Revealed: Britain’s top 25 best-selling writers of history

Who tells our stories? Here's what half a decade of sales reveals.

Good morning. Here’s something new. If this isn’t of interest, rest assured: normal service will resume on Sunday with the latest fortnightly edition of One Great Read. But perhaps you too will be fascinated to know which books the British public actually buy. Here – for the first time online, as far as I can see – is a comprehensive list of the UK’s bestselling writers of history.

Who gets to tell our stories? As I noted last week, this top 25 is dominated by white men. It is also, unsurprisingly, full of older authors, with only two writers under 45. But enough demographic chatter. What about the books, I hear you say. What stories do we read?

Two points to remember. First, this money isn’t going to the authors. It’s going to the publishers. It then filters down to the author. Authors typically earn 10-15 per cent on hardbacks, and 7.5-10 per cent on paperbacks – once they earn back their advance. (Some bigger authors forgo advances and split sales with the publisher.) Second, this list only captures sales in the last five years: a cut-off point which will reward some writers and disadvantage others. But it should give you a good general sense of whose histories sell in Britain. Let’s get to it.

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1 — Ben Macintyre

Total sales since 2018: £5,976,655

Books sold since 2018: 593,277

Publisher: Penguin (Viking)

Macintyre, 59, has been producing remarkable true stories of lovers, betrayers, spies, thieves, heroes, and anti-heroes for three decades now. But it took time for him to rise. It wasn’t until his eighth book in 2010 – Operation Mincemeat: The True Spy Story that Changed the Course of World War II – that he truly began to find his market. Now each of his books (he tends to publish one every other September) is a publishing phenomenon.

The Spy and the Traitor (2018) has brought in £3.1 million since 2018. Agent Sonya (2020) has accounted for £1m. And Colditz, his 2022 release, has already produced £695,000. Three of his other books – Rogue Heroes: The History of the SAS; A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal; and Mincemeat – were adapted for the screen this year, driving another £1.1m in paperback sales between them.

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2 — Max Hastings

Total sales since 2018: £5,562,577

Books sold since 2018: 397,137

Publisher: Harper Collins (William Collins)

Hastings, 77, has in recent years diversified away from the Second World War, his central subject, producing new histories of the Vietnam war (£2.2 million in sales) and now Cuba (Abyss; £420,000 since September). He has also mined the war for fresh stories, with Chastise (£1m) and Pedestal (£930,000) respectively telling the tale of the Dambusters raid in 1943 and the British fleet that sailed to save Malta in 1942.

Hastings has released five hardbacks in as many years (Soldiers, an anthology released in 2021, has made another £320,000), with his extensive back catalogue – books on bomber command, Churchill, and the Russian front – producing a further £670,000.

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3 — James Holland 

Total sales since 2018: £3,522,005

Books sold since 2018: 319,346

Publisher: Transworld (Bantam)

Holland, 52 – whose younger brother, Tom Holland, is 18th on this list – is a prolific historian of the Second World War. Four new books in four years – Big Week: The Biggest Air Battle of World War Two (2018), Normandy ’44: D-Day and the Battle for France (2019), Siciliy ’43 (2020), and Brothers in Arms: One Legendary Tank Regiment's Bloody War (2021) – brought in £2.7m between them.

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4 — Anthony Beevor

Total sales since 2018: £2,961,827

Books sold since 2018: 234,663

Publisher: Orion (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)

Beevor, 76, has released two new hardbacks in the past five years, with his latest – Russia: Revolution and Civil War 1917-1921 (2022) – released last May. It has already led to £625,000 in sales on 29,000 copies sold. His previous book, Arnhem (2018), has brought in £1.5m. Like Hastings, Beevor has a deep back catalogue; books on D-Day, Stalingrad, and Hitler's last gamble have, among others, added another £810,000.