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ChatGPT: Top 100 Books Cited By Universities for History Majors
chatgpt ^ | 9/17/2024 | Chat GPT

Posted on 09/17/2024 8:02:20 AM PDT by Titus-Maximus

Question: Please list the top 100 books most often cited by universities for History majors.

Answer: Compiling a definitive list of the 100 most cited history books across universities is challenging due to the diverse nature of historical studies and the vast array of topics. However, I can provide a list of many key texts that are frequently referenced in university history programs. These books cover a range of themes, from historiography and methodology to specific periods and movements. Here is a comprehensive list, organized by category:

Historiography & Methodology

1. "The Historian’s Craft" – Marc Bloch

2. "What Is History?" – E.H. Carr

3. "The Idea of History" – R.G. Collingwood

4. "The History of the Peloponnesian War" – Thucydides

5. "A Study of History" – Arnold J. Toynbee

6. "On History" – Fernand Braudel

7. "The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World" – Fernand Braudel

8. "The Birth of the Modern World, 1780-1914" – C.A. Bayly

9. "The Annales School" – Peter Burke

10. "The Practice of History" – Geoffrey R. Elton

Ancient & Classical History

11. "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" – Edward Gibbon

12. "The Histories" – Herodotus

13. "The Rise of the Roman Empire" – Polybius

14. "The Republic" – Plato

15. "The Twelve Caesars" – Suetonius

16. "The Aeneid" – Virgil

17. "The Persian Wars" – Herodotus

18. "The History of Rome" – Livy

19. "Roman Revolution" – Ronald Syme

20. "SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome" – Mary Beard

Medieval History

21. "Feudal Society" – Marc Bloch

22. "The Making of Europe" – Robert Bartlett

23. "The Medieval World" – Jacques Le Goff

24. "The Civilization of the Middle Ages" – Norman F. Cantor

25. "A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century" – Barbara Tuchman

26. "The Three Orders: Feudal Society Imagined" – Georges Duby

27. "Europe in the High Middle Ages" – William Chester Jordan

28. "The Investiture Controversy" – Uta-Renate Blumenthal

29. "The First European Revolution" – R.I. Moore

30. "The Black Death" – Philip Ziegler

Early Modern History

31. "The Prince" – Niccolò Machiavelli

32. "Leviathan" – Thomas Hobbes

33. "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism" – Max Weber

34. "The Dutch Republic: Its Rise, Greatness, and Fall 1477-1806" – Jonathan Israel

35. "The Thirty Years War" – C.V. Wedgwood

36. "The General Crisis of the Seventeenth Century" – Geoffrey Parker

37. "The Rise of the West" – William H. McNeill

38. "The Reformation" – Diarmaid MacCulloch

39. "Society and Economy in Early Modern Europe" – R. Po-Chia Hsia

40. "Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe" – Robin Briggs

Modern History

41. "Capital" – Karl Marx

42. "The Making of the English Working Class" – E.P. Thompson

43. "Orientalism" – Edward Said

44. "The Communist Manifesto" – Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels

45. "Imagined Communities" – Benedict Anderson

46. "The Age of Revolution, 1789-1848" – Eric Hobsbawm

47. "The Origins of the First World War" – James Joll

48. "The Age of Extremes" – Eric Hobsbawm

49. "The Guns of August" – Barbara Tuchman

50. "Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945" – Tony Judt

World History

51. "Guns, Germs, and Steel" – Jared Diamond

52. "The Silk Roads: A New History of the World" – Peter Frankopan

53. "The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order" – Samuel P. Huntington

54. "A Short History of Nearly Everything" – Bill Bryson

55. "A History of the World in 100 Objects" – Neil MacGregor

56. "The Wealth and Poverty of Nations" – David S. Landes

57. "A People’s History of the United States" – Howard Zinn

58. "1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus" – Charles C. Mann

59. "The Columbian Exchange" – Alfred W. Crosby

60. "Empires in World History" – Jane Burbank and Frederick Cooper

Economic History

61. "The Great Transformation" – Karl Polanyi

62. "The Wealth of Nations" – Adam Smith

63. "An Economic History of the World Since 1400" – Donald J. Harreld

64. "A Farewell to Alms" – Gregory Clark

65. "The Birth of the Modern World" – C.A. Bayly

66. "The Rise of Capitalism" – Karl Marx

67. "Debt: The First 5000 Years" – David Graeber

68. "The First Industrial Nation" – Peter Mathias

69. "The End of Poverty" – Jeffrey Sachs

70. "Globalization and Its Discontents" – Joseph Stiglitz

Cultural & Social History

71. "The Invention of Tradition" – Eric Hobsbawm and Terence Ranger

72. "The History of Sexuality" – Michel Foucault

73. "The Mediterranean" – Fernand Braudel

74. "The Cheese and the Worms" – Carlo Ginzburg

75. "Discipline and Punish" – Michel Foucault

76. "The Great Cat Massacre" – Robert Darnton

77. "The Rituals of Dinner" – Margaret Visser

78. "Society and Culture in Early Modern France" – Natalie Zemon Davis

79. "The Return of Martin Guerre" – Natalie Zemon Davis

80. "From Dawn to Decadence" – Jacques Barzun

Colonial & Postcolonial History

81. "The Wretched of the Earth" – Frantz Fanon

82. "Black Skin, White Masks" – Frantz Fanon

83. "The Scramble for Africa" – Thomas Pakenham

84. "King Leopold’s Ghost" – Adam Hochschild

85. "Empire: A History of the British Empire" – Niall Ferguson

86. "Decolonising the Mind" – Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o

87. "The Black Jacobins" – C.L.R. James

88. "The Battle for Algeria" – Alistair Horne

89. "The Empire Writes Back" – Bill Ashcroft, Gareth Griffiths, and Helen Tiffin

90. "The Cold War" – John Lewis Gaddis

Gender History

91. "Gender and the Politics of History" – Joan Wallach Scott

92. "The Second Sex" – Simone de Beauvoir

93. "Gender Trouble" – Judith Butler

94. "A Room of One’s Own" – Virginia Woolf

95. "Women, Race, and Class" – Angela Davis

96. "The Creation of Patriarchy" – Gerda Lerner

97. "Feminism and Nationalism in the Third World" – Kumari Jayawardena

98. "Gender in History" – Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks

99. "The History of Sexuality" – Michel Foucault

100. "Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center" – bell hooks

This list encompasses some of the most widely cited works in history across various fields. While the rankings can differ depending on the specific course or institution, these books are frequently included in reading lists for history majors.


TOPICS: Books/Literature
KEYWORDS: books; chatgpt
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Time to weigh in...

Who is missing?

Who should be off this list?

1 posted on 09/17/2024 8:02:20 AM PDT by Titus-Maximus
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To: Titus-Maximus

57. “A People’s History of the United States” – Howard Zinn

Howard Zinn has done more damage to this country than just about anyone.


2 posted on 09/17/2024 8:05:01 AM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: Titus-Maximus

Will Durant.


3 posted on 09/17/2024 8:07:06 AM PDT by nwrep
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To: Titus-Maximus

Uh. Gibbon?


4 posted on 09/17/2024 8:08:28 AM PDT by Joe Warren
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To: Titus-Maximus

Solzhenitsyn?


5 posted on 09/17/2024 8:08:44 AM PDT by Titus-Maximus (Tthe trouble with socialism is that you soon run out of other people's zoo animals to eat.)
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To: Titus-Maximus

First, a moment about such lists.

There was a Top 100 Novels of the English Language pre Year 2000. The American Library Assoc or something selected it.

It was pretty damn good. A fine list.

And it came under immediate attack. Not for reasons of quality. For reasons of author diversity. There were some women on the “original list” and there were some minorities. But not many.

The defense was that the list was about quality, not agenda.

That defense was rejected and amended lists were released by other orgs.

I do with ChatGPT were used for more solid purposes. Like how many nuclear explosions have occurred on Earth. Or how many fatal ferry boat accidents have there been? Questions with factual answers.


6 posted on 09/17/2024 8:08:57 AM PDT by Owen
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To: Joe Warren

#11 is Edward Gibbon


7 posted on 09/17/2024 8:09:26 AM PDT by Titus-Maximus (Tthe trouble with socialism is that you soon run out of other people's zoo animals to eat.)
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To: Titus-Maximus

Gender History?


8 posted on 09/17/2024 8:10:12 AM PDT by ComputerGuy (Heavily-medicated for your protection)
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To: ComputerGuy

That is a waste of time and resources.


9 posted on 09/17/2024 8:11:40 AM PDT by Titus-Maximus (Tthe trouble with socialism is that you soon run out of other people's zoo animals to eat.)
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To: Titus-Maximus

“57. “A People’s History of the United States” – Howard Zinn”

If people want to understand why younger generations HATE THE COUNTRY and hate Americans to the point of having them shoot presidential candidates, then read this book. You know, the book your kids use in Public Schools, but are not allowed to bring home. You can buy it for yourselves, to see just what you are subjecting your kids to, so you can maintain your ‘nice’ lifestyle.


10 posted on 09/17/2024 8:13:10 AM PDT by BobL
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To: Titus-Maximus
The Crisis of Our Age by Pitirim Sorokin (should be required reading under to the "Cultural & Social" section).
11 posted on 09/17/2024 8:13:51 AM PDT by Towed_Jumper (Please remain seated until your civilization comes to a complete stop.)
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To: ComputerGuy

That’s to replace St. Paul and St. Augustine.


12 posted on 09/17/2024 8:14:30 AM PDT by aspasia
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To: Titus-Maximus

Until you get to “World History” and the categories under it, it’s pretty standard.

However, once you get to that area, you get into politically correct, academically compliant products. Few primary sources, many “analyses.”

Basically, all AI systems are built on the ability to do a massive, almost instantaneous search of things related to the search terms you put in.

So while the lists from World History on down (with a couple of exceptions) are debatable, that simply shows you what Chat GPT has gathered from references: what most people are reading, what academics are assigning, what is being referenced in other articles, etc.

So that means the anti-Western left dominates our academic discourse.


13 posted on 09/17/2024 8:14:39 AM PDT by livius
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To: Owen

Actually, this is Chat GPT surveilling college reading lists for History degrees, it is more objective than an opinion.


14 posted on 09/17/2024 8:14:47 AM PDT by Titus-Maximus (Tthe trouble with socialism is that you soon run out of other people's zoo animals to eat.)
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To: Titus-Maximus
Dear Brave AI: Is St. Augustine read in college for philosophy of history?

St. Augustine in Philosophy of History

St. Augustine’s works, particularly The City of God and Confessions, are widely studied in college courses on philosophy of history. His philosophical ideas on time, human nature, and the nature of history have significant implications for understanding the development of Western philosophical thought.

Key Concepts

Time and Eternity: Augustine’s concept of time, as discussed in Confessions, has influenced philosophical debates on the nature of time and its relationship to eternity.

Human Nature: His ideas on human nature, as presented in The City of God, have shaped discussions on the human condition, free will, and the role of human agency in historical events.

Historical Narrative: Augustine’s narrative style in The City of God, which blends philosophical and theological insights with historical accounts, has influenced the development of historical writing and the philosophy of history.

College Coursework

St. Augustine’s works are often included in college courses on:

Philosophy of History
Medieval Philosophy
Christian Philosophy
Theories of Time and Eternity
Human Nature and Free Will

In these courses, students analyze Augustine’s ideas and their impact on the development of Western philosophical thought, particularly in the areas of metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics.

Influence on Later Thinkers

St. Augustine’s philosophy of history has influenced many later thinkers, including:

Thomas Aquinas
René Descartes
Immanuel Kant
Friedrich Nietzsche

These thinkers have engaged with Augustine’s ideas, critiqued them, or built upon them, shaping the course of philosophical debates on history, time, and human nature.

In summary, St. Augustine’s works are a fundamental part of college coursework in philosophy of history, and his ideas continue to influence philosophical discussions on time, human nature, and the nature of history.

15 posted on 09/17/2024 8:27:11 AM PDT by aspasia
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To: Titus-Maximus

Mary Beard should be hurled off the list with great force.


16 posted on 09/17/2024 8:28:20 AM PDT by Harmless Teddy Bear ( Not my circus. Not my monkeys. But I can pick out the clowns at 100 yards.)
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To: Titus-Maximus
Karl Marx should not be on there as he was not a historian or much of anything really. Edward Said should be tossed, Howard Zinn goes without saying, and the "Gender" (Should be Sex unless you are talking about the history of language) is worthless.

And, I know I am going to get push back on this, but Jared Diamond is pop history and should not be on there.

17 posted on 09/17/2024 8:35:45 AM PDT by Harmless Teddy Bear ( Not my circus. Not my monkeys. But I can pick out the clowns at 100 yards.)
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To: Harmless Teddy Bear

Marx thrice


18 posted on 09/17/2024 8:37:15 AM PDT by KC Burke
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To: Titus-Maximus

Far too much Leftist crapola. Almost no military history. No overtly conservative works of history. Nothing on the US founding or civil war. No histories of science or religion.


19 posted on 09/17/2024 8:47:32 AM PDT by Rockingham
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To: Rockingham

“Hey Hey Ho Ho.....Western Civ has got to go!”


20 posted on 09/17/2024 8:48:23 AM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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