Lists Trending New
Start free trial

Historical

Real people and pivotal moments come alive through meticulous research and compelling storytelling in these journeys through time. Whether following spies during the American Revolution or exploring the hidden lives of remarkable women, these books illuminate the fascinating truths and untold stories that shaped our world.

Historical Book Summaries

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay Summary
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
by Michael Chabon 2000 639 pages
4.18
208.7K ratings
Historical Fiction
Book Club
Novels
The Girls of Atomic City Summary
The Girls of Atomic City
The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II
by Denise Kiernan 2013 373 pages
3.72
31.3K ratings
History
Book Club
World War II
All Quiet on the Western Front Summary
All Quiet on the Western Front
by Erich Maria Remarque 1928 296 pages
4.10
497.2K ratings
Classics
Historical Fiction
War
Between Shades of Gray Summary
Between Shades of Gray
by Ruta Sepetys 2011 344 pages
4.37
264.5K ratings
Historical Fiction
Young Adult
Historical
Fellow Travelers Summary
Fellow Travelers
by Thomas Mallon 2007 356 pages
3.60
4.9K ratings
Historical Fiction
LGBT
Queer
Phantom Summary
Phantom
by H.D. Carlton 2025 367 pages
3.97
33.2K ratings
Dark Romance
Romance
Dark
Lady Tan’s Circle of Women Summary
Lady Tan’s Circle of Women
by Lisa See 2023 352 pages
4.35
172.9K ratings
Historical Fiction
Book Club
Historical
The Thorn Birds Summary
The Thorn Birds
by Colleen McCullough 1977 692 pages
4.25
359.3K ratings
Historical Fiction
Romance
Classics
The Tattooist of Auschwitz Summary
The Tattooist of Auschwitz
by Heather Morris 2018 272 pages
4.31
1.1M ratings
Historical Fiction
Historical
Book Club
I Will Plant You a Lilac Tree Summary
I Will Plant You a Lilac Tree
A Memoir of a Schindler's List Survivor
by Laura Hillman 2003 274 pages
4.15
5.5K ratings
Holocaust
History
Memoir
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich Summary
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich
A History of Nazi Germany
by William L. Shirer 1960 1147 pages
4.22
142.8K ratings
History
War
World War II
1491 Summary
1491
New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus
by Charles C. Mann 2005 563 pages
4.05
92.2K ratings
History
American History
Anthropology
The Boy on the Wooden Box Summary
The Boy on the Wooden Box
by Leon Leyson 2013 240 pages
4.38
28.7K ratings
Holocaust
History
Memoir
The House of Eve Summary
The House of Eve
by Sadeqa Johnson 2023 384 pages
4.25
123.1K ratings
Historical Fiction
Book Club
Romance
Persian Fire Summary
Persian Fire
The First World Empire and the Battle for the West
by Tom Holland 2005 418 pages
4.17
11.0K ratings
History
Ancient History
Ancient
Trust Summary
Trust
by Hernan Diaz 2022 402 pages
3.81
147.9K ratings
Historical Fiction
Book Club
Literary Fiction
Emma Summary
Emma
by Jane Austen 1815 474 pages
4.05
939.2K ratings
Historical Fiction
Literature
Historical
Husbands & Lovers Summary
Husbands & Lovers
by Beatriz Williams 2024 384 pages
4.11
71.0K ratings
Historical Fiction
Romance
Book Club
Common Sense Summary
Common Sense
by Thomas Paine 1776 104 pages
4.00
38.2K ratings
History
Classics
Philosophy
A People’s History of the United States Summary
A People’s History of the United States
1492 - Present
by Howard Zinn 1980 729 pages
4.08
257.1K ratings
History
Politics
American History
The Secret Book of Flora Lea Summary
The Secret Book of Flora Lea
by Patti Callahan Henry 2023 355 pages
4.06
77.7K ratings
Historical Fiction
Mystery
Book Club
Roots Summary
Roots
The Saga of an American Family
by Alex Haley 1976 729 pages
4.44
162.7K ratings
Historical Fiction
Classics
Historical
A Little History of Philosophy Summary
A Little History of Philosophy
by Nigel Warburton 2011 252 pages
4.12
14.9K ratings
Philosophy
History
Science
At Home Summary
At Home
A Short History of Private Life
by Bill Bryson 2010 497 pages
3.99
96.8K ratings
History
Humor
Science
Weyward Summary
Weyward
by Emilia Hart 2023 329 pages
4.06
317.3K ratings
Historical Fiction
Fantasy
Magical Realism
Sapiens and Homo Deus Summary
Sapiens and Homo Deus
The E-book Collection: A Brief History of Humankind and A Brief History of Tomorrow
by Yuval Noah Harari 2017 816 pages
4.41
1.3K ratings
History
Science
Modern
The Rose Code Summary
The Rose Code
by Kate Quinn 2021 624 pages
4.45
327.3K ratings
Historical Fiction
Book Club
Historical
Wide Sargasso Sea Summary
Wide Sargasso Sea
by Jean Rhys 1966 176 pages
3.59
101.4K ratings
Classics
Historical Fiction
Historical
Don’t Forget to Write Summary
Don’t Forget to Write
by Sara Goodman Confino 2023 334 pages
4.49
67.3K ratings
Historical Fiction
Book Club
Romance
The Black Kids Summary
The Black Kids
by Christina Hammonds Reed 2020
4.03
10.9K ratings
Young Adult
Historical Fiction
Contemporary
The Fountains of Silence Summary
The Fountains of Silence
by Ruta Sepetys 2019 495 pages
4.31
77.2K ratings
Historical Fiction
Young Adult
Historical
The Disabled Tyrant’s Beloved Pet Fish Summary
The Disabled Tyrant’s Beloved Pet Fish
Canji Baojun De Zhangxin Yu Chong (Novel) Vol. 1
by Xue Shan Fei Hu 2024 436 pages
4.43
3.4K ratings
Fantasy
Romance
LGBT
The Covenant of Water Summary
The Covenant of Water
by Abraham Verghese 2023 715 pages
4.42
265.6K ratings
Historical Fiction
Book Club
India
Atonement Summary
Atonement
by Ian McEwan 2001 351 pages
3.95
546.3K ratings
Historical Fiction
Classics
Romance
The Paris Daughter Summary
The Paris Daughter
by Kristin Harmel 2023 384 pages
4.23
61.5K ratings
Historical Fiction
World War II
Historical
Outlander Summary
Outlander
by Diana Gabaldon 1991 850 pages
4.26
1.1M ratings
Historical Fiction
Romance
Fantasy
The Kitchen House Summary
The Kitchen House
by Kathleen Grissom 2010 369 pages
4.23
292.4K ratings
Historical Fiction
Book Club
Historical
Soldier Boys Summary
Soldier Boys
by Dean Hughes 2001 240 pages
4.05
2.7K ratings
Historical Fiction
Young Adult
War
The Turtle House Summary
The Turtle House
by Amanda Churchill 2024 304 pages
4.04
4.2K ratings
Historical Fiction
Japan
Family
Heidi Summary
Heidi
by Johanna Spyri 1880 352 pages
4.04
207.4K ratings
Classics
Childrens
Historical Fiction
The Underground Railroad Summary
The Underground Railroad
by Colson Whitehead 2016 320 pages
4.06
427.8K ratings
Historical Fiction
Book Club
Historical
All the Light We Cannot See Summary
All the Light We Cannot See
by Anthony Doerr 2014 544 pages
4.31
1.9M ratings
Historical Fiction
Book Club
Historical
Beneath a Scarlet Sky Summary
Beneath a Scarlet Sky
by Mark T. Sullivan 2017 509 pages
4.43
368.2K ratings
Historical Fiction
Book Club
World War II
The Radium Girls Summary
The Radium Girls
The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women
by Kate Moore 2016 479 pages
4.16
171.8K ratings
History
Science
Book Club
The Moor's Account Summary
The Moor's Account
by Laila Lalami 2014 321 pages
4.04
12.4K ratings
Historical Fiction
Historical
Morocco
El Filibusterismo Comics Summary
El Filibusterismo Comics
by José Rizal 2017 53 pages
3.75
129 ratings
Graphic Novels
History
Historical
The Heart's Invisible Furies Summary
The Heart's Invisible Furies
by John Boyne 2017 582 pages
4.51
191.5K ratings
Historical Fiction
Book Club
LGBT
The Red Badge of Courage Summary
The Red Badge of Courage
by Stephen Crane 1895 149 pages
3.29
108.1K ratings
Classics
Historical Fiction
War
Heaven Official's Blessing Summary
Heaven Official's Blessing
Tian Guan Ci Fu (Novel) Vol. 3
by Mò Xiāng Tóng Xiù 2017 466 pages
4.68
23.2K ratings
Fantasy
Romance
LGBT
A Tale of Two Cities Summary
A Tale of Two Cities
by Charles Dickens 1859 489 pages
3.87
990.1K ratings
Historical Fiction
Literature
Historical
Home
Search
Swipe
Library
Get App
Create a free account to unlock:
Recommendations: Personalized for you
Requests: Request new book summaries
Bookmarks: Save your favorite books
History: Revisit books later
Ratings: Rate books & see your ratings
200,000+ readers
Try Full Access for 7 Days
Listen, bookmark, and more
Compare Features Free Pro
📖 Read Summaries
All summaries are free to read in 40 languages
🎧 Listen to Summaries
Listen to unlimited summaries in 40 languages
 —
❤️ Unlimited Bookmarks
Free users are limited to 4
 —
📜 Unlimited History
Free users are limited to 4
 —
📥 Unlimited Downloads
Free users are limited to 1
 —
Risk-Free Timeline
Today: Get Instant Access
Listen to full summaries of 73,530 books. That's 12,000+ hours of audio!
Day 4: Trial Reminder
We'll send you a notification that your trial is ending soon.
Day 7: Your subscription begins
You'll be charged on Jul 26,
cancel anytime before.
Consume 2.8x More Books
2.8x more books Listening Reading
Our users love us
200,000+ readers
"...I can 10x the number of books I can read..."
"...exceptionally accurate, engaging, and beautifully presented..."
"...better than any amazon review when I'm making a book-buying decision..."
Save 62%
Yearly
$119.88 $44.99/year
$3.75/mo
Monthly
$9.99/mo
Start a 7-Day Free Trial
7 days free, then $44.99/year. Cancel anytime.
Scanner
Find a barcode to scan

Settings
General
Widget
Loading...