I think this book is worth reading, yeah- but you will definitely cry a lot. This book doesn't really give any advice on living with autism, it's definitely just a straight history of it- but I think it's an important one.

This book also definitely spends a bit more time on low-functioning than high functioning autistic people. For a history more focused on high-functioning autistic people, I've heard good reviews of Neurotribes, though I haven't read it myself.