| abstract
| - This page lists real world nonfiction printed books which have had some influence to at least one timeline presented on Althistory. Anyone who has authored a timeline is welcome to add books to the list. Each book should have a short one or two sentence description and an optional 1-5 star rating (5=best, 1=worst). The list is alphabetical by author.
* In the Wake of the Plague (The Black Death and the World it Made) *. By Norman F Cantor. A short, spotty, general history of the era which often strays from the topic. Despite its flaws, it does have some good what-if speculation.
* A Cultural History of the Native Peoples of Southern New England ****. By Moondancer and Strong Woman. A great book on the Native perspective of early encounters between indigenous peoples of the Americas and Euroamericans.
* Guns, Germs, and Steel ****. By Jared Diamond. A popular book encompassing the whole span of human history that has a lot of good "this lead to that" type of reasoning. Diamond also describes how advanced innovation often fails to be adopted by society.
* Collapse *** By Jared Diamond. This book is not as good as "Guns, Germs, and Steel" but it still deserves mention. Only about half the book deals with history the rest deals with the environment and society. This is especially worth reading if your time-line involves the Maya, Norse Greenlanders, the Anasazi, or Easter Island.
* Plagues and Peoples ****. By William McNeill THE classic book book describing how human history has been influenced by disease.
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