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The Best Books of 2020: History

Posted on 2nd December 2020 by Mark Skinner

If learning about the past is how we avoid making mistakes in the future then 2020's crop of history books are of enormous import and value. Patrick Vernon and Angelina Osborne's groundbreaking survey of Black British pioneers rescued hitherto neglected figures from the margins of history, whilst Margaret MacMillan's study of war asked probing questions about humanity's drive to conflict and Chris Bryant's gripping account of anti-appeasement queer MPs highlighted the importance of standing up to despots and dictators. Elsewhere, we were treated to entertaining takes on English history and Greek myth and gripping true stories of epsionage and fighter aircraft in the Second World War.  


 

British History



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From the author of the bestselling The Shortest History of Germany comes a bracing trot through the story of England that makes a complex history wonderfully accessible and throws up many connections and revelations hitherto unexplored.
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The first part of a major new two-volume history, Britain at Bay is a provocative, revisionist panorama of the gruelling first half of the Second World War and Britain's place in its mythos.
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With echoes of a real-life Game of Thrones, Spencer’s account of the sinking of the White Ship and the loss of Henry I’s heir opens into a riveting saga of civil war, regal plotting and familial betrayal.

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The master of swashbuckling medieval history lights up the year 1215, when King John put his signature to Magna Carta, the French invaded England and an angry mob stormed London.
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Authoritative and absorbing, The Glamour Boys sheds light on a group of young gay MPs who spoke out against Nazism in the era of Appeasement and whose bravery played a crucial role in facing down Hitler.

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Charting a nostalgic path through those idyllic weeks between June and September, British Summer Time Begins is an elegiac exploration of the mid-century summer holidays in the UK.

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European History









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From Egyptian soldiers in the Roman army to modern-day migrants, Otele tells the intertwining story of Africans and Europeans through the centuries in lucid, engaging prose.
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In this captivating account of the volunteers who fought fascism in the Spanish Civil War, Tremlett sheds light on the extraordinary project of idealism and resistance.
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World History

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Brought to life by Amaral’s captivating colourisation of historical photographs and Jones’s insightful commentary, The World Aflame is a heart-breaking visual rendition of the war-torn decades that defined the 20th century.
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Two dozen historians tackle the revolutions pivotal to their country of origin in this astonishingly wide-ranging and personal history of uprising and rebellion.
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A truly eye-opening volume, Waves Across the South charts world history from the perspective of communities that have long been sidelined in the Eurocentric and colonial narratives of the past.

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From the destruction of the Great Library of Alexandria to the Windrush papers, Burning the Books charts the extraordinary history of hostility towards knowledge, and of those who have fought to preserve it.

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From the author of the acclaimed Nothing to Envy, Eat the Buddha is an intimate account of the people of a Tibetan town, from Mao’s Cultural Revolution to the present day.
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Military History

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From the bestselling author of The Spy and the Traitor comes the gripping true story of the most remarkable female spy in history – a dedicated communist who lived under the cover of a respectable Oxfordshire housewife.

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Through the voices of the few remaining RAF veterans, the bestselling author of Spitfire charts the story of one of the most famous aircraft of the Second World War – the iconic Lancaster bomber – and the men who flew them.

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The acclaimed author of Peacemakers and The War That Ended Peace examines the historical, cultural and ideological baggage of military conflict, asking probing questions about how integral war is to the human condition.

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The Roman army was the greatest fighting machine the ancient world produced. The Roman Empire depended on soldiers not just to win its wars, defend its frontiers and control the seas but also to act as the engine of the state. Roman legionaries and auxiliaries came from across the Roman world and beyond. They served as tax collectors, policemen, su...

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