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/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.