An AP European History Reading List to Help You on the Exam
Although I usually love to critique The Collageboard, I find myself incredibly thankful for my AP European class. Because this class spans so many centuries, (15th-21st) the key to success on this exam is all in your ability to periodize and find key turning points, a skill that will be substantially increased by reading pieces written or set in each respective time period. Below, you’ll find an extensive list of fiction and non-fiction books (and the occasional novel that will be in the curriculum) that you can read during your time in AP European History to improve your score in May. Each book belongs to or is set in its categorized period.
*found in the AP curriculum
Period One
1450-1648
Q (1999)
Luther Blissett
Historical Fiction
The Master’s Apprentice (2020)
Oliver Pötzsch
Historial Fiction, Fantasy Fiction, Paranormal Fiction
Leonardo and the Last Supper (2012)
Ross King
Biography
Out of the Flames (2002)
Lawrence & Nancy Goldstone
Biography
The Birth of Venus (2002)
Sarah Dunant
Historial Fiction, Romance
The Prince* (1532)
Niccolò Machiavelli
Philosophy
Period Two
1648-1815
Where the Light Falls (2017)
Allison Pataki and Owen Pataki
Historical Fiction, Romance
A Place of Greater Safety (1992)
Hilary Mantel
Historical Fiction
A Tale of Two Cities (1859)
Charles Dickens
Historical Fiction
The Glass Blowers (1963)
Daphne du Maurier
Historical Fiction
A Clockwork Universe (2011)
Edward Dolnick
Non-Fiction
Candide* (1759)
Voltaire
Philosophy
Period Three
1815-1914
Things Fall Apart (1958)
Chinua Achebe
Historical Fiction
The Return of the Soldier (1918)
Rebecca West
Historical Fiction, Psychological
The Winter Soldier (2018)
Daniel Mason
Historical Fiction, Romance
King Leopold’s Ghost (1998)
Adam Hochschild
Biography
Heart of Darkness (1899)
Joseph Conrad
Historical Fiction
On Liberty (1859)
John Stuart Mill
Philosophy
Period Four
1914-Present
All the Light We Cannot See (2014)
Anthony Doerr
Historical Fiction
Slaughterhouse-Five (1969)
Kurt Vonnegut
Science-Fiction, Historical Fiction, Dark Comedy
The Book Thief (2005)
Markus Zusak
Historical Fiction
The Communist Manifesto* (1848)
Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx
Philosophy
The Nightingale (2015)
Kristin Hannah
Historical Fiction
Operation Mincemeat (2010)
Ben Macintyre
Biography