Are There Any "Classic" Works of History?

by Ojo55

In regard to history, recent scholarship is understandably seen as the most accurate and reliable. As a result, previous historical literature is somewhat invalidated or reduced in importance. Apart from works read for their historiography, are there any works of history known for their lasting value, which are regarded as "classic?"

madloc

Of course history is an enormous field with almost infinite detail depending on the subfield, the methodology etc. However some works can be considered classics for the way they changed either a field, and as such are seen and used outside of that field, or due to being seminal works of outstanding new theory or methodology. Said in another way, some of the examples listed below merit the list not for their contribution being the most accurate or reliable, but because of the major leaps in methodology or theory that might still be employed today. I am only here including authors from the 18th century forward, even though authors the like of Plutarch and Machiavelli should be included.

An attempt at a list of classics in history

  • Gibbon, Edward (1789): The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
  • Foucault, Michel (1961): Madness and Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason
  • Elias, Norbert (1939): The Civilizing Process
  • Said, Edward (1978): Orientalism
  • Du Bois, W. E. B. (1935): Black Reconstruction in America
  • Frankopan, Peter. (2015): The Silk Roads
  • Marx, Karl; Engels, Friedrich (1848): The Communist Manifesto
  • Thompson, E. P. (1963): The Making of the English Middle Class
  • Kosambi, Damodar Dharmananda (1956): An Introduction to the Study of Indian History
  • Braudel, Fernard (1949): The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II
  • McNeill, William H. (1976): Plagues and Peoples
  • James, C. L. R. (1938): The Black Jacobins

Of course this list should be considered incomplete even regarding the authors' own works, which might be commented on in seminars, articles or in other works by the same authors, not to mention my limited knowledge of other fields than my own. As such, I welcome other historians to contribute to the list!

Finally, and I cannot stress this enough, this list is just my own attempt at producing a list of seminal or influential work that a historian, myself, consider classics.

If other historians dispute a choice, or a commenter wants more details, enquire in the comments!