Maggie Evans 
Have you been asking your friends for recommendations on history books and yet without any luck? It’s no wonder, since not everybody can enjoy reading the same stuff as you do. History is undoubtedly a vast subject and when people fall in love with it, falling out of love becomes practically impossible. If you are among those people who enjoy this subject, then one thing is for sure.
You’ve probably read a lot of great, as well as a lot of not-so-great, history books and you would like to stick with the former in the future. For example, if you become interested in the American olden times specifically, you will want to find the best american history books and avoid those that aren’t of good quality. The only thing is, you might not know how to find those great ones and how to make this choice. I can completely understand that. We have all felt our fair share of disappointment when it comes to books we have read.
Now, you are undeniably wondering one specific thing. Is there a way to avoid buying books and ending up disappointed with them? You would very much like to avoid that, but you cannot know how great or horrific a specific book is until you buy it and read it, right? Well, that is most definitely wrong. The good news is that you can now figure out whether buying something is worth it before making the purchase.
What’s that, you don’t know how to do that? Well, that is precisely what we are going to be talking about today, so keep on reading to figure out how to find and choose great history books. Remember, this goes both for American history and history in general. So, no matter what you are interested in, you should go through the same process before making your purchase, in order to end up being happy with it. Let’s take a look at the steps you should take and things to keep in mind when searching for these products.
Talk To History Enthusiasts
Asking your friends that aren’t that much into history for recommendations won’t get you any far. I suppose they could name a book or two that they have heard of, or even read themselves, but the point is that they probably won’t be able to determine the quality of those, since it is not the topic that they prefer. That is why you should talk to people who prefer this topic and who are just as much in love with it as you are, because they will be able to give you some great recommendations.
Speaking of that, here are some recommendations that might come in handy: https://www.forbes.com/sites/quickerbettertech/2019/06/17/best-history-books-of-all-time/?sh=34d94cfb40aa
People who enjoy reading about this topic will undeniably be able to recommend some great reads and I am quite certain that you will enjoy those as well. In addition to that, they might have easily ended up with a few not that great books in their hands, and the best part is that they will be ready to share that information with you. This will help you avoid making the wrong purchases and wasting your money on products that you won’t enjoy.
Search For Prizes & Recognitions
When searching for great history books, there is one thing that you should always keep in mind. Namely, there are works on this topic that have won certain prizes and the simple truth is that they wouldn’t have won those if they weren’t good enough. That’s why you should always look for prizewinners and check for any recognitions that certain books might have received.
This step will help you find some rather great works. The only thing is, you will need to know where to look for those prizes and recognitions. The Pulitzer Prize is only one of the awards that you should pay attention to and the best thing to do is research various different awards that are usually given to historians and books on that topic. This way, you will be able to find a lot of amazing and award winning works, which will definitely come quite in handy and help you decide which ones to buy and read, as well as which ones to avoid.
Check The Author’s Expertise
Since we are talking about history here, there is no doubt in my mind that you want the author of the books you are buying to be experts in the field. That is why you should always check their expertise and their credibility. You can see here why author credibility is important in every single field and history is most definitely not an exception. So, make sure to check the credibility of the author and his or her expertise, so that you know precisely whether you can trust the words that they have written or not.
I am pretty sure that you understand precisely why credibility is important in this field. After all, you don’t want to end up reading up on American past and then figure out later that it was all fabricated and based on insufficient and untrustworthy facts. You want the works you read to be truthful and objective, which is precisely why researching the author is extremely important. Take your time to do this research properly before making any purchases whatsoever.
Check The Reputation Of The Publishers
In addition to researching the authors, you should also research the publishers. I suppose you know that there are reputable and ill-reputed publishers out there and that you should get your books from the first ones. Historians most certainly won’t respect any publishers that aren’t credible and trustworthy and neither should you.
The only question you might have is this. How can you check the reputation of specific publishers? This shouldn’t be too difficult. All you should do is search for any online reviews that might be written about them and check what other people have to say. Make sure to find objective reviews, since those will help you find the best publishers.
