Recs if you like The Unwomanly Face of War: An Oral History of Women in World War II...

No, it's not. You just didn't learn all of history. (A.k.a. not all period dramas need to be all-white all-straight etc. and we have the sources to prove it)

books about the second world war that investigate race, class, and gender and/or the human cost of the war. these aren’t the pop history books you buy your dad for christmas, i promise.

primarily (but not exclusively) academic history books read during my history MA program! consequently some may be a bit dense and/or dry.

I have been collecting (and reading) a long list of memoirs, autobiographies and biographies about women who had fascinating lives. I thought I might as well make it a list! A lot of them I have read and enjoyed, some are from my TBR. I am especially fascinated by 18th-19th century women's stories, so there will be a lot of those. And women from diverse backgrounds. Open to suggestions!

Various titles, from Russian, Ukrainian, Czech, Polish, Hungarian, Baltic, & Balkan authors.

Intimate, sometimes harrowing true stories from women who served, documented, or survived wars. A mix of frontline voices and survivor accounts for every interest.

Polymath Training Challenge is a non-fiction reading challenge that has been running on a Hungarian book site for the past 11 years. Each year it has 12 categories that participants have to pick their own nonfiction reads for (incl. memoirs and biographies). I have discovered several amazing nonfiction books through this challenge, so I decided to make a list of the best, and most mind-blowing, of them so far.

niche nonfiction deep dives

As the title suggests, these are non-fiction books that are translated into English. Please suggest more books! (WIP)

A list of all the classics currently a part of my physical collection! I love collecting penguin classics, Oxford classics, NYRB, pelican, penguin deluxe, and Penguin clothbound editions especially! I will update this as I go through my physical collection (I am cataloging it and decluttering at the moment)