IAS Study books

1. What is History    E.H. Carr
2. Historian's Craft    Marc Block
3. The Past and the present     Lawrence Stone

Having read these books, you can confidently move for Interview.
Ancient India
1. Ancient India (NCERT)     Prof. R.S. Sharma
2. The Wonder That was India     A.L. Basham
3. Ancient India - An Introductory Outline     D.N. Jha
4. History of India, Vol. I    Romila Thapar
5. Aspects of Political Ideas and Institutions in Ancient India
     R.S. Sharma (only Conclusion)
6. Material culture & Social Formation in Ancient India     R.S. Sharma
7. Indian Feudalism    R.S. Sharma
8. Ashoka & Decline of the Maurya    Romila Thapar
9. A History of South India    K.A. Nilkantha Sastri
10Ancient India and Indian Archaeology    Archaeological Survey of India

Medieval India
1. Medieval India (NCERT)    Satish Chandra
2. Medieval India (Macmillan)    Satish Chandra
3.The Wonder That was India (Vol.2)    S.A.A. Rizvi
4.The Agrarian System of Mughal India 1556-1707    Irfan Habib   
5.The Mughal Empire    J.F. Richards
6.Urban Dynamics    H.C. Verma
7.The Marathas    Gordon


Modern India
1.Modern India (NCERT)    Bipan Chandra
2.Modern India (Macmillan)    Sumit Sarkar
3.Anatomy of the Raj (PPH)    Suhash Chakravarty
4.The Raj Syndrome (Penguins)    Suhash Chakravarty
5.VAID's Fundamentals of History Series
a.Administrative History     Pravin Kumar
b.Constitutional History     Pravin Kumar
c.Social History    Pravin Kumar
d.Freedom Struggle    Pravin Kumar
6.Peasant Movements in India    D.N. Dhanagare
7.India's Struggle for Independence    Bipan Chandra and others
8.Gandhi    B.R. Nanda
9.Gandhi    Judith Brown
10. Freedom Struggle (NbT)    Bipan Chandra & others


World History
1.The story of Civilization, Vol. 2 (NCERT)    Arjun Dev
2.Contemporary World History (NCERT)    Arjun Dev & others
3.The Mainstream of Civilization    Strayer, Gatzke & Harbison
4.Western Civilizations    Burns & others
5.Industry & Empire    E.J. Hobsbawm
6.Age of Revolution    E.J. Hobsbawm
7.Age of Capital    E.J. Hobsbawm
8.Age of Empires    E.J. Hobsbawm
9.Social basis of Democracy & Dictatorship    B.J. Moore
10.Europe Since Napoleon    David Thompson
11.Europe Since 1815    W.C. Craig
12.Europe Since 1870    James Joll.