I assume you mean popular-history books (books that aren't meant for colleges or academic use, more for the general audience). If you are looking for more scholarly works let me know (although all three books below actually were on my syllabus in grad school).

So, on early Christianity: Lost Christianities:The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew by Bart Ehrman is a fantastic book for learning about the early days of the Christian Church. In my opinion, there is no better book that better explains how the early church came about and survived.

For Ancient Israel: The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts By: Neil Asher Silberman. This one is a little dry, but offers tons of info for anyone looking to find out more info on the history of Ancient Egypt.

Also, another great book on ancient Israel is: The Historical David: The Real Life of an Invented Hero by: Joel Baden. This one is particularly interesting since it focuses on the idea of the historical David whom would have been a critical figure in early Israel.

I've studied Islam in my undergraduate studies, but since I'm not studying it passed that, I probably wouldn't be a good person to recommend books for it.

Karen Armstrong-Muhammad: A Prophet for Our Time, Karen Armstrong- Buddha

I am not a historian and I've never contributed to this subreddit before, so my comment might be removed. However I would like to recommend you Mircea Eliade's History of religious ideas, volume I [here] (http://www.amazon.com/History-Religious-Ideas-Volume-Eleusinian/dp/0226204014) , as well as other works by him, that you could easily find online.

He was a historian of religion and professor at the University of Chicago and his works are still used at Uni level. He is also highly valued as a fiction writer and philosopher. So, while I might not be a leading figure in this field, he sure was.

I hope that you will be able to read this before it gets removed and that you will find it useful.

Cheers!

I don't know if I can ask that kind of question here but did any of you read the book

Behind the Myths : The Foundations of Judaism, Christianity and Islam by John Pickard.

If positive, is this a good book ?

Thank you.