13 year old boy - political or historical non fiction?

[Sittinginthesun]

Any suggestions, please! He's not keen on fiction, but really getting a taste for political history, and spends hours reading the BBC news websites etc.

School have suggested that he finds books that interest him on this topic.

Take him to library or bookshop and let him choose.

What about some autobiographies eg of Churchill?

Let him chose. My 13 year old avid reader has recently enjoyed the Cherub series and the Maze Runner books plus lots of others.

Stephen E Ambrose books are fantastic.

michael mupurgo books?
it's fiction, but within historical context.

Spike Milligan's war memoirs - Hitler, my part in his downfall, and rest of series

Friends romans countrymen - Boris Johnson.

Thanks for the suggestions. We're always in the library/bookshops (I help run a school library), but he struggles to choose new books. Very keen on his comfort zone and gets quite panicked if confronted with a new author!

He is very good at English, so school have suggested this. He's not a fan of historical fiction, but the autobiography idea might appeal.

How about some Owen Jones?

Bill Bryson's "At Home" is my desert island book.Historical rather than political, but a warm educational hug nevertheless.

Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything. Then get books on the bits that interest him. If this does not get his curiosity going nothing will.

Will be ordering these from the library, and sending him to the school library with a list!

We had a fab parent's evening with his English teacher last night, so feeling inspired.

George Orwell
Robert Harris

Oh yes Animal Farm if he's aware of political extremes would be a good one.

Different and bloodier politics with Robert Graves's "I Claudius" and "Claudius the God". Fictionalised I know, but might be factual enough.

Totally on another tangent - but how about Frank Herbert's Dune. It's a space opera all about politics. You might want to read it first (and maybe limit him to the first 3) to make sure you are OK with him reading it.

Or possibly Asimov's foundation books which are about the fall of an empire.

I'd read both of them by that age.

Has he read I am Malala - not historical, clearly, but might appeal (and very popular with that age group for obvious reasons)