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Librarians I've talked to have been super enthusiastic about interlibrary loans. Walk in to the library, talk to a librarian, tell them what you want. It will happen.
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May 23, 2018 16:16
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Beef Hardcheese posted:"Inter-library loan" where the librarians will request things from completely different library systems, sometimes even academic / university libraries. I poked around on the site you linked and didn't find anything, possibly because I don't have an account there. Try calling / emailing them and asking about it. ExecuDork posted:Librarians I've talked to have been super enthusiastic about interlibrary loans. Walk in to the library, talk to a librarian, tell them what you want. It will happen. Huh, thanks for the heads up! I'll give it a go next time I'm in the library. 
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May 23, 2018 16:33
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Prairie Bus posted:I was pretty surprised by his arguments but they make total sense when you think about it. The early states were brutal as hell and overly self aggrandizing in their histories. That said, it’s hard to imagine a world where history doesn’t have a bias towards them. They’re the closest thing to a record we’ve got. Is Scott's thinking particularly common among scholars of ancient history? I know basically nothing about the field but is it really full of people who think that our first mistake was when we started farming cereal crops?
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May 23, 2018 20:56
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StrixNebulosa posted:Huh, thanks for the heads up! I'll give it a go next time I'm in the library. Do it! Keep in mind that traditional ILL often times has a fee attached to it though, depending on your system.
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May 24, 2018 00:31
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cloudchamber posted:Is Scott's thinking particularly common among scholars of ancient history? I know basically nothing about the field but is it really full of people who think that our first mistake was when we started farming cereal crops? Not particularly. Good scholarship recently has realized that pre-agriculture people actually had more free time and there were negatives to settling down along with the positives, which has launched a small field of trying to figure out exactly what compelled the development of settled societies. But Scott is rather extreme.
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May 24, 2018 03:49
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Grand Fromage posted:Not particularly. Good scholarship recently has realized that pre-agriculture people actually had more free time and there were negatives to settling down along with the positives, which has launched a small field of trying to figure out exactly what compelled the development of settled societies. But Scott is rather extreme. Can you recommend any other books on the period? Scott's bias was clear, but his arguments were convincing. I'd love to see the other side, and more generally, learn more about the current state of our understanding of the period.
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May 24, 2018 05:28
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One certainly has to consider that, by necessity, most of the very earliest states wouldn't have a very good idea on how to run a state properly. We would be quite surprised if all or even most of the earliest states turned out to have massive popularity and minimal problems.
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May 24, 2018 05:44
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Lewd Mangabey posted:The Edmund Morris Roosevelt trilogy is quite readable and informative. Roosevelt is one of the American presidents who was as interesting before he was president than during or after, so concentrating on his early life is quite rewarding. PatMarshall posted:Taylor Branch's three volume biography of King is fantastic (start with Parting the Waters). Looks like there is an audiobook version as well. Thank you for the suggestions!
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May 24, 2018 16:42
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Are there any good books out there about combat aviation and pilots during the first world war? My grandparents gave me a copy of The Canvas Falcons when I was 6 and between that and playing Red Baron I was in heaven that summer. I was thinking of rereading it, but apparently it's an awful, ahistorical work. Any suggestions?
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May 27, 2018 16:46
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cloudchamber posted:Is Scott's thinking particularly common among scholars of ancient history? I know basically nothing about the field but is it really full of people who think that our first mistake was when we started farming cereal crops? I've read quite a bit of ancient history, and the sense I get is that Scott greatly overrestimates the level of suffering and abject servitude that developed in the first proto-states. I can't help but suspect that his vision of history is colored by the pervasive and understandable collective guilt that westerners feel over the chattel slavery that was brought to the New World, but slavery as slavery was not always quite that bad. A moral evil, to be sure, but the Caribbean and deep south plantation owners really ratcheted up the evil to mustache-twirling levels. Further, the proportions of society that were slaves varied from society to society, with the Roman empire perhaps reaching the apogee of a slave state. Throughout much of the pharonic period, slaves were less a proportion of society than they would have been in Rome, and within Egypt there were different types of ways of being a slave, from the more brutal to relatively moderate situations which were more akin to serfdom. Further, I think he underestimates the supposedly benign nature of non-agricultural societies. Gengis Khan emerged from an entirely pastoral situation.
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May 27, 2018 17:57
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Minenfeld! posted:Are there any good books out there about combat aviation and pilots during the first world war? My grandparents gave me a copy of The Canvas Falcons when I was 6 and between that and playing Red Baron I was in heaven that summer. I was thinking of rereading it, but apparently it's an awful, ahistorical work. Any suggestions? If you want facts and figures about numbers of pilots and technological advancements and numbers of planes built and political funding for aviation and how Bavarian pride kept buggering up German procurement, John H Morrow Jr's The Great War in the Air does an excellent job of getting over what you need to know without being too painful. If you want pilot stories, the Imperial War Museum's Peter Hart is a great way to start; all his general oral histories contain recollections from pilots, and he's also done If you also go to archive.org, you can find a number of obscure long-out-of-print memoirs, including German ace Oswald Boelcke and several veterans of the Lafayette Escadrille, American volunteer pilots who flew for France before the USA joined the war. Trin Tragula fucked around with this message at 18:10 on May 27, 2018 |
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May 27, 2018 18:05
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McCudden's book is really good too, the title of which escaped me now.
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May 28, 2018 00:14
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Minenfeld! posted:Are there any good books out there about combat aviation and pilots during the first world war? My grandparents gave me a copy of The Canvas Falcons when I was 6 and between that and playing Red Baron I was in heaven that summer. I was thinking of rereading it, but apparently it's an awful, ahistorical work. Any suggestions? I refer you back to my post at the very end of page 62 in this thread, in which I talk about "Marked for Death".
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Jun 5, 2018 19:47
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Any recommendations on post-revolutionary Haitian history? After a recent visit to Cap-Haitien and a read through of The Black Jacobins by C.L.R. James and I'm interested in getting a bit more information on what's happened since the death of Touissant L'Ouverture.
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Jun 6, 2018 07:12
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What's the recommendation for a sort of "rise and fall of Napoleon" book? Not just a biography of the man, but something that covers the situation that let him take over, and then moves into his actual rule, and eventual exile? I vaguely recall some of the French Revolution history from my AP Euro class 11 years ago, if that helps to understand my "background" in this. Also, similar request for Vlad the Impaler. I've seen Dracula, Prince of Many Faces: His Life and His Times recommended, is that the go-to? Thanks.
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Jun 9, 2018 01:33
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CountFosco posted:I've read quite a bit of ancient history, and the sense I get is that Scott greatly overrestimates the level of suffering and abject servitude that developed in the first proto-states. I can't help but suspect that his vision of history is colored by the pervasive and understandable collective guilt that westerners feel over the chattel slavery that was brought to the New World, but slavery as slavery was not always quite that bad. A moral evil, to be sure, but the Caribbean and deep south plantation owners really ratcheted up the evil to mustache-twirling levels. Further, the proportions of society that were slaves varied from society to society, with the Roman empire perhaps reaching the apogee of a slave state. Throughout much of the pharonic period, slaves were less a proportion of society than they would have been in Rome, and within Egypt there were different types of ways of being a slave, from the more brutal to relatively moderate situations which were more akin to serfdom. Further, I think he underestimates the supposedly benign nature of non-agricultural societies. Gengis Khan emerged from an entirely pastoral situation. I see this line of argument a lot, and it makes me a bit uncomfortable (especially when it's made in defense of the Roman Empire specifically, which, to be fair, you're not doing). In particular, I think people tend to gloss over how normalized sexual abuse of slaves was in many slaveholding societies (including the Roman Empire, ancient Athens, and the Ottoman Empire). Though you're right to point out that that there were degrees of slavery even within particular societies; an educated Greek slave working as a tutor in a Roman household was definitely in a very different position to the slaves being worked to death in the mines.
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Jun 9, 2018 02:50
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Silver2195 posted:I see this line of argument a lot, and it makes me a bit uncomfortable (especially when it's made in defense of the Roman Empire specifically, which, to be fair, you're not doing). In particular, I think people tend to gloss over how normalized sexual abuse of slaves was in many slaveholding societies (including the Roman Empire, ancient Athens, and the Ottoman Empire). Though you're right to point out that that there were degrees of slavery even within particular societies; an educated Greek slave working as a tutor in a Roman household was definitely in a very different position to the slaves being worked to death in the mines. I think at this point we have to bite the bullet and admit that we have no idea how normalized sexual abuse was even outside of the slave-slaveholder relationship.
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Jun 10, 2018 00:21
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Working through The Battle For the Falklands, so far so good. Since everything seems to relate back to the Suez Crisis, any book recommendations there?
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Jun 15, 2018 00:10
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This is tangentially related to history books - but I'm looking to learn a bit more about the French Revolution and French History, and I've seen a number of posts that recommend the Revolutions podcast. However, I'm confused about how the numbering/seasons (?) work. At least looking at the episode titles, it seems to jump around a whole lot, and the episode descriptions are things like "in 1874, things were happening" or "A royal gets it." Is it season-based, (i.e. I should download anything 8.xx for The French Revolution?) Or should I just download episodes that sound like they talk about Paris and listen in any order? edit: NM Found my answer! It's anything with "3.xx", and I was confusing the later episodes, which are the Paris Communes SgtScruffy fucked around with this message at 19:35 on Jun 17, 2018 |
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Jun 17, 2018 19:33
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You may also find this index a dude made useful: http://www.sal.wisc.edu/~jwp/revolutions-episode-index.html
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Jun 17, 2018 19:49
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SgtScruffy posted:This is tangentially related to history books - but I'm looking to learn a bit more about the French Revolution and French History, and I've seen a number of posts that recommend the Revolutions podcast. He seems to be going chronologically with the revolutions. I think the 1.xx are English, 2.xx American, 3.xx French, 4.xx Haitian, etc.
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Jun 17, 2018 23:50
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I'm really enjoying Mary Beard's SPQR (at least the opening chapters). It's not an authoritative book on early Roman history but I think it manages to get past just being a pop-history look at the history of Rome.
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Jun 20, 2018 08:54
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Tekopo posted:I'm really enjoying Mary Beard's SPQR (at least the opening chapters). It's not an authoritative book on early Roman history but I think it manages to get past just being a pop-history look at the history of Rome. Ancient Rome has never really excited me but I gave it a go and enjoyed it too. It's pop-history enough to get someone like me through which is pretty impressive. There's a good amount of ordinary people's history in there too.
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Jun 20, 2018 10:40
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I appreciated the first chapter based on the 1st century BCE, where the entire chapter is basically "the history of Rome is really biased by the sources and most of the historical sources we use commonly nowadays are from this century"
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Jun 20, 2018 10:46
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crazyvanman posted:I'm going to be teaching a course that covers Germany from 1919-1963. I'm not at all clued up about anything German post-1945. What are some quick-ish, introductory level things I could read? Jarausch’s After Hitler is my go to single volume work on that.
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Jun 20, 2018 11:56
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COOL CORN posted:Any recommendations on Frederick the Great, the Austrian War of Succession, Silesian Wars, or the 7 Years War? (They all kind of blend together) It’s not narrowly about the subject but Clark’s Iron Kingdom is a great history of Prussia and covers those topics in detail.
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Jun 20, 2018 12:01
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Cyrano4747 posted:Jarausch’s After Hitler is my go to single volume work on that. I was asked for overview histories of 1914-1945 Europe for a beginner earlier and I want to throw that discussion open, especially the Bad Stuff. I said: Overview: Hobsbawm - Age of Extremes Kershaw - To Hell and Back Again WW1 Origins: Macmillan - The War that Ended Peace Clark - Sleepwalkers Depression: Wages of Destruction (focused on Germany) Germany/Nazism: Richard Evans - Third Reich Series Kershaw - Hubris/Nemesis Friedlander - Years of persecution/extermination Tack some ideas on, this was me throwing spaghetti at the wall on my laptop in bed.
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Jun 20, 2018 19:44
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Definitely add MacMillan's variably-titled book about the Paris Peace Conference in 1919; it's possible to disagree with the conclusion that the peace was not directly responsible for the rise of Hitler, but it doesn't invalidate the analysis of who was there and what they thought they were trying to do.
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Jun 20, 2018 19:54
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Trin Tragula posted:Definitely add MacMillan's variably-titled book about the Paris Peace Conference in 1919; it's possible to disagree with the conclusion that the peace was not directly responsible for the rise of Hitler, but it doesn't invalidate the analysis of who was there and what they thought they were trying to do. To supplement MacMillan, maybe include Tooze's The Deluge, which focuses on the USA's rise to economic dominance in the latter half of the war and the early interactive period.
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Jun 20, 2018 20:48
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Trin Tragula posted:Definitely add MacMillan's variably-titled book about the Paris Peace Conference in 1919; it's possible to disagree with the conclusion that the peace was not directly responsible for the rise of Hitler, but it doesn't invalidate the analysis of who was there and what they thought they were trying to do. You also need to add Fischer’s Germanys war aims in the first world war to that discussion. I’ll hit back later with more on general 20c German history.
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Jun 20, 2018 20:56
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Gay’s book on Weimar culture is a must read on the inter war era befor I forget. Edit: in addition to the stuff already on that list: Browning ordinary men on Holocaust perpetrators is a no brainer as well. Bartov if you’re into the Wehrmacht and it’s crimes in the east. Pretty much anything Kershaw ever wrote. His hitler book is magisterial but looong absolute destruction by Hull for the development of a military culture in the years before ww1 that arguably helped lead into mistreatment of civilians in both world wars. Also excellent just as an examination of the frequently overlooked Herero genocide. More when I’m not on a subway
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Jun 20, 2018 21:01
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I think Mazower's Dark Continent is worth reading to supplement Hobsbawm's Age of Extremes, they both place ideological conflict as central to Europe in the time period but for Hobsbawm the big ideological challenger is obviously communism whereas Mazower makes a strong case that fascism is the defining ideological challenge of the 20th century. Fascism is so central to 1914-45 Europe that I think Paxton's Anatomy of Fascism is worth it to understand the era. I got a lot out of Fritzsche's Germans Into Nazis though it's maybe more useful as a rebuttal to the idea that Hitler tricked Germans into supporting him than it is just standing on its own. I'll second Hull's Absolute Destruction, I think it's really key to understanding Germany in the first half of the 20th century. If you're doing Holocaust stuff, alongside Browning I think Gross's Neighbors is a must, it's also short and fast to read (I almost said easy, which it isn't), especially given the context about how Poland responded to Gross and how it's currently responding to debates about the Holocaust. Finally I would add Zahra's Lost Children on postwar rebuilding.
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Jun 20, 2018 21:37
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Disinterested posted:I was asked for overview histories of 1914-1945 Europe for a beginner earlier and I want to throw that discussion open, especially the Bad Stuff. If you're reading Kershaw first then I'd say that Judt's Post-War is a better take on the rest of the century in Europe than Hobsbawm's is.
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Jun 20, 2018 23:00
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cloudchamber posted:If you're reading Kershaw first then I'd say that Judt's Post-War is a better take on the rest of the century in Europe than Hobsbawm's is. The post specifically outlines 14-45 but yeah
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Jun 20, 2018 23:06
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Cyrano4747 posted:You also need to add Fischer’s Germanys war aims in the first world war to that discussion. Add his arguments to the discussion in some form, sure; but his ideas have been, ahem, robustly challenged all the way from 1961, as befits the history of such an epic clusterfuck, and I'm not so sure it belongs in "overviews" given that you've got MacMillan to directly counterbalance Clark on the causes
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Jun 20, 2018 23:29
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I second Mazower's Dark Continent and I'll add Piers Brendon's The Dark Valley about the 1930s.
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Jun 21, 2018 00:36
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Cyrano4747 posted:It’s not narrowly about the subject but Clark’s Iron Kingdom is a great history of Prussia and covers those topics in detail. C O R P O R A T E S T R U C T U R E S
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Jun 24, 2018 02:26
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Anyone know of a good book about Julian the Apostate? He seems like an interesting figure.
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Jun 27, 2018 05:39
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I wanted to mention that Verso Books, "the largest independent, radical publishing house in the English-speaking world", is having a flash sale on eBooks, 90% off until Friday. The catalog and it's contents are what you would expect, and there's also a lot of primary source material in there as well. https://www.versobooks.com/
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Jun 28, 2018 20:00
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What’s a good detailed book on the history of modern China? I’m talking from the 1800s decaying of the Qing, the fall of the dynasty and the established of the Republic, the warlord era, the civil war, and then since the establishment of the PRC. Is there such a detailed single volume book for this?
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Jun 29, 2018 00:21
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