Looking for a way to pass time and escape from the present? Diving deep into the pages of books about the past is a great way to go about it. History is messy stuff, but much of it is, in fact, not ugly and not all that hard to process. The more you know about it, the more the messes make sense, both in a historical and modern context. Here are some of the best history books that give you brilliant knowledge in enjoyable prose.
While best is an easy word to throw around, it's harder to pin down. In the case of the best history books ever written, best is a highly subjective distinction that depends on your perspective. What is considered the best by someone born in raised in Los Angeles, for example, is likely very different from someone raised in Tokyo. It is, however, fairly easy to determine the greats that should be included in any true history buff's reading list.