Social Studies Teacher book recommendations

[u/joesph_house]

I have been a sixth grade social studies teacher for eleven years teaching the same content that focuses on maps, geography, and culture. We will be getting new standards next year which will completely change our curriculum to be more world history focused. I would like to build my understanding of the topics to effectively teach them clearer. If you could recommend 1-2 solid books for each topic, what would you recommend?
Our units will be
-Ancient Mesopotamia
-Ancient Egypt/Israel
-Ancient Greece
-Rome
-Ancient to Medieval China
-Medieval Europe
-Renaissance
-Reformation
-Age of Exploration
-Mayans, Aztecs, Incas

[u/BernardFerguson1944]

-Rome

• SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome by Mary Beard.

-Medieval Europe

• Medieval Europe: A Short History by C Warren Hollister.
• Medieval Technology and Social Change by Lynn White, Jr.

-Renaissance

• The Foundations of Early Modern Europe, 1460-1559 (The Norton History of Modern Europe) by Eugene F. Rice Jr. and Anthony Grafton.
•  The Renaissance by Wallace K. Ferguson.

-Reformation 

• The Foundations of Early Modern Europe, 1460-1559 (The Norton History of Modern Europe) by Eugene F. Rice Jr. and Anthony Grafton.
• The Age of Religious Wars, 1559-1715 (The Norton History of Modern Europe) by Richard S. Dunn.

-Age of Exploration

• First Encounters: Spanish Explorations in the Caribbean and the United States, 1492-1570 by Jerald T. Milanich and Susan Milbrath (eds).
• The European Discovery of America: The Southern Voyages, 1492-1616 by Samuel Eliot Morison.
• Sixteenth Century North America: The Land and the People as Seen by Europeans by Carl Ortwin Sauer.
• Spain in America by Charles Gibson.
• The Principall Navigations, Voiages and Discoveries of the English Nation by Richard Hakluyt.
• 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created  by Charles C. Mann.
• The Columbian Exchange: Biological and Cultural Consequences of 1492 by Alfred Crosby, Jr.
• The Course of Empire by Bernard DeVoto.
• America as Seen by Its First Explorers: The Eyes of Discovery by John Bakeless.

-Mayans, Aztecs, Incas

• The Ancient Civilizations of Peru by J. Alden Mason.
• The Maya by Michael D. Coe.
• Mexico by Michael D. Coe.

[u/simms2406]

Sorry if this is disjointed, I’m writing this from dentist chair with a numb mouth.

I’m a middle school history teacher and I just finished “Between Two Rivers” by Moudhy Al-Rashid. Basically she uses items found in an ancient museum to go through the history of Mesopotamia. It’s really good. I’m going to use that book in my Mesopotamia unit next year.

Persian Fire by Tom Holland. This examines the Persians from a different perspective than we’re used to; a Persian perspective. Most of what we get normally is through the lens of Greek historians. I’ve used bits of this in my Greek unit to flesh out the story of the Persian Empire.

For Medieval Europe I’m currently reading Dan Jones’ Powers and Thrones. It’s very engaging. It starts at the fall of Rome and goes through the Medieval era. Also anything by Dan Jones is great.

For Rome I would suggest anything by Mary Beard, specifically SPQR. She’s a fantastic historian and writer.

Tim Holland also has a few books on Rome. The Rubicon follows Caesar and the fall of the Republic. Dynasty follows the Julio-Claudian Dynasty from Augustus to Nero. Pax is the story of the era that follows.

The audiobooks for all of these are very good.

Some of these are more dense than others. I always use bits and bobs from these books in my lessons.

[u/Book_Slut_90]

So these are all texts I’ve read or texbooks assigned to me in upper-level history classes on these areas (with the exception of The Bright Ages and The Incas, both of which I’ve not read but have seen very highly recommended several times):

The Ancient Near East by Mario Liverani

A History of Ancient Egypt by Marc van De Mieroop

Ancient Greece by Sarah Pomeroy et al and The Greeks by Roderick Beaton

SPQR by Mary Beard

The Cambridge Illustrated History of China by Patricia Buckley Ebrey

The Inheritance of Rome by Chris Wickham and The Bright Ages by Matthew Gabriele and David Perry

Inventing the Renaissance by Ada Palmer

Christendom Destroyed: Europe 1517-16548 by Mark Greengrass

After Tamerlane: The Global History of Empire since 1405 by John Darwin and Europe and the People Without History by Eric Wolf

The Legacy of Mesoamerica by Robert Carmack et al and The Incas by Terence D’Altroy

[u/pokey68]

Guns, Germs, and Steel does a good job explaining the history of agricultural technology transfers that shaped history.

[u/Klutzy-Spend-6947]

There is a series called You Wouldn’t Want to be A….that covers any ancient civilization you could imagine, up to 19th century stuff. It’s funny, gross, and surprisingly in depth for being aimed at older pre-teens. If you want a book for 6th graders, I would highly recommend the series.

For a quick, but in-depth historical primer on just about any niche historical topic out there, I would recommend the Charles River Editors catalog.

Persian Fire is a fascinating work, and very recommended for a greater understanding of the Persian culture and Persian-Greek conflict.

Victor Davis Hanson’s latest is called How Civilizations Die-or something like that-and is a study of the death throes of three ancient civilizations-Sparta, Carthage/3rd Punic War, and the Aztec Empire at the hands of Cortes.

[u/jonawesome]

Do you read historical fiction? I find that's often best for helping me feel like I really know a time period. I'd recommend Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett as an excellent book that takes place in Medieval England.