The Big Picture - Macrohistories

Whereas microhistories zoom in on a topic, putting it under the microscope to study every detail from every angle, macrohistories zoom out. These are the "big" histories, the very long view, studying the past on a grand scale. Macrohistories do not focus on the individual, but on whole civilizations, and changes over centuries, even millennia. If you are a "big picture" person, these are the books for you!

Updated July 7, 2026
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Saskatchewan Information & Library Services Consortium Regina Public Library
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The dawn of everything : a new history of humanity
Graeber, David
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER   Renowned activist and public intellectual David Graeber teams up with professor of comparative archaeology David Wengrow to deliver a trailblazing account of human history, challenging our most fundamental...
Guns, germs, and steel : the fates of human societies
Diamond, Jared M.
Paper Book
"Fascinating.... Lays a foundation for understanding human history."--Bill Gates Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, Guns, Germs, and Steel is a brilliant work answering the question of why the peoples of certain continents succeeded in invading other continents and conquering...
Homo deus : a brief history of tomorrow
Harari, Yuval N.
Paper Book
From the author of the international bestseller Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind comes an extraordinary follow-up that explores the future of the human species.       Humans today enjoy unprecedented levels of power and an...
Land : how the hunger for ownership shaped the modern world
Winchester, Simon
Paper Book
"In many ways, Land combines bits and pieces of many of Winchester's previous books into a satisfying, globe-trotting whole. . . . Winchester is, once again, a consummate guide."--Boston Globe The author of The Professor and the Madman, The Map That Changed the World, and...
Money : The Story of Humanity
McWilliams, David.
Paper Book
In this groundbreaking book, renowned global economist David McWilliams unlocks the mysteries and the awesome power of money: what it is, how it works, and why it matters. The story of money is the story of our desires, our genius, and our downfalls. Money is power--and power...
The new silk roads : the present and future of the world
Frankopan, Peter
Paper Book
From the bestselling author of The Silk Roads comes an updated, timely, and visionary book about the dramatic and profound changes our world is undergoing right now--as seen from the perspective of the rising powers of the East.   "All roads used to lead to Rome....
Nexus
Harari, Yuval Noah.
Paper Book
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Sapiens comes the groundbreaking story of how information networks have made, and unmade, our world. For the last 100,000 years, we Sapiens have accumulated enormous power. But despite all our discoveries, inventions,...
Pacific : silicon chips and surfboards, coral reefs and atom bombs, brutal dictators, fading empires, and the coming collision of the world's superpowers
Winchester, Simon
Paper Book
One of Library Journal's 10 Best Books of 2015 Following his acclaimed Atlantic and The Men Who United the States, New York Times bestselling author Simon Winchester offers an enthralling biography of the Pacific Ocean and its role in the modern world, exploring our relationship with this...
Proto : How One Ancient Language Went Global
Spinney, Laura.
Paper Book
Named a Best Book of 2025 by the Guardian and Scientific American "The story of how one language left the steppes of Ukraine and became the earth's dominant language family has become clearer and more exciting than ever before. Hooray for a book where the...
Sapiens : a brief history of humankind
Harari, Yuval N.
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Destined to become a modern classic in the vein of Guns, Germs, and Steel, Sapiens is a lively, groundbreaking history of humankind told from a unique perspective.      100,000...
Why nations fail The origins of power, prosperity, and poverty
Acemoglu, Daron.
Ebook
NEW YORK TIMES AND WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLER * From two winners of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences, "who have demonstrated the importance of societal institutions for a country's prosperity" "A wildly ambitious work that hopscotches through...
The World : A Family History
Montefiore, Simon Sebag.
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * A magisterial world history unlike any other that tells the story of humanity through the one thing we all have in common: families * From the author of The Romanovs A Best Book of the Year: The New Yorker, Smithsonian

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