Summer of Fire and Blood: The German Peasants' War (Basic Books)

Lyndal Roper

A green book cover with a red figure on the front, and the words "Summer of Fire and Blood" written in white

Hannah Skoda: Did you know that Thomas Müntzer, leader of the German Peasants’ War in 1525, used a rainbow flag to rally his followers? It’s an aptly exuberant image for the radical charisma of Müntzer, and for the hope and vision of the peasants. Religious change seemed to open up new ways of thinking about oppression and exploitation for those rebellious upstarts. In Summer of Fire and Blood: The German Peasants’ War (Basic Books), Lyndal Roper works with sources mostly hostile to the peasants, but the result reads with nuance and acuity. We get a real sense of ordinary people longing for justice and a fairer set of relations to the land, alongside the sheer terrors of this war, which was put down with great ferocity.

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A Short History of the Gaza Strip (Simon & Schuster)

Anne Irfan

A cream book cover with a red banner across it about two thirds of the way down

Hannah Skoda: Anne Irfan’s A Short History of the Gaza Strip (Simon & Schuster) is a wonderfully informative account of the complexities of the situation. Beginning in 1948, she guides us through these tangled events with great clarity, drawing on a vast array of sources. The text is nuanced, humane and critical at a time when too many assumptions and untruths are floating around. It might helpfully be read alongside the new podcast series Empire: The History of Gaza, presented by William Dalrymple and Anita Anand, which explores Gaza’s deep history stretching back more than 4,000 years.

The Women's Orchestra of Auschwitz: A Story of Survival (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)

Anne Sebba

The Women’s Orchestra of Auschwitz

Hannah Skoda: The Women’s Orchestra of Auschwitz: A Story of Survival (Weidenfeld & Nicolson), by Anne Sebba, is an intensely moving book. At one point, the women’s orchestra at the Auschwitz II-Birkenau camp was led by Alma Rosé, niece of Gustav Mahler and an extraordinary musician in her own right. This music-making saved the lives of around 40 of the orchestra’s members.

The Impossible Bomb (Yale University Press)

Gareth Williams

A cream book cover with lots of black squares and red circles on it, with the title "The Impossible Bomb" written in cream

Christopher Harding: A host of Second World War anniversaries this year highlighted the enormous part played in that conflict by new and ever more destructive technologies. Gareth Williams’ The Impossible Bomb (Yale University Press) opened my eyes to the role of British science in the development of nuclear weapons. He takes us from trepidation among scientists in the 1930s, through the breakthroughs and political machinations that shaped what came next.

Rain of Ruin: Tokyo, Hiroshima and the Surrender of Japan (Allen Lane)

Richard Overy

A book cover showing a plane flying over a city, and the words "Rain of Ruin" written in yellow

Christopher Harding: In Rain of Ruin: Tokyo, Hiroshima and the Surrender of Japan (Allen Lane), Richard Overy reminds us that incendiaries caused far greater destruction in Japan than the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Tested in the US on Japanese-style wooden architecture, they killed 100,000 people in Tokyo in a single night’s bombing in March 1945. Overy’s book includes an excellent discussion of the reasons behind the timing of Japan’s eventual surrender, cautioning us not to overestimate the role played by atomic weapons – the Soviet declaration of war on Japan, a day before Nagasaki, was also hugely significant.

Grave of the Fireflies (Penguin Classics)

Akiyuki Nosaka

Grave of the Fireflies

Finally, one of Japan’s greatest war novels arrived in translation, highlighting the often overlooked cost to children of the Second World War. Akiyuki Nosaka’s Grave of the Fireflies (Penguin Classics) may already be familiar from Studio Ghibli’s animated adaptation of 1988 – undoubtedly the most harrowing film I’ve ever seen. Thanks to Ginny Tapley Takemori’s translation, English-speaking readers can now follow the lives of siblings and war orphans Seita and Setsuko as they are forced to navigate, largely alone, the darkness and chaos of Kobe after large parts of it are laid waste by firebombing.

A History of England in 25 Poems (Allen Lane)

Catherine Clarke

A book with a beige background, three birds cut out of it, and a long banner with the words "a history of England in 25 poems" on it

Alice Loxton: In A History of England in 25 Poems (Allen Lane), Catherine Clarke roams from raging battlefields to royal courts, and darts from the Great Fire of London to the Miners’ Strike, on a literary tour through English history. We unpick the words of The Peterborough Chronicle, Thomas Wyatt, John Dryden and Lord Tennyson, to name just a few. It is a charming mix of history, travel and literature, inspiring the reader to set forth to discover the English countryside – and to reread the poems aloud at the sites that inspired their creation.

Shattered Lands: Five Partitions and the Making of Modern Asia (William Collins)

Sam Dalrymple

A green book cover with a pink hand print on it, with gold letters

Alice Loxton: Shattered Lands: Five Partitions and the Making of Modern Asia (William Collins), Sam Dalrymple skilfully examines how the Indian empire – a vast dominion stretching from the Red Sea to the jungles of south-east Asia – was divided into 12 separate nation states between 1931 and 1971. By dissecting this complex past, he shows how the map of modern Asia was made. It is a vast subject, but Dalrymple has achieved the perfect balance of academic excellence and brilliant storytelling.

Kavita Puri: Sam Dalrymple’s Shattered Lands: Five Partitions and the Making of Modern Asia (William Collins) looks at the vast Indian empire and its break-up. As recently as 1928, it encompassed countries known today as India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Bhutan, Yemen, Oman, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait. Though the partition of 1947 is well known, the others are less familiar, yet Dalrymple explains how we continue to live with their ramifications and the empire’s legacy. This is an impressive, ambitious debut, deeply researched and with a storyteller’s eye for detail.

Thou Savage Woman: Female Killers in Early Modern Britain (William Collins)

Blessin Adams

A cream book cover with red and black text on it, and an illustration depicting a woman chasing a man with a knife

Alice Loxton: In Thou Savage Woman: Female Killers in Early Modern Britain (William Collins), the historian and former police officer Blessin Adams unpicks the evidence relating to a succession of historical murders, trawling pamphlets, ballads and woodcuts littered with clickbait tales of traitorous wives, greedy mistresses, child killers and malicious witches. And she offers a compelling verdict: society was both repulsed by and attracted to this murderous female rebellion, and – as is so often the case when we interrogate the sources – the truth is far more complex than it first seems.

Vanished: An Unnatural History of Extinction (Allen Lane)

Sadiah Qureshi

Vanished: An Unnatural History of Extinction

Olivette Otele: Extinction, often linked to climate change, continues to be a hotly debated issue. Yet, as Sadiah Qureshi argues, it has been the result of political decisions made long before the heavy industrialisation of the 20th century. Vanished: An Unnatural History of Extinction (Allen Lane) examines the long history of extinction, from the dinosaurs to endangered species today. She demonstrates that the classification and hierarchisation that were at the heart of colonial projects extended to living beings.

Legenda: The Real Women Behind the Myths That Shaped Europe (WH Allen)

Janina Ramirez

A dark blue book cover with a large colourful sketch of women at the bottom, and gold writing across the middle

Olivette Otele: The illusion that the world can be remoulded by human will becomes reality in Janina Ramirez’s outstanding Legenda: The Real Women Behind the Myths That Shaped Europe (WH Allen). This is not a mere retelling of well-known stories of medieval figures; instead, the author reclaims the narratives previously imposed on those women, unveiling their personal lives. This book disrupts established views on legendary women by uncovering the extent of their agency on their own lives and their influence on various kingdoms.

When We Ruled: The Rise and Fall of Twelve African Queens and Warriors (Trapeze)

Paula Akpan

A blue book cover with a black woman dressed in red, with a large blue necklace on

Olivette Otele: Expanding on key figures who shaped women’s history, When We Ruled: The Rise and Fall of Twelve African Queens and Warriors (Trapeze) shifts our attention from Europe. Paula Akpan’s beautiful prose helps us navigate emotions provoked by these women’s little-known yet incredible trajectories, providing enlightening insights into power, diplomacy and war in African kingdoms. These female rulers had to fight for their people while navigating the treacherous waters of ancient civilisations’ polities. From Nigeria to South Africa, we learn that if greed and fear hinder progress, a leader’s faith in her abilities and in her community can bring great rewards.

Tunisgrad: Victory in Africa (William Collins)

Saul David

Tunisgrad: Victory in Africa

James Holland: Saul David is one of my favourite historians writing today, and his latest book, Tunisgrad: Victory in Africa (William Collins), is brilliant. The Tunisian campaign was a pivotal moment in the Second World War – a period when the Allies sussed out how to work together and to harness air, land and sea power effectively to beat the Axis. Saul’s new book is compellingly told and fills a big hole in the popular narrative of the war.

1945: The Reckoning (Hodder & Stoughton)

Phil Craig

1945: The Reckoning

James Holland: Phil Craig co-authored Finest Hour, a book about 1940 and the Battle of Britain published 26 years ago, which had a profound influence on me and my own writing. His new book, 1945: The Reckoning (Hodder & Stoughton), casts fresh light on not only the end of the fighting in the Second World War but also the changing world that emerged and the mayhem that followed, which was often disturbingly violent. Focusing on a number of fascinating individuals, Craig follows a range of unexpected and diverse characters. I never knew, for example, that the British actually used Japanese troops to quell insurrections in south-east Asia in late 1945.

Willie, Willie, Harry, Stee: An Epically Short History of Our Kings and Queens (Mudlark)

Charlie Higson

A pale book cover with six illustrations on the front, depicting kings and queens

James Holland: Charlie Higson’s Willie, Harry, Stee: An Epically Short History of Our Kings and Queens (Mudlark) is the most enjoyable and utterly joyous account of our monarchs I’ve ever read. There’s no lack of research here, but he writes with terrific energy and verve, adding fabulously quirky observations and small details. The illustrations by Jim Moir (aka Vic Reeves) are superb – look at George V with his tattoos, for example. I can’t think of a better Christmas history book – one that
I would so loved to have read as an impressionable teenager!

The Finest Hotel in Kabul: A People's History of Afghanistan (Hutchinson Heinemann)

Lyse Doucet

A red book cover with a large blue K on the front, with yellow writing over the top

Kavita Puri: Lyse Doucet’s The Finest Hotel in Kabul: A People’s History of Afghanistan (Hutchinson Heinemann) recounts that country’s turbulent history over the past 50 years. Readers view it through the prism of the ‘Inter-Con’ hotel and the people who’ve worked there, including the first female chef, as well as the guests who pass through. It is a poignant and, at times, tragic history of ordinary lives set against the background of royal rule, coups d’état, foreign invasions and two Taliban regimes, the current iteration of which the UN has called a “gender apartheid” state.

Journeys of Empire: British Voyages that Changed the World Forever – and the Rebels Who Resisted (Puffin)

Sathnam Sanghera

A blue book cover with a red and white title across the top. There is an illustration of a lion with a purple crown on its head and a map hanging from its mouth

Kavita Puri: How we teach history to the next generation is something I think about a lot. Sathnam Sanghera’s children’s book Journeys of Empire: British Voyages that Changed the World Forever – and the Rebels Who Resisted (Puffin) would make an excellent Christmas gift, guiding younger travellers to India in the company of royalty, and across the Atlantic with a young enslaved man. They will ascend mountains never before climbed, and visit places that the west never realised existed.

Heaven Does Not Block All Roads (Hurst)

Anna Beth Keim

A book cover depicting a large sea with a small boat with green sails on it

Rana Mitter: The Forrest Gump of Asia? Not quite – but the life of Huang Chin-tao, as explored in Anna Beth Keim’s Heaven Does Not Block All Roads (Hurst), reflects many of the turning points in the modern history of one of the most controversial places on the continent: Taiwan. Huang was a soldier under Japanese occupation during the Second World War, a political prisoner for years under Chiang Kai-shek’s dictatorship, then a fighter for democracy in what has now become perhaps Asia’s most liberal state. Using archives and interviews married with sparkling prose, Keim tells a compelling story of historical significance.

The Party's Interests Come First (Stanford University Press)

Joseph Torigian

The Party’s Interests Come First

Rana Mitter: Another Asian life story to fascinate is that of Xi Zhongxun. A powerful figure in the rise to power of the Chinese Communist Party under Chairman Mao, his son Xi Jinping now rules China. Joseph Torigian’s superb biography, The Party’s Interests Come First (Stanford University Press), reveals the deeply conflicted nature of the elder Xi: an ardent atheist revolutionary who developed a successful (at first) relationship with the Dalai Lama, and a reformist who was an unbending martinet at home. He was purged in 1962, sending his young son Jinping into exile – and helping shape the path of the 21st century.

A Short History of Japan (Pelican)

Christopher Harding

A blue book cover with an illustration of a Samurai warrior on it

Rana Mitter: Meanwhile, across the sea sits Japan. The perfect introduction to that intriguing society is Christopher Harding’s lively new A Short History of Japan (Pelican). Starting with prehistory, Harding explores the importance of Buddhism, the path to modernisation and, in particular, the role of cultural and material history, including the Japanese traditions of theatre and ceramics. The book is short, yes – but its scope is long, deep and rich.

What Is Ancient History? (Princeton University Press)

Walter Scheidel

A cream book cover with "what is ancient history" written in black. There are some images of stone statues

Josephine Quinn: As a harried academic whose only hobby is missing deadlines, I mostly end up reading books from last year, but sometimes a recent publication makes it to the top of my pile – or, even better, turns up as an advance proof. The best book that’s been published about my own field this year – indeed, for many years – is Walter Scheidel’s What Is Ancient History? (Princeton University Press). It’s a lot of fun, identifying the origins of the modern, idiosyncratic equation of antiquity with Greece and Rome in a dual 19th-century move towards scholarly specialisation or ‘dismemberment’ and away from notions of non-European ancestries. There’s a manifesto, too – not for a return to the past but for a new understanding of pre-modern history not simply as ‘ancient’ but as ‘foundational’ for the contemporary world, worth studying in its own right and on a global scale.

Augustine the African (Profile)

Catherine Conybeare

Augustine the African

Josephine Quinn: Also among books within my field, I’d single out Catherine Conybeare’s Augustine the African (Profile). This short and readable biography explains the bishop of Hippo’s thinking in ways that even I could understand, and situates it, unusually, in his own local experiences growing up in north Africa and then, after a confusing period of travel in Italy as a young man, returning there for good.

What Is Free Speech? The History of a Dangerous Idea (Allen Lane)

Fara Dabhoiwala

A white book cover showing a group of people holding out pieces of papers

Joesphine Quinn: Further out of my own comfort zone, I enjoyed Fara Dabhoiwala’s What Is Free Speech? The History of a Dangerous Idea (Allen Lane). I’d never known what to think about the political obsession with free speech on both left and right, so understanding the controversial origins of the concept was very helpful in forming a clearer – and more negative – view of my own.

The Genius Myth: The Dangerous Allure of Rebels, Monsters and Rule-Breakers (Jonathan Cape)

Helen Lewis

The Genius Myth: The Dangerous Allure of Rebels, Monsters and Rule-Breakers

Onyeka Nubia: The soul of a species is under scrutiny in The Genius Myth: The Dangerous Allure of Rebels, Monsters and Rule-Breakers (Jonathan Cape), Helen Lewis’s dissection of human rebels. In it she offers a 21st-century decoding of an 18th-century notion of ‘eminent men’ – and it works. It works for ‘us’, because historical morality is revisionist. But enemies and heroes are socially constructed, and future generations will baulk, aghast at ‘our’ moral imperatives. Perhaps rebels seduce because they represent an alluring aspect of the human psyche. It could be argued human hegemony exists because of Homo sapiens’ capacity to bend the laws of nature.

The Revolutionists (Bodley Head)

Jason Burke

A blue book cover with a couple on the front: the man is highlighted green and the woman red

Onyeka Nubia: Perhaps the idea of home-grown terrorists shocks the system because of manufactured prejudices about who such people are. European terrorism is sometimes offered as an aberration – a ‘rare’ phenomenon – an approach that has influenced portrayals of the Red Army Faction. In The Revolutionists (Bodley Head), Jason Burke defies this intellectual virtue-signalling of ‘western’ values, unpicking the Faction’s forcible entrance into European politics. He holds up a mirror to the Baader-Meinhof gang’s fears of a Fourth Reich – a fear that they felt could justify any action.

Between Two Rivers (Hodder Press)

Moudhy Al-Rashid

A book cover with an intricate gold pattern and banner saying "Between two rivers"

Onyeka Nubia: Moudhy Al-Rashid’s Between Two Rivers (Hodder Press) is a love letter to the Tigris and Euphrates. However, he carefully distances himself from environmental determinism, which may offer the ‘magic’ of civilisation as only a matter of geographical location, boldly and eloquently debunking an obsession with ‘eastern origins’ and orientalism. This is a fine read – historical non-fiction that flows like the best poetry.

Queen James: The Life and Loves of Britain's First King (William Collins)

Gareth Russell

Queen James: The Life and Loves of Britain’s First King

Tracy Borman: James VI & I was a contradictory, often misunderstood character. Only by shining a light on his private life do we glimpse the real man behind the regal mask. That is what Gareth Russell does in Queen James: The Life and Loves of Britain’s First King (William Collins), told with the author’s characteristic verve and exquisite eye for detail – a stunning achievement and a must for history fans.

Queens at War: England's Medieval Queens (Jonathan Cape)

Alison Weir

Queens at War: England’s Medieval Queens

Tracy Borman: Alison Weir’s Queens at War: England’s Medieval Queens (Jonathan Cape) is a gripping new account of England’s medieval queens that brings a dazzling cast of characters – from the formidable Margaret of Anjou to more shadowy figures such as Anne Neville, consort of Richard III – vividly to life. These are women who broke the mould, wielding power not just as the wives of kings but in their own right. In doing so, they shaped the course of English history. Britain’s bestselling female historian has a back catalogue most authors can only dream of, so the queens’ stories are in safe hands.

Women Who Ruled the World: 5,000 Years of Female Monarchy (Footnote Press)

Elizabeth Norton

A book cover with a purple, blue, pink and red square pattern, with a queen in each square

Tracy Borman: Women Who Ruled the World: 5,000 Years of Female Monarchy (Footnote Press) by Elizabeth Norton is a gripping and beautifully crafted book that skilfully interweaves the stories of female rulers who, on the face of it, have little in common but their sex. As well as introducing the reader to lesser-known characters – Tamar of Georgia and Lili‘uokalani of Hawaii, for example – it provides a fresh perspective on famous figures such as Cleopatra and Elizabeth I. There is a striking contemporary resonance, making even the distant past seem within touching distance. This is a book that effortlessly encompasses a breathtaking span of time, geography and personalities.

Christopher Hill: The Life of a Radical Historian (Verso)

Michael Braddick

Christopher Hill: The Life of a Radical Historian

Richard J Evans: Biographies of historians aren’t always terribly interesting: we are a tribe that usually does little except sit in archives, libraries, seminar rooms and lecture halls. But sometimes you can find colleagues whose lives are more active and perhaps a bit more interesting than the run-of-the-mill. I certainly struck it lucky with Eric Hobsbawm (1917–2012), whose personal archive included a vast mass of diaries, letters, manuscripts and much else besides, which I used for my 2019 biography. Two more lives have appeared this year that tell us a lot about the historical profession and its wider social and political context. Michael Braddick’s Christopher Hill: The Life of a Radical Historian (Verso) had to contend with its subject’s rather private nature. However, like Hobsbawm, Hill (1912–2003) was for years kept under surveillance by MI5, and maintained a voluminous correspondence. Braddick is himself a distinguished expert in Hill’s main field, 17th-century English history, and authoritatively assesses his subject’s contribution.

The Indefatigable Asa Briggs (William Collins)

Adam Sisman

The Indefatigable Asa Briggs

Richard J Evans: Asa Briggs (1921–2016) is the subject of another absorbing biography, The Indefatigable Asa Briggs (William Collins), written by Adam Sisman, author of previous lives of Alan Taylor and Hugh Trevor-Roper. With classic works including Victorian People and The Age of Improvement, Briggs did more than anyone to rescue the Victorians from what another radical historian, Edward Thompson, called “the enormous condescension of posterity”. Both Hill and Briggs wrote gracefully and addressed themselves to a wide readership – an example to us all. Unlike Hobsbawm, however, both men took top managerial roles in higher education institutions – perhaps to the detriment of their actual historical work.

The Trembling Hand: Reflections of a Black Woman in the Romantic Archive (Hamish Hamilton)

Mathelinda Nabugodi

The Trembling Hand: Reflections of a Black Woman in the Romantic Archive

Leah Redmond Chang: There is something magical about handling objects in the archive: through them, the past just comes to life. But in Mathelinda Nabugodi’s expert hands, the relics of the 19th-century Romantic past take on startling new meanings. The Trembling Hand: Reflections of a Black Woman in the Romantic Archive (Hamish Hamilton) is a genre-defying book blending essay, memoir and keen historical analysis. Above all, it is a conversation between a historian and a sometimes hostile archive – a meditation on how history gets made, and by whom.

Children of Radium: A Buried Inheritance

Joe Dunthorne

Children of Radium: A Buried Inheritance

Leah Redmond Chang: Joe Dunthorne set out to write the story of his Jewish great-grandfather’s escape from Nazi Germany but, through persistent digging, discovered a story far more complex than the one he had imagined. Children of Radium: A Buried Inheritance (Hamish Hamilton) begins as a personal memoir but unfurls into a much broader history, revealing how individual people and nations cling to certain stories for the sake of moving forward – often at a steep cost. It’s both a family tribute and a cautionary tale.

Gertrude Stein: An Afterlife (Faber & Faber)

Francesca Wade

Gertrude Stein: An Afterlife

Leah Redmond Chang: Maybe, like me, you drifted in confusion through one of Gertrude Stein’s books at university, or vaguely recall her as the bossy salonnière in Woody Allen’s 2011 film Midnight in Paris. In her own time, though, she was a cutting-edge writer, a savvy patron of artists, a Jewish American who survived in the heart of Vichy France, and a woman devoted to her lover Alice B Toklas – who in turn fiercely protected Stein’s literary legacy after her death. Francesca Wade’s Gertrude Stein: An Afterlife (Faber & Faber) is a fresh, intimate and deeply compelling portrait. Who would have thought that a biography of Gertrude Stein would keep me up late reading? But this is page-turning stuff.

Baltic: The Future of Europe (John Murray)

Oliver Moody

Baltic: The Future of Europe

Peter Frankopan: I hugely enjoyed Oliver Moody’s Baltic: The Future of Europe (John Murray), a brilliant blend of history and reportage – as well as a primer for why this area is central to the world of tomorrow. Much of this region has spent time, energy and thought working out how to address disinformation, hybrid threats, defence readiness and institutional adaptability – and the book urges that others learn from these lessons, too.

The Hour of the Predator: Encounters with the Autocrats and Tech Billionaires Taking Over the World (Pushkin Press)

Giuliano da Empoli

The Hour of the Predator

Peter Frankopan: I was riveted by Giuliano da Empoli’s The Hour of the Predator: Encounters with the Autocrats and Tech Billionaires Taking Over the World (Pushkin Press), which assesses change in today’s world with terrifying clarity. As translated by Sam Taylor, Da Empoli has a wonderful turn of phrase and is an astute picker of historical parallels. Most of today’s leaders are like the Aztecs, he writes, unable to confront reality. Some, though, are like Cesare Borgia – men who believe that they can bend the world to their will and shape it in their own image.

Motherland: A Journey through 500,000 Years of African Culture and Identity (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)

Luke Pepera

Motherland: A Journey through 500,000 Years of African Culture and Identity

Peter Frankopan: Luke Pepera’s Motherland: A Journey through 500,000 Years of African Culture and Identity (Weidenfeld & Nicolson) is another ambitious and expansive book by a first-time author. Pepera starts his investigation deep in the past, looking at themes ranging from migration to oral traditions, matriarchal societies to ancient empires. Blending history, anthropology and memoir, he restores agency and depth to the continent’s story, from chapters about ancient empires to oral traditions and modern diasporas. Rejecting colonial frames, he shows Africa not as a passive backdrop to global history but as one of its enduring creators and moral centres.

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These selections first appeared in the Christmas 2025 issue of BBC History Magazine

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