
155) The Mirror and the Palette: Rebellion, Revolution and Resilience: Five Hundred Years of Women’s Self Portraits – Jennifer Higgie List: NPR
156) The Most Fun Thing: Dispatches from a Skateboard Life – Kyle Beachy List: NPR
157) The Nine – Gwen Strauss List: Waterstones
158) The Ottomans – Marc David Baer List: Waterstones
159) The Partition: Ireland divided, 1885 1925 – List: Financial Times
160) The Pathfinders – Will Iredale List: Waterstones
161) The Penguin Book of Feminist Writing edited – Hannah Dawson List: History Extra
162) The Piano: A History in 100 Pieces – Susan Tomes List: Readings
163) The Premonition: A Pandemic Story – Michael Lewis List: Amazon
164) The Prisoner: A Memoir – Hwang Sok-yong, translated by Sora Kim-Russell and Anton List: NPR
165) The Radical Potter – Tristram Hunt List: History Extra
166) The Red Prince – Helen Carr List: Waterstones
167) The Secret History of Home Economics: How Trailblazing Women Harnessed the Power of Home and Changed the Way We Live – Danielle Dreilinger List: NPR
168) THE SHATTERING – Kevin Boyle List: Kirkus
169) The Spectre of War – Jonathan Haslam List: Financial Times
170) The State Must Provide: Why America’s Colleges Have Always Been Unequal – And How to Set Them Right – Adam Harris List: NPR
171) The Story of the World in 100 Moments – Neil Oliver List: Waterstones
172) The Story of Work: A New History of Humankind – Jan Lucassen List: History Extra
173) The Taking of Jemima Boone: The True Story of the Kidnap and Rescue That Shaped America – List: Goodreads
174) The Third Pole: Mystery, Obsession, and Death on Mount Everest – Mark Synnott List: NPR
175) The Tudors in Love: The Courtly Code Behind the Last Medieval Dynasty – Sarah Gristwood List: History Extra
176) The Viking Heart: How Scandinavians Conquered the World – Arthur Herman List: Amazon
177) The Volga – List: Financial Times
178) The Waiting – Keum Suk Gendry-Kim, translated by Janet Hong List: NPR
179) The Western Front – Nick Lloyd List: Waterstones
180) The Whiteness of Wealth: How the Tax System Impoverishes Black Americans – And How We Can Fix It – Dorothy A. Brown List: NPR
181) The Wood Age – Roland Ennos List: Waterstones
182) The Wordhord: Daily Life in Old English – Hana Videen List: History Extra
183) Tornado – John Nichol List: Waterstones
184) Traitor King – Andrew Lownie List: Waterstones
185) Travels with George: In Search of Washington and His Legacy – Nathaniel Philbrick List: Amazon
186) Tunnel 29 – Helena Merriman List: Waterstones
187) Unsolved Case Files: Escape at 10,000 Feet: D.B. Cooper and the Missing Money – Tom Sullivan List: NPR
188) Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre – Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Floyd Cooper List: NPR
189) Until I Am Free: Fannie Lou Hamer’s Enduring Message to America – Keisha N. Blain List: Smithsonian
190) Until Justice Be Done: America’s First Civil Rights Movement, from the Revolution to Reconstruction – Kate Masur List: NPR
191) Until Proven Safe: The History and Future of Quarantine – Geoff Manaugh and Nicola Twilley List: NPR
192) Vandemonians – Janet McCalman List: Readings
193) Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts – Rebecca Hall and Hugo Martinez List: NPR
194) We Don’t Know Ourselves – Fintan O’Toole List: Waterstones
195) We’re Here Because You Were There: Immigration and the End of Empire – Ian Sanjay Patel List: History Extra
196) What Britain Did to Nigeria: A Short History of Conquest and Rule – Max Siollun List: History Extra
197) What Is History, Now? co-edited – Helen Carr and Suzannah Lipscomb List: History Extra
198) When Evil Lived in Laurel: The “White Knights” and the Murder of Vernon Dahmer – Curtis Wilkie List: NPR
199) When I Grow Up: The Lost Autobiographies of Six Yiddish Teenagers – Ken Krimstein List: NPR
200) White Freedom: The Racial History of an Idea – Tyler Stovall List: NPR
201) Women in the Picture – Catherine McCormack List: Readings
202) You’re Doing it Wrong – Kaz Cooke List: Readings
203) Zero Fail: The Rise and Fall of the Secret Service – Carol Leonnig List: Goodreads
11 Best History Book Sources/Lists
| Source | Article |
| Amazon | Best history books of 2021 |
| Barnes & Noble | Barnes & Noble’s Best History Books of 2021 |
| History Extra | 33 best books for history lovers: BBC History Magazine’s Books of the Year 2021 |
| Financial Times | Best books of 2021: History |
| Goodreads | Best History & Biography |
| Kirkus | Best American History of 2021 |
| NPR | Books We Love |
| Five Books | Best History Books of 2021 |
| Readings | 10 women writing history in 2021 |
| Smithsonian | The Ten Best History Books of 2021 |
| Waterstones | The Best Books of 2021: History |
