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bpower posted:I just finished Ostkrieg: Hitler's War of Extermination in the East. I bought it because I recently listened to Ben Carlin's podcasts about the Eastern Front Ghosts of the Ostfront. If you haven't listened to that I highly recommend it. It's his best work. Anyway OstKrieg is amazing. The scale of everything from the battles, the sacrifices, the ruthlessness of Stalin and Hitler to the depravity of Hitler's plans for the East shook me. I found The Wermacht Retreats to be an accessible and interesting analysis of German tactics. It centres on 1943, but gives a historical overview of how German tactics evolved, the situations they worked in and why they stopped being effective in WWII. fspades posted:Nobody? It's a pretty big area. My main area at uni was 19th and 20th century Chinese history, but looking at my bookshelf, I can recommend: - In Search of Modern China by Jonathan Spence - Imperial China, 900 - 1800 by FW Mote - the Harvard University Press History of Imperial China series (a couple of the individual entries have made an entrance in this thread) If you're after something really quick and short but still good, Palgrave's A History of China will do in a punch. They're some good general introductions. If you want anything more specific, let me know and I'll see if I can help. Fake edit: just realised how late these replies are, but I might leave this here anyway.
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Oct 28, 2013 08:49
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Ok, what about other periods of Imperial China then?
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sbaldrick posted:I would also recommend The World Crisis by Churchill. Honestly it's not a great book but given he is the only leader to real sit down and write about both wars it's worth a read. I would steer clear from Churchill's writings unless you're more interested in Churchill than his topic. He's a windbag, egotistic, and his views were even dated when he was writing them. I haven't read the Crisis but I've read several volumes of A History of the English-Speaking Peoples, Marlborough, The Second World War and a couple of his other books for the purpose of a historiography paper.
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Nov 2, 2013 03:18
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I am a graduate student in modern European history but I have to teach a world history class next semester. Empire is one of the themes of the class so I would like to include lectures about the Roman and Chinese empires, unfortunately I know nothing about them. Are there any concise books on either subject I could read and use to formulate a lecture on each topic? Are there any short reading assignments I could scan like a book chapter or a website I could link in the syllabus as a reading assignment for my students? This is a 100 level freshman survey so nothing too serious. I'd also like to give at least some background on precolumbian empires in the new world too, another subject I know nothing about so if there are any good books or short reading assignments I would also appreciate a recommendation there too. Finally, I could use some books on southeast Asian history approximately 1300-1500. I have already sent a PM to Grand Fromage regarding roman empire and the guy who did the thread on mesoamerican history. I see there are several books about China on this page I might check out through ILL, thanks!
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Nov 2, 2013 14:00
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FingersMaloy posted:I would steer clear from Churchill's writings unless you're more interested in Churchill than his topic. He's a windbag, egotistic, and his views were even dated when he was writing them. I haven't read the Crisis but I've read several volumes of A History of the English-Speaking Peoples, Marlborough, The Second World War and a couple of his other books for the purpose of a historiography paper. I"m pretty sure you got a big fat F on that paper if you wrote it from that point of view. They aren't academic works by any means but they are pretty much the only meaningful first person accounts of both world wars on a full leadership level where he would have known everything. Lloyd George's books on WWI are way more self-serving and out of print at this point so it's hard to read them. You are never going to have the kind of access Churchill had writing those books, and you won't in our lifetime. Therefore basic historiography says they are worth-wild.
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Nov 2, 2013 19:56
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Yeah, as primary sources the Crisis and Second World War are invaluable. I didn't understand that to be what original poster was looking for but if he is then go for it. I got an A on that paper. 
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Nov 2, 2013 20:06
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I just finished reading The Scramble for Africa by Thomas Pakenham and goddamn is 19th century European Imperialism fascinating. There are definitely some people like Leopold II and Bismarck who seemed to know what they were doing but the rest are just constantly cocking everything up. And the Boers appeal to my love of Frontier stories(though that racism). I'm probably gonna go read Pakenham's book on the Boer war now.
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Nov 3, 2013 07:23
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Anyone know any good books about the Diadochi and that whole post-Alexander situation?
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Nov 11, 2013 06:35
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TheFallenEvincar posted:Anyone know any good books about the Diadochi and that whole post-Alexander situation? Dividing the Spoils: The War for Alexander the Great's Empire by Robin Waterfield is a well-regarded recent single-volume history.
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Nov 11, 2013 07:45
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Thordain posted:I just finished reading The Scramble for Africa by Thomas Pakenham and goddamn is 19th century European Imperialism fascinating. There are definitely some people like Leopold II and Bismarck who seemed to know what they were doing but the rest are just constantly cocking everything up. And the Boers appeal to my love of Frontier stories(though that racism). I'm probably gonna go read Pakenham's book on the Boer war now. If you haven't also check out King Leopolds Ghost absolutely brutal history of the Congo. Roughly half the population died possibly the worst colony ever.
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Nov 11, 2013 09:07
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blakout posted:If you haven't also check out King Leopolds Ghost absolutely brutal history of the Congo. Roughly half the population died possibly the worst colony ever. Yep. King Leopold's Ghost is one of the most brutal things I've ever read. It's really good, but the content is pretty rough. I know something like this came up a million pages ago, but does anyone have good recommendations about books on naval command from about 1650-1800? I'm in a mood to read some naval history, but I haven't read anything before that has focused on officers and command, specifically. Something either general or biographical would do. I'm not partial to a particular region, either. Just looking for interesting naval history.
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Nov 11, 2013 15:20
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King Leopold's Ghost is great and awful. You should definitely check it out. I'm wrapping up MacCulloch's The Reformation and I'd like to explore some of the themes discussed in the book. Can anyone recommend a survey history of the Jesuits that isn't full of conspiracy theories or vitriol? I'd also like to explore the Great Awakening(s)
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Nov 12, 2013 20:49
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FingersMaloy posted:King Leopold's Ghost is great and awful. You should definitely check it out. God's Soldiers by Jonathan Wright is probably the best general overview of Jesuit history, but it has a weird focus in some areas that shows the author's biases (he focuses heavily on some personalities, and minimizes others). Still, it's very readable. William Bangert, SJ, wrote A History of the Society of Jesus, which is one of the standard academic histories of the order. Also very readable and far more comprehensive than Wright, but it's by an academic writing (largely) for an academic audience. The Jesuits by Martin Malachi is popular (like, the number one history of the SJ that pops up on Amazon), but it's conspiracy theory garbage written by an ex-Jesuit turned paranoid alcoholic novelist. Stay away. Roark fucked around with this message at 15:51 on Nov 13, 2013 |
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Nov 12, 2013 21:02
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Railing Kill posted:I know something like this came up a million pages ago, but does anyone have good recommendations about books on naval command from about 1650-1800? I'm in a mood to read some naval history, but I haven't read anything before that has focused on officers and command, specifically. Something either general or biographical would do. I'm not partial to a particular region, either. Just looking for interesting naval history. I'm reading through Sam Willis' Hearts of Oak trilogy at the moment. It's not specifically about command per se, but there's a lot in there about Howe (in the Glorious First of June) and Benbow (in, err, The Admiral Benbow) and how they conducted themselves in their most notable battles. I haven't read the Fighting Temeraire yet. Best of all they're currently available cheap on Amazon UK - 92p each. Hard to go wrong.
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Nov 13, 2013 12:00
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blakout posted:If you haven't also check out King Leopolds Ghost absolutely brutal history of the Congo. Roughly half the population died possibly the worst colony ever. That's definitely going on the list, Pakenham went light on describing the actual atrocities to focus on the Europeans reactions to said atrocities.
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Nov 13, 2013 14:08
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Pinball posted:Does anyone have any suggestions for a good overview of the history of Texas? I'm reading Lone Star: A History of Texas and the Texans by T.R. Fehrenbach, but I didn't realize when I bought it that it was such an old book (1968). It's got a seething current of racism to it that makes me uncomfortable. He spends a lot of time talking about how the Comanche and Karankawa were ruthless savages, the Anglo-Celts were the only race that could hope to tame Texas, refers to all black people as Negroes and asserts that slaves in Texas lived a better material life than poor whites, and says that the Confederate states managing to keep the Civil War going despite being an entirely agricultural economy should be a point of pride for all Americans. Hope this isn't too late, but for a modern, broad survey I'd drop Fehrenbach and pick up Gone to Texas: A History of the Lone Star State (Oxford) by Randolph B. Campbell. Campbell has done a lot of work on the history of slavery in Texas, and his findings are in line with modern scholarship and social history, so you should be good to go. Campbell published the first modern survey of slavery in Texas in ... 1991, so as you can see, Texas scholarship hasn't generally been as quick as other fields of American history. If you're interested in the most nuanced account of the Texas Revolution, I'd also pick up The Texas Revolutionary Experience: A Political and Social History, 1835-1836 by Paul D. Lack. It's really the only comprehensive study that more thoroughly incorporates the minority experience, although the treatment of Natives is a bit lacking. MothraAttack fucked around with this message at 04:47 on Nov 16, 2013 |
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Nov 16, 2013 04:41
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dokmo posted:See if you can find a cheap used copy of Desmond Morton's dated but still interesting A Military History of Canada. Vimy Ridge is regarded as the symbolic battle in Canadian military history--a quick search shows that there are dozens of books on the battle, ranging from sentimental to revisionist. Vimy by Pierre Berton probably isn't the best book on the battle, but it isn't bad. Terry Copp's No Price Too High: Canadians and the Second World War is a well regarded overview for the general public. This is from a while ago, but I should mention that Tim Cook has written a number of excellent books about Canadian involvement in the First World War. At The Sharp End covers 1914-6 and Shock Troops 1917-18, while The Madman And The Butcher focuses on the lives of Sam Hughes and Arthur Currie. His most recent book is Warlords: Borden, Mackenzie King, and Canada’s World Wars, and I've read that he plans to write a book about WWII as well. Hodgkin's disease has thrown a wrench into his plans, though, and I hope his recovery is going well. mllaneza posted:Funny, I was just thinking I should mention Lynn MacDonald's outstanding series on WW1. She was involved in the BBC oral history project, and went on to write extensively about the war. I have her 1915 volume, which covers the early fighting around Ypres, in which Canadian troops distinguished themselves. This one also covers the raising of the first full army which went on to be wasted at the Somme, and the Gallipoli campaign. Get this one if any of hers, she's a terrific writer working from first-hand accounts. I'll second the Lyn Macdonald recommendation. I've only read Somme, which is one of the most gripping war books I've ever come across. Her sources are the envy of other historians; the most engaging parts of Martin Gilbert's horribly dull WWI history are all references to Macdonald's work, a fact that he bemoans in a poorly placed footnote.
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Nov 17, 2013 05:45
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My dear ol' Mom just passed a couple of weeks ago, and Dad, after his grief, was looking for something to bury his brain in. I directed him to Six Frigates, and after that Pacific Crucible. He's a retired Naval captain, and likes that kind of stuff. And he needs something to take his mind of his pain of losing his friend of 50 years. I tried to take his mind off the grief with epic stories of Stephen Decatur, and he loves that stuff. I love him to bits, and anything to keep the lonely night goblins away will do him good I think. Thank you to this thread for supplying me with suggestions. You might not have thought it when you did it, but you've helped keep my pop's intellectual curiosity, and his spirit, alive. The Southern Dandy fucked around with this message at 03:27 on Nov 19, 2013 |
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Nov 19, 2013 03:12
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The Southern Dandy posted:My dear ol' Mom just passed a couple of weeks ago, and Dad, after his grief, was looking for something to bury his brain in. I directed him to Six Frigates, and after that Pacific Crucible. He's a retired Naval captain, and likes that kind of stuff. And he needs something to take his mind of his pain of losing his friend of 50 years. If he's ok with navy-related historical fiction then point him towards Patrick O'Brian and be prepared to not hear from him for however long it takes him to plough through all 20 of those. http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3393240 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aubrey%E2%80%93Maturin_series withak fucked around with this message at 03:56 on Nov 19, 2013 |
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Nov 19, 2013 03:52
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withak posted:If he's ok with navy-related historical fiction then point him towards Patrick O'Brian and be prepared to not hear from him for however long it takes him to plough through all 20 of those. You're a real sport. Thanks. 
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Nov 19, 2013 04:28
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So I've always been interested in Haiti, and find it fascinating, but beyond Wikipedia and a few assorted webpages and references in other work (like a book about Alexander Dumas' father who was from Haiti, and the Something Awful charity drive for that school in Haiti), I don't know that much about it. I know that it was the first black republic, and that there were a lot of military coups there, but not much else. Are there any informative and trustworthy (by which I mean, not obviously written by a crazy or wrongly-biased author) books about Haiti?
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Nov 19, 2013 04:54
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The Black Jacobins by C.L.R James doesn't cover the entire history of Haiti, and it's quite old now, but it's still regarded as a classic for good reasons.
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Nov 19, 2013 05:07
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Gygaxian posted:So I've always been interested in Haiti, and find it fascinating, but beyond Wikipedia and a few assorted webpages and references in other work (like a book about Alexander Dumas' father who was from Haiti, and the Something Awful charity drive for that school in Haiti), I don't know that much about it. I know that it was the first black republic, and that there were a lot of military coups there, but not much else. Are there any informative and trustworthy (by which I mean, not obviously written by a crazy or wrongly-biased author) books about Haiti? This includes a good overview of recent, legit works by scholars on the Haitian revolution and early Haiti, but it sounds like something like Haiti: The Aftershocks of History by Laurent Dubois is what you're looking for.
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Nov 19, 2013 12:40
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I was positively drooling over The Great Sea by David Abulafia in my uni bookstore earlier today, and I'm this close to going and buying it on the way home. Has anyone read it and knows if it's as good as it looks?
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Nov 20, 2013 02:50
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Hedrigall posted:I was positively drooling over The Great Sea by David Abulafia in my uni bookstore earlier today, and I'm this close to going and buying it on the way home. Has anyone read it and knows if it's as good as it looks? The first 2 chapters are a bit sluggish because it deals with the earliest inhabitants of the Mediterranean (stone age stuff). When you reach the chapters concerning early Classical and Classical history, the book remains awesome until steamships begin to appear in the Mediterranean. The story loses its taste for "adventure", mainly because because ironclads don't have the same charm as a wooden vessel, but that's just my opinion. It's a really great history book on a broad subject but it doesn't lose itself in petty details and David Abulafia's prose is accessible and clear, which only adds to the book. HighClassSwankyTime fucked around with this message at 09:50 on Nov 20, 2013 |
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Nov 20, 2013 09:46
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Seconding the love for the The Great Sea. Just a wonderful read with a solid research foundation underlying the story. Pop/General history at its finest.
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Nov 21, 2013 18:37
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I'm going to read Albert Speer's memoirs, and I'm looking for a good biography of him as a companion piece that'll point out the omissions and misdirections he made.
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Nov 22, 2013 01:13
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Hannibal Rex posted:I'm going to read Albert Speer's memoirs, and I'm looking for a good biography of him as a companion piece that'll point out the omissions and misdirections he made. There are a few books like this. Two that I've read are Speer: The Final Verdict by Joachim Fest and Albert Speer: His Battle with Truth by Gitta Sereny.
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Nov 22, 2013 01:41
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Do you guys have any recommendations for recent political/economic history? I just read 1453: The Holy War for Constantinople. The background history stuff was interesting, but I didn't really like how in depth he got with the siege. I don't want to know the ebb and flow of particular battles. Nor do I want a book that dives into profiles of individual politicians. Right now I'm looking at three books to read next, based on earlier recommendations. A Peace to End All Peace by David Fromkin , The Sleepwalkers by Christopher Clark, and The Scramble for Africa by Thomas Pakenam. Also does anyone have a recommendation for modern French history?
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Nov 22, 2013 22:02
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Other than modern France it looks like your interests are fairly varied so I'm going to recommend The Radicalism of the American Revolution by Gordon Wood. It's about how rapid cultural change within North America, from the early 1600s to early 1800s, led to changes in political structures. He divides this time into three sections, Monarchy, Republicanism, and Democracy, and shows how each of these political systems pervaded throughout all levels of society and how they evolved. In some ways I see this work as the counter argument to Burke's idea that the American revolution was a conservative movement where American's simply wanted the rights of Englishmen. Edit: Did you mean recently written or modern history? FingersMaloy fucked around with this message at 22:32 on Nov 22, 2013 |
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Nov 22, 2013 22:19
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FingersMaloy posted:Other than modern France it looks like your interests are fairly varied so I'm going to recommend The Radicalism of the American Revolution by Gordon Wood... I would like modern history, doesn't have to be written recently. Is that Gordon Wood book focused only on the US? I'll be honest and say I have an irrational lack of interest in American history.
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Nov 22, 2013 23:33
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Stolennosferatu posted:I would like modern history, doesn't have to be written recently. Is that Gordon Wood book focused only on the US? I'll be honest and say I have an irrational lack of interest in American history. Yeah it's all US history. I haven't done much reading of more modern events so I can't help you much there.
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Nov 23, 2013 01:33
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Does anyone have a suggestion for a good book about The Great Depression? Popular or Academic long as its interesting I don't really care.
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Nov 27, 2013 00:59
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blakout posted:Does anyone have a suggestion for a good book about The Great Depression? Popular or Academic long as its interesting I don't really care. Studs Terkel's Oral History Hard Times is really good.
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Nov 27, 2013 06:02
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I read Americanos by John Chasteen. It was pretty short and gave an overview of Latin American wars of independence. And I mean a general overview as it hardly goes into much detail about anything and rushes off to talk about something else as soon as possible. Its not bad for what bit is however the author has this weird need to say that some of the people were totally probably not racist even though he even admits he has zero evidence to back that up. Going to read Liberators by Robert Harvey next to hopefully get a better view of events.
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Nov 28, 2013 00:17
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Stolennosferatu posted:Do you guys have any recommendations for recent political/economic history? I just read 1453: The Holy War for Constantinople. The background history stuff was interesting, but I didn't really like how in depth he got with the siege. I don't want to know the ebb and flow of particular battles. Nor do I want a book that dives into profiles of individual politicians. Hobsbawm's books about the economic and political history of the world beginning in 1789 and onwards might be up your alley. He's gotten some criticism about his lack of critique of communism's deeds in the twentieth century, but they're still worth reading.
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Nov 29, 2013 15:20
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Star posted:Hobsbawm's books about the economic and political history of the world beginning in 1789 and onwards might be up your alley. He's gotten some criticism about his lack of critique of communism's deeds in the twentieth century, but they're still worth reading. I concur. Age of Revolution, Age of Capital and Age of Empire are beautifully written and have some of the best history on the long 19th century (1789-1914) out there and cannot be praised highly enough. However, Age of Extremes (1914-1991) is almost as if it was researched and written by a totally different author. Here, Eric Hobsbawm writes with a clear mission: to vindicate Soviet crimes under the assumption "oh, it wasn't THAT bad..." If you do read Age of Extremes, I would keep in mind the writer's motives and his strong personal prejudice in favor of communism, communist regimes and Marxist historiography in general. Tony Judt wrote a good piece on Eric Hobsbawm here: http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2003/nov/20/the-last-romantic/
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Nov 30, 2013 16:30
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I just finished Bill Bryson's latest book 1927. Are there any similar authors or books you guys would recommend? If you have never read him, he writes light and narrative history with a comic/tragic bent. He tends to write about forgotten people and events. I never even knew about the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927! The best parts of his books though tend to be about inventors who die penniless and without credit, but had huge contributions to the world.
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Dec 5, 2013 04:40
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Hand Row posted:I just finished Bill Bryson's latest book 1927. Are there any similar authors or books you guys would recommend? If you have never read him, he writes light and narrative history with a comic/tragic bent. He tends to write about forgotten people and events. I never even knew about the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927! The best parts of his books though tend to be about inventors who die penniless and without credit, but had huge contributions to the world. Sarah Vowell maybe? I really enjoyed The Wordy Shipmates and Assassination Vacation. Partly Cloudly Patriot, however, is a series of This American Life style articles, which I'm enjoying less.
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Dec 7, 2013 02:57
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Hand Row posted:I just finished Bill Bryson's latest book 1927. Are there any similar authors or books you guys would recommend? If you have never read him, he writes light and narrative history with a comic/tragic bent. He tends to write about forgotten people and events. I never even knew about the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927! The best parts of his books though tend to be about inventors who die penniless and without credit, but had huge contributions to the world. Sarah Vowell is a good recommendation. Simon Winchester and Mark Kurlansky both have a bunch a well-written books about odd, specific events and people. My recent favorite book is Empire: What Ruling the World Did to the British by Jeremy Paxman, a tour of Victorian colonialism written with deadpan self-sarcasm. Another: Eric Jager wrote The Last Duel about the last legal duel in medieval France between a knight who raped a woman and her husband, another knight. The Black Count by Tom Reiss, about the only black officer In Napoleons army, and an extraordinary dude in general. David Cordingly's Cochrane the Dauntless, about a fierce and unstoppable ship captain for England during the Napoleonic wars who was a total fuckup on dry land, and served as the model for the character in O'Brian's Master And Commander books. dokmo fucked around with this message at 16:15 on Dec 7, 2013 |
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Dec 7, 2013 15:56
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blakout posted:Does anyone have a suggestion for a good book about The Great Depression? Popular or Academic long as its interesting I don't really care. In a similar vein, can anyone recommend a good book about the Great Depression that deals with thinkgs like the economic history of the '20s boom and crash, the creation and efficacy of New Deal programs, etc.? Basically, there a good, all-encompassing Great Depression book?
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Dec 8, 2013 02:03
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