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The Best History Books of 2022 (A Year-End List Aggregation)

“What are the best History books released in 2022?” We looked at 243 of the top History books, aggregating and ranking them so we could answer that very question!

The top 36 books, all appearing on 2 or more “Best History” book lists, are ranked below by how many times they appear. The remaining 200+ titles, as well as the sources we used, are in alphabetical order on the bottom of the page.

Our other Best Of 2022 Articles:

Previous Years: 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015

Happy Scrolling!



Top 36 Best History Books From 2022



36.) 1945: Victory in the West written by Prof. Peter Caddick-Adams

1945: Victory in the West

Lists It Appears On:

  • The Telegraph
  • Waterstones

March 1945. Allied troops are poised to cross the Rhine and sweep on into Germany. Victory is finally within their grasp. But if they believe this vic…



35.) Atoms and Ashes: From Bikini Atoll to Fukushima written by Serhii Plokhy

Atoms and Ashes: From Bikini Atoll to Fukushima

Lists It Appears On:

  • History Today
  • Waterstones

In 2011, a 43-foot-high tsunami crashed into a nuclear power plant in Fukushima, Japan. In the following days, explosions would rip buildings apart, t…



34.) Bad Gays: A Homosexual History written by

Bad Gays: A Homosexual History

Lists It Appears On:

  • Goodreads
  • History Today

An unconventional history of homosexuality We all remember Oscar Wilde, but who speaks for Bosie? What about those ‘bad gays’ whose unexemplary lives …



33.) Bad Mexicans: Race, Empire, and Revolution in the Borderlands written by Kelly Lytle Hernández

Bad Mexicans: Race, Empire, and Revolution in the Borderlands

Lists It Appears On:

  • Kirkus 2
  • Smithsonian

Bad Mexicans tells the dramatic story of the magonistas, the migrant rebels who sparked the 1910 Mexican Revolution from the United States. Led by a b…



32.) Blood, Fire & Gold: The Story of Elizabeth I & Catherine de Medici written by Estelle Paranque

Blood, Fire & Gold: The Story of Elizabeth I & Catherine de Medici

Lists It Appears On:

  • History Today
  • Smithsonian

A brilliant and beautifully written deep dive into the complicated relationship between Elizabeth I and Catherine de Medici, two of the most powerful …



31.) By Hands Now Known: Jim Crow’s Legal Executioners written by Margaret A. Burnham

By Hands Now Known: Jim Crow's Legal Executioners

Lists It Appears On:

  • Amazon
  • NPR

If the law cannot protect a person from a lynching, then isn’t lynching the law?In By Hands Now Known, Margaret A. Burnham, director of Northeastern U…



30.) Command: How the Allies Learned to Win the Second World War written by Al Murray

Command: How the Allies Learned to Win the Second World War

Lists It Appears On:

  • The Telegraph
  • Waterstones

Al Murray’s passion for military history and the Second World War in particular has always been a duel passion with his comedy and was brought to the …



29.) Conspiracy on Cato Street: A Tale of Liberty and Revolution in Regency London written by Vic Gatrell

Conspiracy on Cato Street: A Tale of Liberty and Revolution in Regency London

Lists It Appears On:

  • History Extra
  • The Telegraph

On the night of 23 February 1820, twenty-five impoverished craftsmen assembled in an obscure stable in Cato Street, London, with a plan to massacre th…



28.) Devil Dogs: King Company, Third Battalion, 5th Marines: From Guadalcanal to the Shores of Japan written by Saul David

Devil Dogs: King Company, Third Battalion, 5th Marines: From Guadalcanal to the Shores of Japan

Lists It Appears On:

  • The Telegraph
  • Waterstones

Award-winning historian Saul David reveals the searing experience of the Devil Dogs of World War II and does for the U.S. Marines what Band of Brother…



27.) Free: A Child and a Country at the End of History written by Lea Ypi

Free: A Child and a Country at the End of History

Lists It Appears On:

  • Booklist
  • Foreign Affairs

For precocious 11-year-old Lea Ypi, Albania’s Soviet-style socialism held the promise of a preordained future, a guarantee of security among enthusias…



26.) G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century written by Beverly Gage

G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century

Lists It Appears On:

  • Barnes & Noble
  • Smithsonian

“This is a monumental work about power, responsibility, and democracy itself.” –Jon Meacham, Pulitzer Prize winner and author of American Lion: Andre…



25.) His Name Is George Floyd: One Man’s Life and the Struggle for Racial Justice written by Robert Samuels

His Name Is George Floyd: One Man's Life and the Struggle for Racial Justice

Lists It Appears On:

  • Amazon
  • Goodreads

FINALIST FOR THE 2022 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR NONFICTION A landmark biography by two prizewinning Washington Post reporters that reveals how systemic …



24.) Indigenous Continent: The Epic Contest for North America written by Pekka Hämäläinen

Indigenous Continent: The Epic Contest for North America

Lists It Appears On:

  • Amazon
  • Kirkus

There is an old, deeply rooted story about America that goes like this: Columbus “discovers” a strange continent and brings back tales of untold riche…



23.) Mussolini in Myth and Memory: The First Totalitarian Dictator written by Paul Corner

Mussolini in Myth and Memory: The First Totalitarian Dictator

Lists It Appears On:

  • Financial Times
  • History Today

Mussolini in myth and memory. Paul Corner looks at the brutal reality of the Italian dictator’s fascist regime and confronts the nostalgia for dictato…



22.) Personality and Power: Builders and Destroyers of Modern Europe written by Ian Kershaw

Personality and Power: Builders and Destroyers of Modern Europe

Lists It Appears On:

  • The Telegraph
  • Waterstones

One of New York Magazine’s Most Anticipated Books of the Fall How far can a single leader alter the course of history? From one of the leading histori…



21.) Resistance: The Underground War Against Hitler, 1939-1945 written by Halik Kochanski

Resistance: The Underground War Against Hitler, 1939-1945

Lists It Appears On:

  • The Telegraph
  • Waterstones

“To resist, therefore. But how, when and where? There were no laws, no guidelines, no precedents to show the way . . .” –Dutch resister Herman Friedh…



20.) Rule, Nostalgia: A Backwards History of Britain written by Hannah Rose Woods

Rule, Nostalgia: A Backwards History of Britain

Lists It Appears On:

  • Financial Times
  • Waterstones

Longing to go back to the ‘good old days’ is nothing new. For hundreds of years, the British have mourned the loss of older national identities and ca…



19.) The First Kennedys: The Humble Roots of an American Dynasty written by Neal Thompson

The First Kennedys: The Humble Roots of an American Dynasty

Lists It Appears On:

  • Amazon
  • NPR

“Here is that rare thing: an untold chapter in the Kennedy saga. . .Compelling and illuminating.”–Jon MeachamBased on genealogical breakthroughs and …



18.) The Grimkes: The Legacy of Slavery in an American Family written by Kerri K. Greenidge

The Grimkes: The Legacy of Slavery in an American Family

Lists It Appears On:

  • NPR
  • Smithsonian

Sarah and Angelina Grimke–the Grimke sisters–are revered figures in American history, famous for rejecting their privileged lives on a plantation in…



17.) The Last Colony: A Tale of Exile, Justice and Britain’s Colonial Legacy written by Philippe Sands

The Last Colony: A Tale of Exile, Justice and Britain's Colonial Legacy

Lists It Appears On:

  • History Extra
  • Waterstones

After the Second World War, new international rules heralded an age of human rights and self-determination. Supported by Britain, these unprecedented …



16.) The Last Emperor of Mexico: The Dramatic Story of the Habsburg Archduke Who Created a Kingdom in the New World written by Edward Shawcross

The Last Emperor of Mexico: The Dramatic Story of the Habsburg Archduke Who Created a Kingdom in the New World

Lists It Appears On:

  • Foreign Affairs
  • Waterstones

The true operatic tragedy of Maximilian and Carlota, the European aristocrats who stumbled into power in Mexico–and faced bloody consequences. In the…



15.) The Last Slave Ship: The True Story of How Clotilda Was Found, Her Descendants, and an Extraordinary Reckoning written by Ben Raines

The Last Slave Ship: The True Story of How Clotilda Was Found, Her Descendants, and an Extraordinary Reckoning

Lists It Appears On:

  • Amazon
  • NPR

The incredible true story of the last ship to carry enslaved people to America, the remarkable town its survivors founded after emancipation, and the …



14.) The Mad Emperor: Heliogabalus and the Decadence of Rome written by Harry Sidebottom

The Mad Emperor: Heliogabalus and the Decadence of Rome

Lists It Appears On:

  • Financial Times
  • History Extra

What happens when you put the Roman Empire in the hands of a teenage boy? The life and times of the worst Roman emperor of all. On 8 June AD218 a four…



13.) The Mosquito Bowl: A Game of Life and Death in World War II written by Buzz Bissinger

The Mosquito Bowl: A Game of Life and Death in World War II

Lists It Appears On:

  • Amazon
  • Kirkus

Instant New York Times Bestseller”Buzz Bissinger’s Friday Night Lights is an American classic. With The Mosquito Bowl, he is back with a true story ev…



12.) The Normans: Power, Conquest and Culture in 11th Century Europe written by Judith A Green

The Normans: Power, Conquest and Culture in 11th Century Europe

Lists It Appears On:

  • Financial Times
  • The Telegraph

A bold new history of the rise and expansion of the Norman Dynasty across Europe from Byzantium to England In the eleventh century the climate was imp…



11.) The Restless Republic: Britain without a Crown written by Anna Keay

The Restless Republic: Britain without a Crown

Lists It Appears On:

  • The Telegraph
  • Waterstones

The Restless Republic tells the story of what life was like during the unprecedented and unrepeated decade when Britain was governed without a king. W…



10.) The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams written by Stacy Schiff

The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams

Lists It Appears On:

  • Barnes & Noble
  • NPR

A revelatory biography from a Pulitzer Prize-winner about the most essential Founding Father– the one who stood behind the change in thinking that pr…



9.) American Midnight: The Great War, a Violent Peace, and Democracy’s Forgotten Crisis written by Adam Hochschild

American Midnight: The Great War, a Violent Peace, and Democracy's Forgotten Crisis

Lists It Appears On:

  • Amazon
  • Barnes & Noble
  • Kirkus

National Bestseller – New Yorker Best Books of 2022 selection – New York Times Editor’s Choice – a most anticipated book of Fall 2022: the New York Ti…



8.) And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle written by Jon Meacham

And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle

Lists It Appears On:

  • Amazon
  • Barnes & Noble
  • Goodreads

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER – Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer and #1 New York Times bestselling author Jon Meacham chronicles the life of Abraham Linc…



7.) The House of Dudley: A New History of Tudor England written by Dr Joanne Paul

The House of Dudley: A New History of Tudor England

Lists It Appears On:

  • History Today
  • The Telegraph
  • Waterstones

The Dudleys thrived at the court of Henry VII, but were sacrificed to the popularity of Henry VIII. Rising to prominence in the reign of Edward VI, th…



6.) The Nineties: A Book written by Chuck Klosterman

The Nineties: A Book

Lists It Appears On:

  • Amazon
  • Kirkus
  • NPR

An instant New York Times bestseller! From the bestselling author of But What if We’re Wrong, a wise and funny reckoning with the decade that gave us …



5.) The Story of Russia written by Orlando Figes

The Story of Russia

Lists It Appears On:

  • Kirkus 2
  • The Telegraph
  • Waterstones

“This is the essential backstory, the history book that you need if you want to understand modern Russia and its wars with Ukraine, with its neighbors…



4.) Legacy of Violence: A History of the British Empire written by Caroline Elkins

Legacy of Violence: A History of the British Empire

Lists It Appears On:

  • History Extra
  • History Today
  • Kirkus 2
  • Waterstones

From Pulitzer Prize-winning historian: a searing study of the British Empire that probes the country’s pervasive use of violence throughout the twenti…



3.) Russia: Revolution and Civil War, 1917-1921 written by Antony Beevor

Russia: Revolution and Civil War, 1917-1921

Lists It Appears On:

  • Barnes & Noble
  • Kirkus 2
  • The Telegraph
  • Waterstones

“Riveting . . . There is a wealth of new information here that adds considerable texture and nuance to his story and helps to set Russia apart from pr…



2.) River of the Gods: Genius, Courage, and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile written by Candice Millard

River of the Gods: Genius, Courage, and Betrayal in the Search for the Source of the Nile

Lists It Appears On:

  • Amazon
  • Barnes & Noble
  • Goodreads
  • NPR
  • Smithsonian

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER – The harrowing story of one of the great feats of exploration of all time and its complicated legacy–from the New York Tim…



1.) The Escape Artist: The Man Who Broke Out of Auschwitz to Warn the World written by Jonathan Freedland

The Escape Artist: The Man Who Broke Out of Auschwitz to Warn the World

Lists It Appears On:

  • Amazon
  • Goodreads
  • History Extra
  • NYPL
  • Smithsonian
  • Waterstones

“A brilliant and heart-wrenching book, with universal and timely lessons about the power of information — and misinformation. Is it possible to stop …




The 200+ Additional Best History Books Released In 2022



37) A Continent Erupts: Decolonization, Civil War, and Massacre in Postwar Asia, 1945–1955 – Ronald H. Spector List: (Foreign Affairs)
38) A History of Britain in 100 Maps – Jeremy Black List: (History Extra)
39) A History of Britain in Just a Minute – Gyles Brandreth List: (Waterstones)
40) A Woman’s World, 1850-1960 – Dan Jones List: (Waterstones)
41) About Time: A History of Civilization in Twelve Clocks – List: (History Today)
42) Abyss – Max Hastings List: (Waterstones)
43) Act of Oblivion – Robert Harris List: (History Extra)
44) Adam Smith’s America: How a Scottish Philosopher Became an Icon of American Capitalism – Glory M. Liu List: (NPR)
45) Africa Is Not A Country – Dipo Faloyin List: (Waterstones)
46) African Founders: How Enslaved People Expanded American Ideals – David Hackett Fischer List: (Barnes & Noble)
47) African Town – Irene Latham and Charles Waters List: (NPR)
48) After Sappho – Selby Wynn Schwartz List: (History Extra)
49) AFTERMATH – Harald Jähner List: (Kirkus 2)
50) Agent Josephine: American Beauty, French Hero, British Spy – List: (Goodreads)
51) All the Knowledge in the World – Simon Garfield List: (Waterstones)
52) Always Faithful: A Story of the War in Afghanistan, the Fall of Kabul, and the Unshakable Bond Between a Marine and an Interpreter – Thomas Schueman List: (Amazon)
53) American Exceptionalism: A New History of an Old Idea – Ian Tyrrell List: (Foreign Affairs)
54) American Murderer: The Parasite That Haunted the South – Gail Jarrow List: (NPR)
55) An Alternative History of Photography – List: (History Today)
56) An American Martyr in Persia: The Epic Life and Tragic Death of Howard Baskerville – Reza Aslan List: (NPR)
57) Anna: The Biography – List: (Goodreads)
58) Arise, Africa! Roar, China! – List: (History Today)
59) ASIAN AMERICAN HISTORIES OF THE UNITED STATES – Catherine Ceniza Choy List: (Kirkus)
60) Babel, or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution – R.F. Kuang List: (NPR)
61) Bad Sex: Truth, Pleasure, and an Unfinished Revolution – Nona Willis Aronowitz List: (NPR)
62) Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender – List: (History Today)
63) Berlin – Sinclair McKay List: (Waterstones)
64) Blood and Ruins: The Last Imperial War, 1931-1945 – Richard Overy List: (NPR)
65) Blue: A History of the Color as Deep as the Sea and as Wide as the Sky – Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond List: (NPR)
66) Booth – Karen Joy Fowler List: (History Extra)
67) Born in Blackness: Africa, Africans, and the Making of the Modern World, 1471 to the Second World War – Howard French List: (Foreign Affairs)
68) Bread and Freedom: Egypt’s Revolutionary Situation – Mona El-Ghobashy List: (Foreign Affairs)
69) Buried – Alice Roberts List: (Waterstones)
70) Butler to the World: The Book the Oligarchs Don’t Want You to Read – How Britain Helps the World’s Worst People Launder Money, Commit Crimes, and Get Away with Anything – Oliver Bullough List: (Amazon)
71) Camera Man: Buster Keaton, the Dawn of Cinema, and the Invention of the Twentieth Century – Dana Stevens List: (NPR)
72) Career and Family: Women’s Century-Long Journey Toward Equity – Claudia Goldin List: (Foreign Affairs)
73) Christendom: The Triumph of a Religion – Peter Heather List: (Financial Times)
74) Civil Rights Queen: Constance Baker Motley and the Struggle for Equality – Tomiko Brown-Nagin List: (Smithsonian)
75) Coffee with Hitler: The British Amateurs Who Tried to Civilise the Nazis – List: (The Telegraph)
76) Colditz – Ben Macintyre List: (Waterstones)
77) COME TO THIS COURT & CRY – Linda Kinstler List: (Kirkus 2)
78) Conquer We Must: A Military History of Britain 1914-1945 – List: (The Telegraph)
79) Cuba: An American History – Ada Ferrer List: (Foreign Affairs)
80) Dancing on Bones: History and Power in China, Russia and North Korea – Katie Stallard List: (History Extra)
81) Dark Goals: How History’s Worst Tyrants Have Used and Abused the Game of Soccer – Luciano Wernicke List: (NPR)
82) Dear Denise: Letters to the Sister I Never Knew – Lisa McNair List: (NPR)
83) Diary of a Misfit: A Memoir and a Mystery – Casey Parks List: (NPR)
84) Espana: A Brief History of Spain – Giles Tremlett List: (Waterstones)
85) Essex Dogs – Dan Jones List: (History Extra)
86) Facing the Mountain: A True Story of Japanese American Heroes in World War II – Daniel James Brown List: (Booklist)
87) Femina – Janina Ramirez List: (Waterstones)
88) Fierce Appetites – Elizabeth Boyle List: (History Extra)
89) Fixing Stories: Local Newsmaking and International Media in Turkey and Syria – Noah Amir Arjomand List: (Foreign Affairs)
90) For Profit: A History of Corporations – William Magnuson List: (Amazon)
91) Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African Americans, 1619–2019 – Ibram X List: (Booklist)
92) France: An Adventure History – Graham Robb List: (Waterstones)
93) Freezing Order: A True Story of Russian Money Laundering, State-Sponsored Murder, and Surviving Vladimir Putin’s Wrath – Bill Browder List: (Amazon)
94) Glory: A Novel – NoViolet Bulawayo List: (NPR)
95) God Save the USSR: Soviet Muslims and the Second World War – Jeff Eden List: (Foreign Affairs)
96) Great Hatred: The Assassination of Field Marshal Sir Henry Wilson MP – List: (The Telegraph)
97) Growth for Good: Reshaping Capitalism to Save Humanity From Climate Catastrophe – Alessio Terzi List: (Foreign Affairs)
98) Guru to the World: The Life and Legacy of Vivekananda – Ruth Harris List: (History Extra)
99) Half American: The Epic Story of African Americans Fighting World War II at Home and Abroad – Matthew Delmont List: (Smithsonian)
100) Hanged! Mary Surratt and the Plot to Assassinate Abraham Lincoln – Sarah Miller List: (NPR)
101) Heaven on Earth – Emma J Wells List: (History Extra)
102) Hell’s Half-Acre: The Untold Story of the Benders, a Serial Killer Family on the American Frontier – Susan Jonusas List: (NPR)
103) Holy War: The Untold Story of Catholic Italy’s Crusade Against the Ethiopian Orthodox Church – Ian Campbell List: (Foreign Affairs)
104) Horizons: A Global History of Science – James Poskett List: (Financial Times)
105) In Defense of Witches: The Legacy of the Witch Hunts and Why Women Are Still on Trial – Mona Chollet List: (NPR)
106) In Search of Us – Lucy Moore List: (Waterstones)
107) In Sensorium: Notes for My People – Tanaïs List: (NPR)
108) In the Houses of Their Dead: The Lincolns, the Booths, and the Spirits – Terry Alford List: (Amazon)
109) Infiltrating Society: The Thai Military’s Internal Security Affairs – Puangthong Pawakapan List: (Foreign Affairs)
110) Iron and Blood: A Military History of the German-speaking Peoples since 1500 – List: (The Telegraph)
111) Koshersoul: The Faith and Food Journey of an African American Jew – Michael W. Twitty List: (NPR)
112) Lady Justice: Women, the Law, and the Battle to Save America – Dahlia Lithwick List: (NPR)
113) Last Call at the Hotel Imperial: The Reporters Who Took On a World at War – Deborah Cohen List: (NPR)
114) Leadership – List: (The Telegraph)
115) Liberalism in Dark Times: The Liberal Ethos in the Twentieth Century – Joshua L. Cherniss List: (Foreign Affairs)
116) Liberty Is Sweet: The Hidden History of the American Revolution – Woody Holton List: (Booklist)
117) Life on the Mississippi: An Epic American Adventure – Rinker Buck List: (Amazon)
118) Lincoln and the Fight for Peace – John Avlon List: (Foreign Affairs)
119) Line of Advantage: Japan’s Grand Strategy in the Era of Abe Shinzo – Michael J. Green List: (Foreign Affairs)
120) Lost Realms – Thomas Williams List: (Waterstones)
121) Lourenço da Silva Mendonça and the Black Atlantic Abolitionist Movement in the Seventeenth Century – José Lingna Nafafé List: (History Extra)
122) Love and Let Die – John Higgs List: (Waterstones)
123) Magnificent Rebels: The First Romantics and the Invention of the Self – Andrea Wulf List: (History Extra)
124) Making History – List: (The Telegraph)
125) Maria Theresa: The Habsburg Empress in Her Time – Barbara Stollberg-Rilinger List: (Financial Times)
126) Masa: Techniques, Recipes, and Reflections on a Timeless Staple – Jorge Gaviria List: (NPR)
127) Midnight’s Borders: A People’s History of Modern India – Suchitra Vijayan List: (Booklist)
128) Miss Dior: A Story of Courage and Couture – Justine Picardie List: (Booklist)
129) Mosquito Men – David Price List: (Waterstones)
130) Mother Ocean Father Nation: A Novel – Nishant Batsha List: (NPR)
131) Muslims and the Making of Modern Europe – Emily Greble List: (Financial Times)
132) Navalny: Putin’s Nemesis, Russia’s Future? – Jan Matti Dollbaum, Morvan Lallouet, and Ben Noble List: (Foreign Affairs)
133) Nazi Billionaires – List: (The Telegraph)
134) Never Turn Back: China and the Forbidden History of the 1980s – Julian Gewirtz List: (Foreign Affairs)
135) No-Signal Area – List: (History Today)
136) Northerners – Brian Groom List: (Waterstones)
137) On a Knife Edge – List: (The Telegraph)
138) Origin: A Genetic History of the Americas – Jennifer Raff List: (NPR)
139) Overreach: The Inside Story of Putin’s War Against Ukraine – Owen Matthews List: (History Extra)
140) Peach Blossom Spring – Melissa Fu List: (History Extra)
141) Persians – Professor Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones List: (Waterstones)
142) Photographs and the Practice of History – List: (History Today)
143) Picasso’s War: How Modern Art Came to America – Hugh Eakin List: (Amazon)
144) Portrait of a Thief: A Novel – Grace D. Li List: (NPR)
145) Prisoners of the Castle: An Epic Story of Survival and Escape from Colditz, the Nazis’ Fortress Prison – Ben Macintyre List: (Barnes & Noble)
146) Queens of the Age of Chivalry – Alison Weir List: (Waterstones)
147) Remnants of Partition – List: (History Today)
148) REQUIEM FOR THE MASSACRE – RJ Young List: (Kirkus)
149) Rise: A Pop History of Asian America from the Nineties to Now – Jeff Yang List: (Barnes & Noble)
150) Roadblock Politics: The Origins of Violence in Central Africa – Peer Schouten List: (Foreign Affairs)
151) Rogues: True Stories of Grifters, Killers, Rebels and Crooks – Patrick Radden Keefe List: (NPR)
152) Russia – Sir Rodric Braithwaite List: (Waterstones)
153) Rust in the Root – Justina Ireland List: (NPR)
154) Salafism and Political Order in Africa – Sebastian Elischer List: (Foreign Affairs)
155) Salmon P. Chase: Lincoln’s Vital Rival – Walter Stahr List: (NPR)
156) SAS Brothers in Arms – Damien Lewis List: (Waterstones)
157) Saving Yellowstone: Exploration and Preservation in Reconstruction America – Megan Kate Nelson List: (Smithsonian)
158) Science of Life and Death in Frankenstein – List: (History Today)
159) Scoundrel: How a Convicted Murderer Persuaded the Women Who Loved Him, the Conservative Establishment, and the Courts to Set Him Free – Sarah Weinman List: (NPR)
160) Second City: Birmingham and the Forging of Modern Britain – List: (The Telegraph)
161) Shadowlands – Matthew Green List: (Waterstones)
162) Slaying the Dragon: A Secret History of Dungeons & Dragons – List: (Goodreads)
163) Smahtguy: The Life and Times of Barney Frank – Eric Orner List: (NPR)
164) Small Island – Philip Parker List: (Waterstones)
165) SOUTH TO AMERICA – Imani Perry List: (Kirkus)
166) Spin Dictators: The Changing Face of Tyranny in the 21st Century – Sergei Guriev and Daniel Treisman List: (Foreign Affairs)
167) Stalin’s Library – List: (History Today)
168) States of Subsistence: The Politics of Bread in Contemporary Jordan – José Ciro Martínez List: (Foreign Affairs)
169) Straits: Beyond the Myth of Magellan – Felipe Fernández-Armesto List: (Financial Times)
170) Ten Cities that Led the World – Paul Strathern List: (Waterstones)
171) That Bonesetter Woman – Frances Quinn List: (History Extra)
172) The 1619 Project – Nikole Hannah-Jones List: (Booklist)
173) THE ABYSS – Max Hastings List: (Kirkus 2)
174) The Afghanistan Papers: A Secret History of the War – Craig Whitlock List: (Booklist)
175) The Age of the Strongman: How the Cult of the Leader Threatens Democracy Around the World – Gideon Rachman List: (Foreign Affairs)
176) THE ARC OF A COVENANT – Walter Russell Mead List: (Kirkus 2)
177) The Bald Eagle: The Improbable Journey of America’s Bird – Jack E. Davis List: (Amazon)
178) The Celts – Simon Jenkins List: (Waterstones)
179) The Chinese Question: The Gold Rushes and Global Politics – List: (History Today)
180) The Dark Queens: The Bloody Rivalry That Forged the Medieval World – List: (Goodreads)
181) The Digital Silk Road: China’s Quest to Wire the World and Win the Future – Jonathan E. Hillman List: (Foreign Affairs)
182) The Divorce Colony: How Women Revolutionized Marriage and Found Freedom on the American Frontier – April White List: (Smithsonian)
183) The Economic Weapon: The Rise of Sanctions as a Tool of Modern War – Nicholas Mulder List: (Foreign Affairs)
184) The Empress and the English Doctor – Lucy Ward List: (NYPL)
185) The End of Astronauts: Why Robots are the Future of Exploration – List: (History Today)
186) The Enlightenment: The Pursuit of Happiness 1680–1790 – Ritchie Robertson List: (Booklist)
187) The Fishermen and the Dragon – Kirk Wallace Johnson List: (NYPL)
188) The Future of Money: How the Digital Revolution Is Transforming Currencies and Finance – Eswar S. Prasad List: (Foreign Affairs)
189) The Georgians – Penelope J. Corfield List: (Waterstones)
190) The Global Merchants – Joseph Sassoon List: (Waterstones)
191) The Greatest Raid – Giles Whittell List: (Waterstones)
192) The Immortal King Rao – Vauhini Vara List: (NPR)
193) THE LAST CAMPAIGN – H.W. Brands List: (Kirkus)
194) The Last Days of the Ottoman Empire – Ryan Gingeras List: (Waterstones)
195) The Last Dreamwalker – Rita Woods List: (NPR)
196) The Letters of Oscar Hammerstein II – Mark Horowitz (editor) List: (NPR)
197) The Lighthouse of Stalingrad: The Hidden Truth at the Centre of WWII’s Greatest Battle – List: (History Today)
198) The Lion House – Christopher de Bellaigue List: (Waterstones)
199) The Memory Monster – List: (History Today)
200) The Monsters We Defy – Leslye Penelope List: (NPR)
201) The Newspaper Axis: Six Press Barons Who Enabled Hitler – Kathryn S. Olmsted List: (Foreign Affairs)
202) The Perils of Interpreting: The Extraordinary Lives of Two Translators between Qing China and the British Empire – List: (History Today)
203) The Posthumous Papers of the Manuscripts Club – Christopher de Hamel List: (Waterstones)
204) The Power Law: Venture Capital and the Making of the New Future – Sebastian Mallaby List: (NPR)
205) The Premonitions Bureau – Sam Knight List: (Waterstones)
206) The Price of Time: The Real Story of Interest – Edward Chancellor List: (Amazon)
207) The Reign – Life in Elizabeth’s Britain – Matthew Engel List: (Waterstones)
208) The Rupture Tense: Poems – Jenny Xie List: (NPR)
209) The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho – Paterson Joseph List: (History Extra)
210) The Ship Asunder – Tom Nancollas List: (Waterstones)
211) The Shortest History of the Soviet Union – Sheila Fitzpatrick List: (Waterstones)
212) The Siege of Loyalty House – List: (The Telegraph)
213) The Song of the Cell – Siddhartha Mukherjee List: (NYPL)
214) The Southernization of America: A Story of Democracy in the Balance – Cynthia Tucker and Frye Gaillard List: (NPR)
215) The Soviet Myth of World War II: Patriotic Memory and the Russian Question in the USSR – Jonathan Brunstedt List: (Foreign Affairs)
216) The Stasi Poetry Circle – Philip Oltermann List: (Waterstones)
217) The Strange Survival of Liberal Britain – List: (The Telegraph)
218) The World – Simon Sebag Montefiore List: (Waterstones)
219) The Wrath to Come – Sarah Churchwell List: (Waterstones)
220) There Is Nothing for You Here: Finding Opportunity in the Twenty-first Century – Fiona Hill List: (Foreign Affairs)
221) Things Are Never So Bad That They Can’t Get Worse: Inside the Collapse of Venezuela – William Neuman List: (Foreign Affairs)
222) Those We Throw Away Are Diamonds: A Refugee’s Search for Home – Mondiant Dogon and Jenna Krajeski List: (Booklist)
223) Tokyo Rose – Zero Hour: A Japanese American Woman’s Persecution and Ultimate Redemption After World War II – Andre Frattino List: (NPR)
224) Tutankhamun’s Trumpet – Toby Wilkinson List: (Waterstones)
225) Two English Coronation Ordines – List: (History Today)
226) Unsettled Land: From Revolution to Republic, the Struggle for Texas – Sam W. Haynes List: (Foreign Affairs)
227) Waging a Good War: A Military History of the Civil Rights Movement, 1954-1968 – Thomas E. Ricks List: (Barnes & Noble)
228) Warrior Queens & Quiet Revolutionaries – Kate Mosse List: (Waterstones)
229) WATERGATE – Garrett M. Graff List: (Kirkus)
230) Waterloo Sunrise – List: (The Telegraph)
231) We Don’t Know Ourselves: A Personal History of Modern Ireland – Fintan O’Toole List: (Foreign Affairs)
232) We the Miners: Self-Government in the California Gold Rush – Andrea G McDowell List: (Financial Times)
233) We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy – Ta-Nehisi Coates List: (Amazon)
234) What is Home, Mum? – Sabba Khan List: (NPR)
235) WHAT IT TOOK TO WIN – Michael Kazin List: (Kirkus)
236) When the Angels Left the Old Country – Sacha Lamb List: (NPR)
237) Where You Come From – List: (History Today)
238) White Debt – Thomas Harding List: (Waterstones)
239) Wild – Amy Jeffs List: (Waterstones)
240) Winning and Losing the Nuclear Peace: The Rise, Demise, and Revival of Arms Control – Michael Krepon List: (Foreign Affairs)
241) Winters in the World: A Journey through the Anglo-Saxon Year – Eleanor Parker List: (History Extra)
242) Wise Gals: The Spies Who Built the CIA and Changed the Future of Espionage – List: (Goodreads)
243) WOMAN – Lillian Faderman List: (Kirkus)



15 Best History Book Sources/Lists



SourceArticle
Amazon Best history books of 2022
Barnes & Noble Best History Books 2022
Booklist Top 10 History Books: 2022
Financial Times Best books of 2022: History
Foreign Affairs The Best of Books 2022
Goodreads Best History & Biography
History Extra 21 best books for history lovers: BBC History Magazine’s Books of the Year 2022
History Today Books of the Year 2022
Kirkus Best U.S. History Books of 2022
Kirkus 2 Best World History Books of 2022
NPR Books We Love – 2022
NYPL Best Books for Adults 2022
Smithsonian The Ten Best History Books of 2022
The Telegraph Best history books 2022: from Nazi Billionaires to Antony Beevor’s Russia
Waterstones The Best Books of 2022: History