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Vivian Darkbloom posted:Caro's series on LBJ is terrific and eye-opening too. I'm sure that fifth book will come out any day now....... 
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Mar 9, 2017 18:29
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Hanoi's War: The International War for Peace in Vietnam is a little dense and a very good read. Just finished it myself and I burned through it rather quickly. It covers the Vietnam war from the perspective of the Vietnamese leadership, primarily Le Duc Tho and Le Duan, and focuses heavily on the statesmanship and diplomatic issues rather than the actual fighting of the war. The Thirty Years War: Europe's Tragedy by Peter Wilson is another dense but great book. I'm not sure if Early Modern warfare is your thing, but this book got me a lot more interested in the time period. The first three hundred pages are just about the setup prior to the war and the rest is actually on the conflict, but it is well worth the read.
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Mar 9, 2017 23:16
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Can anybody recommend a decent book about Caribbean history? I know basically dick about the region beyond early European exploration and was hoping to learn a thing or two.
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Mar 10, 2017 19:09
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All I can offer is The Republic of Pirates by Colin Woodard which, while it probably isn't quite what you're after, is still a fun read. It covers the Golden Age of Piracy in the region with some historical setup on the area thrown in. Lots of primary sources from the period are used.
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Mar 10, 2017 20:26
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Sugar in the Blood is pretty interesting on Caribbean slavery and the plantation systems over there. In Miserable Slavery about Thomas Thistlewood for a different take.
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Mar 10, 2017 21:02
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A quick question for the thread: are each of Perlstein's books considered stand-alone? Do I have to read the Goldwater book if I want to read Nixonland, for instance?
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Mar 11, 2017 22:34
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They're #StrongerTogether, but I feel like I got the full enjoyment out of all of them despite reading out of order (most of Nixonland, Invisible Bridge, part of Goldwater, rest of Nixonland, end of Goldwater). Just be ready for conservatives to get Mad Online if you talk about them though.
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Mar 12, 2017 00:01
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Perlstein was well received by conservatives before he started writing about Reagan iirc.
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Mar 12, 2017 00:44
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Mantis42 posted:Perlstein was well received by conservatives before he started writing about Reagan iirc. Correct.
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Mar 12, 2017 02:02
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Minenfeld! posted:A quick question for the thread: are each of Perlstein's books considered stand-alone? Do I have to read the Goldwater book if I want to read Nixonland, for instance? Still haven't read the Goldwater one. Nixonland is much stronger than Invisible Bridge, though. Perlstein hates Jimmy Carter with a passion and doesn't delve at all into the phenomenon of Carter's rise.
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Mar 13, 2017 02:29
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RC and Moon Pie posted:Still haven't read the Goldwater one. Nixonland is much stronger than Invisible Bridge, though. Perlstein hates Jimmy Carter with a passion and doesn't delve at all into the phenomenon of Carter's rise. How so? I thought he covered the 1976 Dem Primary pretty well.
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Mar 13, 2017 02:40
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Are there any good books about the Sengoku period in Japan? Preferably ones that are actually in print.
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Mar 13, 2017 17:20
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I'm sure this has been asked a million times, but I'm going to Japan in a couple of weeks, so here it is again. What are some good general history of japan books?
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Mar 15, 2017 20:04
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iris chang, the rape of nanking
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Mar 15, 2017 22:10
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Quick question, what do people think of this Humble Bundle? I don't know much about the AP's history books. Are they any good?
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Mar 22, 2017 23:42
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I just finished "Alexander of Macedon", by Peter Green, and thought it's worthy of a note. It's a comprehensive description of the hectic career of Alexander, all the way from his upbringing under Philip to his sudden and perplexing demise in Babylon. Green has quite the dramatic flair to his writing, but never leaves the realm of academic research; any and all opinions that may differ from other historians are well-argued. The most notable of these would be the appendix at the end of the book, entitled "Appendix: Propaganda at the Granicus". Here Green argues (quite convincingly) that the established chain of events during the battle of Granicus are the product of Alexander's efficient propaganda machine. Green makes a strong case, but he also acknowledge that it is but a theory, and nothing more. The entire book is a great read. Apart from the description of Alexander's life, we get a detailed first chapter about his father Philip and his founding of the greater Greek-Macedonian "alliance", and towards the end of the book, Green goes into great detail about the views of Alexander's coducts that historians has entertained throughout the years. Green himself seems to have mixed feelings; while Alexander was a military leader of few equals, his statesmanship was sub-par at best, and Green depicts him as tyrranical and manipulative. It's a very good book and very well researched. Highly recommend it.
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Mar 28, 2017 01:47
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That's a swank cover, too. Thanks for the review, I think I may pick this up.
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Mar 28, 2017 14:18
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thanks, i actually posted in here looking for an alexander bio and some smartass gave me a rec for a book on alexander graham bell
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Mar 28, 2017 16:22
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Speaking of Alexander, has anyone read Ghost on the Throne about the Funeral Games?
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Mar 28, 2017 17:22
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Yvonmukluk posted:Quick question, what do people think of this Humble Bundle? I don't know much about the AP's history books. Are they any good? Also curious about this if anyone has any information
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Mar 28, 2017 17:31
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MeatwadIsGod posted:Speaking of Alexander, has anyone read Ghost on the Throne about the Funeral Games? I have about a year ago, it's okay for what it is. Which is a short book that focuses on a small segment of the overall conflict. If you don't know anything about the post-Alexander period it's a good place to start because it's not going to overwhelm you. But if you do then it's probably going to bore you because it's light reading. If you want a substantive book on the subject go with Peter Green's Alexander to Actium. I didn't know he did an Alexander book until I checked this thread just now and I'm going to look into getting that. Ithle01 fucked around with this message at 20:58 on Mar 29, 2017 |
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Mar 29, 2017 20:55
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IShallRiseAgain posted:Are there any good books about the Sengoku period in Japan? Preferably ones that are actually in print. Its more than the Sengoku era but I liked 'Brief History of the Samurai'. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Brief-History-Samurai-Histories/dp/1845299477
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Apr 3, 2017 10:25
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I just finished Blitzed: Drugs in the Third Reich. It's exactly what it says it is, and a really fascinating read because the author dug into documents and Hitler's medical file cards from his personal doctor, really went the whole nine yards. It's a quick read and super interesting if you care about that sort of thing. Apparently the Blitzkrieg only worked because the Germans were hopped up on crystal meth and drove tanks straight to the Atlantic coast without stopping to sleep for four days, before the Allies could basically get their pants on. Hitler himself only took the relatively small amounts of meth that were in his vitamin bars, but he had a huge opioid addiction in the bunker years and started having his nose swabbed with cocaine near the end. He only gave the Halt order (allowing the Allies to escape through Dunkirk) because he was high as poo poo and paranoid that his military was getting the credit instead of him. History really is stranger than fiction.
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Apr 6, 2017 18:34
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mdemone posted:I just finished Blitzed: Drugs in the Third Reich. It's exactly what it says it is, and a really fascinating read because the author dug into documents and Hitler's medical file cards from his personal doctor, really went the whole nine yards. It's extremely over-exaggerated.
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Apr 6, 2017 19:30
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Disinterested posted:It's extremely over-exaggerated. Eh, I thought his primary sources were in good shape. Obviously it's facile to blame any part of the Nazi actions solely on drugs, but I didn't think Ohler went quite as far as to do that (I probably overstated it just then, if anything). The most interesting part to me was the description of how cosmopolitan, WWI-disaffected Weimar Germany became enamored with Pervitin to the point that there were advertisements where housewives were shown indulging in methamphetamine chocolates. I'd love to see an early history of Merck from that perspective, but they'll obviously never divulge any but the most white-washed details.
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Apr 6, 2017 20:25
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mdemone posted:Apparently the Blitzkrieg only worked because the Germans were hopped up on crystal meth and drove tanks straight to the Atlantic coast without stopping to sleep for four days, before the Allies could basically get their pants on. come on now that's a silly idea
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Apr 7, 2017 05:31
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Nothing says sturdy, reliable overachiever like being on meth.
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Apr 7, 2017 08:27
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Basically everyone was on meth during WW2.
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Apr 12, 2017 13:44
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One of the few general rules you can apply to history is that if there was any chance to get drunk or high on anything, ever, anywhere, people did it.
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Apr 12, 2017 13:47
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I liked these so I clipped them to post.  "Hildebrand chocolates always delight"  "Stimulates the psyche and circulation. Depression, hypotonia, fatigue, narcolepsy, postoperative recovery."
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Apr 12, 2017 14:38
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the good old days
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Apr 12, 2017 20:18
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Any good books about the history of the cartels in Mexico?
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Apr 13, 2017 05:44
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Samog posted:Any good books about the history of the cartels in Mexico? It's fiction, but 2666 is a multipart account of life in northern Mexico under the control of the cartels. It's obviously not a history, but it's a very good read and definitely gives a visceral sense of how the cartels transformed the region.
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Apr 13, 2017 08:17
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Samog posted:Any good books about the history of the cartels in Mexico?
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Apr 14, 2017 15:28
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If Late Republic in Ancient Rome is your thing.  
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Apr 19, 2017 01:29
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Cicero's lesser known work on civic virtues, "Don't litter." Kuiperdolin fucked around with this message at 10:06 on Apr 19, 2017 |
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Apr 19, 2017 10:01
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I believe this may have been mentioned in this thread before, but what is the best book on Stalin's purges? And since I am on a Communist-Purge reading spree. Is "Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader" still considered the best inside-look at the North Korean leadership?
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Apr 19, 2017 17:53
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Does anyone have any recommendations for books about Mexican history? I realized recently that other than some knowledge of the Aztec Empire (mainly from "1491"), I have a pretty big dearth of knowledge there I'd like to correct.
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Apr 19, 2017 20:40
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IBroughttheFunk posted:Does anyone have any recommendations for books about Mexican history? I realized recently that other than some knowledge of the Aztec Empire (mainly from "1491"), I have a pretty big dearth of knowledge there I'd like to correct. It's much broader than just Mexico, but Born in Blood and Fire covers all the Latin American countries and is very good. I used an older edition in a survey class years ago. I suggest it because the events of independence of Latin American countries were deeply inter-linked and the problems of development and governmental stability took similar paths in different countries, including Mexico. The book carries the theme that a cult of caudillismo has haunted almost all of them and was really central during many points of Mexican history, especially the Second Mexican Revolution. I hope other folks have good suggestions for a more Mexico focused book to go along with this, but it offers a really great foundation. Also, a novel by Carlos Fuentes, The Death of Artemio Cruz, centers on Mexico in the early 20th century and conveys what the country was like during a crucial and transformative time in it's history. It's probably best read after learning a bit about the history of the era but it really grabbed me when I read it in college and, though I haven't revisited it, it remains one of my all-time favorites and is generally well regarded.
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Apr 19, 2017 21:42
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IBroughttheFunk posted:Does anyone have any recommendations for books about Mexican history? I realized recently that other than some knowledge of the Aztec Empire (mainly from "1491"), I have a pretty big dearth of knowledge there I'd like to correct. As an introduction Mexico: Biography of Power by Enrique Krauze is pretty good. It leans a bit heavily on the great man theory of politics for my taste but since the thesis is that the caudillo is the central figure in Mexican politics and culture that's kind of the point I guess. For a more left wing take on things I also liked The Annexation of Mexico by John Ross. It's pretty polemical at times so if you're just looking for a basic introduction it might not be for you but I definitely liked it. I would also recommend seeking out essay collections by Mexican writers like Octavio Paz, Jose Vasconcelos, and Carlos Fuentes. Alternatively, you could pick up The Mexico Reader, which includes a lot of the really crucial essays from the writers mentioned. It's a really well put together reader in general.
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Apr 19, 2017 23:48
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