History

History (from Greek ἱστορία - historia, meaning "inquiry, knowledge acquired by investigation") is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians. It is a field of research which uses a narrative to examine and analyse the sequence of events, and it sometimes attempts to investigate objectively the patterns of cause and effect that determine events. Historians debate the nature of history and its usefulness. This includes discu ...more

When Trees Testify: Science, Wisdom, History, and America’s Black Botanical Legacy
Neptune's Fortune: The Billion-Dollar Shipwreck and the Ghosts of the Spanish Empire
Fear and Fury: The Reagan Eighties, the Bernie Goetz Shootings, and the Rebirth of White Rage
Miracle Children: Race, Education, and a True Story of False Promises
The Typewriter and the Guillotine: An American Journalist, a German Serial Killer, and Paris on the Eve of WWII
American Reich: A Murder in Orange County, Neo-Nazis, and a New Age of Hate
The Einstein Vendetta: Hitler, Mussolini, and a True Story of Murder
The Oak and the Larch: A Forest History of Russia and Its Empires
Getting to Reparations: How Building a Different America Requires a Reckoning with Our Past
Opera Wars: Inside the World of Opera and the Battles for Its Future
Tom Paine's War: The Words That Rallied a Nation and the Founder for Our Time
What Do You Do When You're Lonesome: The Authorized Biography of Justin Townes Earle
Kings and Pawns: Jackie Robinson and Paul Robeson in America
The Discovery of Britain: An Accidental History
Being Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History
  • The Rebel Romanov by Helen Rappaport
    The Rebel Romanov
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    Release date: Feb 10, 2026
    Enter for a chance to win a book about a Romanov mostly lost to history--Julie, the aunt of Queen Victoria--from a NYT bestselling Romanov historian.
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    Availability: 20 copies available, 5588 people requesting

    Giveaway dates: Feb 06 - Feb 22, 2026

    Countries available: U.S. and Canada

  • Obstinate Daughters by Denise Kiernan
    Obstinate Daughters: The Rebels, Writers, and Renegade Women Who Ignited the American Revolution
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    Release date: Jun 23, 2026
    We're giving away 30 ARCs of this sweeping history that champions the unsung women of the American Revolution, from bestselling author Denise Kiernan ...more
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    Format: Print book

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    Availability: 30 copies available, 2824 people requesting

    Giveaway dates: Feb 02 - Feb 23, 2026

    Countries available: U.S.

  • Here Where We Live Is Our Country by Molly Crabapple
    Here Where We Live Is Our Country: The Story of the Jewish Bund
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    Release date: Apr 07, 2026
    We're giving away 5 copies of HERE WHERE WE LIVE IS OUR COUNTRY by Molly Crabapple. Enter today! ...more
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    Availability: 5 copies available, 1638 people requesting

    Giveaway dates: Jan 26 - Feb 23, 2026

    Countries available: U.S.

  • Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection
    A Marriage at Sea: A True Story of Love, Obsession, and Shipwreck
    107 Days
    The Friend of the Family
    The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder
    The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession
    1929: Inside the Greatest Crash in History – and How It Shattered a Nation
    Circle of Days
    The Diamond Eye
    The Personal Librarian
    Abundance
    The Marriage Portrait
    The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet
    Mona's Eyes
    Family of Spies
    Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtryTrue Grit by Charles PortisBlood Meridian, or, the Evening Redness in the West by Cormac McCarthyAll the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthyNo Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy
    Best Westerns
    1,386 books — 1,515 voters
    The Book Thief by Markus ZusakThe Diary of a Young Girl by Anne FrankNight by Elie WieselThe Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John BoyneNumber the Stars by Lois Lowry
    Well-Written Holocaust Books
    896 books — 2,892 voters

    The New Jim Crow by Michelle AlexanderBetween the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi CoatesThe Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm XBury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee BrownThe Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
    Books White People Need to Read
    1,348 books — 1,589 voters
    Kitchen Confidential by Anthony BourdainThe Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael PollanAnimal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara KingsolverFast Food Nation by Eric SchlosserIn Defense of Food by Michael Pollan
    Food-Related Non-Fiction
    1,228 books — 1,635 voters

    Things Fall Apart by Chinua AchebeThe Poisonwood Bible by Barbara KingsolverHalf of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi AdichieHeart of Darkness by Joseph ConradCry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton
    Africa (fiction and nonfiction)
    1,775 books — 1,652 voters
    The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne FrankThe Glass Castle by Jeannette WallsI Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya AngelouEat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth GilbertPersepolis by Marjane Satrapi
    Memoirs by Women
    3,075 books — 3,098 voters

    Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
    Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
    A People’s History of the United States: 1492 - Present
    The Diary of a Young Girl
    The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America
    1776
    SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome
    A Short History of Nearly Everything
    The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany
    1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus
    Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI
    Night
    Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West
    Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln
    Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption

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