|
Honestly I feel like biographies have unfairly fallen out of favor recently? They seem useful to me for getting inside the shoes of people but I don't remember the last time one a historical one was really popular?
|
#
?
Aug 10, 2022 13:37
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 17, 2024 02:52 |
|
|
Lawman 0 posted:Honestly I feel like biographies have unfairly fallen out of favor recently? Biographies can be really well done but they're one of the few historical genres that publishers expect to do well as trade paperbacks and the ones that sell as trade paperbacks tend to lean really hard into Great Man history because authors and publishers think it's kinda ridiculous to write a biography for a public audience that doesn't tell them that the subject of the biography was important and changed the world. In history academia, biographies have fallen out of favour as we've moved away from Great Man history, but there are still some excellent examples of how they can be well done by exploring a person in their context. My favourite recent example is a more academic biography, Willard Sunderland's The Baron's Cloak which is a biography of Roman von Ungern-Sternberg, the crazy guy who's famous for trying to revive the Mongol Empire during the Russian Civil War. Sunderland explores Ungern-Sternberg's life but also uses him and his travels and activities as a way to explore the Russian Empire and the broader world of empires and imperial noble politics of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It's incredibly well done and manages to be an interesting biography and an academic exploration of empire at the same time, without ever claiming that Ungern-Sternberg was a great man who changed the world.
|
|
#
?
Aug 10, 2022 13:46
|
|
|
Lawman 0 posted:Honestly I feel like biographies have unfairly fallen out of favor recently? Chernow
|
|
#
?
Aug 10, 2022 15:42
|
|
|
Are there any 500+ page tomes about the Titanic?
|
|
#
?
Aug 12, 2022 00:09
|
|
|
Lawman 0 posted:Honestly I feel like biographies have unfairly fallen out of favor recently? Mike Duncan’s Lafayette bio sold pretty well I think
|
|
#
?
Aug 12, 2022 00:21
|
|
|
FPyat posted:Are there any 500+ page tomes about the Titanic? Unfortunately not really. Most everything is much shorter and basically not very unique to be honest. I’d love a huge in-depth book that covers it in the context of the development of transatlantic travel and the rivalries between companies and really put the Titanic in the frame of the even larger history of the period but afaik nothing like that exists. Just lame pop history stuff that all says the same stuff with the same personal recollections of survivors.
|
|
#
?
Aug 12, 2022 01:03
|
|
|
Shimrra Jamaane posted:Unfortunately not really. Most everything is much shorter and basically not very unique to be honest. I’d love a huge in-depth book that covers it in the context of the development of transatlantic travel and the rivalries between companies and really put the Titanic in the frame of the even larger history of the period but afaik nothing like that exists. Just lame pop history stuff that all says the same stuff with the same personal recollections of survivors. The closest thing I can think of is "Ship of Dreams:The Sinking of the Titanic and the Wnd of the Edwardian Era", where the author focuses on the lives of six of the first class passengers on the Titanic, and uses that to look at the growth of the film industry, of Home Rule, of the shipping trade, of Jewish immigration to the US, to Edwardian upper class life, and so on. Its less a out the Titanic and more about the lives they lived before the Titanic
|
|
#
?
Aug 12, 2022 03:37
|
|
|
Lawman 0 posted:Honestly I feel like biographies have unfairly fallen out of favor recently? Biographies are one of those things that cycle for sure. Right now they and political science are kind of out but if something good comes around they will be back.
|
|
#
?
Aug 14, 2022 22:08
|
|
|
Any recs on early Christianity? Spanning from Jesus to either Charlemagne or the Great Schism
|
|
#
?
Aug 15, 2022 00:34
|
|
|
The Bible
|
|
#
?
Aug 15, 2022 00:35
|
|
|
Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years is an exhaustive history of Christianity. I didn’t finish it because I was reading other things and it was too in-depth for me at the time, but it does take you through everything
|
|
#
?
Aug 15, 2022 12:28
|
|
|
From Jesus to Christianity by L. Michael White was excellent, I thought.
|
|
#
?
Aug 15, 2022 19:09
|
|
|
Looking for good books about the history of Motown. Also maybe a history of the music of Detroit in general.
|
|
#
?
Aug 16, 2022 20:01
|
|
|
bowser posted:Looking for good books about the history of Motown. Also maybe a history of the music of Detroit in general. Techno Rebels is a great book on the Detroit electronic music scene in the 80s/90s - there’s an updated second edition that goes past that point but I’ve only read the first.
|
|
#
?
Aug 16, 2022 22:46
|
|
|
bowser posted:Looking for good books about the history of Motown. You'd think they'd be a ton of books on this topic, but the only one I've read is Nelson George's Where Did Our Love Go. It's old, but solid. E: Wikipedia points to I Hear A Symphony: Motown and Crossover R&B by Andrew Flory, which is a newer and more academically oriented book dokmo fucked around with this message at 22:55 on Aug 16, 2022 |
|
#
?
Aug 16, 2022 22:51
|
|
man
|
bowser posted:Looking for good books about the history of Motown. Also maybe a history of the music of Detroit in general. This is actually about Motown's biggest competitor, but I recommend Robert Gordon's "Respect Yourself: Stax Records and the Soul Explosion".
|
|
#
?
Aug 17, 2022 01:03
|
|
|
Epicurius posted:This is actually about Motown's biggest competitor, but I recommend Robert Gordon's "Respect Yourself: Stax Records and the Soul Explosion".
|
|
#
?
Aug 17, 2022 01:08
|
|
|
FMguru posted:That book is also the basis of the excellent 2007 documentary of the same name. It is! Motown is also mentioned extensively, although it's not the main focus, in David Maraniss's "Once in a Great City: The Detroit Story", which is a look at Detroit between 1962-4. The story focuses more on the growing racial tension and economic inequality between Detroit's white and black population, but Motown is there.
|
|
#
?
Aug 17, 2022 01:17
|
|
|
I am torn between Reconstruction by Eric Foner or the Oxford History series' The Republic For Which It Stands: 1865-1896. For the latter I wouldn't mind going into the Gilded Age, but Foner's book on the decade or so after the Civil War seems to have a good reputation if anyone has thoughts on that? Also, the Rick Perlstein series of books (hopping forward a century here) sound fascinating. I am tempted to jump into Nixonland however the prior entry about Barry Goldwater seems notable, so I would strongly consider doing these books in order.
|
|
#
?
Aug 19, 2022 16:02
|
|
|
Mokelumne Trekka posted:I am torn between Reconstruction by Eric Foner or the Oxford History series' The Republic For Which It Stands: 1865-1896. For the latter I wouldn't mind going into the Gilded Age, but Foner's book on the decade or so after the Civil War seems to have a good reputation if anyone has thoughts on that? I haven't read Foner's book (though I've heard nothing but good things), but I have read The Republic for Which it Stands. While it was a good read, I wasn't as convinced by the reperiodization the author undertook by placing reconstruction and the gilded age together. I personally found the reconstruction portion of the book to be weaker and the cut off at the end to be premature. It felt, to me, that the period the book covered was more about fitting into the Oxford Histories' needs than a more organic reassessment. The portions about manifest destiny, economic restructuring, and labor relations I found to be stronger. If you're looking for reconstruction on its own, I'd say get Foner's book.
|
|
#
?
Aug 19, 2022 16:19
|
|
|
Mokelumne Trekka posted:I am torn between Reconstruction by Eric Foner or the Oxford History series' The Republic For Which It Stands: 1865-1896. For the latter I wouldn't mind going into the Gilded Age, but Foner's book on the decade or so after the Civil War seems to have a good reputation if anyone has thoughts on that? Foner remains the seminal text on Reconstruction for a reason. If you're wanting to focus specifically on Reconstruction, you can't go wrong there. The Republic For Which It Stands is very good, but broader in its scope.
|
|
#
?
Aug 19, 2022 16:25
|
|
|
this is very helpful. I'll probably go with Foner's book
|
|
#
?
Aug 19, 2022 16:45
|
|
|
Yeah they're both great, but Foner is for sure the better choice for Reconstruction, but both well worth reading.
|
|
#
?
Aug 19, 2022 23:10
|
|
|
Are there other historians trying to reperiodize Reconstruction and the Gilded Age together, or is that just something that historian proposed?
|
|
#
?
Aug 21, 2022 18:13
|
|
|
It’s a 800 page tome excluding bibliography covering US history from 1865-1896 as part of the Oxford History of the United States. It’s not meant to be some new historiographic synthesis of the two periods that’s just the allotted time period designated for this volume when it was planned back in the 1980s.
|
|
#
?
Aug 21, 2022 18:29
|
|
|
White *does* do a really good job showing the political and economic links between Southern Reconstruction and western expansion, though.
|
|
#
?
Aug 21, 2022 21:54
|
|
|
Minenfeld! posted:I personally found the reconstruction portion of the book to be weaker and the cut off at the end to be premature. Fitting tbh.
|
|
#
?
Aug 21, 2022 22:11
|
|
|
Btw that’s another thing. There had to have been plenty of early middle aged History Dads who must have gotten all excited about this new Oxford History of the United States who have since gone on to die of Old because the freaking thing isn’t competed yet.
|
|
#
?
Aug 21, 2022 23:20
|
|
|
The book gave me a vivid picture of how people in the major cities were living but I barely had the slightest clue what the period was like for the newly freed slaves. Just some mentions of white supremacist violence, little about the everyday.
|
|
#
?
Aug 22, 2022 05:01
|
|
|
I'm in desperate need of books on the history of German-Americans in the United States, particularly about the political/social history of those groups across the country. The few books I've managed to find really only lightly touch upon the political leanings of large groups of Germans in places like NYC and Texas, which whilst still nice isn't exactly what I'm searching for. I figure one of youse might know of some ethnic Deutschamerikaner tome hiding in some library in Wisconsin or some poo poo. I'm currently attending university, too, so books in university libraries should be accessible to me through library-sharing so that's also an option
|
|
#
?
Aug 27, 2022 01:45
|
|
|
B.F. Pinkerton posted:I'm in desperate need of books on the history of German-Americans in the United States While I haven't read any of his work, I do know of the work of a local historian in my hometown who's published a bunch of Ohio- and Cincinnati-related works on the German diaspora there: https://www.amazon.de/-/en/Don-Heinrich-Tolzmann/e/B09JM4VH1J/ref=dp_byline_cont_book_1 I imagine most large midwestern cities with a strong German heritage like Cincinnati or Milwaukee will have a dude like him.
|
|
#
?
Aug 27, 2022 14:37
|
|
|
B.F. Pinkerton posted:I'm in desperate need of books on the history of German-Americans in the United States, https://www.amazon.com/Ambitious-Brew-Story-American-Beer/dp/0151010129/ Just half a joke.
|
|
#
?
Aug 27, 2022 17:56
|
|
|
B.F. Pinkerton posted:I'm in desperate need of books on the history of German-Americans in the United States, particularly about the political/social history of those groups across the country. The few books I've managed to find really only lightly touch upon the political leanings of large groups of Germans in places like NYC and Texas, which whilst still nice isn't exactly what I'm searching for. I figure one of youse might know of some ethnic Deutschamerikaner tome hiding in some library in Wisconsin or some poo poo. There are quite a few books about the German American Bund, non of which I've read but I expect they touch on the political history of German Americans beyond that specific group.
|
|
#
?
Aug 27, 2022 21:31
|
|
|
You might want to look at "Germans in America A Concise History" by Walter Kamphoefner. It's 30 years old now, but its still a good summary of the German American experience
|
|
#
?
Aug 27, 2022 22:03
|
|
|
Is there a good single volume book covering the Creek/Red Stick War and Indian Removal, especially one that covers the internal politics/culture/social history of the 'Five Civilized Tribes'?
|
|
#
?
Aug 28, 2022 01:26
|
|
|
Kaiser Schnitzel posted:Is there a good single volume book covering the Creek/Red Stick War and Indian Removal, especially one that covers the internal politics/culture/social history of the 'Five Civilized Tribes'? Steve Innskeep's Jacksonland. It's mostly focused on the Cherokee, so there's not a ton of material dealing with the other major tribes of the Southeast, but it will definitely have you coming away with a whole new appreciation for how deep Andrew Jackson's assholery went.
|
|
#
?
Aug 28, 2022 01:51
|
|
|
I lost interest in military history at a certain age, kinda looking down on it, but mostly having overconsumed so much of it as a kid...still got into stuff if it were something I knew less on, like the diadochi or crimean war or something, but I definitely lost complete interest in anything WW2 or American Civil War related. Lately though I've been reading the gently caress out of David Stahel. Major recommend. Such an intelligent historian and historiographer, who focuses heavily on countering so many of the cultural perceptions and repeated fallacies in existing histories of WW2 (particularly the extreme fetishization of Nazi military might that takes place among American scholars and pervades the U.S. military, one of the people he's constantly countering as part of the legion of slobbering-over-Nazis professors was a "WHAT IF THE NAZIS WON IN THE EAST HUH HUH THAT'D BE COOL!! YOU WANNA TALK ABOUT NAZI TANKS BRO" type who taught at the US Naval Postgraduate School lol). His book on Barbarossa was actually a revision of his doctoral dissertation at Berlin's Humboldt University, the main thesis being that Barbarossa itself was insane and doomed from its start (as early as summer 1941). Can definitely recommend all of his stuff, so far i've read Mass Violence in Nazi-Occupied Europe Nazi Policy on the Eastern Front, 1941: Total War, Genocide, and Radicalization Operation Barbarossa and Germany's Defeat in the East Kiev 1941. Hitler's Battle for Supremacy in the East Operation Typhoon. Hitler's March on Moscow The Battle for Moscow Retreat from Moscow
|
|
#
?
Aug 28, 2022 02:02
|
|
|
Kull the Conqueror posted:This week I finished Taylor Branch's At Canaan's Edge, the third and final volume of his MLK/Civil Rights movement history. They are far and away my favorite history books ever, not to mention the most moving. If you're even scantly interested in the subject, it is worth at least reading the first book, Parting the Waters. Thank you for recommending that era is a big gap in my knowledge, just checked out the first book to get started. Glad there is a well regarded series. Also just finished Ian Toll’s Pacific War trilogy, definitely a recommend. Interesting how from day 1 Japan was doomed as the US scale of industry was so absurd, he illustrates it well by mentioned how at a colossal US fleet anchorage one destroyer’s primary job was keeping a giant film library onboard and rotating between other ships so they had more entertainment variety, while meanwhile a critical Japanese airplane factory that had been built too far from transportation had issues getting planes where they needed to go after half their oxen died.
|
|
#
?
Aug 28, 2022 15:46
|
|
|
Peteyfoot posted:Is there a recomended book about Mayan civilization written by a BIPOC author? Cross-postin' this from the book recommendation thread.
|
|
#
?
Aug 28, 2022 16:14
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 17, 2024 02:52 |
|
|
vyelkin posted:Willard Sunderland's The Baron's Cloak which is a biography of Roman von Ungern-Sternberg, the crazy guy who's famous for trying to revive the Mongol Empire during the Russian Civil War. Sunderland explores Ungern-Sternberg's life but also uses him and his travels and activities as a way to explore the Russian Empire and the broader world of empires and imperial noble politics of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It's incredibly well done and manages to be an interesting biography and an academic exploration of empire at the same time, without ever claiming that Ungern-Sternberg was a great man who changed the world. Hey, thanks for this, it was a really good read.
|
|
#
?
Aug 30, 2022 05:55
|
|