Lists

When shopping for books to fill a “knowledge keepers library,” a general rule is “the older the better.” Why? Because the history revision process has been a slow but steady one over the 20th and 21st centuries. Check the publishing date. If you find something before 1900, grab it. It’s golden.

Look for historic fiction, classic literature, journals, specific history topics, autobiographies, and even older children’s books.

When a topic, any topic, comes to mind, consider searching out books on that topic. Seek out journals or diaries or the compilations of letters of people who took part in an event or lived in that time of history; look up the rulers of the given country; research the major players; find autobiographies from that time; research any important documents that are related; FIND THE ACTUAL FACTS.

See if there are good historical fiction books based on your topic, and find children’s books that treat it accurately. Are there photographic “coffee-table” books about it? What about newspaper articles from the time?

If your topic is an ancient one, see if you can find “chronicles” from that time. Many ancient histories where chronicled by the monks or bishops of their day (like the Anglo Saxon Chronicle). Get a copy of the chronicles for a play-by-play of history as it happened.

Old dictionaries and school texts are also valuable. As new slang is invented and added to our language (and GASP! even our dictionaries) older words are removed. Old school texts are like old documents and should preserved as such.

BOOK LISTS

There’s no possible way to catalog every great book that’s ever been written, so I will only promise you that on this page I’ll keep an up to date list of other book lists, great authors, topical lists, and sets you’ll want to look for. This page will continue to be updated whenever I find a new gem!

Knowledge Keepers Home Library Series

These are my own project: out-of-print books brought to paperback for the 21st century. You can get them right here at Knowledge Keepers as well as on Amazon.

  1. True Stories of Nebraska Pioneers by Daughers of the American Revolution
  2. The Iroquois Handbook by Rev. John Heckewelder
  3. Miles Standish: Puritan Captian by John S. C. Abbott
  4. Able and Mighty Men
  5. Diary of a New York Girl
  6. General Lee, Southern Commander
  7. Up the Western Trail: Log of a Cowboy
  8. Christopher Columbus: His Story and His Journals
  9. Freighters and Pilgrims
  10. Biography of George Washington, Volume 1
  11. Biography of George Washington, Volume 2
  12. Biography of George Washington, Volume 3 (coming soon!)

Shop the Knowledge Keepers Home Library series here.

Journals and First-Hand Accounts

In my opinion, these are the books that every home should have. They are the real history books. All other books are “based on” these. Get the originals in print and store them in your home. And read them. : )

  1. Anglo Saxon Chronicle
  2. Ecclesiastical History of the English People by Bede
  3. The Four Voyages: Being His Own Log-Book, Letters and Dispatches with Connecting Narratives by Christopher Columbus, J. M. Cohen
  4. Of Plymouth Plantation by William Bradford
  5. Mourt’s Relation: A Journal of the Pilgrims at Plymouth by Anonymous, Dwight Heath
  6. The Sovereignty and Goodness of God: with Related Documents by Mary Rowlandson, Neal Salisbury
  7. Thirty One Years on the Plains and in the Mountains
  8. Life of Black Hawk, or Ma-ka-tai-me-she-kia-kiak: Dictated by Himself by Black Hawk
  9. Letters From an American Farmer and Sketches of Eighteenth Century America by J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur
  10. A Midwife’s Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812 by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
  11. George Washington, Writings
  12. Confessions by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
  13. Private Papers of William Wilberforce by A. M. Wilberforce
  14. The Journals of Lewis and Clark
  15. The Narrative of Cabeza de Vaca by Alvar Nunez Cabeza De Vaca, Rolena Adorno 
  16. Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville
  17. King of the Wild Frontier: An Autobiography by Davy Crockett
  18. A Tour on the Prairies by Washington Irving
  19. Phillis Wheatley: Complete Writings
  20. I Rode With Stonewall: Henry Kidd Douglas
  21. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs
  22. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave by Frederick Douglass
  23. Infantryman Pettit: The Civil War Letters of Corporal Frederick Pettit
  24. The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
  25. Mary Chesnut’s Civil War by Mary Chesnut, C. Vann Woodward
  26. All for the Union: The Civil War Diary & Letters of Elisha Hunt Rhodes by Elisha Hunt Rhodes, Robert Hunt Rhodes
  27. Last of the Desert Frontiersmen by Jack Longstreet
  28. Women’s Diaries of the Westward Journey
  29. Mollie: The Journal of Mollie Dorsey Sanford in Nebraska and Colorado Territories 1857-1866
  30. Pioneer Women: Voices from the Kansas Frontier by Joanna L. Stratton
  31. Ranch on the Ruidoso: The Story of a Pioneer Family in New Mexico, 1871-1968
  32. My Friend Doc Holliday by Wyatt Earp
  33. Grace McBride: Missionary Nurse by Lila Watson
  34. All in a Lifetime by Frank Buck
  35. The Story of My Experiments with Truth by Mahatma Gandhi
  36. Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell
  37. Speak, Memory by Vladimir Nabokov
  38. The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien by J. R. R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien
  39. Pioneer Girl by Laura Ingalls Wilder
  40. The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom
  41. The Diary of Anne Frank
  42. God’s Smuggler by Brother Andrew

Lists from around the web

  1. Best War and History Books of All Time by the Telegraph
  2. A Recommended Reading List — from C.S. Lewis at Intellectual Takeout
  3. The History Lover’s Gift Guide by Nicki Truesdell
  4. Top 100 Books in World Literature at The Greatest Books
  5. The Greatest Books (of all time) at The Greatest Books
  6. Finest Works of Fiction at The Greatest Books
  7. The Well Educated Mind List at A Great Book Study
  8. Penguin Classic’s List of Books to Read Before You Die 
  9. Ultimate List of Living Books for Elementary Age
  10. Classics Reading Lists by Grade Level
  11. 100 Best History Books of All Time at Listmuse
  12. 100 Greatest Non-Fiction Books of all Time at The Guardian
  13. 99 Classic Books Challenge at List Challenges
  14. The Great American Read 100 by PBS
  15. The 10 Ancient Classics that Every Student Should Read at The Independent

HISTORY

  1. The Bible
  2. The Histories by Herodotus
  3. The Annals: The Reigns of Tiberius, Claudius, and Nero
  4. The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbons
  5. The History of the English Speaking People by Winston Churchill
  6. Outline of History by H.G. Wells
  7. The White Horse King by Benjamin Merkle
  8. The Utopia of Sir Thomas Moore
  9. The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli 
  10. The Crisis by Thomas Paine
  11. The Federalist Papers

AUTHORS

  1. This list of the Best Writers of All Time is a really great place to start.
  2. Six Great Children’s Authors for History by Nicki Truesdell
  3. The Books of Sir Winston Churchill

Nicki Truesdell’s lists

As a Christian and a homeschool parent, I’m pretty choosy about the children’s books we keep in our home and use for school. I’ve compiled some lists on my blog that you might enjoy if you’re like me. See those here.

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