Best historical books categorized

[avesta]

I noticed that it has been some time since the Recommended Historical Books Thread was updated, so I have taken it on myself to get it all organized. I have drawn my format from the OP by Avesta made so long ago, but changed his categories and then mined the thread for as many books as I could. As I have more time I may include links in the post to where you can buy them, but right now we will have to settle for Title and Author. Some categories will feature a particularly prolific author, and so I will have books by just that author first.

DISCLAIMER: I am an American, and an avid student of the West and its history. This means that I fully acknowledge my bias to the Western world, and so I am well aware of the sizable gaps in this list, and am particularly receptive to advice about non western history.

Here is a list of historical novels compiled by Aldgarkalaughske, if those interest you. I will be constricting this list to purely historical books as much as possible, with a notable exception to contemporary histories.

I would also like to thank the poster Switch, who recompiled the OP some time ago in Post #188. I have incorporated an edited version of his list into my own.
General Histories

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These are books that cover such broad subject matter that it is very difficult to list them under one of our other categories. Note that some of the authors in the general category also have books under the different topics as well.

John Keegan

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A History of Warfare
The Mask of Command
Intelligence in Warfare
The Face of Battle: A Study of Agincourt, Waterloo and the Somme
The Price of Admiralty

Victor Davis Hanson

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Ripples of Battle
The Father of Us All: War and History, Ancient and Modern
Carnage and Culture

Guns Germs and Steel - Jared Diamond
Note that Guns and Carnage offer very different reasons for the predominance of Western Civilization.
On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society - David Grossman
On War - Clausewitz
Soul of the Sword - Robert O’Connell

Ancient/Classical Civilizations

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Greco- Persian

I have grouped these two as their histories are so entwined with each other, I may separate them depending on the volume of works that are on the list.
Contemporary Accounts

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These are books that were written during the Classical time period, they are often lacking in facts and feature some questionable assertions, but are nevertheless invaluable as some of the only primary sources that we have and a critical window into the Ancient world
Hellenica - Xenophon
Anabasis - Xenophon
The Illiad, The Odyssey - Homer
The Peloponnesian War - Thucydides
The Histories - Herodotus

General

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The Spartans - Paul Cartledge
The Greeks: A Portrait of Self and Others - Paul Cartledge
The Peloponnesian War - David Kagan
Democracy and Classical Greece - JK Davis
Persian Fire - Tom Holland
Soldiers and Ghosts - J. E. Lendon
Victor Davis Hanson

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The Western Way of War: Infantry Battle in Classical Greece
Warfare and Agriculture in Classical Greece
A War Like No Other: How the Athenians and Spartans Fought the Peloponnessian War

Alexander and The Successor Kingdoms

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The Greek World after Alexander - Graham Shipley
The Legacy of Alexander: Politics, Warfare and Propaganda, Under the Successors - A.B Bosworth
The Seleucid Army: Organization and Tactics in the Great Campaigns - Bezalel Bar-Kochva
Dividing the Spoils: The War for Alexander the Great’s Empire - Robin Waterfield
Alexander the Great at War: His Army - His Battles - His Enemies - Ruth Sheppard
The Campaigns of Alexander - Arrian

The Roman Empire

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Contemporary

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Germanics - Tacitus
Gallic Wars - Julius Caesar
The History of Rome - Livy
The Rise of the Roman Empire - Polybius
The Later Roman Empire - Ammianus Marcellinus
The Aeneid - Virgil
Note: The Aeneid is Rome’s self invented classical poem. While there is not much historical information here, it does allow priceless insight into what Roman Culture valued

Collected Works of Adrian Goldsworthy -

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http://www.adriangoldsworthy.com/books.htm
Goldsworthy is generally considered the foremost modern historian on Rome. All of his books are excellent reads and highly informative

General

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The Roman Army: The Greatest War Machine of the Ancient World - Chris McNab
The Fall of the Roman Empire: A New History of Rome and the Barbarians
The Roman Revolution by Ronald Syme
Cannae -Gregory Daily
The Fall of Rome and the End of Civilization - Bryan Ward-Perkins
The Roman Emperors - Michael Grant
The Day of the Barbarians - Alessandro Barbero
From The Gracchi to Nero - H. Scullard
Twilight of Empire: The Roman Army from the reign of Diocletian to the battle of Adrianople.- Martjin Nicasie
The Punic Wars - N. Bagnall

Notable Individual Romans -

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Caesar: Politician and Statesman - Matthias Gelzer
Scipio Africanus : Greater than Napoleon - B.H. Liddell Hart
Augusts: The Life of Rome’s First Emperor - Anthony Everitt

Post Classical and Medieval

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Byzantine Empire

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John Julius Norwich

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Byzantium: The Early Centuries
Byzantium: The Apogee
Byzantium: The Decline and Fall
A Short History of Byzantium

Lost to the West: The Forgotten Byzantine Empire - Lars Brownworth
Sailing from Byzantium: How a Lost Empire Shaped the World - Colin Wells
The Fall of Constantinople - Steven Runciman

Rise of Islam

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The Great Arab Conquests: How the Spread of Islam Changed the World We Live In - Paul Kennedy
The Prophet and the Age of the Caliphates, 600-1050 -Paul Kennedy
The Formation of Islam: Religion and Society in the Near East - Jonathan Berkey
Tamerlane: Sword of Islam, Conqueror of the New World - Justin Marozzi

Ottoman Empire

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Osman’s Empire: The History of the Ottoman Empire - Caroline Finkel
Ottoman War’s: An Empire Besieged - Virginia Aksan

European Medieval

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Battles of the Medieval World - Dougherty et. al.
The Hundred Years War: The English in France 1337-1453 - Desmond Seward
Battlefields of England - Alfred Burne
The Crecy War - Alfred Burne
Agincourt: Henry V and the Battle that Made England - Juliet Barker
The Northern Crusades: Second Edition - Eric Christiansen


Crusades

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There are so many of these that I decided to give them a sub category
The First Crusade - Thomas Asbridge
Steven Runciman’s History of the Crusades

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Vol. I - The First Crusade and the Foundations of the Kingdom of Jerusalem
Vol. II - The Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Frankish East
Vol. III - The Kingdom of Acre and the Later Crusades

1500-1900

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General

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The Rise and Fall of the British Empire - Lawrence James
The Decline and Fall of the British Empire - Piers Brendon
Pax Britannica Trilogy - James Morris
Iron Kingdom: The Rise and Fall of Prussia 1600-1947 - C. Clark
Warfare in the Eighteenth Century - Jeremy Black

Renaissance Era

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The English Civil War - Peter Young and Richard Holmes
The Thirty Years War: Europe’s Tragedy - Peter Wilson

Enlightenment

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Crucible of War: The Seven Year’s War and the Fate of Empire in British North America - Fred Anderson -Personal Note- Anderson provides lots of nice stories at the beginning of chapters about the people involved in that section of the book. Many of them are hilarious.
1776 - David McCullough
The Oxford History of the French Revolution - William Doyle
Military Experience in the Age of Reason - Christopher Duffy

Napoleonic

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Mosow 1812: Napoleon’s Fatal March - Adam Zamoyski
Russia against Napoleon: The True Story of the Campaigns of War and Peace - Dominic Lieven
The Campaigns of Napoleon - David Chandler - Personal Note - Its pricy, if you can grab it at a library do that.
Napoleon’s Marshals - R.F. Delderfield
The Battle: A New History of Waterloo - Alessandro Barbero
Nelson’s Navy: The Ships, Men and Organization 1793-1815 - Brian Lavery
Nelson’s Trafalgar: The Battle that Changed the World - Roy Adkins

Post Napoleonic

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The Franco-Prussian War: The German Conquest of France 1870-1871 - Geoffery Wawro
Rorke’s Drift - Adrian Greaves
The Crimean War - Orlando Figres

20th Century

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First World War

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The First World War - John Keegan
The Guns of August - Barbara Tuchman
The Price of Glory: Verdun 1916 - Alistair Horne
Gallipoli - Alan Moorehead
The Somme: The Darkest Hour on the Western Front - Peter Hart

Second World War

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General

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The Second World War - John Keegan
History of the Second World War - B.H. Liddell Hart
The German Generals Talk (Also known as “The Other Side of the Hill”) - B.H. Liddell Hart
Inferno: The World at War 1939-1945 - Max Hastings
All Hell Let Loose - Max Hastings

General (Memoirs and Biographies)

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Panzer Leader -Heinz Guderian
Lost Victories: The War Memoirs of Hitler’s Most Brilliant General - Hart/Manstein
Helmet for My Pillow: From Parris Island to The Pacific - Robert Leckie
With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa - E.B. Sledge
In Deadly Combat: A German Soldiers Memoir of the Eastern Front - Gottlob Bidermann
Black Edelweiss: A Memoir of Combat and Conscience by a Soldier of the Waffen-SS - Johann Voss
Winston Churchill - The Second World War

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Personal Note - B.H. Liddell Hart notes a handful of errors in Churchills otherwise excellent works. Remember that much of this was written shortly after the war, and so he did not have as ready access to Nazi records to check his figures against.
Vol. I - The Gathering Storm
Vol II. - Their Finest Hour
Vol III. - The Grand Alliance
Vol IV. - The Hinge of Fate
Vol V. - Closing the Ring
Vol VI. Triumph and Tragedy

Europe

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No Simple Victory: World War II in Europe 1939-1945-Norman Davies
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich - William Shirer
Armageddon: The Battle for Germany 1944-45 - Max Hastings

Western Front

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Stephen Ambrose

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Authors Note: I have included them, but Ambrose’s works should be taken with a heavy pinch of salt.
Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler’s Nest
Citizen Soldiers
The Victors: Eisenhower and His Boys

Six Armies in Normandy - John Keegan
Atlantic Campaign - Dan Van Der Vat
A Bridge Too Far - Cornelius Ryan
Battle: Story of the Bulge - John Toland
To Lose a Battle: France 1940 - Alistair Horne

Eastern Front

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Ivan’s War: Life and Death in the Red Army 1939-1945 - Catherine Merridale
Stalingrad: The Fateful Siege: 1942-1943 - Antony Beevor
The Fall of Berlin 1945 - Antony Beevor
Rising ‘44: The Battle for Warsaw - Norman Davies

David Glantz

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Personal Note - I particularly enjoy reading Glantz because he actively tries to counter decades of misconceptions generated by the secrecy surrounding Soviet history and the misconceptions and erroneous analysis of the German general staff and intelligence services.
Stumbling Colossus: The Red Army on the Eve of War
Colossus Reborn: The Red Army at War 1941-1943
When Titans Clashed: How the Red Army Stopped Hitler
Slaughterhouse: The Handbook of the Eastern Front

Pacific

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Pacific Ocean

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Eagle Against the Sun: The American War with Japan - Ronald Spector
Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors: The Extraordinary World War II Story of the U.S. Navy’s Finest Hour - James Hornfischer Personal Note - This book is absolutely amazing in the way its brings the people involved to life, and gives an incredibly vivid account of the battle itself. Incredible heroism from both the IJN and USN sailors and aviators.
The Ultimate Battle: Okinawa 1945 - The Last Epic Struggle of World War II - Bill Sloan
Unsung Heroes of World War II: The Story of the Navajo Code Talkers -Deanne Durrett
Guadalcanal: The Definitive Account of the Landmark Battle - Richard Frank
Utmost Savagery: The Three Days of Tarawa - Joseph Alexander
Retribution: The Battle for Japan 1944-45 - Max Hastings
The Battle for Leyte Gulf: The Incredible Story of World War II’s Largest Naval Battle - C. Vann Woodward
The Battle of Midway - Craig Symonds

The Subcontinent/China

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The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II - Iris Chang
The Burma Road: The Epic Story of the China-Burma-India Theater in World War II - Donovan Webster
The Burma Campaign: Disaster into Triumph 1942-1945

Cold War

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The Korean War - Max Hastings

A Savage War of Peace: Algeria 1954-1962 - Alistair Horne

A Street Without Joy: The French Debacle in Indochina - Bernard Fall
Hell in a Very Small Place - Bernard Fall
The Village - Bing West
We Were Soldiers Once, And Young - Galloway, Moore
Vietnam: A History - Stanley Karnow


The Arab-Israeli Wars - Chaim Herzog and Shlomo Gazit

Modern History (After the fall of the USSR)

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The Iraq War - John Keegan
Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq - Thomas E. Ricks
The Gamble: General David Petraeus and the American Military Adventure in Iraq - Thomas E. Ricks
Bing West

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No True Glory: A Frontline Account of the Battle for Fallujah
The March Up: Taking Baghdad with the US Marines - Personal Note - Coauthored with John Keegan
The Strongest Tribe - War, Politics, and the Endgame in Iraq
The Wrong War: Grit, Strategy, and the Way out of Afghanistan

OP updated, with thanks to Nevins for the rewrite.

[liam_bleu]

Major Battles/Wars:

15 Decisive battles of the World from Marathon to Waterloo by Sir Edward Creasy

- this really book really gave me a more in depth look on tactics and the its significance on history..
- though somewhat euro-centric, that aside, its a great resource

Miscellaneous:

The Prince and the Discourses by Niccollo Machiavelli

- provided the first unromanticized look on the potentials of power
- chronicled the realities of politics

[Romanos]

ROMAN HISTORTY
-------------------------------------

-In The Name of Rome The man who won the Roman Empire
-Adrian Goldsworthy

-Caesar life of a Colossus
-Adrian Goldsworthy

-Fall of Carthage:the Punic wars 264-146 B.C
-Adrain Goldsworthy

ANCIENT GREEK
--------------------------------------

-The Spartans
-Paul Cartledge

-The Peloponnesian War
-Donald Kagan

[therussian]

Empires
Byzantine History
Byzantium: The Early Centuries by John Julius Norwich


Byzantium: The Apogee by John Julius Norwich


Byzantium: The Decline and Fall by John Julius Norwich



Major Battles/Wars
The Battle: 100 by Michael Lee Lanning


Carnage and Culture by Victor Hanson

[avesta]

Thanks guys. I added them in the original post.

[Carach]

Empire

Niall Ferguson's "Empire - How Britain Made the Modern World" is a great book about the British Empire, its rise and its fall, and everything inbetween.

Leaders

"Churchill and America" by Martin Gilbert - title says it all - churchill's relationship with america, its leaders, his personal life, etc etc.

[Marcus Scaurus]

I throw in everything written by:
- John Keegan
- Antony Beevor
- Stephen Ambrose
- Adrian Goldsworthy
- J.F.C. Fuller

[RusskiSoldat]

World War - The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman.
Best book ever without a doubt.

[Osceola]

I see theres a rather glaring absence of samurai history..

Samurai Invasion - The Other Korean War

By, Steven Turnbull

Gives a huge, in depth analysis of probably the most ignored major conflict in world history, Toyotomi Hideyoshi's invasion of Korea.

[balleny]

War
Thukydides: The Peloponnesian War

Empires
Tacitus: Annales
Georgios Phrantzes, The Fall of the Byzantine Empire

(Civil)war + Empire
Ronald Syme: The Roman Revolution

[Marcus Scaurus]

Publius Cornelius Tacitus

- Annales
- Histories
- Agricola
- Germania

[Bobicus]

I will add "The Decline and fall of the Roman Empire" by Edward Gibbon I haven't actually read it yet, but it's pretty thick (6 cm, and I should add that this is an abridged version), so it must be good.

Also, the copyright appears to be 1960, but because of the nature of the topic, I can't imagine it's too outdated, if at all.

[Muizer]

I will add "The Decline and fall of the Roman Empire" by Edward Gibbon I haven't actually read it yet, but it's pretty thick (6 cm, and I should add that this is an abridged version), so it must be good.

Also, the copyright appears to be 1960, but because of the nature of the topic, I can't imagine it's too outdated, if at all.

It's a classic apparently, but, as it was written in the late 18th century, these days more known for its influence on the scholarly tradition than factual accuracy as far as I'm aware.

[Kscott]

It's a classic apparently, but, as it was written in the late 18th century, these days more known for its influence on the scholarly tradition than factual accuracy as far as I'm aware.

Correct. The info in it is almost universally disputed, but Gibbons was a very important modern historian and as such his works show us good insights into his time and its influence over the development of the historic field.

[Romanos]

Thermopylae: The Battle That Changed the World
by Paul Cartledge

[Kscott]

Thermopylae: The Battle That Changed the World
by Paul Cartledge

lol I was considering buying that book, but in the end it simply did not intrest me.

[Romanos]

lol I was considering buying that book, but in the end it simply did not intrest me.

Why not, The books seem very interasting.

[Kscott]

Why not, The books seem very interasting.

Well it was not about the Steppe so that hurt it a little in my eyes. But really its not about a specific person. I find books on people to be the most enjoyable. History is nothing without the people who drived it. Learning what the Goths ate and drank may have some value, but learning what drove Alaric to attack rome for example has much more importance. Also books centered around a person are extremely indepth and as a result you learn a signifigant amount about the whole era as a whole.

But, yea I can see how it may looking intresting to some, hence why i considered it. But in the end in simply didnt not match to my intrests. Im thinking Babur's autobiography will be the next book I read, and much more aligned with my personal tastes.

[Ragabash]

The Complete Roman Army, by Adrian Goldsworthy

[Spartan19]

Anything by Victor Davis Hanson is great. He is the best modern military historian in my opinion.
"Wars of the Ancient Greeks" by V.D.H. is a great book as well, it should be on the list.