The below is a collection of book recommendations from the Rest is History Podcast, "the world's most popular history podcast", hosted by Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook
https://therestishistory.com/about
I created the list by mining the approximately 600 episodes that were available at the time, using a pipeline of;
1. Download episode audio from the RSS feed
2. OpenAI's Whisper to convert the audio to text based transcripts, running locally on my GPU
3. Mistral's Ministral-3 also running locally on my GPU to extract book recommendations from the transcripts
4.Anthropic's Opus 4.5 to clean and edit the larger list of book mentions.
For a full explanation of how I created these book reviews, all the details can be found in the following blog post.
Each book review is a verbatim quote from a Rest is History episode.
his is an unofficial fan project and is not affiliated with or endorsed by The Rest is History podcast or its hosts.
https://therestishistory.com/about
I created the list by mining the approximately 600 episodes that were available at the time, using a pipeline of;
1. Download episode audio from the RSS feed
2. OpenAI's Whisper to convert the audio to text based transcripts, running locally on my GPU
3. Mistral's Ministral-3 also running locally on my GPU to extract book recommendations from the transcripts
4.Anthropic's Opus 4.5 to clean and edit the larger list of book mentions.
For a full explanation of how I created these book reviews, all the details can be found in the following blog post.
Each book review is a verbatim quote from a Rest is History episode.
his is an unofficial fan project and is not affiliated with or endorsed by The Rest is History podcast or its hosts.
1491 — Charles C. Mann
Episode: 644. The Fall of the Incas: Empire of Gold (Part 1) "
...an absolutely wonderful book... called 1491. And it's about the New World before Columbus."
1914: The Year the World Ended — Paul Ham
Episode: 597. The First World War: The Massacre of the Innocents (Part 4)
"...Paul [Ham]. He wrote a brilliant book about 1914."
1983 — Taylor Downing
Episode: 92. Nuclear Weapons
"...a brilliant book about how close the world came to nuclear destruction."
After Tamerlane — John Darwin
Episode: 25. Empires
"...a great history of empires."
The Lives of Muhammad — Kecia Ali
Episode: 60. Muhammad
"...a wonderful book about the afterlife of Mohammed and the way that both Muslims and non-Muslims have understood him."
The Age of Illusion — Ronald Blythe
Episode: 583. The Lion, the Priest and the Parlourmaids: A 1930s Sex Scandal
"...a brilliantly funny witty book... full of strange stories and anecdotes."
The Alteration — Kingsley Amis
Episode: 14. Historical Fiction
"I have a very big soft spot for Kingsley Amis's The Alteration."
American Brutus — Michael Kauffman
Episode: 591. The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln: Manhunt for the Killer (Part 2)
"...the book... by Michael Kauffman, American Brutus, is brilliant."
Angels with Dirty Faces — Jonathan Wilson
Episode: 252. The World Cup: British Imperialism, South American rivalries, and Mussolini (Part 1)
"It is a brilliant book. Not just a history of Argentine football, but a history of Argentina."
Anne Boleyn and Elizabeth — Tracy Borman
Episode: 617. Elizabeth I: Anne Boleyn's Bastard (Part 2)
"Tracy Borman's book Anne Boleyn and Elizabeth is really really good."
Arthur and George — Julian Barnes
Episode: 85. Sherlock Holmes
"Julian Barnes wrote a novel about it. A brilliant novel, Arthur and George."
Arthurian Trilogy — Bernard Cornwell
Episode: 19. King Arthur
"...his trilogy... about King Arthur is by far the best thing he's ever written."
The autobiography of the executioner of Paris — Charles-Henri Sanson
Episode: 445. The Habsburgs: Secrets of a Dynasty
"...the extremely readable autobiography of the executioner of Paris [...] a book everybody should read."
The Battle of Hastings — M.K. Lawson
Episode: 554. 1066: The Shadows of War (Part 1)
"...the definitive book on the Battle of Hastings itself[,] absolutely [...] amazingly detailed[,] subtle treatment of all the sources and the evidence."
Beef and Liberty — Ben Rogers
Episode: 286. England: Beef and Liberty
"...a brilliant book... Beef and Liberty."
Beyond the Northlands: Viking Voyages and the Old Norse Sagas — Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough
Episode: 103. The Norse Sagas
"...an absolutely brilliant book, beautifully illustrated, a book about the Vikings' kind of worldview and their sense of geography."
The Big Score: The Billion Dollar Story of Silicon Valley — Michael S. Malone
Episode: 93. Silicon Valley Part 1
"I really recommend his book."
The Black Jacobins — CLR James
Episode: 211. London: People (Part 3)
"...a brilliant work of scholarship. But it's just incredibly readable, really readable."
Black Like Me — John Howard Griffin
Episode: 12 Days: Solomon Northup and Albert Camus
"...a book called Black Like Me by John Howard [Griffin]."
Blood Meridian — Cormac McCarthy
Episode: 14. Historical Fiction
"One of my favorite books set in the past... Cormac [McCarthy's] Blood Meridian."
Brazil: A Biography — Lilia Moritz Schwarcz and Heloisa Murgel Starling
Episode: 268. Brazil: The Last Emperor
"...a brilliant book called Brazil, a Biography... the definitive English language history... of Brazil. And it's absolutely brilliant."
Buddenbrooks — Thomas Mann
Episode: 222. Victorian Holidays
"Thomas Mann's book, Buddenbrooks—brilliant novel."
Building Anglo-Saxon England — John Blair
Episode: 251. Alfred the Great: Return of the King (Part 2)
"...an absolutely brilliant book... by John Blair, Building Anglo-Saxon England. And it's amazing to read."
The Burgundians — Bart Van Loo
Episode: 131. Burgundy: Europe's forgotten superpower
"...you absolutely loved [...] You made it one of your history books of the year."
Chaucer: A European Life — Marion Turner
Episode: 416. The Canterbury Tales (Part 4)
"...a wonderful biography by Marion Turner, Chaucer, a European Life. She gives a brilliant portrait of Chaucer."
China at War — Hans van der Ven
Episode: 236. China and World War II (Part 2)
"...the premier historian of this particular set of issues... those who have the time should read his book, China at War, which is an absolutely fantastic account of the military history of this period."
"Hans van der Ven in his book, China at War, which I would highly recommend."
China's War with Japan, 1937–1945: The Struggle for Survival — Rana Mitter
Episode: 235. China and World War II (Part 1)
"...an extraordinary, brilliant, and I have to say, gruelling book, because the subject is gruelling."
Choosing War — Fred Logevall
Episode: 72. The Vietnam War
"It's one of my favorite books on the war. It... changed my whole thinking on the war."
A Christmas Carol — Charles Dickens
Episode: 10. Christmas
"...Dickens, his spirit suffuses the 19th century and 19th century popular culture. And with the Christmas Carol... so many of the ingredients bound up with [it]..."
The Christmas Truce: The World War I Christmas Truce of 1914 — Stanley Weintraub
Episode: 629. WWI: The Christmas Truce
"...another excellent book by an American historian, Stanley Weintraub."
Citizens — Simon Schama
Episode: 475. The French Revolution: Marie Antoinette (Part 1)
Episode: 477. The French Revolution: The Violence Begins (Part 3)
"...one of the most influential [history books] on the way people write history."
"It's insanely enjoyable... It is tip top. It is brilliant."
City of Dreadful Delight — Judith Walkowitz
Episode: 627. Jack The Ripper: From Hell (Part 4)
"...a wonderful book... called City of Dreadful Delight, which I highly recommend."
Claudius Caesar — Josiah Osgood
Episode: 537. Emperors of Rome: Claudius, Paranoia and Poison (Part 4)
"Josiah Osgood, who's written a brilliant book on Claudius, Claudius Caesar."
The Coming of the Terror — Timothy Tackett
Episode: 506. The French Revolution: Massacre at the Palace (Part 4)
"...brilliant book. He's great [on] all this."
The Command of the Ocean — N.A.M. Rodger
Episode: 243. Trafalgar: A World at War (Part 1)
"...a brilliant... definitive history of the emergence of the Royal Navy."
Command: How the Allies Learned to Win the Second World War — Al Murray
Episode: 247. Monty & Patton vs. the Nazis
"...a brilliant new book called Command, How the Allies Learned to Win the Second World War by Al Murray."
The Complete History of Jack the Ripper — Philip Sugden
Episode: 625. Jack The Ripper: Horror in Whitechapel (Part 2)
"...a brilliant book on the Ripper case. I think the definitive book, really." "...his brilliant book on [the] Jack the Ripper case."
Conquerors — Roger Crowley
Episode: 228. Portugal: The Golden Age of Discovery (Part 2)
"...a book by Roger Crowley called Conquerors... I really enjoyed it."
The Conquest of Mexico — Matthew Restall
Episode: 388. The Fall of the Aztecs: The Festival of Blood (Part 5)
"...the most brilliant recent book [...] by a historian called Matthew Restel."
Cornish Wrecking — Cathryn J. Pearce
Episode: 150. Smuggling
"There is a fantastic book called Cornish Wrecking by [Cathryn J. Pearce], which absolutely put me straight on this."
Cromwell: An Island, New Perspectives — Martin Bennett (ed.)
Episode: 54. Cromwell and the Protectorate
"...a very good new book edited by, among others, Martin Bennett, called Cromwell, An Island, New Perspectives."
Culture Wars: The Struggle to Define America — James Davison Hunter
Episode: 46. Culture Wars
"...the book that enshrines the term culture wars."
Custer's Trials — T.J. Stiles
Episode: 446. Custer vs. Crazy Horse: Civil War (Part 1)
"One of his great biographers, T.J. Stiles, who wrote [a] Pulitzer Prize winning book..."
Daily Life in Ancient Rome — Florence Dupont
Episode: 402. Christmas: Pagan or Christian?
"[Florence] Dupont, she's written a brilliant book on everyday life in the Roman Republic, Daily Life in Ancient Rome."
Dance of the Furies — Michael Neiberg
Episode: 90. The Western Front
"...a very distinguished American historian of the First World War"
Dance of the Tiger — Björn Kurtén
Episode: 127. Neanderthals
"...really good... I recommend them."
Darwin — Adrian Desmond and James Moore
Episode: 12 Days: Port wine and Darwin sets sail
"...not just the best biography of Darwin. It's one of the great... all-time biographies."
Death or Victory: The Battle of Quebec and the Birth of Empire — Dan Snow
Episode: 47. The Seven Years' War
"...an absolutely splendid account of the Siege of Quebec, the Death of Wolf, all that kind of stuff."
Diaries of Victor Klemperer — Victor Klemperer
Episode: 409. The Nazis in Power: Hitler's War on the Jews (Part 6)
"...an extraordinary resource and a very very moving and riveting read."
The Diary of Samuel Pepys — Samuel Pepys
Episode: 4. We're all so 17th Century
"...one of my favorite books of all time, which I think absolutely everybody should read even if they have no interest in history[.]"
Dictionary of the Khazars — Milorad Pavic
Episode: 148. The Vikings Go East
"...a fabulous novel... kind of a magical, realist novel. Very good. I highly recommend it."
Dominion — Tom Holland
Episode: 435. Luther: The Battle Against Satan (Part 3)
"...your magisterial book about the history of Christianity and how it has shaped the Western world."
Dominion — CJ Sansom
Episode: 32. What if?
"...the best counterfactual novel."
Don Juan — Byron
Episode: 440. Lord Byron: Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know (Part 1)
Episode: 443. Lord Byron: Death of a Vampire (Part 4)
"...incredibly darkly funny. Byron is very funny as well as very romantic. I would say the most readable long poem in English."
"...the most readable long poem in the whole of English."
Dress in the Age of Jane Austen — Hillary Davidson
Episode: 238. The Regency Revolution
"...a fantastic book because basically it helps us understand the question of what is going on in the world of fashion."
Dress in the Age of Jane Austen — Jayne Keverne
Episode: 238. The Regency Revolution
"...brilliantly written... amazing illustrations... a beautiful book."
The Eagle Unbowed: How the Poles Defeated the Nazis and the Soviets — Halik Kochanski
Episode: 532. Hitler's War on Poland: The Fall of Warsaw (Part 3)
"...a brilliant book [...] on Poland and the Second World War by Halik Kochanski."
East West Street — Philip Sands
Episode: 155. Ukraine and Russia
"...an absolutely brilliant book... about the extermination of the Jews in Lviv."
Echo Lands — Duncan Mackay
Episode: 500. The Roman Conquest of Britain: The Empire Strikes Back (Part 2)
"...the best book on Roman Britain I've read in ages and I highly recommend it to everyone."
Empire of Booze — Henry Jeffreys
Episode: 289: Drink
"...an absolutely brilliant book on the history of alcohol."
Empireland — Sathnam Sanghera
Episode: 68. The British Empire
"...there's lots of room to disagree with it, to engage with it, but it's written in a very measured and nuanced way that is a pleasure to read."
The Escape Artist — Jonathan Freedland
Episode: 291: The Man Who Escaped Auschwitz
"...if ever there was a way into that darkest of subjects, Jonathan Friedland's book is it."
Eternal Victory — Michael McCormack
Episode: 219. Justinian: Making Rome Great Again (Part 2)
"A wonderful book... about how the Romans see the world in the time of Justinian."
Europe's First Revolution — R.I. Moore
Episode: 302: The Mystery of the Cathars
"...a fantastic book... about the 11th century and its aftermath."
Excursion to Hell — Vincent Bramley
Episode: 171. The Falklands War (Part 3)
"...really good." [on Falklands War memoirs]
The Expedition of Humphrey Clinker — Tobias Smollett
Episode: 221. Holidays: Byron's Grand Tour
"...a brilliant book by Tobias Smollett."
Fatal Path — Ronan Fanning
Episode: 578. The Irish War of Independence: Bloody Sunday (Part 3)
"A brilliant book by [Ronan] Fanning called Fatal Path, which is a brilliantly told story [of] exactly what happened... within British politics. How the truce and then the treaty are constructed, but extending back to 1910, takes it all through brilliantly."
The Fateful Year — Mark Bostridge
Episode: 474. The Road to The Great War: The Lights Go Out (Part 6)
"...a wonderful book about 1914."
Fatherland — Robert Harris
Episode: 14. Historical Fiction
"...a fantastic book."
The Fifth Sun: A New History of the Aztecs — Camilla Townsend
Episode: 51. Aztecs Episode: 384. The Fall of the Aztecs: The Adventure Begins (Part 1)
Episode: 390. The Fall of the Aztecs: War to the Death (Part 7)
"...one of the most haunting and moving history books I've ever read, because it did feel like a featof resurrectionism to the degree that I feel I can now understand the Aztecs."
"Camilla Townsend, whose book I cannot recommend highly enough."
"...absolutely the best book that I read last year." "...wonderful book... A New History of the Aztecs."
The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper — Hallie Rubenhold
Episode: 85. Sherlock Holmes Episode: 624. Jack The Ripper: History's Darkest Mystery (Part 1)
Episode: 626. Jack The Ripper: The Killer Strikes Again (Part 3)
"...Hallie [Rubenhold] who wrote [a] brilliant book... about the victims." "...so revelatory and [...] deservedly prize-winning."
"...brilliant on the lives of the victims."
Flashman Series — George MacDonald Fraser
Episode: 14. Historical Fiction
"...the narrative voice in Flashman is as good as any narrative voice in any historical novel... I couldn't recommend them highly enough."
Football Nation — David Goldblatt
Episode: 253. The World Cup (Part 2)
"...a wonderful book... about Brazil and football's importance in the history of Brazil."
The Fortress — Alexander Watson
Episode: 599. The First World War: Downfall of the Habsburgs (Part 6)
"...a brilliant book called The Fortress by the historian Alexander Watson."
Franco's Crypt — Jeremy Treglown
Episode: 184. History's Biggest Questions with Dan Carlin (Part 2)
"...a brilliant book... about the Spanish Civil War."
The Fraud — Zadie Smith
Episode: 400. Victorian Britain's Maddest Mystery
"The novel, The Fraud is absolutely unmissable."
The French Revolution — Jeremy Popkin
Episode: 544. The French Revolution: The September Massacres (Part 1)
"...another brilliant book on the French Revolution, the most recent English language survey."
From Alexander to Actium — Peter Green
Episode: 605. Greek Myths: Jason & The Quest for the Golden Fleece (Part 4)
"...his tremendous book on the Hellenistic period."
A Gambling Man — Jenny Uglow
Episode: 124. World Cup of Kings and Queens part 2
"There's a brilliant book by Jenny Uglow called A Gambling Man."
The Gardener — Rudyard Kipling
Episode: 118. End of the First World War & Remembrance "
...one of the great short stories ever written."
Genghis Khan — John Mann
Episode: 166. Genghis Khan: Lord of the Mongols
"...a very good book on Genghis Khan."
George Orwell, English Rebel — Robert Colls
Episode: 208. George Orwell
"...a brilliant study of Orwell as a writer of Englishness and Orwell as a kind of progenitor of Englishness."
Global Crisis — Geoffrey Parker
Episode: 89. Climate & Weather Episode: 313. Climate Apocalypse
"...captured brilliantly by [Geoffrey] Parker in his book, Global Crisis."
"...It's fantastic. Amazing book."
The Great Game — Peter Hopkirk
Episode: 87. Afghanistan - Part 1
"Wonderful books."
Greek Thought, Arabic Culture — Dimitri Goutas
Episode: 379. Baghdad: The Arabian Nights (Part 4)
"...this fantastic book on Greek thought, Arabic culture."
Hawkwood — Frances Stonor Saunders Episode: 321:
Hundred Years' War: A Storm of Swords (Part 4)
"...a wonderful book... about Hawkwood's company... rampaging across... Tuscany and northern Italy."
Heart of Darkness — Joseph Conrad
Episode: 538. Horror in the Congo: The Nightmare Begins (Part 1)
Episode: 541. Heart of Darkness: Fear and Loathing in the Congo
"It's a book that I think anticipates so much of the culture of the 20th century and wrestling with... man's capacity for evil and the possibilities of violence and brutality."
"Heart of Darkness, I would argue, is by far the preeminent cultural representation of Western imperialism, particularly in Africa."
"It is one of the most influential books... of the modern age."
Helen of Troy — Bettany Hughes
Episode: 458. Helen of Troy: A Family of Blood (Part 2)
"By far the most readable and enjoyable study of how Helen herself might have been rooted in memories of how women in the Bronze Age... might have lived."
History of the Franks — Gregory of Tours
Episode: 521. Warlords of the West: Killer Queens (Part 2)
"...a wonderful book."
History of the World — Peter Fry
Episode: 70. Children's History
"...my favorite book as a child history book."
Holy Feast and Holy Fast — Caroline Walker Bynum
Episode: 356: The Blood-Drinking Bride of Christ
"...I highly commend [it] to anyone who's interested, not just in Catherine, but in basically the whole field of the mindset of the Middle Ages... it is really superb."
How Britain Brought Football to the World — Stuart and Philip Laycock
Episode: 252. The World Cup (Part 1)
"I would highly commend [this] new book."
Ilium — Dan Simmons
Episode: 13. Stephen Fry and Troy
"...one of my favorite reinterpretations of the Trojan War."
The Imagination of an Insurrection — William Erwin Thompson
Episode: 339: Ireland: The Easter Rising, 1916 (Part 4)
"My favourite book on the [...] idea of this, and I commend it to everybody."
In Patagonia — Bruce Chatwin
Episode: 275: Argentina: The Welsh Colony
"...a brilliant, brilliant, kind of haunting, beautiful book. One of the great examples[.] I absolutely recommend it."
In Search of the Phoenicians — Josephine Quinn
Episode: 421. Ancient Carthage: Lords of the Sea (Part 1)
"...a brilliantly fascinating chapter on the Tophets."
The Inheritors — William Golding
Episode: 127. Neanderthals
"...an absolutely magnificent novel."
An Instance of the Fingerpost — Iain Pears
Episode: 4. We're all so 17th Century
"...possibly absolutely top of my list of historical novels."
Ireland's Sarajevo — Ronan McGreevy
Episode: 580. The Irish Civil War (Part 1)
"...brilliantly handled by Ronan in his wonderfully gripping book."
Joan of Arc — Marina Warner
Episode: 632. Joan of Arc: Warrior Maid (Part 1)
Episode: 633. Joan of Arc: Saviour of France (Part 2)
"...a brilliant book that I read when I was at a very impressionable age."
"...her wonderful book on Joan of Arc."
The Kenneth Williams Diaries — Kenneth Williams
Episode: 417. Britain in 1974: State of Emergency (Part 1)
"...a wonderful diary. Actually, I really recommend it to people." "I really recommend it to people."
King Leopold's Ghost — Adam Hochschild
Episode: 538. Horror in the Congo: The Nightmare Begins (Part 1)
"There's a brilliant book on this called King Leopold's Ghost by the American writer Adam Hochschild."
La Peste (The Plague) — Albert Camus
Episode: 12 Days: Solomon Northup and Albert Camus
"...a genuinely... really really good book."
The Last Assassin — Peter Stothard
Episode: 305: The Fall of the Roman Republic
"...very good, highly recommended."
The Last Emperor of Mexico — Edward Shawcross
Episode: 163. The Last Emperor of Mexico
"...grimly funny, as in so many ways this book is." "Fantastic book, rush out and buy it."
The Last Sherlock Holmes Story — Michael Dibdin
Episode: 85. Sherlock Holmes Episode: 627. Jack The Ripper: From Hell (Part 4)
"...a brilliantly dark book [...] about Holmes and Jack the Ripper." "...a brilliant book."
The Last Viking — Don Hollway
Episode: 553. The Last Viking: Warrior of the New Rome (Part 2)
"...a really fun one[,] the most recent biography of Harold Hardrada."
Last Walks in Vienna — Georg Clare
Episode: 407. The Nazis in Power: The Conquest of Austria (Part 4)
"...I would recommend [it] to the listeners."
The Law of Blood: Thinking and Acting as a Nazi — Johann Chapoutot
Episode: 408. The Nazis in Power: Hitler's Dream (Part 5)
"...a really remarkable book."
Lenin's Tomb — David Remnick
Episode: 162. Putin's Russia
"...an absolutely unbelievably good book. So I really recommend that."
Liberty or Death — Peter McPhee
Episode: 480. The French Revolution: The Rights of Man (Part 6)
"...his brilliant Liberty or Death book on the French Revolution."
Liberty's Dawn — Emma [Griffin]
Episode: 108. The Industrial Revolution
"...it is a brilliant book."
The Light Ages — Seb Falk
Episode: 112. Medieval Science
"...about how the Middle Ages, far from being a period of ignorance and superstition, [...] opened up all kinds of astonishing ways of seeing the world that we still benefit from today."
Like the Roman — Simon Heffer
Episode: 606. Enoch Powell: Rivers of Blood
"...a great book on Enoch Powell... his book is really really... great."
The Lives of the Caesars (or The Twelve Caesars) — Suetonius
Episode: 534. Emperors of Rome: Sex Secrets of the Caesars (Part 1)
"...brilliant on politics as show business."
The Lives of the Mitford Sisters — Laura Thompson
Episode: 375. Hitler and the Mitford Sisters
"...Laura Thompson's book is brilliant."
Lord of the Rings — J.R.R. Tolkien
Episode: 12 Days: Martin Luther and J.R.R. Tolkien
"I would argue that actually Lord of the Rings, far more than 1984 actually, is the great novel written about the horrors of the 20th century."
Luther, Man Between God and the Devil — Heiko Obermann
Episode: 434. Luther: The Revolution Begins (Part 2)
"...a brilliant book."
Making Mary Poppins — Todd James Pierce
Episode: 614. Walt Disney: The Great American Storyteller
"...the actual story is brilliantly explicated in [this] new book."
The Making of Oliver Cromwell — Ronald Hutton
Episode: 113. Hallowe'en and modern paganism
Episode: 123. World Cup of Kings and Queens part 1
"...an absolutely fantastic... first of a three-part biography."
"...absolutely my history book of the year so far."
The Mango Cult and Other Offerings — Adam Chow
Episode: 173. Chairman Mao & the Cultural Revolution
"...written brilliantly by the anthropologist Adam Chow, who I highly recommend."
Maoism — Julia Lovell
Episode: 173. Chairman Mao & the Cultural Revolution
"...the wonderful historian Julia Lovell, whose recent book on Maoism makes a really strong point..."
Marie Antoinette's Head — Will Bashore
Episode: 475. The French Revolution: Marie Antoinette (Part 1)
"...an absolutely wonderful book with the great title."
Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony — Roberto Calasso
Episode: 457. Helen of Troy: Queen of the Greek Myths (Part 1)
"...a wonderful, weird, haunting account of the Greek myths."
Mary Queen of Scots — John Guy
Episode: 585. Mary, Queen of Scots: The Royal Rivals (Part 2)
"...his brilliant, I think, definitive biography of Mary Queen of Scots."
Mary Queen of Scots — Antonia Fraser
Episode: 588. Mary, Queen of Scots: The Mystery of the Exploding Mansion (Part 5)
"...her wonderful book about Mary, Queen of Scots."
Mary, Queen of Scots — Jenny Wormald
Episode: 584. Mary, Queen of Scots: Birth of a Legend (Part 1)
"...a brilliant groundbreaking book on Mary, Queen of Scots."
Master and Commander — Patrick O'Brian
Episode: 514. Nelson: Hero of the Seas (Part 1)
"...the Patrick O'Brian books, and particularly the first one, Master and Commander, is brilliant on this... sense of gnawing anxiety."
Memoirs — William Hickey
Episode: 24. Sex in the City
"...absolutely fantastic."
Metropolis — Ben Wilson
Episode: 519. The World's First City
"...a book a few years ago by Ben Wilson called Metropolis. It's a brilliant book."
The Morbid Age — Richard Overy
Episode: 136. 1922: The Birth of the Modern World Part 1
"...a brilliant book about...British culture in the 1920s and 30s."
Mosquito Empires — John McNeill
Episode: 147. Disease, the New World and modern pandemics
"...an amazing contribution to understanding these diseases."
A Most Holy War — Mark Gregory Pegg
Episode: 301. The Real Da Vinci Code
"It's a fantastic book, absolutely thrilling work of history. It's fabulously well written."
My Early Life — Winston Churchill
Episode: 239: Young Churchill (Part 1)
"...a genuinely very, very funny read."
Naples 44 — Norman Lewis
Episode: 399. The Savage Storm: World War II and The Battle for Italy
"...a brilliantly vivid account of someone who absolutely has his humanity very much intact and is just sort of destroyed by what he sees and the kind of awful tragedy he witnesses."
The Nativist Prophets of Early Islamic Iran — Patricia Crone
Episode: 377. Baghdad: Crossroads of the Universe (Part 2)
"...a brilliant, brilliant book...such an interesting book."
The Nazi Conscience — Claudia Koonz
Episode: 408. The Nazis in Power: Hitler's Dream (Part 5)
"...a brilliant book."
Nelson: A Dream of Glory — John Sugden
Episode: 514. Nelson: Hero of the Seas (Part 1)
"...the world's longest ever books published."
Nelson: A Dream of Glory / Nelson: The Sword of Albion — John Sugden
Episode: 245. Trafalgar: Victory (Part 3)
"...brilliant biography."
Neuromancer — William Gibson
Episode: 93. Silicon Valley Part 1
"...I highly recommend people read [it]... it was very influential."
The New Penguin History of Britain — David Mattingly
Episode: 502. The Roman Conquest of Britain: To the Ends of the Earth (Part 4)
"...the first book in the New Penguin History of Britain...Brilliant book."
The Northumbrians — Dan Jackson
Episode: 18. The North South Divide Episode: 140. The Birth of the Railways
"Dan Jackson the author of the brilliant The Northumbrians... Mr Northeastern historian." "...brilliant, brilliant local history of the... Northeast."
Oedipus — Lowell Edmunds
Episode: 603. Greek Myths: The Riddle of the Sphinx (Part 2) "
...a wonderful book on Oedipus."
An Officer and a Spy — Robert Harris
Episode: 242. French History on Film "
...one of those reading experiences that sort of stays with you..."
"I read it in a single sitting, so I love the book."
The Old Boys — David Turner
Episode: 368. The History Behind Hogwarts: Ancient Schools and Revolting Students
"...an excellent book...probably the best sort of short single volume history of the public schools."
Oscar — Matthew Sturgis
Episode: 342: The Trials of Oscar Wilde (Part 2)
"...absolutely wonderful biography."
The Outlaws — Richmal Crompton
Episode: 137. 1922: The Birth of the Modern World Part 2
"...absolutely tremendous and the stories are the most brilliant..."
Pale Rider — Laura Spinney
Episode: 12 Days: Jean-Bédel Bokassa and the memory of pandemics
"...a brilliant book, actually. Really interesting book."
Parkland — Vincent Bugliosi
Episode: 394. JFK: Death in Dallas (Part 3)
"...one of the most gripping history books that I've ever read."
Pax — Tom Holland
Episode: 369. The Colosseum: Rome's Arena of Death
"...you should go to your nearest bookshop and invest in a copy... of Tom Holland's book, Pax."
Peter the Great and His Times — Lindsay Hughes
Episode: 567. The Great Northern War: Murder in Moscow (Part 4)
"...a brilliant book by Lindsay Hughes, which is all about Peter the Great and his times."
Phoenicians and the Making of the Mediterranean — Carolina López-Ruiz
Episode: 421. Ancient Carthage: Lords of the Sea (Part 1)
"...an equally brilliant book by a scholar called Carolina Lopez-Ríez [...] Phoenicians and the Making of the Mediterranean."
The Pike: Gabriele D'Annunzio, Poet, Seducer and Preacher of War — Lucy Hughes-Hallett
Episode: 17. Fascism Episode: 194. The First Fascist
"...an absolute prize-winning, brilliant book...just compulsively readable...a book that kind of reinvents the art of biography."
"...brilliant, brilliant, prize-winning biography."
"...brilliant book."
The Politics of Rage — Dan Carter
Episode: 511. America in '68: George Wallace, The First Donald Trump (Part 4)
"...brilliant biography."
Pope Joan — Alain Boureau
Episode: 403. The Mystery of the Pregnant Pope
"...by miles the best book out there on the subject."
The Power Broker — Robert Caro
Episode: 360. Fear City: New York in the 1970s
"...this fantastic book...about how you reshape New York with expressways, cutting through what had once been settled, kind of contented working class neighborhoods."
The Prize — Daniel Yergin
Episode: 120. The Oil Weapon
"...an absolutely brilliant book. It almost reads like a thriller."
Protestants — Alec Ryrie
Episode: 433. Luther: The Man Who Changed the World (Part 1)
"...a wonderful book called Protestants."
Providence Lost: The Rise and Fall of Cromwell's Protectorate — Paul Lay
Episode: 4. We're all so 17th Century
Episode: 54. Cromwell and the Protectorate
"...Paul Lay's fantastic book on the protectorate[,] Cromwell's period in power[,] called Providence Lost."
...absolutely garlanded with praise."
A Radical History of Britain — Edward Vallance
Episode: 62. Magna Carta
"...author of A Radical History of Britain, a 17th century specialist."
Reclaiming History — Vincent Bugliosi
Episode: 393. JFK: Cuba, Camelot and the Cold War (Part 2)
"...this absolutely monstrous book, looking at every conceivable assassination theory and conspiracy theory."
The Restless Republic — Anna Keay
Episode: 336: Ireland: Celts, Conquest and Cromwell (Part 1)
Episode: 333. The Republic of Britain: Life under Cromwell
"It's a wonderful book, it's a really wonderful book."
"...just an outstanding piece of work."
Revolutionary Spring, Fighting for a New World, 1848-1849 — Christopher Clark
Episode: 326: The Year of Revolutions: 1848
"...a groundbreaking study [...] by the great Christopher Clarke."
The Revolutionary Temper — Robert Darnton
Episode: 477. The French Revolution: The Violence Begins (Part 3)
"...absolutely wonderful."
Ring of Steel — Alexander Watson
Episode: 474. The Road to The Great War: The Lights Go Out (Part 6)
"...Alexander Watson's brilliant book, Ring of Steel, which is all about Germany and Austria in the First World War."
The Rising — Fearghal McGarry
Episode: 339. Ireland: The Easter Rising, 1916 (Part 4)
"...brilliant book on the rising."
The Robin Hood Tradition — Kai Roberts
Episode: 192. Robin Hood
"...brilliant...he makes all this stuff incredibly interesting, the way in which these traditions have gradually accumulated over the centuries, the way that they've been questioned, the way that they've been revised, the way that they grow."
The Roman Army — Peter Connolly
Episode: 70. Children's History
"...a brilliant illustrator and a very, very serious historian of...the ancient military."
Santa Evita — Tomás Eloy Martínez
Episode: 498. Evita: The Mystery of the Missing Body (Part 5)
"...a brilliant [...] very creepy, weird novel by an Argentine writer called Tomás Martínez."
Savonarola: A Biography — Donald Weinstein
Episode: 574. The Medici: Curse of the Mad Monk (Part 3)
"An absolutely brilliant book [...] which basically digs behind all the myths that you see in the popular histories."
Say Nothing — Patrick Radden-Keefe
Episode: 552. The Last Viking: The Saga of Harald Hardrada (Part 1)
"...the kind of In Cold Blood for our generation, extraordinary work of non-fiction."
Scoff: A History of Food and Class in Britain — Pen Vogler
Episode: 49. Food Glorious Food
"It's brilliant. I swallowed it down in a couple of evenings."
Servants: A Downstairs View of 20th Century Britain — Lucy Lethbridge
Episode: 300: The Real Downton Abbey "
...the best book I've ever read on this, by far."
Shah of Shahs — Ryszard Kapuściński
Episode: 167. Oil: The Making of the Modern World
"...the great Polish travel writer, in his brilliant book, Shah of Shahs."
She: A History of Adventure — H. Rider Haggard
Episode: 332: King Solomon's Mines
"She is the primary text of the Lost World genre. She is an intoxicating book."
The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914 — Christopher Clark
Episode: 9. Causes of the First World War
Episode: 467. The Murder of Franz Ferdinand: The Victim (Part 3)
Episode: 474. The Road to The Great War: The Lights Go Out (Part 6)
"Christopher Clark in his brilliant book, The Sleepwalkers, says that even he, who seems to have read everything on the subject... actually it's impossible because so much has been written about it that no one person could ever read [it] all." "
...Christopher Clark's brilliant groundbreaking book on this process, The Sleepwalkers."
"Christopher Clarke in his brilliant book, Sleepwalkers..."
A Social History of the Third Reich — Richard Grunberger
Episode: 405. The Nazis in Power: The Nuremberg Rallies (Part 2)
"...Richard Grunberger, who wrote a brilliant book, A Social History of the Third Reich."
A Soldier's Song — Ken Lukowiak
Episode: 171. The Falklands War (Part 3)
"...really good." [on Falklands War memoirs]
Son of the Morning Star — Evan S. Connell
Episode: 446. Custer vs. Crazy Horse: Civil War (Part 1)
"...another brilliant biographer of Custer, M. S. Connell in his book, Son of the Morning Star, describes him as this dashing cavalier embedded like a fossil in American folklore."
The Spanish Conquest of Mexico — Hugh Thomas
Episode: 390. The Fall of the Aztecs: War to the Death (Part 7)
"...Hugh Thomas's enormous, great brick of an account of the Spanish conquest."
Stone Alone — Bill Wyman
Episode: 558. The Rolling Stones: Sex, Drugs and Rock 'n' Roll (Part 1)
"Bill Wyman and his autobiography, Stone Alone, which is well worth reading... It's a really, really interesting book."
Story Worlds of Robin Hood — Leslie Coote
Episode: 192. Robin Hood
"...Leslie Coote, who's kind of one of the great living experts on Robin Hood."
Sword at Sunset — Rosemary Sutcliffe
Episode: 19. King Arthur
"...a brilliant version by Rosemary Sutcliffe."
A Tale of Two Cities — Charles Dickens
Episode: 14. Historical Fiction
"I think that A Tale of Two Cities by Dickens is probably the single most influential novel on the way that people in the English speaking world understand a period of history."
Teenage: The Creation of Youth — John Savage
Episode: 50. Teenagers
"...a brilliant book [...] by a guy called John Savage, who some [...] listeners will know as the guy who wrote the definitive book on punk and the Sex Pistols."
Terra Nostra — Carlos Fuentes
Episode: 309. Columbus: Villain or Hero? (Part 4)
"...a novel... not written by a European or by a novelist from the United States, but a Mexican, Carlos Fuentes... Terra Nostra."
There and Back Again — Matthew Lyons
Episode: 226. The Lord of the Rings "...a fabulous book...where he goes around following in the footsteps of Tolkien."
This Sporting Life — Robert Colls
Episode: 592. Mad Victorian Sport "
...a brilliant book."
Tiberius in His Age: Myth, Sex, Luxury, and Power — Edward Champlin
Episode: 535. Emperors of Rome: Tiberius, Slaughter and Scandal (Part 2)
"...absolutely brilliant."
Tim to the Lighthouse — Edward Ardizzone
Episode: 150. Smuggling
"Tim to the Lighthouse by Edward [Ardizzone]. That is a brilliant book... All those little Tim books are absolutely superb."
Titanic Lives — Richard Davenport Hines
Episode: 427. Titanic: The Tragedy Begins (Part 1)
"...an absolutely brilliant book."
Tom Jones — Henry Fielding
Episode: 211. London: People (Part 3)
"...a book that everybody should read. An absolutely uproarious, rumbustious, really fun book, brilliantly written."
Tourists — Lucy Lethbridge
Episode: 222. Victorian Holidays
"Brilliant, brilliant book, which I heartily recommend to all our listeners."
"I think it's an absolutely wonderful book."
"...a brilliant book... called Tourists."
Towards the Flame — Dominic Lieven
Episode: 471. The Road to The Great War: The Austrian Ultimatum (Part 3)
"...a brilliant book...about Russia and the origins of the First World War."
Trafalgar — Adam Nicholson
Episode: 612. Nelson: The Final Showdown (Part 5)
"...brilliant book."
The Treaty: The Irish Independence Act 1921 — Gretchen Friemann
Episode: 579. The Irish War of Independence: Showdown in London (Part 4)
"...an...incredibly readable book on the treaty...she does brilliantly this sort of popular narrative."
The Trigger — Tim Butcher
Episode: 465. The Murder of Franz Ferdinand: The Killer (Part 1)
"...a brilliant book."
The Twelve Caesars — Mary Beard
Episode: 105. Classics
"...a fantastic new book...not actually about the Twelve Caesars themselves, but about how they've been understood."
V for Vendetta — Alan Moore
Episode: 115. The Gunpowder Plot
"...a really brilliant graphic novel. A great window into the...power of the 80s."
The Vietnam War — Max Hastings
Episode: 72. The Vietnam War
"...a fantastic book."
The Wages of Destruction — Adam Tooze
Episode: 406. The Nazis in Power: Hitler's Road to War (Part 3)
"...great book...about the German economy."
The War in the Desert — Alan Moorehead
Episode: 73. England v Italy
"...a brilliant book about the war in the desert."
The War of the Worlds — H.G. Wells
Episode: 9. Causes of the First World War
"...one of the great novels about the First World War is actually written in the late 19th century."
The War on Heresy — R.I. Moore (Bob Moore)
Episode: 302. The Mystery of the Cathars
"...a fantastic book...startling, unsettling and revelatory."
Waverley — Walter Scott Episode: 14. Historical Fiction
"...really...the...fountainhead of historical fiction."
What Else? Adventures in Time, Nelson, Hero of the Seas — Dominic Sandbrook
Episode: 610. Nelson: The Battle of Copenhagen (Part 3)
"...there is no higher recommendation than that...parents listening to this podcast should immediately run out and buy this book for their children."
Who Are We Now? Stories of Modern England — Jason Cowley
Episode: 180. England & Englishness
"...the fruit of many decades of reflection on the subject of Englishness and England."
Who Dares Wins — Dominic Sandbrook
Episode: 169. The Falklands War: Countdown to Invasion (Part 1)
"...if you haven't read it, listeners, go and get it."
Winchelsea — Alex Preston
Episode: 150. Smuggling
"...a new novel... called Winchelsea. And it's been greeted with rapturous reviews."
"...it's a fantastic book."
Windrush — Trevor Phillips and Mike Phillips
Episode: 401. Windrush: The Story of Black Britain
"Brilliant account, not just of Windrush itself, but of the history of West Indian settlement in Britain and the years that have followed that."
The Wolf Age — Tore Skeie
Episode: 549. The Road to 1066: Revenge of the Vikings (Part 2)
"...an absolutely brilliant book."
Women in Purple — Judith Herrin
Episode: 525. Charlemagne: Emperor of the West (Part 3)
"...a brilliant book."
The World of the Shining Prince — Ivan Morris
Episode: 560. The Golden Age of Japan: Lady Murasaki and the Shining Prince (Part 1)
"...a brilliant book on the tale of Genji."
The Wrath to Come: Gone with the Wind, and the Lies America Tells — Sarah Churchwell
Episode: 204. Gone with the Wind
"...Sarah [Churchwell's] new book, The Wrath to Come."
The Wretched of the Earth — Frantz Fanon
Episode: 100. Decolonising Africa
"...one of the great...foundational texts."
The Year of the French — Thomas Flanagan
Episode: 336. Ireland: Celts, Conquest and Cromwell (Part 1)
"...a brilliant book."
The Years of Rice and Salt — Kim Stanley Robinson
Episode: 14. Historical Fiction
"...unlike most counterfactuals, which are all about kind of Hitler and great men...this is a...much more long durée kind of perspective."
The Young Meteors — Jonathan Aitken
Episode: 364. Sixties Fashion: Swinging London (Part 2)
"...for those people who are interested in this period, it is a tremendous read...a brilliant [read]."
Episode: 644. The Fall of the Incas: Empire of Gold (Part 1) "
...an absolutely wonderful book... called 1491. And it's about the New World before Columbus."
1914: The Year the World Ended — Paul Ham
Episode: 597. The First World War: The Massacre of the Innocents (Part 4)
"...Paul [Ham]. He wrote a brilliant book about 1914."
1983 — Taylor Downing
Episode: 92. Nuclear Weapons
"...a brilliant book about how close the world came to nuclear destruction."
After Tamerlane — John Darwin
Episode: 25. Empires
"...a great history of empires."
The Lives of Muhammad — Kecia Ali
Episode: 60. Muhammad
"...a wonderful book about the afterlife of Mohammed and the way that both Muslims and non-Muslims have understood him."
The Age of Illusion — Ronald Blythe
Episode: 583. The Lion, the Priest and the Parlourmaids: A 1930s Sex Scandal
"...a brilliantly funny witty book... full of strange stories and anecdotes."
The Alteration — Kingsley Amis
Episode: 14. Historical Fiction
"I have a very big soft spot for Kingsley Amis's The Alteration."
American Brutus — Michael Kauffman
Episode: 591. The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln: Manhunt for the Killer (Part 2)
"...the book... by Michael Kauffman, American Brutus, is brilliant."
Angels with Dirty Faces — Jonathan Wilson
Episode: 252. The World Cup: British Imperialism, South American rivalries, and Mussolini (Part 1)
"It is a brilliant book. Not just a history of Argentine football, but a history of Argentina."
Anne Boleyn and Elizabeth — Tracy Borman
Episode: 617. Elizabeth I: Anne Boleyn's Bastard (Part 2)
"Tracy Borman's book Anne Boleyn and Elizabeth is really really good."
Arthur and George — Julian Barnes
Episode: 85. Sherlock Holmes
"Julian Barnes wrote a novel about it. A brilliant novel, Arthur and George."
Arthurian Trilogy — Bernard Cornwell
Episode: 19. King Arthur
"...his trilogy... about King Arthur is by far the best thing he's ever written."
The autobiography of the executioner of Paris — Charles-Henri Sanson
Episode: 445. The Habsburgs: Secrets of a Dynasty
"...the extremely readable autobiography of the executioner of Paris [...] a book everybody should read."
The Battle of Hastings — M.K. Lawson
Episode: 554. 1066: The Shadows of War (Part 1)
"...the definitive book on the Battle of Hastings itself[,] absolutely [...] amazingly detailed[,] subtle treatment of all the sources and the evidence."
Beef and Liberty — Ben Rogers
Episode: 286. England: Beef and Liberty
"...a brilliant book... Beef and Liberty."
Beyond the Northlands: Viking Voyages and the Old Norse Sagas — Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough
Episode: 103. The Norse Sagas
"...an absolutely brilliant book, beautifully illustrated, a book about the Vikings' kind of worldview and their sense of geography."
The Big Score: The Billion Dollar Story of Silicon Valley — Michael S. Malone
Episode: 93. Silicon Valley Part 1
"I really recommend his book."
The Black Jacobins — CLR James
Episode: 211. London: People (Part 3)
"...a brilliant work of scholarship. But it's just incredibly readable, really readable."
Black Like Me — John Howard Griffin
Episode: 12 Days: Solomon Northup and Albert Camus
"...a book called Black Like Me by John Howard [Griffin]."
Blood Meridian — Cormac McCarthy
Episode: 14. Historical Fiction
"One of my favorite books set in the past... Cormac [McCarthy's] Blood Meridian."
Brazil: A Biography — Lilia Moritz Schwarcz and Heloisa Murgel Starling
Episode: 268. Brazil: The Last Emperor
"...a brilliant book called Brazil, a Biography... the definitive English language history... of Brazil. And it's absolutely brilliant."
Buddenbrooks — Thomas Mann
Episode: 222. Victorian Holidays
"Thomas Mann's book, Buddenbrooks—brilliant novel."
Building Anglo-Saxon England — John Blair
Episode: 251. Alfred the Great: Return of the King (Part 2)
"...an absolutely brilliant book... by John Blair, Building Anglo-Saxon England. And it's amazing to read."
The Burgundians — Bart Van Loo
Episode: 131. Burgundy: Europe's forgotten superpower
"...you absolutely loved [...] You made it one of your history books of the year."
Chaucer: A European Life — Marion Turner
Episode: 416. The Canterbury Tales (Part 4)
"...a wonderful biography by Marion Turner, Chaucer, a European Life. She gives a brilliant portrait of Chaucer."
China at War — Hans van der Ven
Episode: 236. China and World War II (Part 2)
"...the premier historian of this particular set of issues... those who have the time should read his book, China at War, which is an absolutely fantastic account of the military history of this period."
"Hans van der Ven in his book, China at War, which I would highly recommend."
China's War with Japan, 1937–1945: The Struggle for Survival — Rana Mitter
Episode: 235. China and World War II (Part 1)
"...an extraordinary, brilliant, and I have to say, gruelling book, because the subject is gruelling."
Choosing War — Fred Logevall
Episode: 72. The Vietnam War
"It's one of my favorite books on the war. It... changed my whole thinking on the war."
A Christmas Carol — Charles Dickens
Episode: 10. Christmas
"...Dickens, his spirit suffuses the 19th century and 19th century popular culture. And with the Christmas Carol... so many of the ingredients bound up with [it]..."
The Christmas Truce: The World War I Christmas Truce of 1914 — Stanley Weintraub
Episode: 629. WWI: The Christmas Truce
"...another excellent book by an American historian, Stanley Weintraub."
Citizens — Simon Schama
Episode: 475. The French Revolution: Marie Antoinette (Part 1)
Episode: 477. The French Revolution: The Violence Begins (Part 3)
"...one of the most influential [history books] on the way people write history."
"It's insanely enjoyable... It is tip top. It is brilliant."
City of Dreadful Delight — Judith Walkowitz
Episode: 627. Jack The Ripper: From Hell (Part 4)
"...a wonderful book... called City of Dreadful Delight, which I highly recommend."
Claudius Caesar — Josiah Osgood
Episode: 537. Emperors of Rome: Claudius, Paranoia and Poison (Part 4)
"Josiah Osgood, who's written a brilliant book on Claudius, Claudius Caesar."
The Coming of the Terror — Timothy Tackett
Episode: 506. The French Revolution: Massacre at the Palace (Part 4)
"...brilliant book. He's great [on] all this."
The Command of the Ocean — N.A.M. Rodger
Episode: 243. Trafalgar: A World at War (Part 1)
"...a brilliant... definitive history of the emergence of the Royal Navy."
Command: How the Allies Learned to Win the Second World War — Al Murray
Episode: 247. Monty & Patton vs. the Nazis
"...a brilliant new book called Command, How the Allies Learned to Win the Second World War by Al Murray."
The Complete History of Jack the Ripper — Philip Sugden
Episode: 625. Jack The Ripper: Horror in Whitechapel (Part 2)
"...a brilliant book on the Ripper case. I think the definitive book, really." "...his brilliant book on [the] Jack the Ripper case."
Conquerors — Roger Crowley
Episode: 228. Portugal: The Golden Age of Discovery (Part 2)
"...a book by Roger Crowley called Conquerors... I really enjoyed it."
The Conquest of Mexico — Matthew Restall
Episode: 388. The Fall of the Aztecs: The Festival of Blood (Part 5)
"...the most brilliant recent book [...] by a historian called Matthew Restel."
Cornish Wrecking — Cathryn J. Pearce
Episode: 150. Smuggling
"There is a fantastic book called Cornish Wrecking by [Cathryn J. Pearce], which absolutely put me straight on this."
Cromwell: An Island, New Perspectives — Martin Bennett (ed.)
Episode: 54. Cromwell and the Protectorate
"...a very good new book edited by, among others, Martin Bennett, called Cromwell, An Island, New Perspectives."
Culture Wars: The Struggle to Define America — James Davison Hunter
Episode: 46. Culture Wars
"...the book that enshrines the term culture wars."
Custer's Trials — T.J. Stiles
Episode: 446. Custer vs. Crazy Horse: Civil War (Part 1)
"One of his great biographers, T.J. Stiles, who wrote [a] Pulitzer Prize winning book..."
Daily Life in Ancient Rome — Florence Dupont
Episode: 402. Christmas: Pagan or Christian?
"[Florence] Dupont, she's written a brilliant book on everyday life in the Roman Republic, Daily Life in Ancient Rome."
Dance of the Furies — Michael Neiberg
Episode: 90. The Western Front
"...a very distinguished American historian of the First World War"
Dance of the Tiger — Björn Kurtén
Episode: 127. Neanderthals
"...really good... I recommend them."
Darwin — Adrian Desmond and James Moore
Episode: 12 Days: Port wine and Darwin sets sail
"...not just the best biography of Darwin. It's one of the great... all-time biographies."
Death or Victory: The Battle of Quebec and the Birth of Empire — Dan Snow
Episode: 47. The Seven Years' War
"...an absolutely splendid account of the Siege of Quebec, the Death of Wolf, all that kind of stuff."
Diaries of Victor Klemperer — Victor Klemperer
Episode: 409. The Nazis in Power: Hitler's War on the Jews (Part 6)
"...an extraordinary resource and a very very moving and riveting read."
The Diary of Samuel Pepys — Samuel Pepys
Episode: 4. We're all so 17th Century
"...one of my favorite books of all time, which I think absolutely everybody should read even if they have no interest in history[.]"
Dictionary of the Khazars — Milorad Pavic
Episode: 148. The Vikings Go East
"...a fabulous novel... kind of a magical, realist novel. Very good. I highly recommend it."
Dominion — Tom Holland
Episode: 435. Luther: The Battle Against Satan (Part 3)
"...your magisterial book about the history of Christianity and how it has shaped the Western world."
Dominion — CJ Sansom
Episode: 32. What if?
"...the best counterfactual novel."
Don Juan — Byron
Episode: 440. Lord Byron: Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know (Part 1)
Episode: 443. Lord Byron: Death of a Vampire (Part 4)
"...incredibly darkly funny. Byron is very funny as well as very romantic. I would say the most readable long poem in English."
"...the most readable long poem in the whole of English."
Dress in the Age of Jane Austen — Hillary Davidson
Episode: 238. The Regency Revolution
"...a fantastic book because basically it helps us understand the question of what is going on in the world of fashion."
Dress in the Age of Jane Austen — Jayne Keverne
Episode: 238. The Regency Revolution
"...brilliantly written... amazing illustrations... a beautiful book."
The Eagle Unbowed: How the Poles Defeated the Nazis and the Soviets — Halik Kochanski
Episode: 532. Hitler's War on Poland: The Fall of Warsaw (Part 3)
"...a brilliant book [...] on Poland and the Second World War by Halik Kochanski."
East West Street — Philip Sands
Episode: 155. Ukraine and Russia
"...an absolutely brilliant book... about the extermination of the Jews in Lviv."
Echo Lands — Duncan Mackay
Episode: 500. The Roman Conquest of Britain: The Empire Strikes Back (Part 2)
"...the best book on Roman Britain I've read in ages and I highly recommend it to everyone."
Empire of Booze — Henry Jeffreys
Episode: 289: Drink
"...an absolutely brilliant book on the history of alcohol."
Empireland — Sathnam Sanghera
Episode: 68. The British Empire
"...there's lots of room to disagree with it, to engage with it, but it's written in a very measured and nuanced way that is a pleasure to read."
The Escape Artist — Jonathan Freedland
Episode: 291: The Man Who Escaped Auschwitz
"...if ever there was a way into that darkest of subjects, Jonathan Friedland's book is it."
Eternal Victory — Michael McCormack
Episode: 219. Justinian: Making Rome Great Again (Part 2)
"A wonderful book... about how the Romans see the world in the time of Justinian."
Europe's First Revolution — R.I. Moore
Episode: 302: The Mystery of the Cathars
"...a fantastic book... about the 11th century and its aftermath."
Excursion to Hell — Vincent Bramley
Episode: 171. The Falklands War (Part 3)
"...really good." [on Falklands War memoirs]
The Expedition of Humphrey Clinker — Tobias Smollett
Episode: 221. Holidays: Byron's Grand Tour
"...a brilliant book by Tobias Smollett."
Fatal Path — Ronan Fanning
Episode: 578. The Irish War of Independence: Bloody Sunday (Part 3)
"A brilliant book by [Ronan] Fanning called Fatal Path, which is a brilliantly told story [of] exactly what happened... within British politics. How the truce and then the treaty are constructed, but extending back to 1910, takes it all through brilliantly."
The Fateful Year — Mark Bostridge
Episode: 474. The Road to The Great War: The Lights Go Out (Part 6)
"...a wonderful book about 1914."
Fatherland — Robert Harris
Episode: 14. Historical Fiction
"...a fantastic book."
The Fifth Sun: A New History of the Aztecs — Camilla Townsend
Episode: 51. Aztecs Episode: 384. The Fall of the Aztecs: The Adventure Begins (Part 1)
Episode: 390. The Fall of the Aztecs: War to the Death (Part 7)
"...one of the most haunting and moving history books I've ever read, because it did feel like a featof resurrectionism to the degree that I feel I can now understand the Aztecs."
"Camilla Townsend, whose book I cannot recommend highly enough."
"...absolutely the best book that I read last year." "...wonderful book... A New History of the Aztecs."
The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper — Hallie Rubenhold
Episode: 85. Sherlock Holmes Episode: 624. Jack The Ripper: History's Darkest Mystery (Part 1)
Episode: 626. Jack The Ripper: The Killer Strikes Again (Part 3)
"...Hallie [Rubenhold] who wrote [a] brilliant book... about the victims." "...so revelatory and [...] deservedly prize-winning."
"...brilliant on the lives of the victims."
Flashman Series — George MacDonald Fraser
Episode: 14. Historical Fiction
"...the narrative voice in Flashman is as good as any narrative voice in any historical novel... I couldn't recommend them highly enough."
Football Nation — David Goldblatt
Episode: 253. The World Cup (Part 2)
"...a wonderful book... about Brazil and football's importance in the history of Brazil."
The Fortress — Alexander Watson
Episode: 599. The First World War: Downfall of the Habsburgs (Part 6)
"...a brilliant book called The Fortress by the historian Alexander Watson."
Franco's Crypt — Jeremy Treglown
Episode: 184. History's Biggest Questions with Dan Carlin (Part 2)
"...a brilliant book... about the Spanish Civil War."
The Fraud — Zadie Smith
Episode: 400. Victorian Britain's Maddest Mystery
"The novel, The Fraud is absolutely unmissable."
The French Revolution — Jeremy Popkin
Episode: 544. The French Revolution: The September Massacres (Part 1)
"...another brilliant book on the French Revolution, the most recent English language survey."
From Alexander to Actium — Peter Green
Episode: 605. Greek Myths: Jason & The Quest for the Golden Fleece (Part 4)
"...his tremendous book on the Hellenistic period."
A Gambling Man — Jenny Uglow
Episode: 124. World Cup of Kings and Queens part 2
"There's a brilliant book by Jenny Uglow called A Gambling Man."
The Gardener — Rudyard Kipling
Episode: 118. End of the First World War & Remembrance "
...one of the great short stories ever written."
Genghis Khan — John Mann
Episode: 166. Genghis Khan: Lord of the Mongols
"...a very good book on Genghis Khan."
George Orwell, English Rebel — Robert Colls
Episode: 208. George Orwell
"...a brilliant study of Orwell as a writer of Englishness and Orwell as a kind of progenitor of Englishness."
Global Crisis — Geoffrey Parker
Episode: 89. Climate & Weather Episode: 313. Climate Apocalypse
"...captured brilliantly by [Geoffrey] Parker in his book, Global Crisis."
"...It's fantastic. Amazing book."
The Great Game — Peter Hopkirk
Episode: 87. Afghanistan - Part 1
"Wonderful books."
Greek Thought, Arabic Culture — Dimitri Goutas
Episode: 379. Baghdad: The Arabian Nights (Part 4)
"...this fantastic book on Greek thought, Arabic culture."
Hawkwood — Frances Stonor Saunders Episode: 321:
Hundred Years' War: A Storm of Swords (Part 4)
"...a wonderful book... about Hawkwood's company... rampaging across... Tuscany and northern Italy."
Heart of Darkness — Joseph Conrad
Episode: 538. Horror in the Congo: The Nightmare Begins (Part 1)
Episode: 541. Heart of Darkness: Fear and Loathing in the Congo
"It's a book that I think anticipates so much of the culture of the 20th century and wrestling with... man's capacity for evil and the possibilities of violence and brutality."
"Heart of Darkness, I would argue, is by far the preeminent cultural representation of Western imperialism, particularly in Africa."
"It is one of the most influential books... of the modern age."
Helen of Troy — Bettany Hughes
Episode: 458. Helen of Troy: A Family of Blood (Part 2)
"By far the most readable and enjoyable study of how Helen herself might have been rooted in memories of how women in the Bronze Age... might have lived."
History of the Franks — Gregory of Tours
Episode: 521. Warlords of the West: Killer Queens (Part 2)
"...a wonderful book."
History of the World — Peter Fry
Episode: 70. Children's History
"...my favorite book as a child history book."
Holy Feast and Holy Fast — Caroline Walker Bynum
Episode: 356: The Blood-Drinking Bride of Christ
"...I highly commend [it] to anyone who's interested, not just in Catherine, but in basically the whole field of the mindset of the Middle Ages... it is really superb."
How Britain Brought Football to the World — Stuart and Philip Laycock
Episode: 252. The World Cup (Part 1)
"I would highly commend [this] new book."
Ilium — Dan Simmons
Episode: 13. Stephen Fry and Troy
"...one of my favorite reinterpretations of the Trojan War."
The Imagination of an Insurrection — William Erwin Thompson
Episode: 339: Ireland: The Easter Rising, 1916 (Part 4)
"My favourite book on the [...] idea of this, and I commend it to everybody."
In Patagonia — Bruce Chatwin
Episode: 275: Argentina: The Welsh Colony
"...a brilliant, brilliant, kind of haunting, beautiful book. One of the great examples[.] I absolutely recommend it."
In Search of the Phoenicians — Josephine Quinn
Episode: 421. Ancient Carthage: Lords of the Sea (Part 1)
"...a brilliantly fascinating chapter on the Tophets."
The Inheritors — William Golding
Episode: 127. Neanderthals
"...an absolutely magnificent novel."
An Instance of the Fingerpost — Iain Pears
Episode: 4. We're all so 17th Century
"...possibly absolutely top of my list of historical novels."
Ireland's Sarajevo — Ronan McGreevy
Episode: 580. The Irish Civil War (Part 1)
"...brilliantly handled by Ronan in his wonderfully gripping book."
Joan of Arc — Marina Warner
Episode: 632. Joan of Arc: Warrior Maid (Part 1)
Episode: 633. Joan of Arc: Saviour of France (Part 2)
"...a brilliant book that I read when I was at a very impressionable age."
"...her wonderful book on Joan of Arc."
The Kenneth Williams Diaries — Kenneth Williams
Episode: 417. Britain in 1974: State of Emergency (Part 1)
"...a wonderful diary. Actually, I really recommend it to people." "I really recommend it to people."
King Leopold's Ghost — Adam Hochschild
Episode: 538. Horror in the Congo: The Nightmare Begins (Part 1)
"There's a brilliant book on this called King Leopold's Ghost by the American writer Adam Hochschild."
La Peste (The Plague) — Albert Camus
Episode: 12 Days: Solomon Northup and Albert Camus
"...a genuinely... really really good book."
The Last Assassin — Peter Stothard
Episode: 305: The Fall of the Roman Republic
"...very good, highly recommended."
The Last Emperor of Mexico — Edward Shawcross
Episode: 163. The Last Emperor of Mexico
"...grimly funny, as in so many ways this book is." "Fantastic book, rush out and buy it."
The Last Sherlock Holmes Story — Michael Dibdin
Episode: 85. Sherlock Holmes Episode: 627. Jack The Ripper: From Hell (Part 4)
"...a brilliantly dark book [...] about Holmes and Jack the Ripper." "...a brilliant book."
The Last Viking — Don Hollway
Episode: 553. The Last Viking: Warrior of the New Rome (Part 2)
"...a really fun one[,] the most recent biography of Harold Hardrada."
Last Walks in Vienna — Georg Clare
Episode: 407. The Nazis in Power: The Conquest of Austria (Part 4)
"...I would recommend [it] to the listeners."
The Law of Blood: Thinking and Acting as a Nazi — Johann Chapoutot
Episode: 408. The Nazis in Power: Hitler's Dream (Part 5)
"...a really remarkable book."
Lenin's Tomb — David Remnick
Episode: 162. Putin's Russia
"...an absolutely unbelievably good book. So I really recommend that."
Liberty or Death — Peter McPhee
Episode: 480. The French Revolution: The Rights of Man (Part 6)
"...his brilliant Liberty or Death book on the French Revolution."
Liberty's Dawn — Emma [Griffin]
Episode: 108. The Industrial Revolution
"...it is a brilliant book."
The Light Ages — Seb Falk
Episode: 112. Medieval Science
"...about how the Middle Ages, far from being a period of ignorance and superstition, [...] opened up all kinds of astonishing ways of seeing the world that we still benefit from today."
Like the Roman — Simon Heffer
Episode: 606. Enoch Powell: Rivers of Blood
"...a great book on Enoch Powell... his book is really really... great."
The Lives of the Caesars (or The Twelve Caesars) — Suetonius
Episode: 534. Emperors of Rome: Sex Secrets of the Caesars (Part 1)
"...brilliant on politics as show business."
The Lives of the Mitford Sisters — Laura Thompson
Episode: 375. Hitler and the Mitford Sisters
"...Laura Thompson's book is brilliant."
Lord of the Rings — J.R.R. Tolkien
Episode: 12 Days: Martin Luther and J.R.R. Tolkien
"I would argue that actually Lord of the Rings, far more than 1984 actually, is the great novel written about the horrors of the 20th century."
Luther, Man Between God and the Devil — Heiko Obermann
Episode: 434. Luther: The Revolution Begins (Part 2)
"...a brilliant book."
Making Mary Poppins — Todd James Pierce
Episode: 614. Walt Disney: The Great American Storyteller
"...the actual story is brilliantly explicated in [this] new book."
The Making of Oliver Cromwell — Ronald Hutton
Episode: 113. Hallowe'en and modern paganism
Episode: 123. World Cup of Kings and Queens part 1
"...an absolutely fantastic... first of a three-part biography."
"...absolutely my history book of the year so far."
The Mango Cult and Other Offerings — Adam Chow
Episode: 173. Chairman Mao & the Cultural Revolution
"...written brilliantly by the anthropologist Adam Chow, who I highly recommend."
Maoism — Julia Lovell
Episode: 173. Chairman Mao & the Cultural Revolution
"...the wonderful historian Julia Lovell, whose recent book on Maoism makes a really strong point..."
Marie Antoinette's Head — Will Bashore
Episode: 475. The French Revolution: Marie Antoinette (Part 1)
"...an absolutely wonderful book with the great title."
Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony — Roberto Calasso
Episode: 457. Helen of Troy: Queen of the Greek Myths (Part 1)
"...a wonderful, weird, haunting account of the Greek myths."
Mary Queen of Scots — John Guy
Episode: 585. Mary, Queen of Scots: The Royal Rivals (Part 2)
"...his brilliant, I think, definitive biography of Mary Queen of Scots."
Mary Queen of Scots — Antonia Fraser
Episode: 588. Mary, Queen of Scots: The Mystery of the Exploding Mansion (Part 5)
"...her wonderful book about Mary, Queen of Scots."
Mary, Queen of Scots — Jenny Wormald
Episode: 584. Mary, Queen of Scots: Birth of a Legend (Part 1)
"...a brilliant groundbreaking book on Mary, Queen of Scots."
Master and Commander — Patrick O'Brian
Episode: 514. Nelson: Hero of the Seas (Part 1)
"...the Patrick O'Brian books, and particularly the first one, Master and Commander, is brilliant on this... sense of gnawing anxiety."
Memoirs — William Hickey
Episode: 24. Sex in the City
"...absolutely fantastic."
Metropolis — Ben Wilson
Episode: 519. The World's First City
"...a book a few years ago by Ben Wilson called Metropolis. It's a brilliant book."
The Morbid Age — Richard Overy
Episode: 136. 1922: The Birth of the Modern World Part 1
"...a brilliant book about...British culture in the 1920s and 30s."
Mosquito Empires — John McNeill
Episode: 147. Disease, the New World and modern pandemics
"...an amazing contribution to understanding these diseases."
A Most Holy War — Mark Gregory Pegg
Episode: 301. The Real Da Vinci Code
"It's a fantastic book, absolutely thrilling work of history. It's fabulously well written."
My Early Life — Winston Churchill
Episode: 239: Young Churchill (Part 1)
"...a genuinely very, very funny read."
Naples 44 — Norman Lewis
Episode: 399. The Savage Storm: World War II and The Battle for Italy
"...a brilliantly vivid account of someone who absolutely has his humanity very much intact and is just sort of destroyed by what he sees and the kind of awful tragedy he witnesses."
The Nativist Prophets of Early Islamic Iran — Patricia Crone
Episode: 377. Baghdad: Crossroads of the Universe (Part 2)
"...a brilliant, brilliant book...such an interesting book."
The Nazi Conscience — Claudia Koonz
Episode: 408. The Nazis in Power: Hitler's Dream (Part 5)
"...a brilliant book."
Nelson: A Dream of Glory — John Sugden
Episode: 514. Nelson: Hero of the Seas (Part 1)
"...the world's longest ever books published."
Nelson: A Dream of Glory / Nelson: The Sword of Albion — John Sugden
Episode: 245. Trafalgar: Victory (Part 3)
"...brilliant biography."
Neuromancer — William Gibson
Episode: 93. Silicon Valley Part 1
"...I highly recommend people read [it]... it was very influential."
The New Penguin History of Britain — David Mattingly
Episode: 502. The Roman Conquest of Britain: To the Ends of the Earth (Part 4)
"...the first book in the New Penguin History of Britain...Brilliant book."
The Northumbrians — Dan Jackson
Episode: 18. The North South Divide Episode: 140. The Birth of the Railways
"Dan Jackson the author of the brilliant The Northumbrians... Mr Northeastern historian." "...brilliant, brilliant local history of the... Northeast."
Oedipus — Lowell Edmunds
Episode: 603. Greek Myths: The Riddle of the Sphinx (Part 2) "
...a wonderful book on Oedipus."
An Officer and a Spy — Robert Harris
Episode: 242. French History on Film "
...one of those reading experiences that sort of stays with you..."
"I read it in a single sitting, so I love the book."
The Old Boys — David Turner
Episode: 368. The History Behind Hogwarts: Ancient Schools and Revolting Students
"...an excellent book...probably the best sort of short single volume history of the public schools."
Oscar — Matthew Sturgis
Episode: 342: The Trials of Oscar Wilde (Part 2)
"...absolutely wonderful biography."
The Outlaws — Richmal Crompton
Episode: 137. 1922: The Birth of the Modern World Part 2
"...absolutely tremendous and the stories are the most brilliant..."
Pale Rider — Laura Spinney
Episode: 12 Days: Jean-Bédel Bokassa and the memory of pandemics
"...a brilliant book, actually. Really interesting book."
Parkland — Vincent Bugliosi
Episode: 394. JFK: Death in Dallas (Part 3)
"...one of the most gripping history books that I've ever read."
Pax — Tom Holland
Episode: 369. The Colosseum: Rome's Arena of Death
"...you should go to your nearest bookshop and invest in a copy... of Tom Holland's book, Pax."
Peter the Great and His Times — Lindsay Hughes
Episode: 567. The Great Northern War: Murder in Moscow (Part 4)
"...a brilliant book by Lindsay Hughes, which is all about Peter the Great and his times."
Phoenicians and the Making of the Mediterranean — Carolina López-Ruiz
Episode: 421. Ancient Carthage: Lords of the Sea (Part 1)
"...an equally brilliant book by a scholar called Carolina Lopez-Ríez [...] Phoenicians and the Making of the Mediterranean."
The Pike: Gabriele D'Annunzio, Poet, Seducer and Preacher of War — Lucy Hughes-Hallett
Episode: 17. Fascism Episode: 194. The First Fascist
"...an absolute prize-winning, brilliant book...just compulsively readable...a book that kind of reinvents the art of biography."
"...brilliant, brilliant, prize-winning biography."
"...brilliant book."
The Politics of Rage — Dan Carter
Episode: 511. America in '68: George Wallace, The First Donald Trump (Part 4)
"...brilliant biography."
Pope Joan — Alain Boureau
Episode: 403. The Mystery of the Pregnant Pope
"...by miles the best book out there on the subject."
The Power Broker — Robert Caro
Episode: 360. Fear City: New York in the 1970s
"...this fantastic book...about how you reshape New York with expressways, cutting through what had once been settled, kind of contented working class neighborhoods."
The Prize — Daniel Yergin
Episode: 120. The Oil Weapon
"...an absolutely brilliant book. It almost reads like a thriller."
Protestants — Alec Ryrie
Episode: 433. Luther: The Man Who Changed the World (Part 1)
"...a wonderful book called Protestants."
Providence Lost: The Rise and Fall of Cromwell's Protectorate — Paul Lay
Episode: 4. We're all so 17th Century
Episode: 54. Cromwell and the Protectorate
"...Paul Lay's fantastic book on the protectorate[,] Cromwell's period in power[,] called Providence Lost."
...absolutely garlanded with praise."
A Radical History of Britain — Edward Vallance
Episode: 62. Magna Carta
"...author of A Radical History of Britain, a 17th century specialist."
Reclaiming History — Vincent Bugliosi
Episode: 393. JFK: Cuba, Camelot and the Cold War (Part 2)
"...this absolutely monstrous book, looking at every conceivable assassination theory and conspiracy theory."
The Restless Republic — Anna Keay
Episode: 336: Ireland: Celts, Conquest and Cromwell (Part 1)
Episode: 333. The Republic of Britain: Life under Cromwell
"It's a wonderful book, it's a really wonderful book."
"...just an outstanding piece of work."
Revolutionary Spring, Fighting for a New World, 1848-1849 — Christopher Clark
Episode: 326: The Year of Revolutions: 1848
"...a groundbreaking study [...] by the great Christopher Clarke."
The Revolutionary Temper — Robert Darnton
Episode: 477. The French Revolution: The Violence Begins (Part 3)
"...absolutely wonderful."
Ring of Steel — Alexander Watson
Episode: 474. The Road to The Great War: The Lights Go Out (Part 6)
"...Alexander Watson's brilliant book, Ring of Steel, which is all about Germany and Austria in the First World War."
The Rising — Fearghal McGarry
Episode: 339. Ireland: The Easter Rising, 1916 (Part 4)
"...brilliant book on the rising."
The Robin Hood Tradition — Kai Roberts
Episode: 192. Robin Hood
"...brilliant...he makes all this stuff incredibly interesting, the way in which these traditions have gradually accumulated over the centuries, the way that they've been questioned, the way that they've been revised, the way that they grow."
The Roman Army — Peter Connolly
Episode: 70. Children's History
"...a brilliant illustrator and a very, very serious historian of...the ancient military."
Santa Evita — Tomás Eloy Martínez
Episode: 498. Evita: The Mystery of the Missing Body (Part 5)
"...a brilliant [...] very creepy, weird novel by an Argentine writer called Tomás Martínez."
Savonarola: A Biography — Donald Weinstein
Episode: 574. The Medici: Curse of the Mad Monk (Part 3)
"An absolutely brilliant book [...] which basically digs behind all the myths that you see in the popular histories."
Say Nothing — Patrick Radden-Keefe
Episode: 552. The Last Viking: The Saga of Harald Hardrada (Part 1)
"...the kind of In Cold Blood for our generation, extraordinary work of non-fiction."
Scoff: A History of Food and Class in Britain — Pen Vogler
Episode: 49. Food Glorious Food
"It's brilliant. I swallowed it down in a couple of evenings."
Servants: A Downstairs View of 20th Century Britain — Lucy Lethbridge
Episode: 300: The Real Downton Abbey "
...the best book I've ever read on this, by far."
Shah of Shahs — Ryszard Kapuściński
Episode: 167. Oil: The Making of the Modern World
"...the great Polish travel writer, in his brilliant book, Shah of Shahs."
She: A History of Adventure — H. Rider Haggard
Episode: 332: King Solomon's Mines
"She is the primary text of the Lost World genre. She is an intoxicating book."
The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914 — Christopher Clark
Episode: 9. Causes of the First World War
Episode: 467. The Murder of Franz Ferdinand: The Victim (Part 3)
Episode: 474. The Road to The Great War: The Lights Go Out (Part 6)
"Christopher Clark in his brilliant book, The Sleepwalkers, says that even he, who seems to have read everything on the subject... actually it's impossible because so much has been written about it that no one person could ever read [it] all." "
...Christopher Clark's brilliant groundbreaking book on this process, The Sleepwalkers."
"Christopher Clarke in his brilliant book, Sleepwalkers..."
A Social History of the Third Reich — Richard Grunberger
Episode: 405. The Nazis in Power: The Nuremberg Rallies (Part 2)
"...Richard Grunberger, who wrote a brilliant book, A Social History of the Third Reich."
A Soldier's Song — Ken Lukowiak
Episode: 171. The Falklands War (Part 3)
"...really good." [on Falklands War memoirs]
Son of the Morning Star — Evan S. Connell
Episode: 446. Custer vs. Crazy Horse: Civil War (Part 1)
"...another brilliant biographer of Custer, M. S. Connell in his book, Son of the Morning Star, describes him as this dashing cavalier embedded like a fossil in American folklore."
The Spanish Conquest of Mexico — Hugh Thomas
Episode: 390. The Fall of the Aztecs: War to the Death (Part 7)
"...Hugh Thomas's enormous, great brick of an account of the Spanish conquest."
Stone Alone — Bill Wyman
Episode: 558. The Rolling Stones: Sex, Drugs and Rock 'n' Roll (Part 1)
"Bill Wyman and his autobiography, Stone Alone, which is well worth reading... It's a really, really interesting book."
Story Worlds of Robin Hood — Leslie Coote
Episode: 192. Robin Hood
"...Leslie Coote, who's kind of one of the great living experts on Robin Hood."
Sword at Sunset — Rosemary Sutcliffe
Episode: 19. King Arthur
"...a brilliant version by Rosemary Sutcliffe."
A Tale of Two Cities — Charles Dickens
Episode: 14. Historical Fiction
"I think that A Tale of Two Cities by Dickens is probably the single most influential novel on the way that people in the English speaking world understand a period of history."
Teenage: The Creation of Youth — John Savage
Episode: 50. Teenagers
"...a brilliant book [...] by a guy called John Savage, who some [...] listeners will know as the guy who wrote the definitive book on punk and the Sex Pistols."
Terra Nostra — Carlos Fuentes
Episode: 309. Columbus: Villain or Hero? (Part 4)
"...a novel... not written by a European or by a novelist from the United States, but a Mexican, Carlos Fuentes... Terra Nostra."
There and Back Again — Matthew Lyons
Episode: 226. The Lord of the Rings "...a fabulous book...where he goes around following in the footsteps of Tolkien."
This Sporting Life — Robert Colls
Episode: 592. Mad Victorian Sport "
...a brilliant book."
Tiberius in His Age: Myth, Sex, Luxury, and Power — Edward Champlin
Episode: 535. Emperors of Rome: Tiberius, Slaughter and Scandal (Part 2)
"...absolutely brilliant."
Tim to the Lighthouse — Edward Ardizzone
Episode: 150. Smuggling
"Tim to the Lighthouse by Edward [Ardizzone]. That is a brilliant book... All those little Tim books are absolutely superb."
Titanic Lives — Richard Davenport Hines
Episode: 427. Titanic: The Tragedy Begins (Part 1)
"...an absolutely brilliant book."
Tom Jones — Henry Fielding
Episode: 211. London: People (Part 3)
"...a book that everybody should read. An absolutely uproarious, rumbustious, really fun book, brilliantly written."
Tourists — Lucy Lethbridge
Episode: 222. Victorian Holidays
"Brilliant, brilliant book, which I heartily recommend to all our listeners."
"I think it's an absolutely wonderful book."
"...a brilliant book... called Tourists."
Towards the Flame — Dominic Lieven
Episode: 471. The Road to The Great War: The Austrian Ultimatum (Part 3)
"...a brilliant book...about Russia and the origins of the First World War."
Trafalgar — Adam Nicholson
Episode: 612. Nelson: The Final Showdown (Part 5)
"...brilliant book."
The Treaty: The Irish Independence Act 1921 — Gretchen Friemann
Episode: 579. The Irish War of Independence: Showdown in London (Part 4)
"...an...incredibly readable book on the treaty...she does brilliantly this sort of popular narrative."
The Trigger — Tim Butcher
Episode: 465. The Murder of Franz Ferdinand: The Killer (Part 1)
"...a brilliant book."
The Twelve Caesars — Mary Beard
Episode: 105. Classics
"...a fantastic new book...not actually about the Twelve Caesars themselves, but about how they've been understood."
V for Vendetta — Alan Moore
Episode: 115. The Gunpowder Plot
"...a really brilliant graphic novel. A great window into the...power of the 80s."
The Vietnam War — Max Hastings
Episode: 72. The Vietnam War
"...a fantastic book."
The Wages of Destruction — Adam Tooze
Episode: 406. The Nazis in Power: Hitler's Road to War (Part 3)
"...great book...about the German economy."
The War in the Desert — Alan Moorehead
Episode: 73. England v Italy
"...a brilliant book about the war in the desert."
The War of the Worlds — H.G. Wells
Episode: 9. Causes of the First World War
"...one of the great novels about the First World War is actually written in the late 19th century."
The War on Heresy — R.I. Moore (Bob Moore)
Episode: 302. The Mystery of the Cathars
"...a fantastic book...startling, unsettling and revelatory."
Waverley — Walter Scott Episode: 14. Historical Fiction
"...really...the...fountainhead of historical fiction."
What Else? Adventures in Time, Nelson, Hero of the Seas — Dominic Sandbrook
Episode: 610. Nelson: The Battle of Copenhagen (Part 3)
"...there is no higher recommendation than that...parents listening to this podcast should immediately run out and buy this book for their children."
Who Are We Now? Stories of Modern England — Jason Cowley
Episode: 180. England & Englishness
"...the fruit of many decades of reflection on the subject of Englishness and England."
Who Dares Wins — Dominic Sandbrook
Episode: 169. The Falklands War: Countdown to Invasion (Part 1)
"...if you haven't read it, listeners, go and get it."
Winchelsea — Alex Preston
Episode: 150. Smuggling
"...a new novel... called Winchelsea. And it's been greeted with rapturous reviews."
"...it's a fantastic book."
Windrush — Trevor Phillips and Mike Phillips
Episode: 401. Windrush: The Story of Black Britain
"Brilliant account, not just of Windrush itself, but of the history of West Indian settlement in Britain and the years that have followed that."
The Wolf Age — Tore Skeie
Episode: 549. The Road to 1066: Revenge of the Vikings (Part 2)
"...an absolutely brilliant book."
Women in Purple — Judith Herrin
Episode: 525. Charlemagne: Emperor of the West (Part 3)
"...a brilliant book."
The World of the Shining Prince — Ivan Morris
Episode: 560. The Golden Age of Japan: Lady Murasaki and the Shining Prince (Part 1)
"...a brilliant book on the tale of Genji."
The Wrath to Come: Gone with the Wind, and the Lies America Tells — Sarah Churchwell
Episode: 204. Gone with the Wind
"...Sarah [Churchwell's] new book, The Wrath to Come."
The Wretched of the Earth — Frantz Fanon
Episode: 100. Decolonising Africa
"...one of the great...foundational texts."
The Year of the French — Thomas Flanagan
Episode: 336. Ireland: Celts, Conquest and Cromwell (Part 1)
"...a brilliant book."
The Years of Rice and Salt — Kim Stanley Robinson
Episode: 14. Historical Fiction
"...unlike most counterfactuals, which are all about kind of Hitler and great men...this is a...much more long durée kind of perspective."
The Young Meteors — Jonathan Aitken
Episode: 364. Sixties Fashion: Swinging London (Part 2)
"...for those people who are interested in this period, it is a tremendous read...a brilliant [read]."