The Shelves

20th Century Books

A tight 20th century shortlist - built for quick decisions, not endless scrolling.

Last refreshed 2026-02-27. We keep tuning this list as new titles land and reader interest shifts.

1. How to Be a Dictator
Frank Dikötter
How to Be a Dictator: The Cult of Personality in the Twentieth Century
2. Last Call at the Hotel Imperial
Deborah Cohen
Last Call at the Hotel Imperial: The Reporters Who Took On a World at War
3. The Deluge
Adam Tooze
The Deluge: The Great War, America and the Remaking of the Global Order, 1916-1931
4. Fateful Hours
Volker Ullrich, Jefferson Chase
Fateful Hours: The Collapse of the Weimar Republic
5. The Revolutionists
Jason Burke
The Revolutionists: The Story of the Extremists Who Hijacked the 1970s
6. The Killing Season
Robert Cowley
The Killing Season: The Autumn of 1914, Ypres, and the Afternoon That Cost Germany a War
7. In the Garden of Beasts
Erik Larson
In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin
8. Pearl Harbor
Craig Nelson
Pearl Harbor: From Infamy to Greatness
9. The Cold War
John Lewis Gaddis
The Cold War: A New History
10. A Flower Traveled in My Blood
Haley Cohen Gilliland
A Flower Traveled in My Blood: The Incredible True Story of the Grandmothers Who Fought to Find a Stolen Generation of Children
11. Eden Undone
Abbott Kahler
Eden Undone: A True Story of Sex, Murder, and Utopia at the Dawn of World War II
12. Hidden History
Donald Jeffries, Roger Stone
Hidden History: An Exposé of Modern Crimes, Conspiracies, and Cover-Ups in American Politics
13. How Fascism Works
Jason F. Stanley
How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them
14. Fallen Idols
Alex von Tunzelmann
Fallen Idols: Twelve Statues That Made History
15. Africa Is Not a Country
Dipo Faloyin
Africa Is Not a Country: Notes on a Bright Continent
16. Hannah Arendt: The Origins of Totalitarianism Expanded Edition (LOA #389)
Hannah Arendt, Jerome Kohn
A History pick for readers exploring Hannah Arendt: The Origins of Totalitarianism Expanded Edition (LOA #389).
17. Fifty-Three Days on Starvation Island
John R. Bruning
Fifty-Three Days on Starvation Island: The World War II Battle That Saved Marine Corps Aviation
18. Hitler: Ascent
Volker Ullrich
Hitler: Ascent: 1889-1939
19. The Rape of Nanking
Iris Chang
The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust Of World War II
20. The Manhattan Project
Cynthia C. Kelly
The Manhattan Project: The Birth of the Atomic Bomb in the Words of Its Creators, Eyewitnesses, and Historians
21. Basic Writings
Martin Heidegger
A Philosophy pick for readers exploring Basic Writings.
22. Ludwig Wittgenstein
Ray Monk
Ludwig Wittgenstein: The Duty of Genius
23. Midnight in Chernobyl
Adam Higginbotham
Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster
24. Paris Journal, 1956-65
Janet Flanner (Genet)
A Nonfiction pick for readers exploring Paris Journal, 1956-65.

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