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The 40 Most Popular Histories & Biographies...in Recent History
The last five years of world history have been nothing if not...eventful. When living in interesting times, there's nothing better for maintaining a sense of perspective than taking a look back at the past.
When looking at the most popular recent histories and biographies, readers have been engrossed in a huge variety historical accounts, from the last days of Chernobyl to a harrowing account of murder in 1970s Northern Ireland to the shocking history of 19th-century surgery.
Below are Goodreads members' 40 most popular histories and biographies of the last five years. These books are ranked in order of total reader reviews, and all of the books on this list have at least a 3.5-star average rating.
Scroll over the covers below to learn more about each book, and be sure to add the books that look particularly fascinating to your Want to Read shelf!
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#40
Which histories have made the biggest impact on you? Sound off in the comments below!
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Check out more recent articles:
54 Memoirs That Readers Are Raving About
30 New Reads for Very Bookish People
Chandler Baker's Reading List for Exhausted and Fed Up Women
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Jasmine
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Jul 29, 2021 06:51AM
Loved The Radium Girls, and I really enjoyed the Mr. Rogers and Robins Williams biographies.
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Walter Isaacson's biography of Da Vinci is wonderful.
I've only read (and rated and reviewed) #1 and #37, but I own a few others.Hero of the Empire is excellent, a nice supplement to a full biography of Winston Churchill (I recommend Andrew Roberts's Walking with Destiny). Like Alexander Hamilton, Churchill's is a life that even fiction couldn't imagine.
Read 6 of these books. #1, 3, 5, 7, 12 and 20. All were good reading.
I'm surprised that The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks was not in the top 40.
Bookfan wrote: "I'm surprised that The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks was not in the top 40."Good point!!!
Read Lost City of the Monkey Gods and Killers of the Flower Moon. Lost City was interesting.
Bookfan wrote: "I'm surprised that The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks was not in the top 40."I totally agree with you.
Bookfan wrote: "I'm surprised that The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks was not in the top 40."That book came out over 10 years ago; this list is only for books that came out in the last 5 years.
Bookfan wrote: "I'm surprised that The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks was not in the top 40."That was a great book!
David H. wrote: "Bookfan wrote: "I'm surprised that The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks was not in the top 40."That book came out over 10 years ago; this list is only for books that came out in the last 5 years."
It was that long ago?!
Boys On The Boat and 1776 is still my nonfiction history books
Out of the 40, I've already read 12 and have another 5 on my TBR shelf. Now I have a couple more to investigate
My teen autistic son and I listen to audiobooks together nearly every evening. I was surprised we've listened to 6 of these books with a few on our (my) TBR list. He was excited to see which books we've listened to made this list. We'll have to check out whether there is a science/technology list similar to this. That makes up a lot of the books we listen to as well.
Cindy wrote: "Read Lost City of the Monkey Gods and Killers of the Flower Moon. Lost City was interesting."I read Lost City of the Monkey Gods a few years back. What a great book.
Morgan wrote: "Bookfan wrote: "I'm surprised that The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks was not in the top 40."Good point!!!"
I agree!! This would be an excellent addition.
This is an excellent list. I have read "Killer of the Flower Moon", "Say Anything" and "Hidden Valley Road". I really enjoyed all three very much. I have several on my TBR shelf and this has motivated me to pick one of these for my next read. I realize now why "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" is not on this list...it is from 2011...too long ago.
