Learning World History Through Fiction!
This list brings together fiction from around the world that documents significant historical events or periods of time. Titles in this list aren't necessarily "historical fiction" but do have an important historical element to them.
I find fiction is an easy media to help educate me about world history I never learned in school. These titles aim to bring to light historical events that may not be taught in schools!
As always, I'm open to any and all suggestions! 🤠
created by ErinYeager
last updated August, 2026
Comments
Growing up, the only history I learned was US history from colonial America to the end of WWII. Even then, the history I've been taught has had a very US centric point of view. Now that I'm an adult, I've come to realize how little I really know about the rest of the world and have tried to pick up where my education left off.
Sometimes I struggle to jump into nonfiction history I don't know about because it can feel impersonal and be hard to grasp all the working pieces. For me, fiction set in a historical setting has been a great place to get that foundation to start to learn more.
This list is made to help share history from around the world in a media that might be a bit easier to digest. I'm aiming to have fiction from all of the countries, but this is what I've been able to find so far!! 🙂
Awesome list omg!!!!! I highly rec In The Time of The Butterflies by Julia Alvarez for a historical fiction based on the Mirabel sisters, who worked to resist the authoritarian Trujillo regime in the Dominican Republic. Another book about Trujillo that’s apparently supposed to be good is The Feast of the Goat by Mario Vargas Llosa!
OMG AZY THANK YOU!! Also both of those recommendations look really good, I'll get them added here and into my tbr! I hadn't yet found fiction from the Dominican Republic, so this is great 🙂🫂
Yayayay omg glad it’s helpful! ❤️❤️
