Top 10 books about tumultuous times
This is one of the 759 lists we use to generate our main The Greatest Books list.
About this list
Guardian, 10 Books
"From paranoid Roman emperors to Winston Churchill’s war cabinet, here are some outstanding history books and novels exploring era-defining decisions made under pressure".
Matthew Kneale is the author of seven novels and two works of non-fiction. His debut novel, Whore Banquets, won the Somerset Maugham Award, Sweet Thames won John Llewellyn Rhys, and English Passengers, shortlisted for the Man Booker and Miles Franklin, won the Whitbread Book of the Year Award in 2000. His latest non-fiction book, Rome: A History in Seven Sackings, was a Waterstones Book of the Month.
This list was originally published in 2020 and was added to this site over 1 year ago.
| Rank | Book | Authors | Year | Country | Language | Actions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17152 | The Humiliation Of Sinners | Mary C. Mansfield | 1995 | Unknown | English | |
| 17152 | The Ties That Bound | Barbara A. Hanawalt | 1986 | American | English | |
| 14985 | Five Days In London | John Lukacs | 1999 | British | English | |
| 17152 | Our Man In Rome | Catherine Fletcher | 2012 | Unknown | English | |
| 1936 | Autobiography | Benvenuto Cellini | 1728 | Italian | Italian | |
| 17152 | Benevolence And Betrayal | Alexander Stille | 1991 | American | English | |
| 14831 | Troubles | J. G. Farrell | 1970 | British | English | |
| 1257 | Lives of the Caesars | Suetonius | 121 | Roman | Latin | |
| 17152 | The Fall Of The Roman Empire | Peter Heather | 2005 | British | English | |
| 214 | Life and Fate | Vasily Grossman | 1980 | Russian | Russian |