These nonfiction history books – covering a wide variety of topics and time periods – are well-researched and page-turning true stories published in the last few years. This list was created by a Librarian at The Seattle Public Library. Annotations from NoveList, unless otherwise attributed. (December 2024)
Africa
Spanning more than 200,000 years, from the emergence of the first humans to the rise of megacities, Africa explores the history and cultures of the world's second-largest continent in vivid detail. (Publisher’s description)
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Seattle From the Margins
By uncovering the historical presence of marginalized groups and asserting their significance in the development of the city, Megan Asaka offers a deeper understanding of Seattle's complex past. (Publisher’s description)
Format: Book
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The Rediscovery of America
A sweeping and overdue retelling of U.S. history that recognizes that Native Americans are essential to understanding the evolution of modern America.
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After Eden
Prominent Latin American historian John Charles Chasteen provides a concise history of the world, in which he explores the origins and persistence of the timeless phenomena of humanity's inhumanity to itself. (Publisher’s description)
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After 1177 B. C
The story of what happened after the Bronze Age collapsed - why some civilizations endured, why some gave way to new ones, and why some disappeared forever.
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Fall of Civilizations
Based on his popular podcast, Cooper's book details how ancient kingdoms grew to power and then fell to ruin. He considers empires ranging across the Mediterranean, Asia, West Africa, and Central America, exploring the great centers of power of the Aztecs, Romans, and more. (Library Journal)
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The Longest Minute
Drawing on previously unearthed archival records, Matthew Davenport combines history and science to tell the dramatic true story of one of the greatest disasters in American history.
Format: Book
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An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States
[Dunbar-Ortiz] challenges the founding myth of the United States and shows how policy against the indigenous peoples was genocidal and imperialist, designed to crush the original inhabitants. Spanning more than 300 years, a classic bottom-up history significantly reframes how we view our past. 10th anniversary edition with new foreword.
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The Survivors of the Clotilda
[Durkin] chronicles the history of the Clotilda, the last slave ship to land on U.S. soil, told through the stories of its survivors - the last documented survivors of any slave ship - whose lives diverged and intersected in profound ways.
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Native Nations
An award-winning historian tells the story of the Native nations, from the rise of ancient cities to the present, reframing North American history with Indigenous power and sovereignty at its center and showing how the influence of Native peoples remained a constant and will continue far into the future.
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