“What are the best History books released in 2019?” We looked at 154 of the top History books, aggregating and ranking them so we could answer that very question!

The top 23 books, all appearing on 2 or more “Best History” book lists, are ranked below by how many times they appear. The remaining 125+ titles, as well as the sources we used, are in alphabetical order on the bottom of the page.

Our other Best Of 2019 Articles:

• The Best Young Adult Books
• The Best Science Fiction And Fantasy Books
• The Best Science And Nature Books
• The Best Mystery, Horror, and Thriller Books
• The Best Nonfiction Books
• The Best History Books
• The Best Fiction Books
• The Best Cookbooks
• The Best Graphic Novels And Comics
• The Best Biography And Memoir Books
• The Best Art And Photography Books
• The Best Kids, Children, and Youth Books
• The Best Poetry Books

Our Other Years: 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015

Happy Scrolling!

Top 23 Best History Books From 2019

23 .) American Radicals: How Nineteenth-Century Protest Shaped the Nation written by Holly Jackson

Lists It Appears On:

• Smithsonian Magazine
• The Pietist Schoolman

A dynamic, timely history of nineteenth-century activists—free-lovers and socialists, abolitionists and vigilantes—and the social revolution they sparked in the turbulent Civil War era “In the tradition of Howard Zinn’s people’s histories, American Radical

22 .) First: Sandra Day O’Connor written by Evan Thomas

Lists It Appears On:

• Goodreads
• NPR

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The intimate, inspiring, and authoritative biography of Sandra Day O’Connor, America’s first female Supreme Court justice, drawing on exclusive interviews and first-time access to Justice O’Connor’s archives—by the New York Time

21 .) Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, And The Last Trial Of Harper Lee written by Casey Cep

Lists It Appears On:

• Amazon
• NPR

SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2019 BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION ‘A triumph on every level. One of the losses to literature is that Harper Lee never found a way to tell a gothic true-crime story she’d spent years researching. Casey Cep has excavated this mes

20 .) Lakota America: A New History of Indigenous Power written by Pemma Hämäläinen

Lists It Appears On:

• Smithsonian Magazine
• The Pietist Schoolman

The first comprehensive history of the Lakota Indians and their profound role in shaping America’s history This first complete account of the Lakota Indians traces their rich and often surprising history from the early sixteenth to the early twenty†‘first

19 .) Madame Fourcade’s Secret War: The Daring Young Woman Who Led France’s Largest Spy Network Against Hitler written by Lynne Olson

Lists It Appears On:

• Goodreads
• NPR

The little-known true story of the woman who headed the largest spy network in Vichy France during World War II. In 1941, a thirty-one-year-old Frenchwoman, a young mother born to privilege and known for her beauty and glamour, became the leader of Allianc

18 .) Our Man: Richard Holbrooke and the End of the American Century written by George Packer

Lists It Appears On:

• The Pietist Schoolman
• NPR

“Portrays Holbrooke in all of his endearing and exasperating self-willed glory…Both a sweeping diplomatic history and a Shakespearean tragicomedy… If you could read one book to comprehend American’s foreign policy and its quixotic forays into quicksand

17 .) Spying On The South: An Odyssey Across The American Divide written by Tony Horwitz

Lists It Appears On:

• Smithsonian Magazine
• NPR

The New York Times-bestselling final book by the beloved, Pulitzer-Prize winning historian Tony Horwitz. With Spying on the South, the best-selling author of Confederates in the Attic returns to the South and the Civil War era for an epic adventure on the

16 .) The Cigarette: A Political History written by Sarah Milov

Lists It Appears On:

• Smithsonian Magazine
• The Pietist Schoolman

The story of tobacco’s fortunes seems simple: science triumphed over addiction and profit. Yet the reality is more complicated—and more political. Historically it was not just bad habits but also the state that lifted the tobacco industry. What brought abo

15 .) The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed By Jack The Ripper written by Hallie Rubenhold

Lists It Appears On:

• Dan Jones
• Goodreads

Miscast in the media for nearly 130 years, the victims of Jack the Ripper finally get their full stories told in this eye-opening and chilling reminder that life for middle-class women in Victorian London could be full of social pitfalls and peril.

14 .) The Ghosts of Eden Park: The Bootleg King, the Women Who Pursued Him, and the Murder That Shocked Jazz-Age America written by Karen Abbott

Lists It Appears On:

• Amazon
• Smithsonian Magazine

The epic true crime story of the most successful bootlegger in American history and the murder that shocked the nation, from the New York Times bestselling author of Sin in the Second City and Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy In the early days of Prohibition,

13 .) The Impeachers: The Trial Of Andrew Johnson And The Dream Of A Just Nation written by Brenda Wineapple

Lists It Appears On:

• The Pietist Schoolman
• NPR

“When Lincoln was assassinated and Andrew Johnson became President, a fraught time in America became perilous. Congress was divided over how Reconstruction should be accomplished and the question of black suffrage. The South roiled with violence, lawlessne

12 .) The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11 written by Garrett Graff

Lists It Appears On:

• Amazon
• Goodreads

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “This is history at its most immediate and moving…A marvelous and memorable book.” —Jon Meacham “Remarkable…A priceless civic gift…On page after page, a reader will encounter words that startle, or make him angry, or heartbroken.”

11 .) The Pioneers: The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal West written by David McCullough

Lists It Appears On:

• Amazon
• Goodreads

Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David McCullough rediscovers an important and dramatic chapter in the American story–the settling of the Northwest Territory by dauntless pioneers who overcame incredible hardships to build a community based on ideals that

10 .) They Were Her Property: White Women as Slave Owners in the American South written by Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers

Lists It Appears On:

• Smithsonian Magazine
• The Pietist Schoolman

A bold and searing investigation into the role of white women in the American slave economy Bridging women’s history, the history of the South, and African American history, this book makes a bold argument about the role of white women in American slavery.

9.) Thomas Paine and the Clarion Call for American Independence written by Harlow Giles Unger

Lists It Appears On:

• Smithsonian Magazine
• The Pietist Schoolman

From New York Times bestselling author and Founding Fathers’ biographer Harlow Giles Unger comes the astonishing biography of the man whose pen set America ablaze, inspiring its revolution, and whose ideas about reason and religion continue to try men’s so

8.) A Woman Of No Importance: The Untold Story Of The American Spy Who Helped Win World War II written by Sonia Purnell

Lists It Appears On:

• Amazon
• Goodreads
• NPR

The never-before-told story of Virginia Hall, the American spy who changed the course of the World War II, from the author of Clementine In 1942, the Gestapo sent out an urgent transmission: “She is the most dangerous of all Allied spies. We must find and

7.) Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World’s Greatest Nuclear Disaster written by Adam Higginbotham

Lists It Appears On:

• Goodreads
• NPR
• The Pietist Schoolman

–THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER– ‘An invaluable contribution to history.’ Serhii Plokhy, Evening Standard ‘Tells the story of the disaster and its gruesome aftermath with thriller-like flair. Midnight in Chernobyl is wonderful and chilling … written wit

6.) Say Nothing: A True Story Of Murder And Memory In Northern Ireland written by Patrick Radden Keefe

Lists It Appears On:

• Amazon
• Goodreads
• NPR

One of the New York Times 10 Best Books of the Year BEST NONFICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR – TIME MAGAZINE ONE OF THE BEST 10 BOOKS OF THE YEAR – WASHINGTON POST NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER WINNER OF THE ORWELL PRIZE LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD “Masked

5.) The Anarchy: The East India Company, Corporate Violence, And The Pillage Of An Empire written by William Dalrymple

Lists It Appears On:

• Telegraph
• Goodreads
• NPR

“Superb … A vivid and richly detailed story … worth reading by everyone.” -The New York Times Book Review From the bestselling author of Return of a King, the story of how the East India Company took over large swaths of Asia, and the devastating resul

4.) The British Are Coming: The War for America, Lexington to Princeton, 1775-1777 written by Rick Atkinson

Lists It Appears On:

• The Pietist Schoolman
• Goodreads
• Amazon

From the bestselling author of the Liberation Trilogy comes this extraordinary history of the American Revolution.

3.) The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America From 1890 to the Present written by David Treuer

Lists It Appears On:

• The Pietist Schoolman
• Goodreads
• NPR

FINALIST FOR THE 2019 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD LONGLISTED FOR THE 2020 ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDAL FOR EXCELLENCE A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “Chapter after chapter, it’s like one shattered myth after another.” – NPR “An informed, moving and kaleidoscopic portrait…

2.) The Season: A Social History Of The Debutante written by Kristen Richardson

Lists It Appears On:

• Smithsonian Magazine
• The Pietist Schoolman
• NPR

In this enthralling history of the debutante ritual, Kristen Richardson sheds new light on contemporary ideas about women and marriage. Kristen Richardson, from a family of debutantes, chose not to debut. But as her curiosity drove her to research this end

1.) How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States written by Daniel Immerwahr

Lists It Appears On:

• Telegraph
• Smithsonian Magazine
• The Pietist Schoolman
• Goodreads
• NPR

A pathbreaking history of the United States’ overseas possessions and the true meaning of its empire We are familiar with maps that outline all fifty states. And we are also familiar with the idea that the United States is an “empire,” exercising power aro

The 125+ Additional Best History Books Released In 2019

8 Best History Book Sources/Lists