The best books about the past don’t just capture the clothing styles or slang of an era; they show us how each period’s unique challenges and dreams echo across time. These historical books offer glimpses of world wars, social revolutions, and cultural shifts, yet they reveal the timeless human experiences that bind us all. There is no difference in the longing you feel and the longing your great grandmother felt. Sorrow, love, suffering, joy, hope—emotion now is exactly as it was then.

Our recommended titles on the Libby app journey through the decades, from the dawn of the 20th century to the cusp of the new millennium. No era is truly foreign when you see yourself in its characters. Find yourself here, there, and everywhere.

1910s

The Harlem Hellfighters by Max Brooks & Caanan White

This stunning graphic novel follows the historic black 369th infantry regiment, known to the Germans as the Harlem Hellfighters.

1920s

Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
🎧 Audiobook

The Mayan god of death stirs up trouble in the Jazz Age in this unique fairytale from the author of Mexican Gothic and The Daughter of Doctor Moreau.

1930s

The Honjin Murders by Seishi Yokomizo

A wedding, a masked man, and a bloody samurai sword make for a legendary mystery set in 1930s Japan.

1940s

The Last Lifeboat by Hazel Gaynor
🎧 Audiobook

Inspired by a true story, this novel follows two strangers, Alice and Lily, whose lives become intertwined following the sinking of a ship carrying children to safety during WWII.

1950s

The Fountains of Silence by Ruta Sepetys
🎧 Audiobook

In 1957 Madrid, under Spain’s fascist regime, dark secrets lurk beneath the city’s charm. Against this backdrop, a love story unfolds—a captivating read for young and adult readers alike.

1960s

11/22/63 by Stephen King
🎧 Audiobook

An English teacher steps into a portal to rewrite history and stop the Kennedy assassination, risking his life, love, and the fabric of time itself.

1970s

My Friend Dahmer by Derf Backderf

Before he was the most notorious serial killer of the modern era, he was a high-school student in 1970s Ohio. Backderf depicts Jeffrey Dahmer as he remembers him in this true-story graphic novel.

1980s

When the Night Comes by Favel Parrett

An Antarctic supply ship sailor from Denmark shares his travel tales with a lonesome Tasmanian girl.

1990s

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
🎧 Audiobook

It’s the 90s but also, it’s not. To say what this modern classic is about would be to ruin the experience of finding out yourself. Read it and weep—not a command, more like a guarantee.

2000s

Bob Honey Who Just Do Stuff by Sean Penn

Actor Sean Penn presents a darkly satirical novel about a disillusioned, eccentric part-time assassin who navigates a twisted modern America where connection is rare, media is ruthless, and survival means risking everything.

*Title availability may vary by library & region.

RELATED READ: The most popular historical fiction of all time in the Libby app