Recommended History Books for IAS Mains
History is one of the most popular optional subjects in IAS exam partly because we all have studied History in our school and/or college days. Also it is fun and interesting to read with all the historic tales, battles, and cultures to study. This post lists the recommended books for History optional of Mains exam. The books are categorized as per the syllabus: Ancient, Medieval, Modern History, and World History.
Books for Ancient History (Paper 1):
- Wonder that was India – A.L. Basham
- An Advanced History of India – R.C. Majumdar, H.C. Raychaudhuri, – Kalikinkar Datta
- India’s Ancient Past – R.S Sharma
Books for Medieval History (Paper 1):
- Advanced Study in the History of Medieval India – Volume I, II, III- J.L. Mehta
- Medieval India – Satish Chandra
- Wonder that was India – Rizvi
Books for Modern History (Paper 2):
- Modern Indian History – Grover & Grover
- India’s Struggle for Independence – Bipin Chandra (Read Review)
- Modern India – Sumit Sarkar
- India After Gandhi: Ramachandra Guha
Books for World History (Paper 2):
- The Story of Civilization, Vol. 2 (NCERT) Arjun Dev
- Contemporary World History (NCERT) Arjun Dev & others
- Age of Revolution – Eric Hobsbawm
- Europe Since 1870 – James Joll
- History of Modern World : From AD 1500 to AD 2011
In addition to these books you may want to refer Hemant Jha’s notes and also some selective IGNOU notes for preparing History. These books are as per the revised History syllabus for IAS mains and will be useful in your preparation of History optional. Further, read this post to know about History books for IAS prelims.
Recommended Reference Books for Prelims
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