Books like Birth of the Chess Queen by Marilyn Yalom

In Tehran, Azar Nafisi secretly hires seven female students each week to read banned Western classics, revealing the personal and political struggles of women under Iran’s revolutionary regime.

A captivating story of the creation of one of the world's greatest architectural wonders, the Florence Cathedral's iconic dome that still inspires awe today.

A captivating true story of the charismatic Charles Ponzi, the man behind the Ponzi scheme that brought the Roaring Twenties to life.

The unearthing of lively, telling anecdotes is the special province of Christopher Hibbert, who delights in forcing readers, in the most entertaining way, to reassess all their notions about some of the world's most intriguing historical figures. His biography of Victoria is no exception. We learn in these pages that not only was she the formidable, demanding, capricious Queen of popular imagination, but she was also often shy and vulnerable, prone to giggling fits and crying jags. Often puritanical and censorious when confronted with her mother's moral lapses, she herself could be passionately sensual, emotional, and deeply sentimental. Her 64-year reign saw thrones fall, empires crumble, new continents explored, and England's rise to global and industrial dominance. Hibbert's account of Victoria's life and times is just as sweeping as he reveals to us the real Victoria in all her complexity: failed mother and imperious monarch, irrepressible woman and icon of a repressive age.--From publisher description.

A tale of deception, magic, and the rise of machines in the 18th and 19th centuries, featuring the historical figure of a chess-playing automaton and its mysterious disappearance from the world of wonderment to the United States.

A biographical study of Anne Boleyn that explores her life and the political climate of Tudor England.

The Girls Who Went Away traces the untold story of over a million mothers who surrendered children for adoption before Roe v. Wade, revealing the psychological, social, and familial forces that shaped their decisions.

The definitive biography of Queen Elizabeth revealing the real woman behind the public figure.

Beverly Lowry’s biography brings Harriet Tubman, the famed "Moses of Her People," to vivid life, detailing her journey from escaped slave to Underground Railroad organizer, nurse, and Civil War contributor.

A rare, exotic portrait of the matriarchs of a brilliant Indian familyRanging from the final days of the Raj and the British Empire to the present, Lucy Moore vividly re-creates a splendid lost world and describes India's national growing pains through the sumptuous, audacious lives of four ravishing, influential women of the same family—Sunity Devi, friend to Queen Victoria; Chimnabai, fierce nationalist; Indira, her flamboyant daughter; and Ayesha, her equally fashionable daughter—who fought tirelessly and with incomparable grace to turn an ancient tradition of noblesse oblige into a progressive democracy. BACKCOVER: "Scintillating. Moore revels in every detail—from the elegance of the maharanis' attire, to the complexities of Indian family life and politics, to the trauma and heroism of breaking with tradition."—Booklist (starred review)"A fascinating picture of a vanished world."—Sarah Bradford, author of Lucrezia Borgia

A compelling look at the rise and fall of the Fox sisters and the birth of Spiritualism in America, blending historical narrative with supernatural elements.

David Shenk explores the enduring legacy of chess, tracing its journey from ancient India to its influence on strategy, science, art, and society over 1,500 years.

America's Women traces how women shaped the United States from the early days of the Mayflower through wars, the pioneering era, the suffrage movement, the Depression, Rosie the Riveter, civil rights, and the feminist activism of the 1970s.

A brilliant account of religion's role in the political thinking of the West, from the Enlightenment to the close of World War II.

Deftly weaving together a memorable cast of characters, "Lost Hawaii" brings to life the ensuing clash between a vulnerable Polynesian people and relentlessly expanding capitalist powers. Portraits of royalty and rogues, sugar barons, and missionaries combine into a sweeping tale of the Hawaiian Kingdom's rise and fall. At the center of the story is Lili'uokalani, the last queen of Hawai'i.

John Thompson’s autobiography reveals the impact of a former basketball coach on American history and race relations.