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Koesj posted:The thing I've heard about Kershaw's work is that he has been coasting on his 'working towards the Führer' theory for a long time now. Not that it's much of a problem, Hubris and Nemesis are fantastic, and there's only so much new stuff you can do in Nazi historiography, but I've been holding off on his newer titles since getting those Hitler biographies as a present in 2003 (thanks mom & dad!). I could see that, but I think The End fills a nice void, but I'm not much it overlaps with the Hitler bios, as I haven't had the chance to read them yet or more accurately listen to them as my commute allows me about 2 hours of audiobooks a day. Right now I'm on a mix of Hastings Catastrophe, Beevors Second World War, and Forgotten Ally, so having audible is really nice (lack of footnotes and works cited notwithstanding, but you can often buy the book for cheap after getting the audio via amazon).
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# ? Jan 10, 2014 13:10 |
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# ? Jun 8, 2024 09:26 |
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[bold]Harper Encyclopedia of Military History: From 3500 BC to the Present[/bold] http://www.amazon.com/Harper-Encyclopedia-Military-History-Present/dp/0062700561/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1389536128&sr=1-1 This should be a standard reference for anyone interested in military history.
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# ? Jan 12, 2014 15:20 |
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hannibal posted:I got about 2/3 through The Generals before I lost interest. It was an ok book but I just couldn't get through to the end. I haven't read any of Tom Ricks' other books, although I do enjoy his blog (The Best Defense) - there are some pretty good commenters on there. Agreed, I'm not a fan of Ricks' books (or views, to be honest. The Petraeus dicksucking is excessive) but I thoroughly enjoy his blog. I've written some guest columns, and am a regular commenter.
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# ? Jan 12, 2014 16:23 |
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white privilege posted:Agreed, I'm not a fan of Ricks' books (or views, to be honest. The Petraeus dicksucking is excessive) but I thoroughly enjoy his blog. I've written some guest columns, and am a regular commenter. Nice. I have to say, Foreign Policy's recent site design is terrible. Was it just me or did the comments not work for the first week or so? None of the stories had comments on them even if I disabled all my ad-blocking extensions etc. and I've only recently seen comments come back. I wish Tom would blog somewhere else with a better comment system, because the comments are really what keeps me coming back.
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# ? Jan 12, 2014 18:47 |
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hannibal posted:Nice. I have to say, Foreign Policy's recent site design is terrible. I like the additional content that they've added in conjunction with the new site design, but holy poo poo it is terrible from a functional standpoint.
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# ? Jan 12, 2014 19:11 |
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white privilege posted:Agreed, I'm not a fan of Ricks' books (or views, to be honest. The Petraeus dicksucking is excessive) but I thoroughly enjoy his blog. I've written some guest columns, and am a regular commenter. And in another instance of SA bleeding onto an otherwise respectable blog, Ricks wrote this post that featured none other than a now-private video from Caro's visit to Libya.
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# ? Jan 12, 2014 19:24 |
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Can anyone recommend a good book about the Rampart Division of the LAPD which The Shield was based on?
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# ? Jan 27, 2014 21:42 |
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Posting poo poo from Skunk Works by Ben Rich because SR-71 stories get my dick rock hard.quote:Norman Nelson quote:Colonel Jim Wadkins quote:Major Butch Sheffield quote:Lt. Colonel William Burk Jr. Only meant to post three, but copied out an extra on accident, so gently caress you, you get to read it. The book has tons more interesting poo poo, highly recommended if you like boners.
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# ? Jan 28, 2014 05:18 |
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Hydrogen Oxide posted:Posting poo poo from Skunk Works by Ben Rich because SR-71 stories get my dick rock hard. SR-71 stories get me rock hard every time. Thanks for posting this, definitely going to go buy it at the used bookstore I saw it at last weekend.
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# ? Jan 28, 2014 17:13 |
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Hydrogen Oxide posted:Posting poo poo from Skunk Works by Ben Rich because SR-71 stories get my dick rock hard. Those were awesome. Buying this book like yesterday.
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# ? Jan 31, 2014 21:17 |
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Once again I need to come in here and thank the gently caress out of the people who recommended books! Little America: Holy poo poo! Afganistan is hosed, but still the author manages to make me not catatonic from sadness and depression. The book describes all that is wrong with both the military and civilian side of the foreign intervention into Afganistan and provides a lot of history to the whole subject. If you in any way shape or formed liked the documentary "This is what winning looks like" this is the book for you. The last stand of the tin can sailors: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! The greatness of this book is only a small fraction of the bravery and kick-assness of the sailors abord the 3 destoryers and 3 destroyer escorts of Taffy 3, and it's one of the best books I've ever read. It has big-rear end cannons, it has David vs. Goliath style-showdowns of piddly DEs facing down heavy cruisers and it has a torpedo bomber pilot flying upside down over a Japanese ship emptying his service revolver in the hope of doing any sort of damage. Or at least distracting the might Japanese ships from mercilessly destroying several US Carrier Escorts. Please read this book, other highlights are: Sharks, first Kamikaze ever, first (only?) carrier being downed by naval gunfire, fist Kamikaze kill, one dude saving a downed pilot by landing on a jap airfield picking the dude up and lifting of while strafing! List of totally awesome books I've read from this thread: To the limit, Little America, Last stand of the tin can sailors. Next: Achilles in Vietnamn, Matterhorn. Keep them recommendations going! Ninja edit: the big balled dude firing his revolver from his plane at a cruiser was the same dude that picked up the pilot on an enemy airfield. How did he get his plane in the air with such big balls?
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# ? Feb 8, 2014 22:53 |
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zokie posted:The last stand of the tin can sailors: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! The greatness of this book is only a small fraction of the bravery and kick-assness of the sailors abord the 3 destoryers and 3 destroyer escorts of Taffy 3, and it's one of the best books I've ever read. It has big-rear end cannons, it has David vs. Goliath style-showdowns of piddly DEs facing down heavy cruisers and it has a torpedo bomber pilot flying upside down over a Japanese ship emptying his service revolver in the hope of doing any sort of damage. Or at least distracting the might Japanese ships from mercilessly destroying several US Carrier Escorts. You're forgetting the battleships. There were battleships shooting at those destroyer escorts too, including the Yamato. I'm surprised one of the reviews on the back wasn't just "AAAAAAAAAAAA"
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# ? Feb 9, 2014 19:40 |
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I just finished Hunter Killers, which looks at what the Royal Navy's submarines have been doing since the end of WWII. It's told through the careers of four submariners, starting out on war-era diesel subs that sounded horrific and ending up with the new Astute SSNs. It's a fascinating look at a part of the cold war that not many people know about.
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# ? Feb 12, 2014 00:08 |
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Somewhat topical and relevant to the discussion around the euro/ukraine intervention balls: SADF border war 1966-1989 written by Leopold Scholtz http://www.amazon.com/The-SADF-Border-War-1966-1989/dp/0624054101
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# ? Feb 12, 2014 15:34 |
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Found in flea market: Mutiny, the story of the alleged defection attempt in 1974 by the crew of Storozhevoy, a Krivak-I serving in the Baltic. Boris Gindin, the ship's engineer at the time, wrote this memoir after being strafed, bombed, run out of the service and then the country, and seeing his story make Tom Clancy millions of dollars.
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# ? Feb 21, 2014 17:53 |
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I would like to share this with ya'll Sled Driver: rcman50166 posted:
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# ? Mar 4, 2014 04:06 |
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Does anyone know of any books dealing with the Hmong peoples and their contribution in Vietnam and rebellion in Laos that isn't this? If I have to, I'll start with the Tragic Mountains book. But I'm reluctant to do so when the criticisms all say she peddles the Yellow Rain myth wholeheartedly and knowing that is going to skew my view of her information. So will still need another book to keep perspective.
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# ? Mar 21, 2014 10:07 |
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Just started reading Widows, a book about the fuckups of US counter intelligence versus the USSR. Only 51 pages in so far, but it's hilarious and -ville at the same time. pg. 12. "Chinese boys were supplied to Kronthal in Switzerland. He was secretly filmed and then blackmailed." pg. 47. Washington DC sex clubs that "service" CIA dudes, US Senators, Czech spies, and Carl Bernstein(watergate dude). http://amzn.com/0671684191
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# ? May 2, 2014 21:25 |
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About a quarter of the way through A Nightmare's Prayer: A Marine Harrier Pilot's War in Afghanistan. So far the positives about the book is that it paints a very bleak picture of how just how hosed the early days of Afghanistan were, which was mostly due to bullshit ROE, training handicaps, inter-service idiocy, and the political poo poo back in the US. Much of this isn't talked about in great detail. It's done with little asides and anecdotes in a way that definitely builds a picture of the era. What I really like about the book is the author's relationship with the Harrier. A lot of the aviation stuff seriously hits home with me. Guys love their jets, but hate them all at the same time for their limitations and quirks. The Harrier itself is as much of a threat to the pilot as anything else in the book. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003LL2XVY/ref=oh_d__o00_details_o00__i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
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# ? Jul 13, 2014 05:45 |
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I randomly downloaded a list of the 100 best Sci-fi/Fantasy books according to NPR a few weeks back. I finally got around to reading them and finished 2001: A Space Odyssey, the Forever War, and I'm about to start The Mote in God's Eye. The book 2001 is a good bit different from the film, but still amazing. It's different in the way Kubrick's Shining was different from Stephen King's. What I mean is it's amazing but a pretty different experience. Even if you've seen them film (if you haven't, see it) I really recommend giving it a read. It's short to, so any of you idiots can get through it in a few days tops. The overall themes about the wonders of discovery, being scared of the unknown, mind-fucks etc are all still there. The scene with the tree people becoming intelligent takes up nearly the first third of the book but it's a very good read. The Forever War was absolutely fantastic. If you've read Starships Troopers it's a pretty similar book to that. It uses a sci-fi setting and exaggeration to speak about things you probably experienced in the military. The world changing while you're out on the rear end end of nowhere, incompetent uncaring people in charge, awkward transition to civilian life, the military pulling a bait and switch etc. It can be a bit preachy about the ethics of killing and stuff but it was a really good book. Pretty short to, longer than 2001 but not a hard read at all if you've got a little free time.
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# ? Jul 13, 2014 08:36 |
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Wanna peep that NPR list.. Link or C/P?
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# ? Jul 13, 2014 20:13 |
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Obama Africanus posted:Wanna peep that NPR list.. Link or C/P? I don't have PMs so what's your steam/email or w/e?
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# ? Jul 13, 2014 20:21 |
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Oh wait you just wanna see what's on it? Ok yeah one second. 1. The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy, by J.R.R. Tolkien 2. The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, by Douglas Adams 3. Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card 4. The Dune Chronicles, by Frank Herbert 5. A Song Of Ice And Fire Series, by George R. R. Martin 6. 1984, by George Orwell 7. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury 8. The Foundation Trilogy, by Isaac Asimov 9. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley 10. American Gods, by Neil Gaiman 11. The Princess Bride, by William Goldman 12. The Wheel Of Time Series, by Robert Jordan 13. Animal Farm, by George Orwell 14. Neuromancer, by William Gibson 15. Watchmen, by Alan Moore (not included) 16. I, Robot, by Isaac Asimov 17. Stranger In A Strange Land, by Robert Heinlein 18. The Kingkiller Chronicles, by Patrick Rothfuss 19. Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut 20. Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley 21. Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?, by Philip K. Dick 22. The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood 23. The Dark Tower Series, by Stephen King 24. 2001: A Space Odyssey, by Arthur C. Clarke 25. The Stand, by Stephen King 26. Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson 27. The Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury 28. Cat's Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut 29. The Sandman Series, by Neil Gaiman (not included) 30. A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess 31. Starship Troopers, by Robert Heinlein 32. Watership Down, by Richard Adams 33. Dragonflight, by Anne McCaffrey 34. The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, by Robert Heinlein 35. A Canticle For Leibowitz, by Walter M. Miller 36. The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells 37. 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, by Jules Verne 38. Flowers For Algernon, by Daniel Keys 39. The War Of The Worlds, by H.G. Wells 40. The Chronicles Of Amber, by Roger Zelazny 41. The Belgariad, by David Eddings 42. The Mists Of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer Bradley 43. The Mistborn Series, by Brandon Sanderson 44. Ringworld, by Larry Niven 45. The Left Hand Of Darkness, by Ursula K. LeGuin 46. The Silmarillion, by J.R.R. Tolkien 47. The Once And Future King, by T.H. White 48. Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman 49. Childhood's End, by Arthur C. Clarke 50. Contact, by Carl Sagan 51. The Hyperion Cantos, by Dan Simmons 52. Stardust, by Neil Gaiman 53. Cryptonomicon, by Neal Stephenson 54. World War Z, by Max Brooks 55. The Last Unicorn, by Peter S. Beagle 56. The Forever War, by Joe Haldeman 57. Small Gods, by Terry Pratchett 58. The Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant, The Unbeliever, by Stephen R. Donaldson 59. The Vorkosigan Saga, by Lois McMaster Bujold 60. Going Postal, by Terry Pratchett 61. The Mote In God's Eye, by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle 62. The Sword Of Truth, by Terry Goodkind 63. The Road, by Cormac McCarthy 64. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, by Susanna Clarke 65. I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson 66. The Riftwar Saga, by Raymond E. Feist 67. The Shannara Trilogy, by Terry Brooks 68. The Conan The Barbarian Series, by R.E. Howard 69. The Farseer Trilogy, by Robin Hobb 70. The Time Traveler's Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger 71. The Way Of Kings, by Brandon Sanderson 72. A Journey To The Center Of The Earth, by Jules Verne 73. The Legend Of Drizzt Series, by R.A. Salvatore 74. Old Man's War, by John Scalzi 75. The Diamond Age, by Neil Stephenson 76. Rendezvous With Rama, by Arthur C. Clarke 77. The Kushiel's Legacy Series, by Jacqueline Carey 78. The Dispossessed, by Ursula K. LeGuin 79. Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury 80. Wicked, by Gregory Maguire 81. The Malazan Book Of The Fallen Series, by Steven Erikson 82. The Eyre Affair, by Jasper Fforde 83. The Culture Series, by Iain M. Banks 84. The Crystal Cave, by Mary Stewart 85. Anathem, by Neal Stephenson 86. The Codex Alera Series, by Jim Butcher 87. The Book Of The New Sun, by Gene Wolfe 88. The Thrawn Trilogy, by Timothy Zahn 89. The Outlander Series, by Diana Gabaldan 90. The Elric Saga, by Michael Moorcock 91. The Illustrated Man, by Ray Bradbury 92. Sunshine, by Robin McKinley 93. A Fire Upon The Deep, by Vernor Vinge 94. The Caves Of Steel, by Isaac Asimov 95. The Mars Trilogy, by Kim Stanley Robinson 96. Lucifer's Hammer, by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle 97. Doomsday Book, by Connie Willis 98. Perdido Street Station, by China Mieville 99. The Xanth Series, by Piers Anthony 100. The Space Trilogy, by C.S. Lewis
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# ? Jul 13, 2014 20:22 |
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The Mote In God's Eye really lost steam in the last third. I put it down shortly after CHAOS ENSUES (you'll know which part I'm referring to. That book I posted about yesterday? Yea, I quit mid-way through. It's a lot of pilot self-loathing and introspection without hardly any sweet Harrier action. Not worth your time. Gonna start Matterhorn today since you all couldn't quit cumming about it.
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# ? Jul 13, 2014 20:56 |
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Since we're not limiting to mil books, in the non-fiction realm I'd recommend Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer if you haven't already read it. P tite book e: also Shackleton
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# ? Jul 13, 2014 21:00 |
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krispykremessuck posted:Since we're not limiting to mil books, in the non-fiction realm I'd recommend Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer if you haven't already read it. P tite book That book loving owns. Jon Krakauer generally does some pretty great stuff. I hope everyone in here has a Kindle Paperwhite. It's indispensable. bloops fucked around with this message at 21:19 on Jul 13, 2014 |
# ? Jul 13, 2014 21:11 |
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The Climb by Anatoly Boukreev is on the same topic as Into Thin Air and way better. Into Thin Air is well-written, but kind of full of poo poo.
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# ? Jul 13, 2014 21:57 |
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white privilege posted:The Climb by Anatoly Boukreev is on the same topic as Into Thin Air and way better. Into Thin Air is well-written, but kind of full of poo poo. That's a reach, but I know what you mean here. They're two different styles of books and the problem with The Climb is that if you're not already kind of in-the-know with mountaineering stuff it's not gonna be engaging. Which is why I wouldn't recommend it as a general-reading kind of thing. edit: also I'm not going to participate in the Krakauer/Boukreev dickwaving about who was right and who was wrong in a stupid situation where everyone was in the wrong
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# ? Jul 13, 2014 22:10 |
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If you're into adventure writing, the anthology collections of Mark Jenkins are really good. Dude was a columnist for Outside Magazine and now works for National Geographic, and his books "A Man's Life" and "The Hard Way" are great. He also wrote a book about cycling across Russia called "Off the Map" that is pretty at times.
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# ? Jul 13, 2014 23:05 |
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Moving away from the realm of mil books, The First Law series is actually really good fantasy similar to Game Of Thrones if that's your thing. 3 books and 2 stand alone ones. American Gods is thoroughly mediocre. At least I thought so. Boring as poo poo. bloops fucked around with this message at 23:55 on Jul 13, 2014 |
# ? Jul 13, 2014 23:52 |
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3 stand-alones; Red Country was the latest. But yes, all of Joe Abercrombie's stuff is absolutely solid. Laird Barron is pretty great if you're into the Lovecraftian cosmic horror kind of stuff as well.
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# ? Jul 14, 2014 00:11 |
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Hey Shim, you're a well read dude and I've seen you post about Roman poo poo. Have you read I, Claudius? Thoughts?
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# ? Jul 16, 2014 04:24 |
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If you're interested in Roman historical fiction check out the Marcus Didius Falco series of books by Lindsey Davis. He's kind of like a Roman era private investigator/secret agent. Her books are all pretty well researched and historically accurate. The first one is The Silver Pigs, most of the series is in the 4-4.5 star range on Amazon.
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# ? Jul 16, 2014 05:07 |
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if any of you like ancient historical fiction like gates of fire, peep isle of stone. its kind of a weird book, but theres some hilarious poo poo in it, such asthis fuckin book haha posted:antalcidas' heart was pounding now, surging with exhilaration, for there was no feeling like being swept before a clanking human beast of ten thousand legs, propelled unstoppably toward that wall of hostile spears. his urine coursed down his legs, but not in fear - in time, with the inevitability of it, he would ejaculate too, for there would be much loving to do that day. he would rip pussies for them all, the men he would penetrate with his spear. as his men watched in wonder, he charged into the arms of the enemy, letting out as he ran a wail of joy like a man coming into his beautiful bride.
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# ? Jul 16, 2014 06:19 |
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holocaust bloopers posted:Hey Shim, you're a well read dude and I've seen you post about Roman poo poo. Have you read I, Claudius? Thoughts? You can just read Tacitus straight and translated and make your own Claudius slash fic if you like. That's what old boy did with those books, and later said so.. But they're fun and I'd give it a whirl. I've said this somewhere else but every armchair historian douche bag human being claiming to know anything will say they've read Gibbons' history of Rome but usually if they're not outright lying they read the 800 page kindle ebook version.. If you get all 6 volumes with his notes (on the reg less than 30 bucks but you can find it at 99 cents sometimes) and a good Latin/Greek dictionary to have on hand while reading you'll get a no poo poo full on education that also entertains and amazes when you put all of it in context. Read Gibbons. All grown men should at least put that on a bucket list back burner, it's the last true history of "us" and Howard Zinn is a dick suck sycophant compared to gibbons, and I love Zinn. And yeah I get that they were separated by things like a few centuries but whenever you start talking what's good history poo poo to read you never don't see them come up. But Gibbons is so goddamn intellectually honest (for a white guy speaking English writing a retrospect) you have to start there and just read everyone else in whatever sequence you like afterwards. And don't forget, before you read any roman slash fic, start with the real poo poo- it's always way more awesome than the remix. Pedicabo ego vos et irrumabo for example. Slim Shady can't spit shots sick as that and claim it's original just because the copyright ran out two thousand years ago OMFG PTSD LOL PBUH fucked around with this message at 06:35 on Jul 16, 2014 |
# ? Jul 16, 2014 06:33 |
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Amazon had the Kindle version of all 6 volumes for 2 bucks. Yea. Bought.
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# ? Jul 16, 2014 06:39 |
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quote:Pedicabo ego vos et irrumabo, quote:I will sodomise and face-gently caress you, Catallus owned.
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# ? Jul 16, 2014 06:43 |
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Obama Africanus posted:Read Gibbons. All grown men should at least put that on a bucket list back burner, it's the last true history of "us" and Howard Zinn is a dick suck sycophant compared to gibbons, and I love Zinn. Gibbon was not intellectually honest in the way we define it today. He was very much a historian of the Enlightenment, and wrote his histories from the perspective of "how these things raised us up above our ancestors." He comes at the subject in a very tautological way. He basically starts from the end state and works backward, tweaking as needed to make the story fit his argument and hold sway over non-historian readers. That second part's not a terrible thing, though. It's definitely on my list to read...I want to read the entire drat thing, but as a historical work it tells us more about the minds of enlightened scholars than it does about the Roman Empire. As a historical piece it's actually used as an example of what not to do.
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# ? Jul 16, 2014 07:26 |
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I thought the whole "White english speaking dude" caveat covered that but hey For those that don't know, Godholio actually teaches this kind of poo poo for a living so he's more than likely right and I'm almost certainly wrong. My education on the matter cost 99 cents like I said, and it's value probably shows.
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# ? Jul 16, 2014 16:06 |
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# ? Jun 8, 2024 09:26 |
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I thought it was godholio's dream career, no idea he was able to land a job teaching history. anyway if you're willing to visit creepy public libraries & do library inter-loan stuff you can find a ton of mil-history reading material. Back when I lived in CT, I was able to read the 1909 reprints of gibbons "rise & fall of the roman empire" from the shelton ct public library for free. and if you're willing to dive into the autism/aspergers pool that is military wargaming, alot of the avalon hill games & most of the non-self published studies on wargaming have references to seminal mil-history works. The US Navy sponsors a shitload of military history studies & wargaming concepts. ....it's how I learned about InfoChess. I still can't decide if InfoChess is the stupidest or smartest thing I've ever heard of regarding modelling war scenarios. quantumfoam fucked around with this message at 20:25 on Jul 16, 2014 |
# ? Jul 16, 2014 18:16 |