I'm currently making my way through The Third Reich Trilogy as an audiobook and it is hands down the best researched, most in-depth piece of history I've ever read / listened to.

Evans must have spent half his life in primary sources and uses that research to great effect. The book includes many diary and newspaper extracts from the time for example (including liberal use of Goebbels diary) and goes into detail in all sorts of areas that paint a very clear picture of everyday life in Germany at the time.

It's long (around 90 hours audio or over 2000 pages) but I have learned so much from it.

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[–] macroplastic@sh.itjust.works 7 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power by Daniel Yergin.

The history of oil is so much more interesting than it might appear at first glance. It's part technological history, corporate intrigue, political thriller, and more.

Honorary second place to The Long Shadow: the Legacies of the Great War in the Twentieth Century. WWII tends to get a lot more attention in popular histories, but WWI really set the stage for the trajectory of Europe in the 20th century and the end of colonialism.