The Rest is History podcast is two funny British guys covering everything from Thermopylae to Marilyn Monroe. They do tend to do deep dives on an issue, but you can jump around name listen to the ones that interest you.

Shortest History of " " series

bunch of countries

read England by james hawes....

quick and informative

good place to start

I just finished Daughters of Yalta, about the 1945 conference between FDR, Churchill, and Stalin, told from the point of view of the 3 women who were official attendees (FDR's daughter Anna, Churchill's daughter Sarah, and Kathleen Harriman, the daughter of the US ambassador to the Soviet Union). It was excellent, and very readable.

I loved Chesapeake by James Michener. Beautifully written historic fiction about the Chesapeake watershed area. Begin with the Native Americans/ pre-American revolution and travels through generations.

Big "meta-histories" / crash courses in world history:

Centers of Progress: 40 Cities That Changed the World

Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies

The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined

Anything by Erik Larsen


King Kaiser Czar

This may sound a little strange, but I highly recommend "Prisoners of Geography: Our World Explained in 12 Simple Maps (Illustrated Young Readers Edition)"

There's an adult version too but I absolutely loved the children's edition, which is basically a very annotated picture book that explains how the physical geography of the world has influenced different human events. For instance, it explains why controlling Poland is something Russia would very much like. I thought it was fascinating and a very enjoyable read.

Coffee table book. Open randomly every day.

https://www.amazon.com/Kingfisher-History-Encyclopedia-Encyclopedias/dp/0753468751

Here is a Goodreads list of microhistories. I third the nomination for Wondrium. But, I also find that I learn history better when it reads like a story. So, also nominate books like Seabiscuit, etc. https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1058.Microhistory_Social_Histories_of_Just_One_Thing

Amandla! and Searching for Sugarman are both musically-focused documentaries about South Africa in the Apartheid and Post-Apartheid era that I love.

I second the nomination for The Great Courses which is now called Wondrium. But, you might want to look for the genre called Literary Non-Fiction or Creative Non-Fiction. These are non-fiction books that read like novels. Seabiscuit, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, and The Dark Queens fall into this category. You can find suggestions on google and Goodreads.

History of the World in 100 Objects - book or podcast (https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00nrtd2/episodes/downloads)

There is an AP in World History. You could get the AP book - by Princeton Review or similar.

I’ve enjoyed a few books by David McCullough and Corda’s “Ike, An American Hero”

I read this to my son when he was younger and wanted to learn more history. It was interesting!
https://www.amazon.com/Childs-History-World-V-Hillyer/dp/1684110149/ref=asc_df_1684110149/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312087807240&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=14437406157352217047&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9007862&hvtargid=pla-568195986654&psc=1&tag=&ref=&adgrpid=61316180119&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvadid=312087807240&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=14437406157352217047&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9007862&hvtargid=pla-568195986654