I have seen Harari's "Sapiens" and Diamond's "Guns, Germs and Steel" in the comments. Both are nice reads but Harari's book is shallow from multiple respects,

I have seen Harari's "Sapiens" and Diamond's "Guns, Germs and Steel" in the comments. Both are nice reads but Harari's book is shallow from multiple respects, and Diamond's book omits important counter-examples. To me the book that made everything fall into place with respect to political history (and at some point, political philosophy) - and that I actually read before Harari and Diamond - was Francis Fukuyama's "The Origins of Political Order". An absolute must-read.