"Big picture" history books like Sapiens, Dawn of Everything, Guns Germs & Steel
One of my favorite subgenres (however flawed) is "big picture" history books that try to cover huge expanses of history. We've all seen the criticism of Sapiens and Guns Germs & Steel, so I'm not trying to rehash that here.
What books fit this definition that you would recommend that I haven't read yet?
Here are ones I've read:
- Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari
- Guns, Germs & Steel by Jared Diamond
- The Third Chimpanzee by Jared Diamond
- The Dawn of Everything by David Graeber & David Wengrow
- A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
- Peak Human by Johan Norberg
- The Lessons of History by Will & Ariel Durant (very quick read but I count it for its amazingly vast scope in such a small page count.)
I think I'm ready to try out the Durants' first of 11 volumes in their Story of Civilization series, but that is obviously a daunting commitment.
What am I missing that you'd recommend?
Posted Jun 13, 2026, 11:41 PM UTC