Ultimate Summer Reading List: History

14 fascinating, new or soon-to-be-released volumes of history

Whether lounging in a backyard hammock, spending long days at the beach, or traveling to distant locales, summertime calls for an abundance of good reading material. No matter which genres you like the best, Thriftbooks has got you covered. Over the next few weeks, we'll be putting together a few roundups to help you fill out your TBR list. Here are our picks for fourteen of the best new nonfiction history reads to throw in your beach bag. 

The Bathysphere Book: Effects of the Luminous Ocean Depths by Brad Fox 

A wide ranging, philosophical, and sensual account of early deep sea exploration and its afterlives. In prose that is magical, atmospheric, and entirely engrossing, explore the adventures of ocean exploration through history, beginning with the first ever voyage to the deep ocean in 1930.

Young and Restless: The Girls Who Sparked America's Revolutions by Mattie Kahn

The untold story of the teenage girls who have helped spark America's most transformative social movements throughout history. From the American Revolution to nuclear disarmament to climate activism, girls have been at the root of serious political groundwork for movements that often sidelined them.

King, A Life by Jonathan Eig 

Hailed as "the new definitive biography," this volume mixes revelatory new research with accessible storytelling to offer an MLK for our times. Following him from the classroom to the pulpit to the streets, it is the journey of a man who recast American race relations and became a modern-day founding father.

The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny, and Murder by David Grann 

On January 28, 1742, a ramshackle vessel washed up on the coast of Brazil. Inside were thirty emaciated men, barely alive, and they had an astonishing tale to tell. From the author of Killers of the Flower Moon, a page-turning account of shipwreck, survival, and savagery, culminating in a shocking truth.

Poverty, by America by Matthew Desmond 

The richest country on earth, the US has more poverty than any other advanced democracy. Why? Drawing on history, research, and original reporting this book shows how affluent Americans knowingly and unknowingly keep poor people poor and builds a startlingly original and ambitious case for ending poverty.

Anne Boleyn & Elizabeth I: The Mother and Daughter Who Forever Changed British History by Tracy Borman

Anne Boleyn may be best known for losing her head, but as Tudor expert Borman recasts British history, her greatest legacy lies in the path-breaking reign of her daughter, Elizabeth. By shedding light on two of history's most famous women, we gain a new understanding of the Tudor era.

A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan's Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them by Timothy Egan 

D.C. Stephenson was a charismatic charlatan who drove the Ku Klux Klan's rise to power in the 1920s. This historical thriller by the Pulitzer and National Book Award-winner tells the riveting story of Madge Oberholtzer, the unassuming woman who revealed his cruelties and brought the Klan to its knees.

The Nazi Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill by Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch

In 1943, as the war against Nazi Germany raged abroad, President Franklin Roosevelt arranged a meeting with Joseph Stalin and Winston Churchill to hammer out some of the most crucial strategic details of the war. Yet when the Nazis found out about the meeting, their own secret plan took shape.

Brave the Wild River: The Untold Story of Two Women Who Mapped the Botany of the Grand Canyon by Melissa L. Sevigny

Drawn from the letters and diaries of two intrepid botanists who surveyed the Grand Canyon plant life in 1938, this book traces their treacherous forty-three-day expedition down the river. It's the spellbinding adventure of two women who risked their lives to understand and, ultimately, protect this fragile ecosystem.

The West: A New History in Fourteen Lives by Naoíse Mac Sweeney

This groundbreaking, story-driven retelling of Western history is told through the lives of fourteen remarkable individuals. Each life conveys something unexpected about the age in which it was lived and offers us a piece of the puzzle of how the modern idea of the West developed—and how we've misunderstood it.

Mary Magdalene: A Cultural History by Philip C. Almond

Mary Magdalene is a key figure in the history of Christianity. This volume deftly peels back complex layers of history and myth to understand her many different representations: penitent prostitute, demoniac, miracle worker, wife and lover of Jesus, symbol of the erotic, and New Age goddess.

The Middle Kingdoms: A New History of Central Europe by Martyn Rady

Central Europe has long been infamous as a region beset by war, a place where empires clashed and world wars began. Drawing on a lifetime of research and scholarship, this is the captivating story of two thousand years of the region's dramatic history and its enduring significance in world affairs.

American Journey: On the Road with Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, and John Burroughs by Wes Davis

In 1913, an unlikely friendship blossomed between Henry Ford and famed naturalist John Burroughs. When their mutual interest in Ralph Waldo Emerson led them to set out in one of Ford's Model Ts to explore the Transcendentalist's New England, the trip would prove to be the first of many excursions that would take Ford and Burroughs, together with an enthusiastic Thomas Edison, across America.

Revolutionary Spring: Europe Aflame and the Fight for a New World, 1848–1849 by Christopher Clark

The revolutions of 1848 were short-lived, but their impact on public life and political thought has been profound. Meticulously researched, elegantly written, and filled with a cast of charismatic figures, this volume offers a new understanding of 1848 that suggests chilling parallels to our present moment.

Hopefully this has given you a few good titles to add to your reading list this summer. Let us know which genre you'd like to see next.

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Read more by Ashly Moore Sheldon