This is a list of nonfiction history books for teens. It is organized by time period and then divided into either “United States History” or “World History” (events occurring outside the United States). An attempt has been made to include appealing stories that are well-written and recommended as a good read, rather than just a dry list of historical facts. We have also tried to find books that are more than 150 pages, to satisfy a teacher’s requirement, but not so long that a teen wouldn’t want to read it. Books from the Reference Department, Teen Central and the Junior Room have been included.

This list can be used as a starting point. If you find a subject that appeals to you, ask a reference librarian to help you find other books on that topic. Also consider the Turning Points series by John Wiley and Sons and the Penguin Lives Series. The Turning Points series covers historic events and the Penguin Lives Series provide biographies of famous people. Both are well-written and short, usually less than 250 pages.


• United States History
133.43 ARO
Witch-Hunt: Mysteries of the Salem Witch Trials by Marc Aronson 2003, 272 p. (Time period: 1692)

968.7 TAY
Caliban’s Shore: The Wreck of the Grosvenor and the Strange Fate of Her Survivors by Stephen Taylor2004, 297 p. (Time period: 1782)

970.015 HEA
Columbus in the Americas by William Least Heat Moon2002, 182 p. (Time period: 1492 – 1504)

975.54251 PRI
Love and Hate in Jamestown: John Smith, Pocahontas, and the Heart of a New Nation by David Price2003, 305 p. (Time period: 1606 – 1634)

JB ADAMS
Abigail Adams: Witness to a Revolution by Natalie Bober1995, 248 p. (Time period: 1744 – 1818)

• World History
526.62 SOB
Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time by Dava Sobel1995, 184 p. (Time period: 1700s)

709.45 WAL
The Feud That Sparked the Renaissance: How Brunelleschi and Ghiberti Changed the Art World by Paul Robert Walker2002, 269 p. (Time period: 1380s – 1450s)

726.6 KIN
Brunelleschi’s Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture by Ross King2000, 194 p. (Time period: 1380s – 1450s)

738 GLE
The Arcanum: The Extraordinary True Story by Janet Gleeson1998, 324 p. (Time period: early 1700s)

910.91657 DAS
Batavia’s Graveyard: The True Story of the Mad Heretic Who Led History’s Bloodiest Mutiny by Mike Dash2002, 381 p. (Time period: 1629)

910.92 BER
Over the Edge of the World: Magellan’s Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe by Laurence Bergreen2003, 458 p. (Time period: 1519 – 1522)

945.31 DIR
A Venetian Affair: A True Tale of Forbidden Love in the 18th Century by Andrea Di Robilant2003, 313 p. (Time period: 1700s)

996.18 TOO
Captain Bligh’s Portable Nightmare by John Toohey2000, 211 p. (Time period: 1789)

Biography GALILEO, G.
Galileo’s Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith, and Love by Dava Sobel1999, 420 p. (Time period: 1600s)

Biography KIDD, W.
The Pirate Hunter: The True Story of Captain Kidd by Richard Zacks2002, 426 p. (Time period: 1600s)

Biography RALEIGH, W.Also in JB RALEIGH
Sir Walter Ralegh and the Quest for El Dorado by Marc Aronson 2000, 222 p. (Time period: 1550s – 1618)

J 614.5 MUR
An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793 by Jim Murphy2003, 165 p. (Time period: 1793)

JB HARRISON
The Longitude Prize by Joan Dash2000, 200 p. (Time period: 1700s)

19th Century (1800s)
• United States History
305.42 ANT
Failure Is Impossible: Susan B. Anthony in Her Own Words by Lynn Sherr1995, 384 p. (Time period: 1820 – 1906)

326 OWE
Black Mutiny: The Revolt on the Schooner Amistad by William A. Owens1997, 322 p. (Time period: 1839)

362.734 HOL
Orphan Trains: Placing Out in America by Marilyn Irvin Holt1992, 248 p. (Time period: 1853 – 1929)

364.1523 LAR
The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America by Erik Larson2003, 447 p. (Time period: 1893)

380.1427 WEI
The Frozen-Water Trade: A True Story by Gavin Weightman2003, 254 p. (Time period: Early – mid 1800s)

384.15 GOR
A Thread Across the Ocean: The Heroic Story of the Transatlantic Cable by John Steele Gordon2002, 240 p. (Time period: 1860s)

385.0973 AMB
Nothing Like It in the World: The Men Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad, 1863–1869 by Stephen E. Ambrose2000, 431 p. (Time period: 1863 – 1869)

609.22 SLA
Noble Obsession: Charles Goodyear, Thomas Hancock, and the Race to Unlock the Greatest Industrial Secret of the Nineteenth Century by Charles Slack2002, 274 p. (Time period: mid 1800s)

624.55 MAC
The Great Bridge: The Epic Story of the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge by David G. McCullough1982, 636 p. (Time period: 1869 – 1883)

916.48 KIN
Skeletons on the Zahara: A True Story of Survival by Dean King2004, 353 p. (Time period: 1815)

919.8 PAR
Trial by Ice: The True Story of Murder and Survival on the 1871 Polaris Expedition by Richard Parry2001, 321 p. (Time period: 1871)

970.3 MARAlso in JB SITTING BULL
Sitting Bull and His World by Albert Marrin2000, 246 p. (Time period: 1830s – 1890)

972.87 BAL
Darkest Jungle: The True Story of the Darien Expedition and America’s Ill-Fated Race to Connect the Seas by Todd Balf2003, 331 p. (Time period: 1850s)

973.46 FLE
The Louisiana Purchase by Thomas J. Fleming2003, 186 p. (Time period: early 1800s)

973.52 MOL
The Flag, the Poet, and the Song: The Story of the Star-Spangled Banner by Irvin Molotsky2001, 240 p. (Time period: early 1800s)

973.7115 TOB
Hidden in Plain View: The Secret Story of Quilts and the Underground Railroad by Jacqueline Tobin1999, 208 p. (Time period: 1860s)

973.73 PER
Touched with Fire: Five Presidents and the Civil War Battles That Made Them by James M. Perry2003, 335 p. (Time period: 1861 – 1865)

973.7473 BOB
Testament: A Soldier’s Story of the Civil War by Benson Bobrick2003, 277 p. (Time period: 1861 – 1865)

973.785 VAN
A Yankee Spy in Richmond: The Civil War Diary of “Crazy Bet” Van Lew by Elizabeth L. Van Lew1996, 166 p. (Time period: 1861 – 1865)

973.894 WAL
The Boys of ’98: Theodore Roosevelt and the Rough Riders by Dale L. Walker1998, 304 p. (Time period: 1898)

974.71 SPI
Bearer of a Million Dreams: The Biography of the Statue of Liberty by Frank Spiering1986, 195 p. (Time period: late 1800s)

974.877 MAC
The Johnstown Flood by David G. McCullough1968, 302 p. (Time period: 1889)

976.4 BRA
Lone Star Nation: How a Ragged Army of Volunteers Won the Battle for Texas Independence—and Changed America by H.W. Brands2004, 582 p. (Time period: 1790 – 1865)

976.4 LOR
A Time to Stand: A Chronicle of the Valiant Battle at the Alamo by Walter Lord1987, 255 p. (Time period: 1836)

977 LAS
The Children’s Blizzard by David Laskin2004, 307 p. (Time period: 1888)

977.533 GES
Firestorm at Peshtigo: A Town, Its People, and the Deadliest Fire in American History by Denise Gess2002, 267 p. (Time period: 1871)

978.01 AMB
Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West by Stephen E. Ambrose1996, 511 p. (Time period: 1801 – 1809)

978.02 ROO
Ranch Life and the Hunting-Trail by Theodore Roosevelt1985, c1888, 186 p. (Time period: 1880s)

978.02 WOM
Women’s Diaries of the Westward Journey1992, 278 p. (Time period: 1840s – 1860s)

Biography KEMBLE, F.
Fanny Kemble’s Civil Wars by Catherine Clinton2000, 302 p. (Time period: 1820s – 1870s)

Biography LEE, R.E.
Robert E. Lee: A Penguin Life by Roy Blount2003, 210 p. (Time period: 1807 – 1870)

Biography LINCOLN, A.Also in J 973.7 BIS
The Day Lincoln Was Shot by Jim Bishop1955, 308 p. (Time period: 1865)


J 973.733 LAL
Grierson’s Raid: A Daring Cavalry Strike through the Heart of the Confederacy by Tom Lalicki2004, 200 p. (Time period: 1863)

J 979.4 SEI
The Fools of ’49: The California Gold Rush, 1848 – 1856 by Laurence Ivan Seidman1976, 234 p. (Time period: 1848 – 1856)

JB BROWN
One More Valley, One More Hill: The Story of Aunt Clara Brown by Linda Lowery2002, 222 p. (Time period: 1800 – 1885)

JB BROWN
Fiery Vision: The Life and Death of John Brown by Clinton Cox1997, 230 p. (Time period: 1800 – 1859)

• World History
423 WIN
The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary by Simon Winchester1998, 242 p. (Time period: 1850 – 1890s)

530.092 ACZ
Pendulum: Leon Foucault and the Triumph of Science by Amir D. Aczel2003, 275 p. (Time period: 1800s)

551.792 BOL
The Ice Finders: How a Poet, a Professor, and a Politician Discovered the Ice Age by Edmund Blair Bolles1999, 257 p. (Time period: mid 1800s)

910.9164 PHI
In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex by Nat Philbrick2000, 302 p. (Time period: 1819)

941.5081 BARAlso in J 941.5 BAR
Black Potatoes: The Story of the Great Irish Famine, 1845 – 1850 by Susan Campbell Bartoletti2001, 184 p. (Time period: 1845 – 1850)

959.8 WIN
Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded, August 27, 1883 by Simon Winchester2003, 416 p. (Time period: 1883)

967.0423 DUG
Into Africa: The Epic Adventures of Stanley & Livingstone by Martin Dugard2003, 340 p. (Time period: 1866 – 1873)

20th Century (1900s)
• United States History
323.092 HAN
The Dream: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Speech That Inspired a Nation by Drew D. Hansen2003, 293 p. (Time period: 1963)

327.1247 KES
Clever Girl: Elizabeth Bentley, the Spy Who Ushered in the McCarthy Era by Lauren Kessler2003, 372 p. (Time period: 1930s – 1950s)

370.19342 BEAAlso in PB NF BEA
Warriors Don’t Cry: A Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock’s Central High by Melba Pattillo Beals1994, 312 p. (Time period: 1950s)

597.31 CAPAlso in BRIDGE YA 597.31 CAP
Close to Shore: A True Story of Terror in an Age of Innocence by Michael Capuzzo2001, 317 p. (Time period: 1916)

599.789 KIE
Chasing the Panda: How an Unlikely Pair of Adventurers Won the Race to Capture the Mythical “White Bear” by Michael Kiefer2002, 230 p. (Time period: 1936)

614.5112 LEA
Typhoid Mary: Captive to the Public’s Health by Judith Walzer Leavitt1996, 331 p. (Time period: early 1900s)

614.5123 SALAlso in BRIDGE YA 614.5123 SAL
The Cruelest Miles: The Heroic Story of Dogs and Men in a Race Against an Epidemic by Gay Salisbury2003, 303 p. (Time period: 1925)

614.518 KOL
Flu: The Story of the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918 and the Search for the Virus That Caused It by Gina Bari Kolata1999, 330 p. (Time period: 1918)

629.13092 HAY
Amelia Earhart’s Daughters: The Wild and Glorious Story of American Women Aviators from World War II to the Dawn of the Space Age by Leslie Haynsworth1998, 322 p. (Time period: 1940s – 1960s)

629.453 KRA
Failure Is Not an Option: Mission Control from Mercury to Apollo 13 and Beyond by Gene Kranz2000, 415 p. (Time period: 1960s)

634.9 MAC
Young Men & Fire by Norman Maclean1992, 301 p. (Time period: 1949)

781.66092 BEA
The Beatles Come to America by Martin Goldsmith2004, 196 p. (Time period: 1964)

796.357 ASI
Eight Men Out: The Black Sox and the 1919 World Series by Eliot Asinof1963, 302 p. (Time period: 1919)

796.357 SIM
Jackie Robinson and the Integration of Baseball by Scott Simon2002, 168 p. (Time period: 1940s)

796.357 STA
Hank Aaron and the Home Run That Changed America by Tom Stanton2004, 249 p. (Time period: 1973 – 1974)

798.4 HIL Also in PB NF HIL
Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand2001, 399 p. (Time period: 1930s)

909.825 REE
At the Abyss: An Insider’s History of the Cold War by Thomas C. Reed2004, 368 p. (Time period: 1945 – 1989)

910.916345 MAA Also in PB NF MAA
The Terrible Hours: The Man Behind the Greatest Submarine Rescue in History by Peter Maas1999, 259 p. (Time period: 1939)

940.53 PYL
Ernie Pyle’s War: America’s Eyewitness to World War II by James Tobin1997, 312 p. (Time period: 1939 – 1945)

940.54214 FUS
The Boys’ Crusade: The American Infantry in Northwestern Europe, 1944 – 1945 by Paul Fussell2003, 184 p. (Time period: 1944 – 1945)

940.5425 NEWAlso in PB NF NEW
Abandon Ship!: The Saga of the U.S.S. Indianapolis, the Navy’s Greatest Sea Disaster by Richard F. Newcomb2001, 326 p. (Time period: 1945)

940.5426 BRA
Flags of Our Fathers: Heroes of Iwo Jima by James Bradley2000, 376 p. (Time period: 1939 – 1945)

940.5459 STAAlso in PB NF STA
In Harm’s Way: The Sinking of the USS Indianapolis and the Extraordinary Story of Its Survivors by Doug Stanton2001, 333 p. (Time period: 1945)

959.704 MOOAlso in PB NF MOO
We Were Soldiers Once—and Young: Ia Drang: the Battle That Changed the War in Vietnam by Harold G. Moore1992, 412 p. (Time period: 1965)

959.704 WOL
In Pharaoh’s Army: Memories of the Lost War by Tobias Wolff1994, 221 p. (Time period: 1961 – 1975)

973.915 BEH
Prohibition: Thirteen Years That Changed America by Edward Behr1996, 262 p. (Time period: 1919 – 1933)

974.63 ONA
The Circus Fire: A True Story by Stewart O’Nan2000, 370 p. (Time period: 1944)

974.71 VON
Triangle: The Fire That Changed America by David Von Drehle2003, 340 p. (Time period: 1911)

975.977 DOR
Like Judgment Day: The Ruin and Redemption of a Town Called Rosewood by Michael D’Orso1996, 373 p. (Time period: 1923)

976.247 CUR
Silver Rights by Constance Curry1995, 259 p. (Time period: 1960s)

976.4139 LAR
Isaac’s Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History by Erik Larson1999, 323 p. (Time period: early 1900s)

977.311 BON
The Sinking of the Eastland: America’s Forgotten Tragedy by Jay R. Bonansinga2004, 280 p. (Time period: 1915)

978.282 GRE
Once Upon a Town: The Miracle of the North Platte Canteen by Bob Greene2002, 264 p. (Time period: 1940s)

Biography GUTHRIE, W.Also in JB GUTHRIE
This Land Was Made for You and Me: The Life and Songs of Woody Guthrie by Elizabeth Partridge2002, 217 p. (Time period: 1912 – 1967)

Biography THORPE, J.
All American: The Rise and Fall of Jim Thorpe by Bill Crawford2005, 284 p. (Time period: 1887 – 1953)

YA 940.545 NELAlso in J 940.545 NEL
Left for Dead: A Young Man’s Search for Justice for the USS Indianapolis by Peter Nelson2002, 201 p. (Time period: 1940s)

YA Biography GARNER, E.R.Also in JB GARNER
Eleanor’s Story: An American Girl in Hitler’s Germany by Eleanor Ramrath Garner2003, c1999, 269 p. (Time period: 1938 – 1946)

• World History
363.11 GRE
Last Man Out: The Story of the Springhill Mine Disaster by Melissa Fay Greene2003, 342 p. (Time period: 1958)

538.768 JAG
The Northern Lights: The True Story of the Man Who Unlocked the Secrets of the Aurora Borealis by Lucy Jago2001, 297 p. (Time period: 1899 – early 1900s)

539.762 CAT
The Fly in the Cathedral: How a Small Group of Cambridge Scientists Won the Race to Split the Atom by Brian Cathcart2005, 308 p. (Time period: 1920s – 1930s)

919.89 ALE
The Endurance: Shackleton’s Legendary Antarctic Expedition by Caroline Alexander1998, 211 p. (Time period: 1914 – 1917)

940.4814 MAC
The Englishman’s Daughter: A True Story of Love and Betrayal in World War I by Ben Macintyre2002, 254 p. (Time period: 1914 – 1918)

951.058 CHI
Children of the Dragon: The Story of Tianamen Square1990, 223 p. (Time period: 1989)

959.604 UNG
First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers by Loung Ung2000, 240 p. (Time period: 1975 – 1980)

J 940.5315 ROG
Smoke and Ashes: The Story of the Holocaust by Barbara Rogasky2002, 256 p. (Time period: 1939 – 1945)

J 940.5315 SEN
The Cage by Ruth Minsky Sender1986, 245 p. (Time period: 1939 – 1945)

JB HITLER
The Life and Death of Adolf Hitler by James Giblin2002, 246 p. (Time period: 1889 – 1945)

JB WATERFORD
Parallel Journeys by Eleanor H. Ayer1995, 244 p. (Time period: 1933 – 1945)

Spanning Multiple Centuries
• United States History
305.896 HAL
Roots: The Saga of an American Family by Alex Haley1976, 688 p. (Time period: 1750 – 1970s)

338.47677 MOR
The Belles of New England: The Women of the Textile Mills and the Families Whose Wealth They Wove by William Moran2002, 292 p. (Time period: 1814 – 1950)

355.0089 BUC
American Patriots: The Story of Blacks in the Military from the Revolution to Desert Storm by Gail Lumet Buckley2001, 534 p. (Time period: 1770s – 1990s)

970.3 DUL
The Dull Knifes of Pine Ridge: A Lakota Odyssey by Joe Starita1995, 388 p. (Time period: 1800s – 1900s)

976.4 ROB
The Men Who Wear the Star: The Story of the Texas Rangers by Charles M. Robinson2000, 352 p. (Time period: 1823 – 1996)

Prepared by Lisa Bobis, May 2005