Summer books of 2019: History

Greece: Biography of a Modern Nation, by Roderick Beaton, Allen Lane, RRP£30/University of Chicago Press, RRP$35

Roderick Beaton’s impressive book sets Greece’s recent troubles in the context of recurrent patterns of political conflict, social change and economic upheaval since the early 19th century. It is an authoritative, up-to-date survey that deserves to be the standard history of modern Greece in English for years to come.

France in the World: A New Global History, edited by Patrick Boucheron and Stéphane Gerson, Other Press, RRP$38.99

Traditional readings of French history are challenged in this fascinating, often provocative collection of essays by more than 100 historians, brought together by the medievalist Patrick Boucheron. The book, entertaining and grounded in good scholarship, was a bestseller in France. Its translation deserves a wide readership in the anglophone world.

Time and Power: Visions of History in German Politics, from the Thirty Years’ War to the Third Reich, by Christopher Clark, Princeton University Press, RRP£24/$29.95

Ranging from 17th-century Brandenburg-Prussia to Nazi Germany, Christopher Clark’s book focuses on how four rulers — the Great Elector, Frederick the Great, Bismarck and Hitler — understood historical and future time in distinctive ways that shaped their use of power. An original and rewarding approach to modern German history.

The Border: The Legacy of a Century of Anglo-Irish Politics, by Diarmaid Ferriter, Profile Books, RRP£12.99

The century-old border between the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland is one of the most difficult issues blocking Brexit. Diarmaid Ferriter’s short and powerfully written book is the best on the subject, taking readers from the creation of the independent Irish state to the impasse over the UK’s planned exit from the EU.

Matilda: Empress, Queen, Warrior, by Catherine Hanley, Yale University Press, RRP£20/$30

Women rulers of medieval Europe, a long neglected field of study, are attracting increasing attention from a lively new generation of historians. Catherine Hanley’s biography of Matilda, the daughter of King Henry I who fought to become queen of England during the civil war of the mid-12th century, is a fine example of the genre.

The Story of Silver: How the White Metal Shaped America and the Modern World, by William L Silber, Princeton University Press RRP£24/$29.95

William Silber’s book is mostly about silver in American history, rather than the world, but it is a delightful and instructive read nonetheless. Silber is especially good on Franklin D Roosevelt’s revival of bimetallism in the 1930s, and on the manipulation of the silver market in the 1970s and 1980s by Nelson Bunker Hunt, a Texas oil billionaire.

China and Japan: Facing History, by Ezra F Vogel, Harvard University Press, RRP£28.95/$39.95

The relationship between China and Japan will be a crucial feature of the evolving world order in the 21st century. Ezra Vogel, one of the English-speaking world’s leading authorities on east Asian history, is on top form in this absorbing and panoramic account of how the two countries have interacted down the centuries.

Amritsar 1919: An Empire of Fear and the Making of a Massacre, by Kim A Wagner, Yale University Press £20/$32.50

The massacre of Indian civilians at Amritsar in 1919 was arguably the most shameful episode in the British empire’s history. Kim Wagner, a scholar at Queen Mary, University of London, has written a compelling account of the episode, setting it in the context of rising anti-colonial Indian nationalism and the panicky British response.

The Impeachers: The Trial of Andrew Johnson and the Dream of a Just Nation, by Brenda Wineapple, Random House RRP$32

In 1868, soon after the civil war’s end, Andrew Johnson became the first US president to be impeached by the House of Representatives. The measure failed in the Senate by one vote. The story has been told many times before, but rarely with such narrative verve as in Brenda Wineapple’s superb book.

Tony Barber is the FT’s Europe commentator

For a look at the best summer books across genres, go to ft.com/summerbooks2019

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