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Glah posted:Any recommendations on current books on ancient Sumer? I've been reading The Sumerians -Their History, Culture, and Character by Samuel Kramer and while very interesting, it is from the 70's so I'm left wondering if there have been developments on sumerology after that. Two good options would be Sumer and the Sumerians by Harriet Crawford, which has an updated edition from 2004, and The Sumerian World edited by Harriet Crawford. The Sumerian World is a big multi-author work covering dozens of topics over about 700 pages. If you want an up to date comprehensive overview of everything about Sumer, that's probably the best option (it may be a bit pricey though). Sumer and the Sumerians is much shorter and only has one author.
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Apr 26, 2022 23:05
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Boatswain posted:The Penguin History of Modern Vietnam by Christopher Goscha is supposed to be very good, but it does not extend very far back.
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Apr 27, 2022 00:21
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Gripweed posted:This is the most tiresome argument. We know almost nothing about Operation Gladio, and most of what little did come out was because of an unrelated investigation into a bank in the 90s. Hell, we call the whole thing "Operation Gladio" even though we know there were different names for the operation in each country because Gladio is the only name we do know. Indeed, it has taken decades of slowly pulling the veil back on the CIA through FOIA requests/lawsuits/foreign country lawsuits or arrests that exposed other things/the Contras & CIA cocaine smuggling which is still not well known/classified documents being released, to create the picture we have of an out of control agency that wrecked havoc abroad and at home since Allen Dulles took control. I don't know how one can educate themselves on the life of Lee Harvey Oswald and not know he, as one senator put it, has "the fingerprints of intelligence" all over him.
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Apr 27, 2022 15:20
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I've been reading a lot of critical stuff involving the Matter of Britain, which is all of the literature, mythology, and so on involving King Arthur and that whole lot. One of the interesting things about it is how much the familiar elements evolve over time: we expect precisely one Lady of the Lady and one Excalibur, but the number of each is moderately variable in different incarnations of the tales (Malory, for example, is compelled to supply Arthur with two Excaliburs to account for all of the Excalibur acquisition stories he wants to include--drawing forth from the stone and also the farcical aquatic ceremony). Perhaps the most emphatic example of this is the Holy Grail, which first appears in Chrétien de Troyes' unfinished Perceval and which at the time is definitely not holy and what precisely a "grail" even is isn't entirely clear. Subsequent authors seeking to complete de Troyes' story, or expand upon it, decide that the grail is a stone, or a wash basin, or a bowl, or a cup, and eventually begin imputing various magical abilities to it, finally conflating it with the cup Jesus used in the Last Supper, this cup itself the subject of an extensive body of fan fiction imagining that Joseph of Arimathea used it to catch some of Jesus' blood during the Crucifixion. Anyway, this sort of exegesis is pretty much a fundamental part of any modern approach to a historical document (or collection of documents). What are some works that look at this sort of thing for events/periods/whatever in popular history? Like a couple years ago someone recommended Alan Moore's From Hell to me, and as soon as I started reading it I got that tingling sensation that I wasn't just being bullshitted in general or bullshitted in some manner devised entirely for the purposes of the story, but rather that I was being subjected to a fairly well-exercised system of folk bullshit. If that makes sense. Looking around for any "real" history about the Ripper murders turns out to be somewhat difficult, as most of the writing on the subject tends toward the "imagine the screaming terror of their final blood-soaked minutes" sort of thing that seems to be the bread and butter of "true crime" writing. But I found one volume by Philip Sugden which spends most of its time carefully explaining not just what bits of the popular history are bullshit, but also tracing the documentary history of the development of the bullshit. Vincent Bugliosi's Reclaiming History does something similar with a lot of conspiracy theories involving the JFK assassination. What are some more examples, for whatever subject matter? Books that are exegeses of popular perception of historical events or whatever, if that makes sense.
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Apr 28, 2022 03:36
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Not entirely sure if this is the best place to ask this but to piggyback off of the previous post regarding the Matter of Britain, having read a decent number of the classic works related to that matter I've been getting kind of curious about the Matter of France, the stories and legends related to Charlemagne and his court. I've read the Song of Roland but finding English translations of other texts within that tradition has been rather difficult. I know this is the history thread so I'll open up my request to include historical overviews of either the actual events and lives of the Carolingian court or of the impact and importance of this body of literature but what I'm really looking for is English translations of the original texts. Any ideas?
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Apr 28, 2022 11:46
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I finished The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes. It was one of the best history books I have ever read: sweeping, intensely detailed, total in its scope and harrowing in its devastating conclusion. What should I read next? I want to read another detailed work like it, probably about a scientific process that was majorly impactful to the world. Perhaps there is something comparable that is about NASA/getting to the moon? I'm open to things not just about science, but other sorts of massive projects that were important, shaped by and shaping the times in which they happened.
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Apr 30, 2022 17:07
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blue squares posted:I finished The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes. It was one of the best history books I have ever read: sweeping, intensely detailed, total in its scope and harrowing in its devastating conclusion. An obvious follow up is Dark Sun, Rhodes' book about the development of the hydrogen bomb. It also covers the Soviet espionage campaign to steal nuclear technology so it has a spy thriller vibe, I liked it more.
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Apr 30, 2022 18:45
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Grand Fromage posted:An obvious follow up is Dark Sun, Rhodes' book about the development of the hydrogen bomb. It also covers the Soviet espionage campaign to steal nuclear technology so it has a spy thriller vibe, I liked it more. That makes sense and sounds interesting. The Making of the Atomic Bomb ends immediately after the Japanese surrender. I'm very interested in continuing the story. I want to know more about the role that nuclear weapons had on postwar international politics
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Apr 30, 2022 19:01
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Yeah Dark Sun is also very good, definitely check it out.
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Apr 30, 2022 19:02
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Yes, it's like a lava lamp.
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blue squares posted:I finished The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes. It was one of the best history books I have ever read: sweeping, intensely detailed, total in its scope and harrowing in its devastating conclusion.
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Apr 30, 2022 20:19
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There's also Apollo by Murray and Bly Cox that's quite good (though it's been many a year since I read it).
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May 1, 2022 03:00
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PittTheElder posted:There's also Apollo by Murray and Bly Cox that's quite good (though it's been many a year since I read it). Is it really written by the race realism guy?
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May 1, 2022 16:35
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Holy poo poo apparently it is
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May 1, 2022 18:52
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Does anyone have a good book(s) on the history and culture of the Mormons
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May 3, 2022 00:08
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sbaldrick posted:Does anyone have a good book(s) on the history and culture of the Mormons Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer is a good place to start, although it mainly covers the early history of the Mormons / Latter Day Saints (LDS) to provide a background for the history of some of the fundamentalist groups that split from the church, which in turn provides a basis for understanding the murder of Brenda Lafferty and her daughter by her fundamentalist brothers-in-law. The book is more true crime than straight history.
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May 3, 2022 00:28
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Also getting adapted later this year
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May 3, 2022 00:31
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Just finished The White War by Mark Thompson, about the 432 Battles of the Isonzo. I know it's cliche to refer to the futility and waste of life during the 1st world war, but it's difficult to think of anything more futile and wasteful than Cadorna's strategy and tactics on the Italian-Austrian front. This is a book I've read before, but Russia's performance in the war over the last couple of months put my in the mood to read about the mother of all ill-conceived and -executed invasions.
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May 3, 2022 01:25
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dokmo posted:Just finished The White War by Mark Thompson, about the 432 Battles of the Isonzo. I know it's cliche to refer to the futility and waste of life during the 1st world war, but it's difficult to think of anything more futile and wasteful than Cadorna's strategy and tactics on the Italian-Austrian front. This is a book I've read before, but Russia's performance in the war over the last couple of months put my in the mood to read about the mother of all ill-conceived and -executed invasions. Luigi Cadorna Was The Worst
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May 3, 2022 01:49
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sbaldrick posted:Does anyone have a good book(s) on the history and culture of the Mormons I personally like “One Nation Under Gods” By Richard Abanes. It doesn’t shy away from the weirder stuff that is in Mormon history like the Kirkland Anti-Banking Co. and goes up to when BYU was getting banned from the NCAA in the 70s.
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May 3, 2022 02:53
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quote:I thought I ought to substantiate the nearly endless shade towards Luigi Cadorna, Italian Army Chief of Staff from 1914-1917 (though I realize after writing this that what I actually ought to have done is just told the same bad joke about Cadorna 11 times in a row and let that stand as the explanation) BOOM
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May 3, 2022 19:45
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sbaldrick posted:Does anyone have a good book(s) on the history and culture of the Mormons Kingdom of Nauvoo: The Rise and Fall of a Religious Empire on the American Frontier by Benjamin E. Park
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May 3, 2022 19:54
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FPyat posted:I'm looking at The Nazi Seizure of Power: The Experience of a Single German Town 1930-1935, and I wonder if there are any other books that study a geographically widespread event through the case study of a single town. I have a copy of Magnetic Mountain by Stephen Kotkin. War Comes to Long An by Jeffrey Race. It is about a single province in Vietnam during the war with France and the USA. It was written in 1972, before Saigon fell. It's a bit dry, but very worth reading.
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May 3, 2022 21:36
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Is there any work in particular about the Arab Revolt (World War I) that I should poke around in?
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May 3, 2022 21:41
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BigglesSWE posted:Is there any work in particular about the Arab Revolt (World War I) that I should poke around in?
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May 3, 2022 21:57
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The_Other posted:Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer is a good place to start, although it mainly covers the early history of the Mormons / Latter Day Saints (LDS) to provide a background for the history of some of the fundamentalist groups that split from the church, which in turn provides a basis for understanding the murder of Brenda Lafferty and her daughter by her fundamentalist brothers-in-law. The book is more true crime than straight history. The show is honestly why I need to read more
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May 4, 2022 01:38
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SubG posted:I don't know what the current consensus pick is for academic histories, but the classic literary one is Seven Pillars of Wisdom. I thought Lawrence in Arabia by Scott Anderson was a good entry point since my interest was piqued by the David Lean film. He even devotes at least a chapter to how accurate the film is, where it takes creative license, etc.
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May 4, 2022 15:32
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It's really a current events question, but I figure there might be some lessons there: Is there a good book about Iraq that focuses on 1991-2003, and how Saddam Hussein successfully stayed in power after getting kicked out of Kuwait?
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May 5, 2022 03:14
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blue squares posted:I finished The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes. It was one of the best history books I have ever read: sweeping, intensely detailed, total in its scope and harrowing in its devastating conclusion. I enjoyed "First Light" by Richard Preston, which is about the development of telescopes up to the Hubble, it's really fascinating.
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May 6, 2022 12:12
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Are there any good history books about the Soviet side of the space race? The US missions are so heavily, minutely documented that there must be some equivalent counterpart, even with how secretive the USSR was about its scientific programmes.
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May 9, 2022 15:54
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Gertrude Perkins posted:Are there any good history books about the Soviet side of the space race? The US missions are so heavily, minutely documented that there must be some equivalent counterpart, even with how secretive the USSR was about its scientific programmes. Asif Siddiqi is the author you want. He has multiple books about Soviet spaceflight, one of which (specifically about the Cold War space race from the Soviet perspective) is available for free from NASA in PDF or hardcopy, and the other of which is about the prehistory of that race, the hundred years of Russian and Soviet fascination with space that led up to Sputnik in 1957.
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May 9, 2022 16:18
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Adding my support to Asif Siddiqi's work. James Harford also has a biography of Korolev, but not sure how accurate it is as I haven't read it. It's not entirely the Soviet space race, but my friend Fred Scharmen put out a book last year, "Space Forces: A Critical History of Life in Outer Space," which looks at a history of various ideologies of space colonization, and Tsiolkovsky, Bogdanov, and the Russian Cosmists are covered in it. Edit: Tom Ellis also does work on the history of American perceptions of the Soviet space program: https://redskyatdawn.wordpress.com/
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May 9, 2022 17:06
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Was listening to Nixonland and it had the odd claim regarding the defeat of the French in 1954 by the Vietminh, that "It was the first military loss for a European colonial power in three hundred years." That seemed like a poorly researched claim, whether he meant loss in a stand up battle there were plenty of those like Siege of Khartoum or Isandlwana, and if he meant a whole war there was the First Italo-Ethiopian War. Is Rick Perlstein a credible author? So far the book is pretty good but if he has a dicey reputation research wise not gonna spend the time.
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May 9, 2022 19:32
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Hyrax Attack! posted:Is Rick Perlstein a credible author? So far the book is pretty good but if he has a dicey reputation research wise not gonna spend the time. With the caveat that I haven't read any of his books, a lot of people who I respect gave good reviews to Reaganland.
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May 9, 2022 20:04
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Perlstein is very good in his area (the rise and triumph of the American conservative movement, 1950-1990), arguably the best there is for that particular specialty. But outside of his core competence, he can be hit or miss.
FMguru fucked around with this message at 20:16 on May 9, 2022 |
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May 9, 2022 20:08
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vyelkin posted:Asif Siddiqi is the author you want. He has multiple books about Soviet spaceflight, one of which (specifically about the Cold War space race from the Soviet perspective) is available for free from NASA in PDF or hardcopy, and the other of which is about the prehistory of that race, the hundred years of Russian and Soviet fascination with space that led up to Sputnik in 1957. You can also get free PDFs of the four volumens of Boris Chertok's Rockets and People from NASA if you want primary sources.
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May 9, 2022 20:14
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Rick Perlstein is absolutely credible and the "dicey reputation" was a smear campaign from Republicans mad about the Reagan book.
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May 9, 2022 20:41
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vyelkin posted:Asif Siddiqi is the author you want. He has multiple books about Soviet spaceflight, one of which (specifically about the Cold War space race from the Soviet perspective) is available for free from NASA in PDF or hardcopy, and the other of which is about the prehistory of that race, the hundred years of Russian and Soviet fascination with space that led up to Sputnik in 1957. Both of these books look very good, thank you! Shame Red Rockets' Glare is only available in acadmic publishing prices. Gertrude Perkins fucked around with this message at 09:15 on May 10, 2022 |
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May 10, 2022 09:13
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Gertrude Perkins posted:Both of these books look very good, thank you! Shame Red Rockets' Glare is only available in acadmic publishing prices. they both look good but he also has this on his "current writing" page and I'm just going to wait for it to read quote:3/ Finally, I am under contract to write a fully revised version of my first book on the history of the Soviet space program, which covers everything from its beginnings in occupied Germany in 1945 to the collapse of its Moon program thirty years later. Provisionally titled The Soviet Union and the Space Race, the book will be published in two volumes by the University of Nebraska Press. The new edition will be a fully integrated work that combines the history of Soviet human spaceflight—focusing in particular on the flights of the early cosmonauts in the 1960s and the failed attempt to send cosmonauts to the Moon—with the social, cultural, and intellectual history of cosmic enthusiasm in postwar Soviet Union. In it, I argue that Soviet successes in space were largely the result of a centralized command structure of innovation while later, their system faltered, when they began to emulate more market-oriented forms of research and development.
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May 10, 2022 14:09
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That fits in well with the argument of Benjamin Peters in How Not to Network a Nation: The Uneasy History of the Soviet Internet, that the US was able to create an internet because it had a more centralized top-down program, while the Soviet network plan failed because there were too many decentralized efforts.
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May 10, 2022 14:38
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Anyone have a comprehensive book on the great depression in the US? I went back through the thread a bit trying to word search, but didn't find anything.
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May 10, 2022 14:50
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