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Just finished Mary Beard's SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome. It was...pretty bad. The first 150 pages were a horrible slog, and after that the book just kinda meanders for 400 pages and fails to coalesce into a coherent narrative. Read Toll's Pacific Crucible a while ago and it owns bones. Gonna start The Conquering Tide next.
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Nov 25, 2016 20:56
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kalthir posted:Just finished Mary Beard's SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome. It was...pretty bad. The first 150 pages were a horrible slog, and after that the book just kinda meanders for 400 pages and fails to coalesce into a coherent narrative. yeah, i didnt hate it. but it feel like there was no real purpose to the book, it feels like a weird history stream of consciousnesses.
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Nov 26, 2016 21:43
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Any recommended books on the Cuban Revolution and/or Castro? Obviously somewhat inspired by recent events, but also a topic I've wanted to learn more about for a while.
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Nov 29, 2016 05:23
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Lord Hydronium posted:Any recommended books on the Cuban Revolution and/or Castro? Obviously somewhat inspired by recent events, but also a topic I've wanted to learn more about for a while. a cool book to read is 'In Cuba' by Ernesto Cardenal
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Nov 29, 2016 06:54
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Does anyone have any recommendations for books about Ulysses S. Grant's presidency? I'm sure there are ten thousand biographies so I wouldn't mind help sorting those out, but also anything dialed in more specifically on his administration, particularly as it relates to Reconstruction, would be terrific.
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Dec 3, 2016 16:53
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Dutchy posted:Does anyone have any recommendations for books about Ulysses S. Grant's presidency? I'm sure there are ten thousand biographies so I wouldn't mind help sorting those out, but also anything dialed in more specifically on his administration, particularly as it relates to Reconstruction, would be terrific. Most Grant biographies tend to give much more weight to his Civil War years. I wouldn't really recommend Jean Edward Smith or H.W. Brands, and I haven't read Ronald White's new one so I can't comment on that one. I think Brooks Simpson is your best bet, specifically The Reconstruction Presidents and the older Let Us Have Peace, which covers Grant's role in early reconstruction prior to his presidency. Simpson has a Grant biography that ends in 1865 and has a second volume in the works, but no release date. Since that one will be focused exclusively on post-1865, I've got high hopes for that one.
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Dec 3, 2016 23:15
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kalthir posted:Just finished Mary Beard's SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome. It was...pretty bad. The first 150 pages were a horrible slog, and after that the book just kinda meanders for 400 pages and fails to coalesce into a coherent narrative. I actually really liked SPQR. The ultra-skeptical view of the traditional narrative of the early Republic and the institution-focused (rather than personality-focused) view of the Emperor's role were interesting, even if I wasn't 100% convinced. I also got a much clearer view of the Republic's structure and its civil wars than I had gotten from anything I'd read previously.
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Dec 5, 2016 05:12
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dublish posted:Most Grant biographies tend to give much more weight to his Civil War years. I wouldn't really recommend Jean Edward Smith or H.W. Brands, and I haven't read Ronald White's new one so I can't comment on that one. Thanks!
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Dec 5, 2016 18:30
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Western Civ professor assigned the class to read Safe Area Gorazde: The War in Eastern Bosnia 1992-1995, written and drawn by Joe Sacco. I was kind of side-eyeing being assigned a graphic novel but it was actually a really good read. It focus on Sacco's experiences as a journalist in Gorazde during the Yugoslav Wars. Weird mix of horrible massacres and day-to-day minutia. One section could talk about the horrors and rebuilding the Muslims experienced and another could focus on this quirky soldier who loves to sing American songs. One thing that stuck out to me is how bored people were during a period of "peace", because they're stuck in this small town without access to material goods, books, instruments, movies, etc. I'd probably prefer it in novel form but the art complimented the narrative well.
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Dec 6, 2016 18:48
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nerdman42 posted:Western Civ professor assigned the class to read Safe Area Gorazde: The War in Eastern Bosnia 1992-1995, written and drawn by Joe Sacco. I was kind of side-eyeing being assigned a graphic novel but it was actually a really good read. It focus on Sacco's experiences as a journalist in Gorazde during the Yugoslav Wars. Weird mix of horrible massacres and day-to-day minutia. One section could talk about the horrors and rebuilding the Muslims experienced and another could focus on this quirky soldier who loves to sing American songs. One thing that stuck out to me is how bored people were during a period of "peace", because they're stuck in this small town without access to material goods, books, instruments, movies, etc. If you're interested in other historical graphic novels you really owe it to yourself to read Maus by Art Spiegelman which is about the Holocaust and Holocaust survival, and I also recommend Persepolis and Persepolis 2 by Marjane Satrapi which are about the Iranian Revolution.
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Dec 7, 2016 04:34
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vyelkin posted:If you're interested in other historical graphic novels you really owe it to yourself to read Maus by Art Spiegelman which is about the Holocaust and Holocaust survival, and I also recommend Persepolis and Persepolis 2 by Marjane Satrapi which are about the Iranian Revolution. Also of note: John Lewis' March trilogy. I want to say that earlier in the thread, several people recommended a book on the Sea Peoples and the Bronze Age collapse, but I neglected to add it to my library list at the time. Does that sound familiar to anyone?
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Dec 7, 2016 05:51
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Don't remember the post but it could have been 1177 B.C. the Year Civilisation Collapsed by Eric Cline.
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Dec 7, 2016 08:48
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which is a very good book and which I strongly recommend
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Dec 7, 2016 18:50
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That does sound promising. I'll check it out
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Dec 7, 2016 19:09
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geegee posted:Don't remember the post but it could have been 1177 B.C. the Year Civilisation Collapsed by Eric Cline. I read this earlier in the year. I don't read a lot of ancient history so the reliance on archeology and projection from limited ancient sources was new to me. Overall a great book. Got me interested in societal collapse.
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Dec 7, 2016 21:19
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I really enjoyed Age of Fracture and That Noble Dream. Anyone have any recommendations for other classics similar in scope on non United States intellectual history?
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Dec 15, 2016 01:31
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Any good books on the Bolshevik revolution of 1918? Preferably something aimed at laymen rather than amateur historians. I just finished Antony Beever's World War II book and loved it, looking for something with that level of detail and color.
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Dec 15, 2016 20:38
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geegee posted:Don't remember the post but it could have been 1177 B.C. the Year Civilisation Collapsed by Eric Cline. I read this a while back, so it may have been me that recommended it. Or not. I don't remember, but it was really good! I just caught up with the thread after a while away, and I'm digging a lot of the maritime history recommendations people made a little while back. I'm writing a piece of fiction that needs a lot of research about 18th century sailing tech, so this has been great.
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Dec 15, 2016 21:58
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Porn on VHS posted:Any good books on the Bolshevik revolution of 1918? Preferably something aimed at laymen rather than amateur historians. I just finished Antony Beever's World War II book and loved it, looking for something with that level of detail and color. I liked the russian revolution by rex wade.
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Dec 18, 2016 16:11
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Can anyone recommend anything on the Spanish revolution and Civil War?
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Dec 19, 2016 15:22
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FingersMaloy posted:Can anyone recommend anything on the Spanish revolution and Civil War? The Spanish Holocaust by Paul Preston is the best book I've read on the Spanish Civil War. It's like 700 pages though.
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Dec 19, 2016 15:56
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vyelkin posted:The Spanish Holocaust by Paul Preston is the best book I've read on the Spanish Civil War. It's like 700 pages though. Seconded, but it focuses heavily on specifically people killed for political reasons and how that all went down, not so much on the war itself. He does have a straight-up history of the Spanish Civil War available as well that should probably be read before the Holocaust book as the latter assumes a decent amount of familiarity with the progress of the war itself. I'd recommend reading Preston's Civil War history first or at least Beevor's (which is shorter and less academic but a fine intro to the topic).
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Dec 19, 2016 17:43
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I enjoyed Arms for Spain by Gerald Howson. It's not terribly long, and it made for a nice primer as my first foray into the subject.
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Dec 19, 2016 20:19
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geegee posted:Don't remember the post but it could have been 1177 B.C. the Year Civilisation Collapsed by Eric Cline. This is a great one. I go back and listen to it on Audible every now and then, because it's just so unthinkably bizarre that such a widespread collapse could happen so thoroughly. I'm finishing up Dan Jones' Wars of the Roses, which is a good summary on the topic. Does anybody know of a really good in-depth book on the last phase of the Hundred Years War, by chance? I'm very interested in sussing out for myself how much of a role the different factors played, particularly the English diplomatic fuckups at the Congress of Arras, and Suffolk and Somerset's apparent ineptitude.
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Dec 21, 2016 19:58
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Majorian posted:Does anybody know of a really good in-depth book on the last phase of the Hundred Years War, by chance? Depending on what you mean by last phase, may I recommend one of Jonathan Sumption's HYW books? He is up to volume four out of a planned five. These books are kind of epic.
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Dec 21, 2016 21:45
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Got Hornfischer's new book, The Fleet At Flood Tide for Christmas, and finished it this morning. It's an interesting book, but I think it's a step down from his previous works - I think Hornfischer isn't the best at talking about large-scale campaigns in the course of one book, and this one tried to cover the Marianas campaign, Okinawa, Iwo Jima, the bombing campaign against the Home Islands, and the atomic bomb, plus the fleet and air battles along the way and looking at the cost to civilians and how the Pacific war turned into one of total war culminating in the atomic bombs. Still interesting, still a reasonably good book, but I think Hornfischer was better concentrating on one specific battle rather than expanding his focus to full campaigns.
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Dec 26, 2016 15:46
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Cythereal posted:Got Hornfischer's new book, The Fleet At Flood Tide for Christmas, and finished it this morning. It's an interesting book, but I think it's a step down from his previous works - I think Hornfischer isn't the best at talking about large-scale campaigns in the course of one book, and this one tried to cover the Marianas campaign, Okinawa, Iwo Jima, the bombing campaign against the Home Islands, and the atomic bomb, plus the fleet and air battles along the way and looking at the cost to civilians and how the Pacific war turned into one of total war culminating in the atomic bombs. By any chance have you read Ian Toll's books on the same topic? I finished Hornfischer's "Neptune's Inferno" a while ago and have The Fleet at Flood Tide in the queue, but I'm wondering if Toll's take on the topic is better as I've heard roughly the same criticism you're making here of the second volume elsewhere as well.
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Dec 28, 2016 21:20
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smr posted:By any chance have you read Ian Toll's books on the same topic? I finished Hornfischer's "Neptune's Inferno" a while ago and have The Fleet at Flood Tide in the queue, but I'm wondering if Toll's take on the topic is better as I've heard roughly the same criticism you're making here of the second volume elsewhere as well. I have not. Hornfischer also has Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors, which is excellent and describes one of the most  moments in the history of the US Navy.
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Dec 28, 2016 22:15
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Cythereal posted:I have not. Hornfischer also has Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors, which is excellent and describes one of the most That was the first of his I read and yes, was excellent. But also reinforces the point that he's a better writer when he's closer to the deck.
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Dec 29, 2016 03:40
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Anyone feel like recommending some good bookz? I just finished Rubicon and Dynasty by Tom Holland and I'm reading SPQR by Mary Beard so I wanna keep my antiquity buzz going. I'm kinda burnt out on Rome so it's time to move ~eastwards~ On my amazon wishlist after some brief, random research: Alexander the Great by Philip Freeman The School of History: Athens in the Age of Socrates by Mark Munn The Mighty Dead: Why Homer Matters by Adam Nicolson Egypt, Greece and Rome: Civilizations of the Ancient Mediterranean by Charles Freeman Anything else in a similar vein? Well-written (crucial), up-to-date (ish) scholarship, "big picture" kinda thing? Anything really.
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Dec 30, 2016 11:53
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Could do the rest of Holland's books. They're not about Rome.
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Dec 30, 2016 14:30
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I just got WORST. PRESIDENT. EVER. and its a pretty good book. its a good summery and reasoning why Buchanan was the worst of our current presidents. he also makes a point saying the dude had every right at being a good president since he was a life long politician and diplomat for two countries and could have maybe been able to keep the war off a little longer but basically made the worst choices every time for stupid or short sited reasons. its not perfect, the author goes on tangents at times and some of the facts about other stuff are kinda fudged. but its pretty solid. http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/09/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-worst-president-james-buchanan-214252 Dapper_Swindler fucked around with this message at 01:48 on Dec 31, 2016 |
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Dec 31, 2016 01:40
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Can anyone recommend a book on Roman/Etruscan augury?
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Jan 1, 2017 01:52
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Anyone got a recommendation for a broad overview of the Confederate army, preferably what life was like for the troops rather than General's strategies etc.? Thanks.
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Jan 3, 2017 07:19
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fuf posted:Anyone feel like recommending some good bookz? The Poison King by Adrienne Mayor, about Mithradates VI
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Jan 3, 2017 18:02
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Eau de MacGowan posted:Anyone got a recommendation for a broad overview of the Confederate army, preferably what life was like for the troops rather than General's strategies etc.? Thanks. I haven't read him myself, but I think Joseph Glatthaar is probably what you're looking for. General Lee's Army and Soldiering in the Army of Northern Virginia are both pretty recent.
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Jan 3, 2017 19:07
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Porn on VHS posted:The Poison King by Adrienne Mayor, about Mithradates VI I'll second this, but the last few chapters are a bit sloppy from a historical perspective with the author basically doing a very lengthy "what if?" scenario without anything to support it.
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Jan 3, 2017 20:23
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dublish posted:I haven't read him myself, but I think Joseph Glatthaar is probably what you're looking for. General Lee's Army and Soldiering in the Army of Northern Virginia are both pretty recent. These look perfect, thank you very much.
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Jan 3, 2017 23:35
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fuf posted:Anyone feel like recommending some good bookz? Ancient Worlds by Michael Scott https://www.amazon.com/Ancient-Worl...=ancient+worlds I got this for christmas, I'm only about a third of the way through though. It covers how similar social pressures throughout the ancient world forced radical changes on those societies, at around the same times. Rome overthrowing the Tarquin kings and Athens founding it's democracy, for example, occurred in the same general time period. It seems to mostly focus on the Mediterranean and China, but there is also stuff about the Middle east and India, from 500 BC to 300 AD. I mentioned it in the ancient history thread but so far it just kind of feels like a primer on different societies with some superficial similarities between them, but its interesting and easy enough to read. At the very least it's gotten me interested in the history of areas I'm not as familiar with. So, in that vein - does anyone have any good recommendations for the Warring States period of China or the Maurya Empire?
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Jan 4, 2017 17:06
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can anyone recommend something fairly light on the life of Alexander?
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Jan 7, 2017 22:12
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