“We are not makers of history. We are made by history.”
History is shaped by moments of profound change – turning points that alter the course of nations, cultures and even humanity itself. From revolutions and conflicts to groundbreaking discoveries and earth-shattering social movements, these pivotal events in history offer endless insight into the forces that define our world. For readers who love delving into the past, books about turning points in history provide fascinating stories and valuable lessons that reverberate to this day. Which is why we here at What We Reading thought we would pull together a list of the best history books that explore these critical junctures. Whether the chaos of revolutions coaxes you in, the decisions made in the heat of battle or the rise of movements that challenged injustice, these works all illuminate the moment in which history’s trajectory changed forever.
Revolutions: How They Changed History And What They Mean Today – Peter Furtado
First up on our list of books about turning points in history is Peter Furtado’s Revolutions. This compelling collection of essays examines pivotal revolutions across centuries, shedding light on how these upheavals altered political landscapes, redefined societies and upended global power dynamics.
Each chapter in Revolutions is penned by a leading historian, offering unique perspectives on the causes, consequences and enduring effects of these turning points in history. The book reveals common threads between revolutions while also highlighting their distinct contexts, helping readers understand the role they’ve played in shaping modern society today.
The March Of Folly: From Troy To Vietnam – Barbara W. Tuchman
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Barbara Tuchman tackles some of the most pivotal political missteps from all across history in her lauded work, The March of Folly. In it, she defines ‘folly’ as the pursuit by governments of policies contrary to their own interests, despite the availability of other alternatives.
The March of Folly is a curation of four decisive turning points in history that demonstrate the height of folly in government: the Trojan War, the breakup of the Holy See provoked by Renaissance Popes, the loss of the American colonies by King George III and the USA’s own persistent failings in Vietnam. Engaging and informative, The March of Folly brings the people, places and events of history alive.
Guns, Germs And Steel: The Fates Of Human Societies (Civilizations Rise And Fall #1) – Jared Diamond
Another one of the best books on turning points in history by a Pulitzer Prize winner, Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs and Steel is a global account of the rise of civilisation that doubles as a stunning refutation of ideas of human development based on race.
Diamond convincingly lays out the argument that geographical and environmental factors shaped the modern world. Societies that had head starts in food production developed writing, governance, technology and organised religion – as well as nasty germs and weapons of war – and then set out on land and sea to conquer and decimate others. Dismantling racially based theories on human history, Guns, Germs and Steel is a major advance in our understanding of societies and how the modern world came to be.
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The Silk Roads: A New History Of The World – Peter Frankopan
From the Middle East and its current political instability to China and its economic rise, the expansive region stretching from the Balkans across steep and South Asia regularly finds itself in the global spotlight. In The Silk Roads, author Peter Frankopan educates readers on how understanding these cities and nations relies on understanding their incredible histories.
The Silk Roads see Frankopan realign our understanding of the world by turning the lens eastward. It was on the Silk Road that the Eastern and Western worlds first encountered one another through trade and conquest, leading to the spread of ideas, cultures and religions. The rise and fall of empires, the spread of Buddhism, the inception of Christianity and Islam, right up until the great wars of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries – this is one of the best books on the pivotal moments in history that demonstrates how the West has always been inextricably linked to the East.
The Warmth Of Other Suns: The Epic Story Of America’s Great Migration – Isabel Wilkerson
In this beautifully written masterwork, Isabel Wilkerson presents a definitive and dramatic account of one of the greatest untold stories from American history: the Great Migration of six million Black citizens who fled the South between 1918 to 1970 in the search for a better life.
Through the lives of three unforgettable protagonists, Wilkerson brilliantly captures their treacherous cross-country journeys by car and train and their new lives in the New World. The Warmth of Other Suns is bold, remarkable and riveting in its delivery, recognising an ‘unrecognised immigration’ within the most powerful nation on Earth. Through the fullness of the people and lives portrayed within it, Wilkerson chronicles the enduring legacy The Great Migration has had on contemporary US society.
The Storm Of War: A New History Of The Second World War – Andrew Roberts
In his sweeping single-volume account of the Second World War, Andre Roberts whisks readers from the Western Front to North Africa, from the Far East to the Baltics to tell the stories of the grand strategies and individual experiences that made the conflict the most costly and defining in history.
In researching this sharp and vivid history, Roberts walked many of the key battlefields and wartime sites in Russia, France, Italy, Germany and the Far East, utilising many never-before-seen documents and other resources. Roberts sheds light on the major players from both sides, analysing how they reached their fateful decisions. Impeccably researched and beautifully told, The Storm of War remains one of the best books on the turning points in history that shows in remarkable detail why the war took the course it did.
The Age Of Revolution, 1789-1848 (Modern History: The Four Ages #1) – Eric J. Hobsbawm
Eric Hobsbawm’s The Age of Revolution offers a sweeping analysis of one of history’s most transformative periods. Covering the French and Industrial Revolutions to the legendary uprisings of 1848, Hobsbawm examines how these events all reshaped politics, society and economics across Europe and far beyond.
Hobsbawm’s work highlights the interplay between revolutionary ideologies such as liberalism, socialism and nationalism, and the technological and economic upheavals that helped lay the foundations for the modern world, establishing new power structures and social dynamics as traditional hierarchies fell away. With a focus on turning points in history, The Age of Revolution is a fascinating and detailed analysis of key events and their implications.
The Cold War: A New History – John Lewis Gaddis
Drawing on recently opened archives and the reminiscences of the major players, John Lewis Gaddis’ The Cold War: A New History provides a concise and accessible overview of the standoff between the United States and the Soviet Union that dominated much of the twentieth century. From the aftermath of World War II, the resulting arms race, and the Cuban Missile Crisis to the fall of the Berlin Wall, Gaddis traces all of the key turning points from the Cold War.
The book explores how ideological clashes, proxy wars and nuclear brinkmanship shaped the world, emphasising the pivotal moments that mercifully prevented the Cold War from exploding into a global catastrophe. Gaddis also ponders on the roles of key players including Stalin, Kennedy, Reagan and Gorbachev in both shaping the conflict and its final resolution.
Part-time reader, part-time rambler, and full-time Horror enthusiast, James has been writing for What We Reading since 2022. His earliest reading memories involved Historical Fiction, Fantasy and Horror tales, which he has continued to take with him to this day. James’ favourite books include The Last (Hanna Jameson), The Troop (Nick Cutter) and Chasing The Boogeyman (Richard Chizmar).
