Free history books to read online

Narrative histories, memoirs and primary sources, free to read — including writers who were recording events as they happened.

Free history classics to read online

Public-domain titles you can read in full on Writro, no purchase needed.

• The Blue Castle: a novel — Montgomery, L. M. (Lucy Maud)
• Eloisa : $b or, A series of original letters — Rousseau, Jean-Jacques
• A farewell to arms — Hemingway, Ernest
• The Count of Monte Cristo — Dumas, Alexandre
• The Love Letters of Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn; With Notes — Henry VIII, King of England
• Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin — Franklin, Benjamin
• Twenty years after — Dumas, Alexandre
• Life on the Mississippi — Twain, Mark
• Emily Brontë — Robinson, A. Mary F. (Agnes Mary Frances)
• The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Or Gustavus Vassa, The African: Written By Himself — Equiano, Olaudah
• Catriona — Stevenson, Robert Louis
• The Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo, Vol 1 (of 2): Written by Himself Containing a True and Full Account of the Discovery and Conquest of Mexico and New Spain. — Díaz del Castillo, Bernal
• Napoleon's Letters to Josephine, 1796-1812: For the First Time Collected and Translated, with Notes Social, Historical, and Chronological, from Contemporary Sources — Napoleon I, Emperor of the French
• Shakespeare's family — Stopes, C. C. (Charlotte Carmichael)
• Eighty Years and More; Reminiscences 1815-1897 — Stanton, Elizabeth Cady
• Harriet Martineau — Miller, Florence Fenwick
• Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave — Douglass, Frederick
• Some Jewish Witnesses For Christ — Bernstein, Aaron
• The Diary of Samuel Pepys — Complete — Pepys, Samuel
• The Germany and the Agricola of Tacitus — Tacitus, Cornelius
• Celebrated Crimes (Complete) — Dumas, Alexandre
• Life and Letters of Charles Darwin — Volume 1 — Darwin, Charles
• The Riddle of the Sands — Childers, Erskine
• More Letters of Charles Darwin — Volume 1: A Record of His Work in a Series of Hitherto Unpublished Letters — Darwin, Charles
• The Roll of Honour, Volume 1 : $b A biographical record of all members of His Majesty's naval and military forces who have fallen in the war — Ruvigny et Raineval, Melville Henry Massue, marquis de
• Love-at-arms : $b being a narrative excerpted from the chronicles of Urbino, during the dominion of the high and mighty Messer Guidobaldo da Montefeltro — Sabatini, Rafael
• The City of God, Volume I — Augustine, of Hippo, Saint
• Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson — Rowlandson, Mary White
• The Knights of the Cross, or, Krzyzacy: Historical Romance — Sienkiewicz, Henryk
• The Anabasis of Alexander : $b or, The history of the wars and conquests of Alexander the Great — Arrian
• The Hero of the People: A Historical Romance of Love, Liberty and Loyalty — Dumas, Alexandre
• Forest Days: A Romance of Old Times — James, G. P. R. (George Payne Rainsford)
• Rizal's own story of his life — Rizal, José
• The Waterloo Roll Call: With Biographical Notes and Anecdotes — Dalton, Charles
• The Travels of Marco Polo — Volume 1 — Polo, Marco
• A Little English Gallery — Guiney, Louise Imogen
• The Life of Florence Nightingale, vol. 2 of 2 — Cook, Edward Tyas, Sir
• The three musketeers — Dumas, Alexandre
• The Jungle Book — Kipling, Rudyard
• Kidnapped — Stevenson, Robert Louis
• Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant, Complete — Grant, Ulysses S. (Ulysses Simpson)
• The Iliad — Homer
• Anabasis — Xenophon
• The Belle of Bowling Green — Barr, Amelia E.
• My own story — Pankhurst, Emmeline
• The Romance of Biography (Vol 1 of 2): or Memoirs of Women Loved and Celebrated by Poets, from the Days of the Troubadours to the Present Age. 3rd ed. 2 Vols. — Jameson, Mrs. (Anna)
• Lives of the Most Eminent Painters Sculptors and Architects, Vol. 01 (of 10): Cimabue to Agnolo Gaddi — Vasari, Giorgio
• Quintus Claudius: A Romance of Imperial Rome. Volume 1 — Eckstein, Ernst
• The Last of the Mohicans; A narrative of 1757 — Cooper, James Fenimore
• Thoughts of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus — Marcus Aurelius, Emperor of Rome
• The Legend of Sleepy Hollow — Irving, Washington
• The Decameron of Giovanni Boccaccio — Boccaccio, Giovanni
• Fifty Years In The Northwest: With An Introduction And Appendix Containing Reminiscences, Incidents And Notes — Folsom, William H. C. (William Henry Carman)
• The letters of Queen Victoria, vol. 1, 1837-1843 : $b A selection from Her Majesty's correspondence between the years 1837 and 1861. — Victoria, Queen of Great Britain
• Lives of Fair and Gallant Ladies. Vol 1 — Brantôme, Pierre de Bourdeille
• Plutarch's Lives, Volume 3 (of 4) — Plutarch
• The Canadian Portrait Gallery - Volume 3 (of 4) — Dent, John Charles
• Life of St. Francis of Assisi — Sabatier, Paul
• The History of Mary Prince, a West Indian Slave — Prince, Mary
• Paradise Lost — Milton, John

History in Hindi

From Writro's editorial list of the Hindi titles India is reading.

• भारत एक खोज (Bharat Ek Khoj) — Jawaharlal Nehru
• हिंद स्वराज (Hind Swaraj) — Mahatma Gandhi
• सत्य के प्रयोग — मेरी आत्मकथा (Satya Ke Prayog) — Mahatma Gandhi
• डिस्कवरी ऑफ इंडिया (हिंदी) (Discovery Of India Hindi) — Jawaharlal Nehru
• मेरी जीवन यात्रा (Meri Jeevan Yatra) — Rahul Sankrityayan
• वोल्गा से गंगा (Volga Se Ganga) — Rahul Sankrityayan
• क्या भूलूँ क्या याद करूँ (Kya Bhoolun Kya Yaad Karun) — Harivansh Rai Bachchan
• नीड़ का निर्माण फिर (Neerh Ka Nirman Phir) — Harivansh Rai Bachchan
• राग-विराग (Raag Viraag) — Ramvilas Sharma
• आवारा मसीहा (Awara Masiha) — Vishnu Prabhakar

Indian publishers known for history

• Rupa Publications — New Delhi
• Aleph Book Company — New Delhi
• Popular Prakashan — Mumbai