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I'm finally into the end of WWI in Kotkin's first (of three) volume biography of Stalin. This thing is absolutely amazing and I'd recommend it to all, if you don't mind reading a biography that will end up being as long as all the Game of Thrones books. Kotkin goes way behind just Stalin and does an amazing job at building mini-biographies of other key figures in order to contrast Stalin's character, decisions, and makeup with his contemporaries, such as Trotsky, Stolypin, Kerensky, etc. I'm not even halfway through 1/3 of the entire biography, but I can already tell that it is going to be the standard bearer for Stalin biographies for...maybe ever.
bearic fucked around with this message at 06:52 on Dec 19, 2014 |
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Dec 19, 2014 06:48
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Yeah it'll basically be the definitive book on Stalin, similar to Ian Kershaw's book on Hitler.
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Dec 19, 2014 07:35
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Is "Fingers of the Gods" by Graham Hancock a reputable book? It's pre-history so I know there will be some speculation, but I want to make sure it's at least based in evidence and not just some crackpot's ramblings with misrepresentation of evidence before I buy it. Edit: Sounds like it's crazy-person talk so I think I'll pass. Are there any good pre-history books that people would recommend? Fork of Unknown Origins fucked around with this message at 08:21 on Dec 19, 2014 |
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Dec 19, 2014 08:13
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I've been trying to get a better grasp on history and started with The Little History of the World (which I think is excellent). What else is good for an overview of world history? I'm hoping to snag the Cartoon History books at some point as well, those are rad. I'm also in the market for some Viking history, specifically the Great Heathen Army.
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Dec 19, 2014 10:32
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Fork of Unknown Origins posted:Is "Fingers of the Gods" by Graham Hancock a reputable book? It's pre-history so I know there will be some speculation, but I want to make sure it's at least based in evidence and not just some crackpot's ramblings with misrepresentation of evidence before I buy it. You mean Fingerprints of the Gods? No, it's total hackery, but if you're into paranormal stuff it's at least somewhat interesting. Also pretty decent as an exercise in critical reading. Though as far as crazy people books go, it's probably among the "best".
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Dec 19, 2014 10:42
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What are some good books about sub-Saharan African empires like the Songhai, Mali or Ethiopia?
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Dec 19, 2014 13:52
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Sundiata is a staple for most introductory African history classes, but it's more of a primary source. It narrates a West African king's rise from a storyteller's point of view.
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Dec 19, 2014 20:43
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Started Emperor of All Maladies and loving it so far. Are there are books that deal with freaky medieval treatments and medicine?
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Dec 19, 2014 20:47
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vegaji posted:I'm finally into the end of WWI in Kotkin's first (of three) volume biography of Stalin. This thing is absolutely amazing and I'd recommend it to all, if you don't mind reading a biography that will end up being as long as all the Game of Thrones books. Kotkin goes way behind just Stalin and does an amazing job at building mini-biographies of other key figures in order to contrast Stalin's character, decisions, and makeup with his contemporaries, such as Trotsky, Stolypin, Kerensky, etc. I'm not even halfway through 1/3 of the entire biography, but I can already tell that it is going to be the standard bearer for Stalin biographies for...maybe ever. It kind of bothers me how many repeated pages there are, like I'm on The Passage of Power right now and I'm just skipping page after page. I guess it makes sense to help give people reminders but it's not even the fine lil (brief summary, see volume x) things, just flat out copied and pasted pages. I guess the review is helpful for some people, though I can't imagine people just reading standalone volumes in the series, for me the whole fun is going through the whole arc. Even with repeated sections and reminders I don't think you can, say, fully appreciate reading Master of the Senate if you never bothered reading The Path to Power and Means of Ascent, etc. I feel like he repeated himself a lot in Master of the Senate that wasn't even repetition of stuff in previous volumes, at one point it was like "I get it, you've expressed this point about Johnson's personality/legislative strategies at least ten times in this book already". Reading Master of the Senate and Caro briefly touching on Mexican American civil rights movements made me realize I really don't know squat in detail about any rights movements other than the main African American narrative. Any good recommendations on histories regarding Mexican American/other racial minorities/gay/women/ rights movements? Punkin Spunkin fucked around with this message at 00:05 on Jan 8, 2015 |
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Jan 7, 2015 23:59
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Not sure if this is the right thread, as it's more a current affairs request, but can anyone recommend a good title dealing with modern China, specifically the CCP and how it turned from Maoism to today's market friendly incarnation?
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Jan 12, 2015 20:37
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BeigeJacket posted:Not sure if this is the right thread, as it's more a current affairs request, but can anyone recommend a good title dealing with modern China, specifically the CCP and how it turned from Maoism to today's market friendly incarnation? Not a history book per se but Philip Pan's Out of Mao's Shadow is pretty good with this. It presupposes a little bit of general background knowledge, but really if you read the wikipedia entries on Mao and Deng Xiaoping you'll be up to speed enough to make the big connections. I've taught it in a few classes and it's really accessible and generally well-liked by students.
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Jan 13, 2015 00:11
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Is there a history of the WPA that's considered definitive or especially good?
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Jan 18, 2015 06:44
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BeigeJacket posted:Not sure if this is the right thread, as it's more a current affairs request, but can anyone recommend a good title dealing with modern China, specifically the CCP and how it turned from Maoism to today's market friendly incarnation? Mao's China and After by Maurice Meisner
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Jan 18, 2015 06:59
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Anyone know any good book on the American revolutionary war? Preferably without any nationalistic bullshit and deification.
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Jan 18, 2015 13:12
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Any recommendations about good books about explorers/early cartographers? I'm not necessarily married to any single topic at the moment but I'd like to read stuff about arctic/antarctic exploring, classic age of discovery explorations and science sea voyage stuff, and maybe some american frontier stuff (maybe Lewis and Clarke? I dunno).
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Jan 18, 2015 13:41
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Damo posted:Any recommendations about good books about explorers/early cartographers? I'm not necessarily married to any single topic at the moment but I'd like to read stuff about arctic/antarctic exploring, classic age of discovery explorations and science sea voyage stuff, and maybe some american frontier stuff (maybe Lewis and Clarke? I dunno). Over the Edge of the World by Lawrence Bergreen is a really good history of Magellan's expedition to the Spice Islands. Bergreen's also written about Marco Polo and some other explorers, but I can't vouch for those.
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Jan 18, 2015 18:23
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I've been on a bit of a naval drive recently, just finished reading Castles of Steel and then Hornfischer's Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors and Neptune's Inferno and loved them. Incredibly easy to read and the detailed descriptions of each engagement were insane. A bit different but does anyone have any recommendations of anything that is written in a similar style but regarding armored warfare? Particularly WWII and Korea/Vietnam. I know it might not lend itself quite as well to the heavily detailed blow-by-blow nature of Hornfischer's writing in particular, but I would love to get that level of insight into how an armored campaign is executed, as well as detail on large scale actions.
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Jan 18, 2015 18:49
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Damo posted:Any recommendations about good books about explorers/early cartographers? I'm not necessarily married to any single topic at the moment but I'd like to read stuff about arctic/antarctic exploring, classic age of discovery explorations and science sea voyage stuff, and maybe some american frontier stuff (maybe Lewis and Clarke? I dunno). I really like Anthony Brandt's The Man Who Ate His Boots: The Tragic History of the Search for the Northwest Passage - the first part deals with various expeditions focused on the Northwest Passage while the second part mostly deals with the lost Franklin expedition and the expeditions taken to find out what happened to it. Since people were sailing all around to find signs of Franklin and his men, the Arctic got further mapped out as a result.
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Jan 18, 2015 19:41
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MeatwadIsGod posted:Is there a history of the WPA that's considered definitive or especially good? A friend says quote:The is no single definitive history yet, but there are some good ones: Nick Taylor's recent "American Made", Roger Biles's "A New Deal For The American People", Jerre Mangione's "The Dream And The Deal" (focusing on the federal writers project).
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Jan 18, 2015 20:09
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Another recommendation request. I'm looking for a book that gives a good overview of the American colonies before 1776. Thanks!
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Jan 19, 2015 06:54
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Damo posted:Any recommendations about good books about explorers/early cartographers? I'm not necessarily married to any single topic at the moment but I'd like to read stuff about arctic/antarctic exploring, classic age of discovery explorations and science sea voyage stuff, and maybe some american frontier stuff (maybe Lewis and Clarke? I dunno). Lucania posted:I really like Anthony Brandt's The Man Who Ate His Boots: The Tragic History of the Search for the Northwest Passage - the first part deals with various expeditions focused on the Northwest Passage while the second part mostly deals with the lost Franklin expedition and the expeditions taken to find out what happened to it. Since people were sailing all around to find signs of Franklin and his men, the Arctic got further mapped out as a result. Similarly, there's Glyn Williams' Arctic Labyrinth. The two cover much of the same ground, but the author approaches are different enough that each feels fresh. This was decent: The Fourth Part of the World: The Race to the Ends of the Earth, and the Epic Story of the Map That Gave America Its Name by Toby Lester. Peter Stark's Astoria: John Jacob Astor and Thomas Jefferson's Lost Pacific Empire: A Story of Wealth, Ambition, and Survival has some of the American frontier stuff covered. Astor thought he could make loads of money off the fur trade in the Pacific Northwest, but he needed a base and fast to get the jump on the Brits. So went an expedition by sea and another overland. As is a theme here, this did not go well. Not Franklin Expedition level of bad, but not well.
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Jan 19, 2015 07:58
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Thanks for all the good recommendations guys, looks like I'm set for a while. Also, that Anthony Brandt dude sure looks like he's channeling Terry Pratchett.  
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Jan 19, 2015 10:11
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Hello everyone! This summer I'm going to the Balkans for a Study Abroad. The history class I'm doing it through requires me to read three books of my own choosing about any historical place, battle, people... basically if it's of historical relevance to the Balkans it will probably fly. Then I get to do a presentation on the book, AT the actual location(s) detailed within the chosen books; I am intensely excited about that. With so many options I'm finding myself having trouble making a decision. Really, I'm hoping to tap some of our goonish capacity for amassing eclectic historical information and find some really good books, particularly on Venice, and Constantinople.
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Jan 21, 2015 01:14
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Since when are Venice and Constantinople in the Balkans? Really I think the real question is how provocative you want to be with this. That project would make possible anything from a discussion of Austro-Hungarian labor strikes to a description of very recent mass killings in the actual fields where the deed was done.
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Jan 21, 2015 01:37
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Cyrano4747 posted:Since when are Venice and Constantinople in the Balkans? Unless I'm terribly mistaken the Ottoman Empire (Istanbul/Constantinople) had quit a lot of the Balkans under its thumb for awhile. As for the recent mass killings and labor strikes, those actually came up as a potential topic! I haven't ruled them out either, but I'm also just trying to explore some options until something jabs out at me.
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Jan 21, 2015 01:50
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Lordboots posted:Unless I'm terribly mistaken the Ottoman Empire (Istanbul/Constantinople) had quit a lot of the Balkans under its thumb for awhile. As for the recent mass killings and labor strikes, those actually came up as a potential topic! I haven't ruled them out either, but I'm also just trying to explore some options until something jabs out at me. Sure, huge chunks of the balkans were under ottoman rule. But that doesn't make the bosporus part of the balkans any more than it includes anatolia or the mid-east, which were also pieces of the ottoman empire. I'll grant that you might be able to edge in an argument for istanbul being on the edge of the balkans, but there's no way venice is part of that. Personally i'd go with something ww1 related just due to how easy the recent centenary would make basic research, or something about the civil wars for the opportunity to get out of the major cities.
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Jan 21, 2015 03:25
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Lordboots posted:Unless I'm terribly mistaken the Ottoman Empire (Istanbul/Constantinople) had quit a lot of the Balkans under its thumb for awhile. That is like saying Washington DC is apart of Latin America because the United States held the panama cannel. And lol a Venice being apart of the Balkans. But anyway you have a rich amount of history about the area all throughout time so your going to have to narrow it down some. Give a general time frame or topic and that would be much easier to throw books at you. Want prehistory, antiquity, roman, byzantine, medieval, modern, renaissance, interwar (this would be a good place because it is an interesting time that was a clash of old empires and modernity and clashing ideas) etc etc. etc.
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Jan 21, 2015 06:13
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Currently reading Pierre Broue's The German Revolution 1917-1923 and guess what, it is really good. Too bad it almost solely sights sources in german (to be expected of course) because I can't read german :/
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Jan 21, 2015 06:23
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Lordboots posted:Hello everyone! This summer I'm going to the Balkans for a Study Abroad. The history class I'm doing it through requires me to read three books of my own choosing about any historical place, battle, people... basically if it's of historical relevance to the Balkans it will probably fly. Then I get to do a presentation on the book, AT the actual location(s) detailed within the chosen books; I am intensely excited about that. With so many options I'm finding myself having trouble making a decision. Really, I'm hoping to tap some of our goonish capacity for amassing eclectic historical information and find some really good books, particularly on Venice, and Constantinople. The one and only book I've read on anything Balkan-related was The Bridge on the Drina as an undergrad for a requirement. It was pretty okay, but I don't remember poo poo about it.
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Jan 21, 2015 06:58
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Okay, this is a messy topic: the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I know absolutely nothing about this, and I have no dog in that particular fight, so I want the most objective book (and good) book out there. Any recommendations?
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Jan 21, 2015 10:48
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Stravinsky posted:Currently reading Pierre Broue's The German Revolution 1917-1923 and guess what, it is really good. Too bad it almost solely sights sources in german (to be expected of course) because I can't read german :/ Fail/
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Jan 21, 2015 16:21
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Azran posted:Okay, this is a messy topic: the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I know absolutely nothing about this, and I have no dog in that particular fight, so I want the most objective book (and good) book out there. Any recommendations? Wikipedia. Seriously. If all you want is the basic foundations of who did what when and to whom start there, then explore outward into more interesting sub topics. It's one of the most heavily moderated topics there, so the bullshit is kept on lockdown for the most part.
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Jan 21, 2015 16:58
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Stravinsky posted:That is like saying Washington DC is apart of Latin America because the United States held the panama cannel. And lol a Venice being apart of the Balkans. But anyway you have a rich amount of history about the area all throughout time so your going to have to narrow it down some. Give a general time frame or topic and that would be much easier to throw books at you. Want prehistory, antiquity, roman, byzantine, medieval, modern, renaissance, interwar (this would be a good place because it is an interesting time that was a clash of old empires and modernity and clashing ideas) etc etc. etc. Venice! So a crucial piece of information I forgot to include is that we can write on any country we pass through. We will be starting our trip in Venice, which is why I included it. I've narrowed my focus and I think you have a great suggestion with the interwar period, I'm also very much interested in the byzantine. Remains of the Ottoman presence anywhere in the Balkans would be interesting to touch upon as well, maybe the Jannisaries? Thanks all!
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Jan 21, 2015 18:23
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Lordboots posted:Hello everyone! This summer I'm going to the Balkans for a Study Abroad. The history class I'm doing it through requires me to read three books of my own choosing about any historical place, battle, people... basically if it's of historical relevance to the Balkans it will probably fly. Then I get to do a presentation on the book, AT the actual location(s) detailed within the chosen books; I am intensely excited about that. With so many options I'm finding myself having trouble making a decision. Really, I'm hoping to tap some of our goonish capacity for amassing eclectic historical information and find some really good books, particularly on Venice, and Constantinople. You might want to try Patrick Leigh-Fermor's travelogues, or Rebecca West's Black Lamb and Grey Falcon. These are both set in the interwar period, and are wide-ranging in terms of places and history discussed. I prefer the latter, but both are very fine.
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Jan 21, 2015 18:24
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floramarche posted:You might want to try Patrick Leigh-Fermor's travelogues, or Rebecca West's Black Lamb and Grey Falcon. These are both set in the interwar period, and are wide-ranging in terms of places and history discussed. I prefer the latter, but both are very fine. Thanks for the suggestions! I picked up both in paperback. I also snagged a copy of Balkan Ghosts on kindle. I can't wait to sit down and get started on them.
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Jan 22, 2015 20:27
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I just read this essay which touches on the significance of the Napoleonic Code. Does anyone have a suggestion for a good contextual study of the workings and effects of the Code? I know painfully little about the subject.
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Jan 23, 2015 04:41
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Lordboots posted:Hello everyone! This summer I'm going to the Balkans for a Study Abroad. The history class I'm doing it through requires me to read three books of my own choosing about any historical place, battle, people... basically if it's of historical relevance to the Balkans it will probably fly. Then I get to do a presentation on the book, AT the actual location(s) detailed within the chosen books; I am intensely excited about that. With so many options I'm finding myself having trouble making a decision. Really, I'm hoping to tap some of our goonish capacity for amassing eclectic historical information and find some really good books, particularly on Venice, and Constantinople.
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Jan 23, 2015 14:17
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Balaeniceps posted:Not that I've read it but I've heard Misha Glenny's history of the Balkans: The Balkans: Nationalism, War and the Great Powers 1804-1999 is very good (and there are later editions with addenda to cover the time from 1999 to now). It is very good. But it's much more of a general history and I don't think would fit the OP's assignment since it covers so many different locations and events.
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Jan 23, 2015 14:41
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Hey everyone, I have loved this thread since its inception, and I'm a huge fan of History in general, however I find myself at a loss at to what books are reccommed for a general overview of the history of Mexico. I know Enrique Krauze is highly reccommeded for the inmediate post-Revolutionary period and the Cristeros, but can anyone give me some tips about some other authors? I'm mainly interested in the Independence period and onwards. The aztecs are fascinating, but I would prefer to focus first on the modern Mexican state.
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Jan 23, 2015 22:19
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WDIIA fucked around with this message at 06:07 on Jan 15, 2018 |
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Jan 24, 2015 09:32
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