History

World History

A People's History of the World by Chris Harman ,

A Very Short History of the World by Geoffrey Blainey,

Ancient Mesopotamia 4000 BC-700 BC

Gilgamesh the King by Robert Silverberg--historical fiction based on The Epic of Gilgamesh,

Babylon: Mesopotamia and the Birth of Civilization by Paul Kriwaczek

Sargon of Akkad 2334 – 2279 BC

Sargon, King of Battle

Akkadian Empire 2334 BC - 2154 BC

The Cuthaean Legend of Naram-Sin

Assyria 2025 BC--609 BC

Assyria: The Rise and Fall of the World's First Empire by Eckart Frahm,

Tukulti-Ninurta Epic translated by Benjamin R. Foster,

Hymn to Tiglath-Pileser I,

Marduk Prophecy,

Ancient Israel 1200 BC-70 AD

The Bible--For information on the historical accuracy of the Bible, see the resources at the bottom of this link

King David 1000 BC

The Secret Chord by Geraldine Brooks,

Ancient Greece 800 BC-31 BC

Introduction to Ancient Greek History with Donald Kagan,

Greco-Persian Wars 499–449 BC

The Histories by Herodotus,

300 Graphic Novel by Frank Miller and Lynn Varley ,

King of Kings by Dan Carlin

Peloponnesian War 431–404 BC

The Peloponnesian War by Donald Kagan ,

Tyrant by Valerio Massimo Manfredi,

Tides of War by Steven Pressfield,

Alexander the Great 356 – 323 BC

Alexander the Great by Philip Freeman,

Alexander: Child of a Dream by Valerio Massimo Manfredi,

Alexander: The Sands of Ammon by Valerio Massimo Manfredi,

Alexander: The Ends of the Earth by Valerio Massimo Manfredi, 

Fire from Heaven by Mary Renault ,

The Persian Boy by Mary Renault, 
Funeral Games by Mary Renault,

Roman Empire 753 BC-476 AD

The History of Rome by Mike Duncan,

The History of Rome, Volume I: The Republic by Mike Duncan, 

Late Republican Period 133 BC-31 BC

The Brothers Gracchi by Extra History,

The Civil Wars by Appian of Alexandria,

Imperium by Robert Harris

Conspirata by Robert Harris,
Dictator by Robert Harris,

Caesar by Colleen McCullough

The October Horse by Colleen McCullough

The Storm Before the Storm by Mike Duncan ,

Rubicon by Tom Holland

Death Throes of the Republic by Dan Carlin,

Historia Civilis,

The Real Catiline,

Organized Gang Warfare in the Late Republic,

Julio-Claudian dynasty  27 BC-68 AD

Claudius the God by Robert Graves,

Caligula,

Mutiny in Pannonia,

I, Claudius,

Pontius Pilate by Paul L. Maier,

Imperial Rome 68-476

Pompeii by Robert Harris

Three Kingdoms Period: China 220-280

Three Kingdoms by Luo Guanzhong translated by Moss Roberts, 

Discourse of the Three Kingdoms Podcast,

Middle Ages: 476-1450

The Early Middle Ages, 284--1000 with Paul Freedman

History of Britain

This Sceptred Isle,

Monarchy From the Middle Ages to Modernity by David Starkey,

In Search of British Heroes by Tony Robinson

A History of Britain by Simon Schama,

The Decline and Fall of the British Empire: 1781-1997 by Piers Brendon

Richard II 1377-1399

The Hollow Crown: Richard II

Henry IV 1399 –1413

The Hollow Crown: Henry IV Part 1,

King Henry IV Part 2

Wars of the Roses 1455–1487

The Black Arrow by Robert Louis Stevenson

King Richard III by William Shakespeare ,

The White Queen,

The Borgias 1492-1503

The Borgias,

Henry VIII 1509 – 1547

The Tudors ,

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel ,

Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel ,

The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel

Munster Rebellion 1534-1535

Dan Carlin's Hardcore History 48 Prophets of Doom: A Review

Elizabeth I 1558 – 1603

Elizabeth ,
Elizabeth: The Golden Age ,

Tokugawa Ieyasu and the founding of the Tokugawa Shogunate 1600-1615

Samurai William by Giles Milton ,

Shogun by James Clavell,

Learning from Shogun, edited by Henry Smith

Thirty Years' War 1618-1648

The Three Musketeers,

1632 by Eric Flint

English Civil War and The Protectorate 1642 – 1659

Free-Born John by Pauline Gregg ,

The Butterfly in Amber by Kate Forsyth,

Rebels and Traitors by Lindsey Davis,

Twenty Years After by Alexandre Dumas,

The Vicomte De Bragelonne by Alexandre Dumas, 

The Devil's Whore,

Season 1: The English Revolution: Revolutions Podcast,

Louis XIV  1643 – 1715

The Vicomte De Bragelonne,

Ten Years Later,

Louise de la Valliere,

The Man in the Iron Mask

American Revolution 1765–1783

Paine by John Vail ,

For Liberty and Glory: Washington, Lafayette and Their Revolutions by James R. Gaines,

Hero of Two Worlds: The Marquis de Lafayette in the Age of Revolution by Mike Duncan,

Season 2: The American Revolution: Revolutions Podcast,

Hamilton,

The Age of Revolution 1789-1848

The Age of Revolution: 1789-1848 by Eric Hobsbawm,

Revolutions Podcast,

French Revolution 1789-1799

For Liberty and Glory: Washington, Lafayette and Their Revolutions by James R. Gaines,

Hero of Two Worlds: The Marquis de Lafayette in the Age of Revolution by Mike Duncan,

Paine by John Vail,

The Great Upheaval by Jay Winik,

Danton by Frank Dwyer,

Robespierre by S.L. Carson,

The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy,

Ninety-Three by Victor Hugo,

The Gods Will Have Blood by Anatole France,

La Révolution française (1989)--The French Revolution,

The Rose of Versailles,

Marie Antoinette (2006),

The Affair of the Necklace,

The Lasting Legacy of the French Revolution,

A Place of Greater Safety by Hilary Mantel,

Season 3: The French Revolution: Revolutions Podcast,

Napoleon/Napoleonic Wars 1799-1815

The First Total War by David Bell,

Talleyrand by Robin Harris,

Napoleon by Felix Markham,

Napoleon's Egypt by Juan Cole,

Napoleon by Leslie McGuire,

Waterloo,

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, 

Season 4: The Haitian Revolution: Revolutions Podcast,

Season 5: Spanish American Wars of Independence: Revolutions Pocast

Greek War of Independence 1821-1929

The Greek War of Independence by David Brewer ,

Revolution of 1830

Season 6: The Revolution of 1830: Revolutions Podcast,

Hero of Two Worlds: The Marquis de Lafayette in the Age of Revolution by Mike Duncan,

1842 retreat from Kabul

Flashman

First Anglo-Sikh War 1845-`846

Flashman and the Mountain of Light by George MacDonald Fraser

Revolutions of 1848

Revolutions of 1848 by Priscilla Robertson ,

Season 7: The Revolutions of 1848: Revolutions Podcast,

Royal Flash by George MacDonald Fraser

Queen Victoria 1837-1901

Queen Victoria by Deirdre Sherman ,

Charge of the Light Brigade 1854

Flashman at the Charge

Indian Rebellion of 1857

Flashman in the Great Game by George MacDonald Fraser

Second Opium War 1856-1860

Flashman and the Dragon by George MacDonald Fraser

Slavery in the United States 1776-1865

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass 

Beloved by Toni Morrison,

Flash for Freedom by George Macdonald Fraser,

12 Years a Slave,

A Parody (Heavenly Union) by Frederick Douglass,

The Farewell of a Virginia Slave Mother to her Daughters sold into Southern Bondage by John Greenleaf Whittier,

John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry 1859

Flashman and the Angel of the Lord by George MacDonald Fraser

American Civil War 1861-1865

A World on Fire by Amanda Foreman,

Lincoln (2012) ,

Richard Wagner 1813-1883

Wagner: A Documentary Study edited by Herbert Barth, Dietrich Mack, Egon Voss ,

Being Wagner: The Triumph of the Will by Simon Callow,

Karl Marx 1818-1843

Karl Marx: A Life by Francis Wheen
Karl Marx: An Intimate Biography by Saul Padover ,
Karl Marx: His Life and Enviroment by Isaiah Berlin ,

Marx's Das Kapital: A Biography by Francis Wheen,

The First International and After: Political Writings, Vol. 3 (Penguin Classics),

The Communist Manifesto,

Marx's Critique of the Family

Mikhail Bakunin 1814-1876

Bakunin, An Invention by Horst Bienek,

Bakunin on Revolutions Podcast,

The World that Never Was by Alex Butterworth

End of the Shogunate and the Meiji Restoration 1863-1868

The Last Shogun by Ryotaro Shiba ,

The Last Samurai,

Shinsengumi 1863-1869

Shinsengumi by Romulus Hillsborough ,

NHK Historical Drama: Shinsengumi!,

Gohatto,

When the Last Sword is Drawn

British expedition to Abyssinia 1868

Flashman on the March by George MacDonald Fraser

Franco-Prussian War and the Paris Commune 1870-1871

The Fall of Paris by Alistair Horne,

History of the Paris Commune by Prosper Olivier Lissagaray,

The Insurrectionist by Jules Valles,

Paris Babylon by Rupert Christiansen,

Revolution and Reaction: The Paris Commune 1871 by John Hick and Robert Tucker,

The World That Never Was: A True Story of Dreamers, Schemers, Anarchists, and Secret Agents by Alex Butterworth,

Louise Michel by Edith Thomas,

The Judgment of Paris by Ross King,

Clemenceau by Ted Gottfried,

Dirty Bertie: An English King Made in France by Stephen Clarke,

The Debacle by Emile Zola,

The Voice of the People by Jean Vautrin,

The Werewolf of Paris by Guy Endore,

Paris Commune Reading List,

Revolutions Podcast Season 8: The Paris Commune 

The Battle of Little Bighorn 1876

Flashman and the Redskins by George MacDonald Fraser

French Indochina 1862-1954

Colonial Cambodia’s “Bad Frenchmen”: The Rise of French Rule and the Life of Thomas Caraman, 1840-87 by Gregor Muller,

The French Presence in Cochinchina and Cambodia by Milton E. Osborne,

The Map of Lost Memories by Kim Fay,

The Roots of French Imperialism in Eastern Asia by John F. Cady,

The Way of the Kings by Andre Malraux,

Indochine

People's Will 1879-1887

To Kill a Tsar by Andrew Williams

Richard Francis Burton 1821-1890

Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton by Edward Rice,

The Scramble for Africa 1876—1912

The Scramble for Africa: 1876—1912 by Thomas Pakenham,

Three Empires on the Nile by Dominic Green ,

The Decline and Fall of the British Empire: 1781-1997 by Piers Brendon

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad,

The Dreyfus Affair 1894-1906

An Officer and a Spy by Robert Harris

The Life of Emile Zola,

Clemenceau by Ted Gottfried ,

Edwardian England 1901-1910

Dirty Bertie: An English King Made in France by Stephen Clarke,

Mr American by George MacDonald Fraser,

1905 Russian Revolution

The Battleship Potemkin,

Revolutions Podcast Season 10: The Russian Revolution

Mexican Revolution 1910-1920

Revolutions Podcast Season 9: The Mexican Revolution,

And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself,

Young Indiana Jones and the Curse of the Jackal (TV Movie),

World War I 1914-1918

Clemenceau by Ted Gottfried ,

All Quiet On the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque,

Revolutions Podcast Season 10: The Russian Revolution,

It is Sweet and Fitting by Wilfred Owen,

The Next War by Osbert Sitwell,

Russian Revolution 1917-1922

Lenin by John Haney ,

Conspirator: Lenin in Exile by Helen Rappaport,

Young Stalin by Simon Sebag Montefiore

Revolutions Podcast Season 10: The Russian Revolution

German Revolution/Rosa Luxemburg 1918

Red Rosa: A Graphic Biography of Rosa Luxemburg by Kate Evans,

Rosa by Jonathan Rabb,

The November 1918 Revolution series by Alfred Doblin,

Rosa Luxemburg,

Revolutions Podcast: The German Revolution,

Osugi Sakae 1885-1923

Osugi Sakae: Anarchist in Taisho Japan by Thomas Stanley,

History Books
A History of Malaysia by Barbara Watson Andaya and Leonard Y. Andaya [Second Edition],
A People's History of the World by Chris Harman ,
A Very Short History of the World by Geoffrey Blainey,
A World on Fire by Amanda Foreman,

Assyria: The Rise and Fall of the World's First Empire by Eckart Frahm,

Babylon: Mesopotamia and the Birth of Civilization by Paul Kriwaczek,

Fire Across the Sea: The Vietnam War and Japan by Thomas Havens ,
History of the Paris Commune by Prosper Oliver Lissagaray ,
In Search of British Heroes by Tony Robinson

Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann,
Learning from Shogun, edited by Henry Smith ,

Mayday 1971 by Lawrence Roberts,
Monarchy From the Middle Ages to Modernity by David Starkey,
Paris Babylon by Rupert Christiansen

Race of a Lifetime by John Heilemann & Mark Halperin,
Revolution and Reaction: The Paris Commune 1871 by John Hick and Robert Tucker ,
Revolutions of 1848 by Priscilla Robertson ,
Rubicon by Tom Holland--Addendum,
Shinsengumi by Romulus Hillsborough ,
Sideshow: Kissinger, Nixon and the Destruction of Cambodia by William Shawcross, Addendum
The Age of Revolution: 1789-1848 by Eric Hobsbawm ,
The Civil Wars by Appian of Alexandria,
The Decline and Fall of the British Empire: 1781-1997 by Piers Brendon
The Fall of Paris by Alistair Horne,
The First Total War by David Bell ,
The French Presence in Cochinchina and Cambodia by Milton E. Osborne,

The Great Upheaval by Jay Winik ,

The Greek War of Independence by David Brewer ,

The Histories by Herodotus,

The History of Rome, Volume I: The Republic by Mike Duncan, 

The Intellectuals and the Masses by John Carey,

The Judgment of Paris by Ross King ,

The Peloponnesian War by Donald Kagan ,

The Roots of French Imperialism in Eastern Asia by John F. Cady ,

The Scramble for Africa: 1876—1912 by Thomas Pakenham,

The Storm Before the Storm by Mike Duncan ,

The World that Never Was by Alex Butterworth

Three Empires on the Nile by Dominic Green ,

(For my favorites from this list, see HERE)

Biography /Autobiography/ Memoirs
Alexander the Great by Philip Freeman,
Being Wagner: The Triumph of the Will by Simon Callow,
Bound for Glory by Woody Guthrie,
Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton by Edward Rice,
Clemenceau by Ted Gottfried ,
Colonial Cambodia’s “Bad Frenchmen”: The Rise of French Rule and the Life of Thomas Caraman, 1840-87 by Gregor Muller ,
Conspirator: Lenin in Exile by Helen Rappaport,
Danton by Frank Dwyer ,
Dirty Bertie: An English King Made in France by Stephen Clarke,
For Liberty and Glory: Washington, Lafayette and Their Revolutions by James R. Gaines,
Free-Born John by Pauline Gregg,

Hero of Two Worlds: The Marquis de Lafayette in the Age of Revolution by Mike Duncan,

Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell ,
Karl Marx: A Life by Francis Wheen
Karl Marx: An Intimate Biography by Saul Padover ,
Karl Marx: His Life and Enviroment by Isaiah Berlin ,
Lenin by John Haney ,

Louise Michel by Edith Thomas ,

Napoleon by Felix Markham ,

Napoleon by Leslie McGuire ,

Napoleon's Egypt by Juan Cole ,

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass 

Osugi Sakae: Anarchist in Taisho Japan by Thomas Stanley,

Paine by John Vail ,

Queen Victoria by Deirdre Sherman ,

Red Rosa: A Graphic Biography of Rosa Luxemburg by Kate Evans,

Robespierre by S.L. Carson ,

Samurai William by Giles Milton ,

Shakespeare: The World as a Stage by Bill Bryson

Talleyrand by Robin Harris ,

The Child by Jules Valles,

The Insurrectionist by Jules Valles,

The Life of Mahatma Gandhi by Louis Fischer ,

Wagner: A Documentary Study edited by Herbert Barth, Dietrich Mack, Egon Voss ,

We Are Your Sons: The Legacy of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg by Robert and Michael Meeropol,

Young Stalin by Simon Sebag Montefiore

Historical Fiction
300 Graphic Novel by Frank Miller and Lynn Varley ,

A Place of Greater Safety by Hilary Mantel,

Alexander: Child of a Dream by Valerio Massimo Manfredi,

Alexander: The Ends of the Earth by Valerio Massimo Manfredi, 
Alexander: The Sands of Ammon by Valerio Massimo Manfredi,
An Officer and a Spy by Robert Harris,
Becoming Madame Mao by Anchee Min

Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel ,

Caesar by Colleen McCullough
Claudius the God by Robert Graves ,
Conspirata by Robert Harris,
Dictator by Robert Harris,
Fire from Heaven by Mary Renault ,
Funeral Games by Mary Renault,
Imperium by Robert Harris
King Richard III by William Shakespeare ,

Pontius Pilate by Paul L. Maier,
The Last Card by Hans Hellmut Kirst ,
The Last Shogun by Ryotaro Shiba ,

The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel

The October Horse by Colleen McCullough
The Persian Boy by Mary Renault, 
The Secret Chord by Geraldine Brooks ,

Three Kingdoms by Luo Guanzhong translated by Moss Roberts, 

Tyrant by Valerio Massimo Manfredi,

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel ,

(For my definition of historical fiction, see HERE)

Podcasts, Radio Shows, Youtube Shows

* Catherine the Great by Extra History

* Dan Carlin's Hardcore History 48 Prophets of Doom: A Review

* Death Throes of the Republic by Dan Carlin

* Historia Civilis

* Introduction to Ancient Greek History with Donald Kagan

* King of Kings by Dan Carlin

* Ned Kelly by Extra History

* Revolutions Podcast

--Season 1: The English Revolution 

--Season 2: The American Revolution

--Season 3: The French Revolution

--Season 4: The Haitian Revolution

--Season 5: Spanish American Wars of Independence

--Season 6: The Revolution of 1830 

--Season 7: The Revolutions of 1848

--Season 8: The Paris Commune

--Season 9: The Mexican Revolution

--Season 10: The Russian Revolution

--The Appendices

* The Brothers Gracchi by Extra History

* The Early Middle Ages, 284--1000 with Paul Freedman

* The History of Rome by Mike Duncan

* This Sceptred Isle--I never gave it a full review, but referenced it HERE and HERE

Movies and TV Shows

Documentaries

A History of Britain by Simon Schama,

An Anarchist's Story: Ethel MacDonald ,
Asahi News Reels, The Showa Years / 昭和　朝日ニュース映画,

Berkeley in the Sixties,
Best of Enemies 10 Stars
Bible Mysteries,
The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution 9 Stars
El Che ,
George Harrison: Living in the Material World 7 Stars
Mai 68 Grands Soirs et Petits Matins ,

Pete Seeger: The Power of Song,
The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers ,
The People Speak 4 Stars
Scottsboro: An American Tragedy,

The Untold History of the United States TV series by Oliver Stone and Peter Kuznick,

The Vietnam War by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick , (first thoughts)
Vietnam: The 10,000 Day War ,
The World At War

Dramatizations / Biopics
12 Years a Slave 9 Stars
The Affair of the Necklace ,
All the Way 10 Stars
American Crime Story: The People v. O. J. Simpson ,
American Gangster ,
And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself,
The Battleship Potemkin,
The Borgias,
A Bridge Too Far 3 Stars
Carlos,
Charlie Wilson's War ,
Chicago 10 ,
The Choice of Hercules/ 突入せよ！あさま山荘事件,
Conspiracy: The Trial of the Chicago 8 (Thoughts after Re-Watching),
The Devil's Whore (Thoughts After Re-watching) ,
Elizabeth ,
Elizabeth: The Golden Age ,
Flags of our Fathers ,
Frost / Nixon ,
Game Change ,
Get On Up 1 Star
Gohatto / 御法度,
Good Night and Good Luck ,
Hatfields and McCoys ,
The Hollow Crown: Henry IV Part 1 7 Stars
The Hollow Crown: Richard II 7 Stars

I, Claudius,
The Iron Lady 3 Stars
J. Edgar ,
Lawrence of Arabia ,
The King’s Speech ,
Letters from Iwo Jima ,

Lincoln (2012) ,
Lumumba ,
Marie Antoinette (2006) ,
The Men Who Stare at Goats ,
Men of Yamato /男たちの大和,
Milk ,
Mutiny on the Bounty ,
NHK Historical Drama: Shinsengumi! / NHK 大河ドラマ新撰組！
North Country,
Nuremburg ,
Path to War ,
Patton ,
The Queen ,
The Rat Pack ,
Recount,La Révolution française (1989)--The French Revolution 10 Stars
Rosa Luxemburg 8 Stars
The Rose of Versailles / ベルサイユのばら　
Ruby Bridges, 

Selma 9 Stars
Sophie Scholl: The Final Days ,
Tora! Tora! Tora!,
The Trial of the Chicago 7, 8 Stars
Trumbo 8 Stars
The Tudors ,
Valkyrie 6 Stars
W. ,
Walk the Line ,
Waterloo ,
When the Last Sword is Drawn /壬生義士伝,

The White Queen,
The Wolf of Wall Street 6 Stars

Young Guns 2 ,
Zodiac,

History Playlist HERE

Biopic Playlist HERE

Ancient History Playlist HERE

Historical Fiction Playlist HERE