Books That Made History highlights twenty-five books published in Leiden or written by a Leiden scholar or alumnus, that have a strong connection to Leiden’s academic history, from the founding of Leiden University in 1575 to the present day. These books have a lasting, global impact on our way of thinking, and are relevant up to this day. The books are described from a contemporary perspective in order to elicit the reader’s sense of wonder that the contemporary ideas and insights anchored in the books, are inextricably linked to the publication in which this idea was first made public to the world.