Our Bookshelf
Source books from Hour 1
The Dawn of Everything
David Graeber & David Wengrow
1491
Charles Mann
The Horse, the Wheel and Language
David W. Anthony
Guns, Germs and Steel
Jared Diamond
The World Before Us
Tom Higham
Source books from Hour 2
Gilgamesh: The Life of a Poem
Michael Shmidt
A History of Ancient Egypt Volume 2
John Romer
Red Land, Black Land: Daily Life in Ancient Egypt
Barbara Mertz
The City of Babylon: A History, C 1200 BC - AD 116
Stephanie Dalley
Babylon: Mesopotamia and the Birth of Civilization
Paul Krawaczek
Early India: From the Origins to AD 1300
Romila Thapar
The Indus: Lost Civilization
Andrew Robinson
Early China: A Social and Cultural History
Li Feng
Source books from Hour 3
Creators, Conquerors, and Citizens
Robin Waterfield
1777 BC: The Year Civilization Collapsed
Erik Cline
Early China: A Social and Cultural History
Li Feng
A History of Ancient Egypt Volume 2
John Romer
The Dawn of Everything
David Graeber and David Wengrow
Sea People: The Puzzle of Polynesia
Christina Thompson
Nubia: Lost Civilizations
Sarah M. Schellinger
Source books from Hour 4
The World’s Religions
Huston Smith
Which of Us are Aryans?: Rethinking the Concept of Our Origins
Romila Thapar
Time Pieces: A Whistle-Stop Tour of Ancient India
Nayanjot Lahiri
The City of Babylon: A History, C 1200 BC - AD 116
Stephanie Dalley
Babylon: Mesopotamia and the Birth of Civilization
Paul Krawaczek
Early India: From the Origins to AD 1300
Romila Thapar
1777 BC: The Year Civilization Collapsed
Erik Cline
Mexico: From the Olmecs to the Aztecs
Michael D Coe, Javier Urcid, Rex Koontz
The Canaanites
Mary Ellen Buck
Early China: A Social and Cultural History
Li Feng
A History of Ancient Egypt Volume 2
John Romer
Source books from Hour 5
Ancient Africa: A Global History, to 3000 CE
Christopher Ehret
The City of Babylon: A History, C 1200 BC - AD 116
Stephanie Dalley
Ancient Jomon of Japan
Junko Habu
The World’s Religions
Huston Smith
The Making of the Bible: From the First Fragments to Sacred Scripture
Konrad Shmid, Jens Schröter, Translated by Peter Lewis
The Canaanites
Mary Ellen Buck
Babylon: Mesopotamia and the Birth of Civilization
Paul Krawaczek
Nubia: Lost Civilizations
Sarah M. Schellinger
Source books from Hour 6
Incarnations: A History of India in Fifty Lives
Sunil Khilnani
Zoroastrianism: An Introduction
Jenny Rose
Persians: The Age of the Great Kings
Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones
Early India: From the Origins to AD 1300
Romila Thapar
The Horse, the Wheel and Language
David W. Anthony
The World’s Religions
Huston Smith
Which of Us are Aryans?: Rethinking the Concept of Our Origins
Romila Thapar
The Ancient Celts
Barry Cunliffe
Early China: A Social and Cultural History
Li Feng
Historical Fiction and Memoirs
In no order - a list of novels and memoirs that give a vivid picture of a time and place
A Constellation of Vital Phenomena
Anthony Marra
Wild Swans
Jung Chang
Pachinko
Min Jin Lee
7 Moons of Maali Almeida
Shehan Karunatilaka
Cloud Cuckoo Land
Anthony Doerr
Grapes of Wrath
John Steinbeck
Floating in the Most Peculiar Way
Louis Onuorah Chude-Sokei
Winds of War/War and Remembrance
Herman Wouk
Persepolis
Marjane Satrapi
The Regeneration Trilogy
Pat Barker
War and Peace
Leo Tolstoy
There, There
Tommy Orange
Lonesome Dove
Larry McMurtry
The Old Drift
Namwali Serpell
Can You Hear the Night Bird Call?
Anita Rau Badami
Wolf Hall
Hilary Mantel
The Amazing Adventures and Kavalier and Clay
Michael Chabon
Half a Yellow Sun
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
In the Country of Men
Hisham Matar
The House of the Spirits
Isabel Allende
The God of Small Things
Arundhati Roy
Reading Lolita in Tehran
Azar Nafisi
Giovanni’s Room
James Baldwin
Swimming in the Dark
Tomasz Jedrowski
Their Eyes Were Watching God
Zora Neale Hurston
North and South
Elizabeth Gaskell
History Books for Kids
When Stars Are Scattered
Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed
Foundations of Chinese Civilization
B-Jing Liu
A Little History of the World
E. H. Gombrich
Note: This book is stunning, I highly recommend it. BUT it was written in the thirties and definitely needs some adult help contextualizing the eurocentrism and language.
Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales
Nathan Hale
So Far From the Bamboo Grove
Yoko Kawashima Watkins
A Long Walk to Water
Linda Sue Park
The Book Thief
Markus Zusak
Boxers | Saints
Gene Luen Yang
History Podcasts
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The History Chicks
I love this podcast, warm and wonderfully well researched. Favorite episodes include Lillian Gilbreth, Queen Lili'uokalani, Mary Anning, Dowager Empress Cixi, Catherine the Great, and "Typhoid" Mary Mallon.
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The Tides of History
I especially love the interviews on this podcast. Some favorites are Interview With Shane Miller and Jessi Halligan on the White Sands Footprints and What was the Indus Valley Civilization? Interview with Dr. Adam Green.
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Fall of Civilizations
Also available as videos on Youtube. My favorite is Easter Island - Where Giants Walked.
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The Ancients
I especially love the interviews on this podcast. Some favorites are Ancient Polynesia: Pioneers of the Pacific and The Origins of Civilisation.
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You're Wrong About
Mostly about the United States in the 80s and 90s. I love so many of the old episodes but favorites include Political Correctness, Gangs, The “Ebonics” Controversy, The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill, and Disco Demolition Night.
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99% Invisible
Not a history podcast exactly, but many episodes cover historical events. Favorites include Freedom House Ambulance Service, and The Green Book.
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Constitutional
United States specific. Favorite episodes include Ancestry, Gender, and Fair Punishment.
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Stuff the British Stole
The name says it all. My favorite episodes are A Tiger and a Scream and Best Named Dog Ever.
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Black Cowboys
United States specific. Favorite episodes include Chief John Horse and Stagecoach Mary.