Marginal Revolution Book Rankings

Tyler and Alex's favorites from Marginal Revolution

How it works: I scraped every post categorized under 'books'. Then extracted book titles and relevant review context from each post. I then submitted a couple million pairs of reviews to an LLM to compare and determine which book review had more positive sentiment. I used these comparisons to fit a Bradley-Terry model which produces these rankings. I racked up a gemini bill so stopped shy of exhaustive 16 million comparisons, so it's not perfect, but roughly accurate.

Genre: Religious History ×
Showing 56 books in Religious History
T
1. The Invention of Religion: Faith and Covenant in the Book of Exodus
BT: 6.87 106 comparisons
biblical studies religion religious history theology
MR Post
T
2. The World of the Crusades: An Illustrated History
BT: 6.16 127 comparisons
european history history medieval history middle eastern history +2
MR Post
T
3. The Final Pagan Generation
BT: 3.92 164 comparisons
ancient history cultural history history religious history +1
MR Post
C
4. Calvin
BT: 3.61 189 comparisons
biography european history french history history +3
MR Post
T
5. The Acts of the Lateran Synod of 649
BT: 3.58 190 comparisons
ancient history christian history church history european history +4
MR Post
T
6. The Monastic World: A 1,200-Year History
BT: 3.55 214 comparisons
economic history history organizational history religion +1
MR Post
A
7. Apostle: Travels Among the Tombs of the Twelve
BT: 3.52 193 comparisons
christianity history religion religious history +2
MR Post
T
8. The Gathering of Zion: The Story of the Mormon Trail
BT: 3.31 228 comparisons
american history history religious history
MR Post
R
9. Reformations: The Early Modern World, 1450-1650
BT: 3.17 485 comparisons
cultural history early modern history european history history +1
MR Post MR Post
P
10. Passwords to Paradise: How Languages Have Re-Invented World Religions
BT: 2.33 252 comparisons
asian studies buddhism linguistics religion +1
MR Post
A
11. Autumn in the Heavenly Kingdom
BT: 2.29 233 comparisons
19th-century history chinese history history military history +1
MR Post
A
12. A History of Judaism
BT: 2.29 261 comparisons
history jewish history religion religious history
MR Post
H
13. Hasidism: A New History
BT: 2.06 273 comparisons
history jewish studies religion religious history
MR Post
C
14. Christian Reconstruction: R.J. Rushdoony and American Religious Conservatism
BT: 2.03 272 comparisons
american history biography conservatism history +5
MR Post
B
15. Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics
BT: 1.88 260 comparisons
american history american religion christianity cultural studies +4
MR Post
C
16. Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years
BT: 1.80 438 comparisons
christianity european history history religion +1
MR Post MR Post
S
17. Super-Infinite: The Transformations of John Donne
BT: 1.76 840 comparisons
17th century history biography british history history +3
MR Post MR Post +1 more
P
18. Poet of Revolution: The Making of John Milton
BT: 1.45 547 comparisons
biography british history european history history +4
MR Post MR Post
T
19. The Marketplace of Christianity
BT: 1.27 329 comparisons
economics economics of religion religion religious history
MR Post
A
20. A History of the Bible: The Book and its Faiths
BT: 1.16 315 comparisons
biblical studies history religion religious history
MR Post
B
21. Buddhism: A Journey through History
BT: 1.08 487 comparisons
asian history buddhism history religion +1
MR Post MR Post
S
22. Sufism: A New History of Islamic Mysticism
BT: 1.08 300 comparisons
history islam islamic history religion +1
MR Post
S
23. Sacred Foundations: The Religious and Medieval Roots of the European State
BT: 1.06 301 comparisons
european history history medieval history political history +4
MR Post
C
24. Cross & Scepter: The Rise of the Scandinavian Kingdoms from the Vikings to the Reformation
BT: 0.94 316 comparisons
early modern history european history history medieval history +3
MR Post
F
25. From the Holy Mountain
BT: 0.66 282 comparisons
christianity cultural history european history history +5
MR Post
S
26. Shinto: A History
BT: 0.62 350 comparisons
asian history history japanese history japanese religion +2
MR Post
T
27. The Dawn of Christianity: People and Gods in a Time of Magic and Miracles
BT: 0.44 329 comparisons
ancient history christianity cultural history history +2
MR Post
W
28. War by Other Means
BT: 0.35 373 comparisons
american history anti-war movement biography history +5
MR Post
J
29. Jonathan Swift: The Reluctant Rebel
BT: 0.31 381 comparisons
biography history irish history political history +1
MR Post
T
30. The Volga: A History of Russia’s Greatest River
BT: 0.20 306 comparisons
cultural history european history history religious history +1
MR Post
P
31. Persecution and Toleration: The Long Road to Religious Freedom
BT: 0.03 897 comparisons
economic history european history history political history +1
MR Post MR Post +1 more
C
32. Christianity in the Twentieth Century: A World History
BT: -0.01 340 comparisons
christianity history religion religious history +2
MR Post
W
33. When Christians Were Jews: The First Generation
BT: -0.10 333 comparisons
christianity history intellectual history judaism +2
MR Post
W
34. War, Peace & Prosperity in the Name of God
BT: -0.18 332 comparisons
comparative religion development economics economics european history +5
MR Post
T
35. The Hindus: An Alternative History
BT: -0.33 367 comparisons
history indian history religion religious history +2
MR Post
T
36. The Jesuits: A History
BT: -0.85 368 comparisons
catholicism history religious history
MR Post
T
37. They Flew: A History of the Impossible
BT: -0.85 360 comparisons
history religious history
MR Post
T
38. Tibet: A History
BT: -1.08 391 comparisons
asian history chinese history cultural history economic history +3
MR Post
G
39. Gods, Guns and Missionaries: The Making of the Modern Hindu Identity
BT: -1.12 385 comparisons
cultural studies hinduism history indian history +2
MR Post
J
40. Jesus Wept: Seven Popes and the Battle for the Soul of the Catholic Church
BT: -1.29 380 comparisons
catholicism history politics religion +2
MR Post
A
41. American Zion: A New History of Mormonism
BT: -1.37 417 comparisons
american history history religion religious history
MR Post
T
42. The Christians and the Fall of Rome
BT: -1.45 374 comparisons
classical history european history history religious history +1
MR Post
T
43. The Refiner’s Fire: the Making of Mormon Cosmology, 1644-1844
BT: -1.63 358 comparisons
american history mormonism religion religious history +1
MR Post
H
44. Holy Warriors: A Modern History of the Crusades
BT: -1.65 347 comparisons
european history history medieval history middle eastern history +2
MR Post
T
45. The Irony of Modern Catholic History: How the Church Rediscovered Itself & Challenged the Modern World to Reform
BT: -1.69 339 comparisons
catholic history history politics religion +1
MR Post
A
46. A History of the Bible: The Story of the World’s Most Influential Book
BT: -1.77 386 comparisons
cultural history history religion religious history
MR Post
L
47. Let’s Talk About Race and Priesthood
BT: -1.88 414 comparisons
american history history race studies religion +2
MR Post
A
48. A History of the Muslim World: From its Origins to the Dawn of Modernity
BT: -1.97 767 comparisons
asian history central asian history history islamic history +3
MR Post MR Post
P
49. Permanent Revolution: The Reformation and the Illiberal Roots of Liberalism
BT: -2.04 638 comparisons
cultural history european history history intellectual history +3
MR Post MR Post
T
50. The Christian Bible
BT: -2.52 335 comparisons
ancient history christianity religion religious history +2
MR Post
T
51. The Economic Origins of Roman Christianity
BT: -3.01 300 comparisons
ancient history economic history economics history +2
MR Post
S
52. Slave Bibles
BT: -3.34 307 comparisons
african american history american history history religion +2
MR Post
T
53. The Rise of the Order of Assassins
BT: -3.87 217 comparisons
history middle eastern history religious history
MR Post
T
54. The Age of Reform, 1250-1550: An Intellectual and Religious History of Late Medieval and Reformation Europe
BT: -4.06 238 comparisons
european history history intellectual history medieval history +5
MR Post
B
55. Before Orthodoxy: The Satanic Verses of Early Islam
BT: -4.10 380 comparisons
history islamic history islamic studies religion +1
MR Post MR Post
T
56. Through the Eye of a Needle: Wealth, the Fall of Rome, and the Making of Christianity in the West, 350-550 AD
BT: -4.13 189 comparisons
economic history european history history history of christianity +4
MR Post