Use the search box on our library's homepage to find history books.
Example: Find books about the Caste War, fought in Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.
See also the Primary Sources Online page (this guide) > Books tab.
Some researchers might remember the "red books" that contain Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH), a staple of library research. The red books are available online (41st ed.). LCSH help researchers to locate books quickly and efficiently.
Rule #1 when using the red books is to be specific. If, for example, you are looking for books about the German occupation of Poland during World War II, the main subject Poland probably won't work very well. Why? It is too broad. Instead, use the narrower, more precise heading: Poland — History — Occupation, 1939-1945. How to find it?
Once the proper subject heading has been identified, perform an Advanced search in the library's discovery service. Select "Subject" from the initial drop-down menu and "contains exact phrase" from the second drop-down. Type or copy/paste the subject heading including subdivisions into the accompanying search box. Execute your search.
See How do I find primary sources? to discover LCSH without the red books.
The Directory of Open Access Books (DOAB) is a discovery platform for connecting to scholarly e-books. Users will find thousands of humanities titles published in English and other languages. "DOAB Foundation is a non-profit legal entity under Dutch law (‘stichting’), established by OAPEN Foundation and OpenEdition. The Foundation is based at the National Library in The Hague" (About DOAB).
More open access e-books:
Begun in 2008, HathiTrust Digital Library is a preservation repository for public domain and in-copyright titles. The project digitized books from the collections of major research libraries. HathiTrust partners include Internet Archive, Google, and Microsoft.
Researchers can access HathiTrust e-books in the public domain, currently over 7,000,000 volumes. HathiTrust is similar to Google Books but the content is much better described, organized, and displayed.
Internet Archive (IA) is billed as a non-profit library. IA provides access to millions of digitized e-books. Perform an Advanced Search for author, title, or subject ("Description"). Create an account to borrow most books for 1-hour or 14 days. If you prefer WorldCat, use Advanced Search > Limit availability to: > Library Code: INARC.
Search these databases to find scholarly reviews of history books:
The following journals publish reviews of history books:
H-Net publishes scholarly book reviews from 1993 to present.
Use Interlibrary Loan (ILL) to request books and book chapters not held by our library. Chapters typically arrive within hours. Physical books take days.
WorldCat is a "union catalog" of millions of records for books held by thousands of libraries. Search WorldCat to find more books about your topic.
Identify e-books available to read or borrow immediately by conducting an Advanced search. Look for the Library Code box toward the bottom of the page. Enter one of the following library codes: