The History Book Thread! looks like I need to set up space for a Nazi shelf

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > The Book Barn > The History Book Thread! looks like I need to set up space for a Nazi shelf

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Shimrra Jamaane: Aug 10, 2007; Obscure to all except those well-versed in Yuuzhan Vong lore.

FishFood posted:

I've got a counter to Antony Beevor's Stalingrad, which I'll confess I haven't read.

What problems did he have with Anthony Beevor?

# ¿ Apr 16, 2012 20:28

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# ¿ May 2, 2024 10:02

Shimrra Jamaane: Aug 10, 2007; Obscure to all except those well-versed in Yuuzhan Vong lore.

Is the Ian Kershaw two part biography the best place to start reading about Hitler?

# ¿ May 8, 2012 21:19

Shimrra Jamaane: Aug 10, 2007; Obscure to all except those well-versed in Yuuzhan Vong lore.

Are there any great books covering the the general time period of early modern warfare in Europe? Basically from the period just prior to the 30 years war to the Napoleonic Wars. I know there are tons of books on each subject individually but I'm looking for something larger.

# ¿ Feb 3, 2013 00:41

Shimrra Jamaane: Aug 10, 2007; Obscure to all except those well-versed in Yuuzhan Vong lore.

Anyone read Kill Anything that Moves yet?

# ¿ Apr 15, 2013 18:15

Shimrra Jamaane: Aug 10, 2007; Obscure to all except those well-versed in Yuuzhan Vong lore.

Is there nice one or two volume book covering the Napoleonic period including the French Revolutionary Wars?

# ¿ Jun 5, 2013 19:57

Shimrra Jamaane: Aug 10, 2007; Obscure to all except those well-versed in Yuuzhan Vong lore.

Mr Crucial posted:

As a counterpoint to how 'good' the Germans were, you could try reading The Blitzkrieg Myth: How Hitler and the Allies Misread the Strategic Lessons of World War II by John Mosier. The reviews are mixed and he largely ignores the Eastern Front for some reason, but his primary point is that the idea of tank armies winning wars thanks to lightning breakthroughs was, uh, a myth. He points out how the Allies attempted to emulate the German breakthroughs on various occasions (Normandy, Market-Garden, Metz) but failed every time, and that the war was eventually won by broad fronted attritional advances. I'm more of an air combat buff (which he also goes into) so I'm not sure how valid his thesis is but it was quite interesting nonetheless.

I don't know much about John Mosier but his book on World War I basically white knights the "undefeated" German Army so ehhh I'd take his thoughts with a grain of salt.

# ¿ Jun 24, 2013 19:48

Shimrra Jamaane: Aug 10, 2007; Obscure to all except those well-versed in Yuuzhan Vong lore.

Lead Psychiatry posted:

I haven't read it yet, but I do plan on one day checking out Worse Than War: Genocide, Eliminationism, and the Ongoing Assault on Humanity from my local library.

Not much help, I know.

The author of Hitler's Willing Executioners would be the last person I would regard as an authority on genocide.

# ¿ Jun 20, 2014 06:52

Shimrra Jamaane: Aug 10, 2007; Obscure to all except those well-versed in Yuuzhan Vong lore.

ulvir posted:

What would be The One book abouf fascism? I'm looking to read up on it after my semester is over.

Liberal Facism by :suicide:

Seriously don't ever touch that book. Ever.

# ¿ Nov 15, 2014 22:11

Shimrra Jamaane: Aug 10, 2007; Obscure to all except those well-versed in Yuuzhan Vong lore.

Yeah it'll basically be the definitive book on Stalin, similar to Ian Kershaw's book on Hitler.

# ¿ Dec 19, 2014 07:35

Shimrra Jamaane: Aug 10, 2007; Obscure to all except those well-versed in Yuuzhan Vong lore.

Wait, besides being an rear end in a top hat on Amazon what has Figes done that is so bad? I only really know of him through his wikipedia article which obviously doesn't say much

# ¿ Feb 22, 2015 09:51

Shimrra Jamaane: Aug 10, 2007; Obscure to all except those well-versed in Yuuzhan Vong lore.

It's not like you need to look hard to find tons of evidence that Stalin was a tyrannical rear end in a top hat, why make something up?

# ¿ Feb 23, 2015 06:24

Shimrra Jamaane: Aug 10, 2007; Obscure to all except those well-versed in Yuuzhan Vong lore.

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?

# ¿ Jun 29, 2018 00:21

Shimrra Jamaane: Aug 10, 2007; Obscure to all except those well-versed in Yuuzhan Vong lore.

Search for Modern China looks great.

Any opinions on the Frank Dik�tter trilogy that covers the reign of Mao? I know it has a controversial reputation. How about Mao The Unknown Story for a bio?

# ¿ Jun 29, 2018 18:49

Shimrra Jamaane: Aug 10, 2007; Obscure to all except those well-versed in Yuuzhan Vong lore.

Commissar Canuck posted:

Anyone have recommendations on the First Indochina War? Is Street Without Joy still the go to single volume or is there something more recent?

Embers of War without a doubt. Came out in 2012 and won the Pulitzer.

# ¿ Jul 8, 2018 20:31

Shimrra Jamaane: Aug 10, 2007; Obscure to all except those well-versed in Yuuzhan Vong lore.

Meridian posted:

Found a copy of Landmark Herodotus in really good shape for $15 at a local book store today. Excited to dive into that.

Does anyone have reccommendations for books on Alexander and early Rome?

Alexander of Macedon by Peter Green is probably the best bio.

There is a distinct lack of non academic books on early Rome but I�d recommend giving The Rise of Rome: From the Iron Age to the Punic Wars by Kathryn Lomas a look. It�s new, published just last February and I haven�t yet read it yet but it covers the period and looks extremely promising. Keep in mind that this is NOT the similarly named Rise of Rome by Anthony Everett which is fine but really feels like little more than Livy packaged for a modern audience. It�s straight forward and mostly uncritical.

SPQR by Mary Beard covers early Rome for the first quarter or so of the book but I can�t say I�m a huge fan because in my opinion she goes too far the other way and brushes off most of the early history as �we can�t know how much truth is in the accounts of Roman history pre 280BC so gently caress it were gonna assume it�s all bullshit.�

Shimrra Jamaane fucked around with this message at 05:05 on Aug 5, 2018

# ¿ Aug 5, 2018 05:00

Shimrra Jamaane: Aug 10, 2007; Obscure to all except those well-versed in Yuuzhan Vong lore.

Richard Pipes son somehow ended up being even worse than he was.

# ¿ Sep 11, 2018 05:22

Shimrra Jamaane: Aug 10, 2007; Obscure to all except those well-versed in Yuuzhan Vong lore.

Dapper_Swindler posted:

how does that even work? like how is he worse.

Let�s take a look at his Wikipedia page!

quote:

Pipes has long expressed alarm about what he believes to be the dangers of "radical" or "militant Islam" to the Western world. In 1985, he wrote in Middle East Insight that "[t]he scope of the radical fundamentalist's ambition poses novel problems; and the intensity of his onslaught against the United States makes solutions urgent."[21] In the fall 1995 issue of National Interest, he wrote: "Unnoticed by most Westerners, war has been unilaterally declared on Europe and the United States."[22]

He wrote this in the aftermath of the Oklahoma City bombing; investigative journalist Steven Emerson had said in the aftermath of the bombing that it bore a "Middle Eastern trait." Pipes agreed with Emerson and told USA Today that the United States was "under attack" and that Islamic fundamentalists "are targeting us."[3] Shortly after this, the bombing was determined by police to have been carried out by American anti-government terrorists Timothy McVeigh, Terry Nichols, and Michael Fortier.[23]

Four months before the September 11, 2001 attacks, Pipes and Emerson wrote in The Wall Street Journal that al Qaeda was "planning new attacks on the U.S." and that Iranian operatives "helped arrange advanced ... training for al Qaeda personnel in Lebanon where they learned, for example, how to destroy large buildings."[24]

Pipes wrote in 2007, "It�s a mistake to blame Islam, a religion 14 centuries old, for the evil that should be ascribed to militant Islam, a totalitarian ideology less than a century old. Militant Islam is the problem, but moderate Islam is the solution."[5][25] Pipes described moderate Muslims as "a very small movement" in comparison to "the Islamist onslaught" and said that the U.S. government "should give priority to locating, meeting with, funding, forwarding, empowering, and celebrating" them.[26]

Pipes has praised Mustafa Kemal Atat�rk in Turkey and the Sudanese thinker Mahmoud Mohamed Taha.[27] In a September 2008 interview by Peter Robinson, Pipes stated that Muslims can be divided into three categories: "traditional Islam", which he sees as pragmatic and non-violent, "Islamism", which he sees as dangerous and militant, and "moderate Islam", which he sees as underground and not yet codified into a popular movement. He elaborated that he did not have the "theological background" to determine what group follows the Koran the closest and is truest to its intent.[28]

Muslims in Europe Edit
In 1990, Pipes wrote in National Review that Western European societies were "unprepared for the massive immigration of brown-skinned peoples cooking strange foods and maintaining different standards of hygiene ... Muslim immigrants bring with them a chauvinism that augurs badly for their integration into the mainstream of the European societies." At that time, he believed Muslim immigrants would "probably not change the face of European life" and might "even bring much of value, including new energy, to their host societies".[29] New York University academic Arun Kundnani cited the article as "Islamophobic".[30] Pipes later said "my goal in it was to characterize the thinking of Western Europeans, not give my own views. In retrospect, I should either have put the words 'brown-skinned peoples' and 'strange foods' in quotation marks or made it clearer that I was explaining European attitudes rather than my own."[31]

In 2006, Daniel Pipes said that certain neighborhoods in France were "no-go zones" and "that the French state no longer has full control over its territory." In 2013, Pipes traveled to several of these neighborhoods and admitted he was mistaken. In 2015 he sent an email to Bloomberg saying that there are "no European countries with no-go zones."[32]

In response to the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy, Pipes wrote that the "key issue at stake" was whether the "West [would] stand up for its customs and mores, including freedom of speech" and the "right to insult and blasphemy". He supported Robert Spencer's call to "stand resolutely with Denmark." He lauded Norway, Germany and France for their stance on the cartoons and freedom of speech, but criticized Poland, Britain, New Zealand and the United States for giving statements he interpreted as "wrongly apologizing."[33]

Through his Middle East Forum, Pipes fund-raised for the Dutch politician Geert Wilders during his trial, according to NRC Handelsblad.[34] Pipes has praised Wilders as "the unrivaled leader of those Europeans who wish to retain their historic [European] identity"[35] and called him "the most important politician in Europe." At the same time, he found Wilders' political program "bizarre" and not to be taken too seriously[36] while criticizing Wilders' understanding of Islam as "superficial" for being against all of Islam and not just its extreme variant.[37]

Muslims in the United States Edit
In October 2001 Pipes said before a convention of the American Jewish Congress: "I worry very much, from the Jewish point of view, that the presence, and increased stature, and affluence, and enfranchisement of American Muslims, because they are so much led by an Islamist leadership, that this will present true dangers to American Jews."[38][39]

According to The New York Times, Pipes has "enraged" many American Muslims by advocating that Muslims in government and military positions be given special attention as security risks and by opining that mosques are "breeding grounds for militants."[11] In a 2004 article in the New York Sun, Pipes endorsed a defense of the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, and linked the Japanese-American wartime situation to that of Muslim Americans today.[40][41]

Pipes has criticized the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), which he says is an "apologist" for Hezbollah and Hamas, and has a "roster of employees and board members connected to terrorism".[42] CAIR, in turn, has said that "Pipes' writings are full of distortions and innuendo."[43]

The New York Times cited Pipes as helping to lead the charge against Debbie Almontaser, a woman with a "longstanding reputation as a Muslim moderate" whom Pipes viewed as a representative of a pernicious new movement of "lawful Islamists." Almontaser resigned under pressure as principal of Khalil Gibran International Academy, an Arabic-language high school in New York City named after the famed Christian Arab-American poet. Pipes initially described the school as a "madrassa", which means school in Arabic but, in the West, carries the implication of Islamist teaching, though he later admitted that his use of the term had been "a bit of a stretch".[15] Pipes explained his opposition: "It is hard to see how violence, how terrorism will lead to the implementation of sharia. It is much easier to see how, working through the system�the school system, the media, the religious organizations, the government, businesses and the like�you can promote radical Islam."[15] Pipes had also stated that �Arabic-language instruction is inevitably laden with Pan-Arabist and Islamist baggage.�[15]

Shimrra Jamaane fucked around with this message at 22:16 on Sep 11, 2018

# ¿ Sep 11, 2018 22:08

Shimrra Jamaane: Aug 10, 2007; Obscure to all except those well-versed in Yuuzhan Vong lore.

I know size isn�t everything but Figes book on the Russian Revolution is like 700 pages long excluding the index and bibliography while
most other books on the subject top out at like 300 which to me just seems too short to be an exhaustive account of the subject.

Just don�t read anything by Pipes.

# ¿ Dec 3, 2018 00:40

Shimrra Jamaane: Aug 10, 2007; Obscure to all except those well-versed in Yuuzhan Vong lore.

He may have made up a Soviet anecdote in The Whisperers.

# ¿ Dec 3, 2018 03:23

Shimrra Jamaane: Aug 10, 2007; Obscure to all except those well-versed in Yuuzhan Vong lore.

Drone posted:

What are some go-to, accessible mass-market-ish books on the French revolution? My grandpa has always been huge into one specific niche of history (the US civil war), but lately he's expanded a bit... first going into the time period around American independence, and now I'd like to try to nudge him into some extremely important Euro history.

The Oxford History of the French Revolution is a complete historical account and the 3rd edition just came out.

Citizens is usually recommended BUT it�s definitely narrative history telling a specific story, and that story doesn�t cover everything and it ends before the Revolution does. It ends after Thermidor and doesn�t cover the Directory at all. Which is bad if you want a complete account of the Revolution.

# ¿ Dec 3, 2018 18:02

Shimrra Jamaane: Aug 10, 2007; Obscure to all except those well-versed in Yuuzhan Vong lore.

Minenfeld! posted:

I think it's ok. Though, I've also heard it described as a "catalog of atrocities."

Well I mean, that�s kind of what happened.

# ¿ Dec 3, 2018 19:55

Shimrra Jamaane: Aug 10, 2007; Obscure to all except those well-versed in Yuuzhan Vong lore.

Hey Hey Guns how good is Peter Wilson�s book on the HRE?

# ¿ Feb 16, 2019 23:58

Shimrra Jamaane: Aug 10, 2007; Obscure to all except those well-versed in Yuuzhan Vong lore.

HEY GUNS posted:

good but somewhat of a simplified overview. Try Joachim Whaley as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgdbE-1uEqw

He only has books on the HRE starting from the Reformation though.

# ¿ Feb 17, 2019 00:09

Shimrra Jamaane: Aug 10, 2007; Obscure to all except those well-versed in Yuuzhan Vong lore.

Good lord I just realized that Caro still hasn�t finished his LBJ biography series. I thought he�d been done for years.

From Wikipedia

quote:

In November 2011, Caro estimated that the fifth and final volume would require another two to three years to write.[11] In March 2013, he affirmed a commitment to completing the series with a fifth volume.[12] As of April 2014, he was continuing to research the book.[13] In a televised interview with C-SPAN in May 2017, Caro confirmed over 400 typed pages as being complete, covering the period 1964�65; and that once he completes the section on Johnson's 1965 legislative achievements, he intends to move to Vietnam to continue the writing process.[14]

In an interview with The New York Review of Books in January 2018, Caro said that he was writing about 1965 and 1966 and a non-chronological section about the relationship between Johnson and Bobby Kennedy. Asked if he still planned to visit Vietnam soon, Caro replied: "Not yet, no. This is a very long book. And there's a lot to do before that's necessary. I'm getting close to it now."[15] In December 2018, it was reported that Caro is still "several years from finishing" the volume.[16]

He went from thinking it would be done by 2014 to it being several years away as of last December. Dude is gonna die long before he finishes at this rate.

Shimrra Jamaane fucked around with this message at 21:11 on Feb 18, 2019

# ¿ Feb 18, 2019 21:07

Shimrra Jamaane: Aug 10, 2007; Obscure to all except those well-versed in Yuuzhan Vong lore.

How come LBJ gets the definitive 5,000 page biography of our time and not someone like FDR? Or any number of other more important historical figures.

# ¿ Feb 18, 2019 22:35

Shimrra Jamaane: Aug 10, 2007; Obscure to all except those well-versed in Yuuzhan Vong lore.

Bilirubin posted:

That delay was probably due to his imprisonment in Syria though?

Took me a second. Nice.

# ¿ Feb 18, 2019 22:50

Shimrra Jamaane: Aug 10, 2007; Obscure to all except those well-versed in Yuuzhan Vong lore.

Caro the Goon could be the subject of a really fascinating book. Honesty surprised no ones hooked him up with a publisher and a ghost writer.

# ¿ Feb 18, 2019 23:09

Shimrra Jamaane: Aug 10, 2007; Obscure to all except those well-versed in Yuuzhan Vong lore.

You�d get a more accurate portrayal of Medieval Life from reading a Dan Brown novel.

# ¿ Feb 19, 2019 00:38

Shimrra Jamaane: Aug 10, 2007; Obscure to all except those well-versed in Yuuzhan Vong lore.

Holland has done some excellent work as a pop historian with ancient history with Rubicon and Persian Fire but his book on the rise of Islam was not at all well received by academics in the field so I�m a bit wary of how he�s addressed the rise and spread of Christianity.

# ¿ Feb 1, 2020 17:19

Shimrra Jamaane: Aug 10, 2007; Obscure to all except those well-versed in Yuuzhan Vong lore.

Pick posted:

Hello, history book thread. Currently, monarchism has become a popular political stance in the doomsday economics thread. But I don't agree with the monarchy or the divine right of kings and I would like it to not be re-instituted. Can anyone give me some good recommendations for books that cover particularly bad monarchs, so that I can approach their perspective from a more informed place?

Come again?

# ¿ May 28, 2020 00:55

Shimrra Jamaane: Aug 10, 2007; Obscure to all except those well-versed in Yuuzhan Vong lore.

The Glumslinger posted:

So, any suggestions on the French Revolution? Asking for a friend

Good question. There�s a brand new book out called A New Word Begins: The History of the French Revolution by Jeremy Popkin. I think it�s the new definitive non academic account of the Revolution.

https://www.amazon.com/New-World-Begins-History-Revolution/dp/0465096662

# ¿ May 29, 2020 16:13

Shimrra Jamaane: Aug 10, 2007; Obscure to all except those well-versed in Yuuzhan Vong lore.

smr posted:

Reading this now and it's quite good. Previously, I did greatly enjoy Schama's work because a) guy can write and b) he really gives a good "on the ground" flavor in his description of things, a feel for what life and society were like that most historians fail to provide or provide badly. But you have to go into it aware that Schama thought the Revolution was a mistake, a bad thing, that violence is never allowed as a means of effecting change... he's a pretty strong apologist for the nobility as well.

It's a good book, possibly the best-written in English about the topic, but it really shouldn't be the only book one reads about it. A New World Begins is well-written, but not nearly as artful as Citizens, but if you're only going to read one book on the topic, choose that over Citizens. If you're open to more than one, read A New World Begins first for a solid grounding, then Citizens for a great read that comes at the topic from very specific ideological direction.

I really like A New World Begins because while it doesn�t shy away from the excesses of the Terror and the atrocities in the Vendee it�s also very clear about the positives that occurred during the Revolution and the ideological underpinnings of the good motivations behind many of the actions of those in charge. It�s not dismissed as some cascading decent into an orgy of violence like Citizens does.

I also really value how it covers the pre-Revolutionary years all the way to the establishment of the First Empire. It doesn�t just end at Thermidor like Citizens which I find stupid.

# ¿ Jun 1, 2020 01:28

Shimrra Jamaane: Aug 10, 2007; Obscure to all except those well-versed in Yuuzhan Vong lore.

smr posted:

Agreed, I was quite jolted at how early Citizens cut off, it felt arbitrary. I don't think there's one good volume that covers Revolutionary France AND The Empire even though it's all really one epoch that can be discussed under one cover.

I've got The Napoleonic Wars: A Global History in the Up Next pile but I'm still looking for something that covers The Empire well not just from a military perspective, but from a societal and organizational aspect as well, in a holistic fashion. Open to any recommendations anyone might have.

I�m actually reading The Napoleonic Wars: A Global History right now and it�s quite good! It�s light on the military details though which is fine for me since I�m just coming off reading Chandler�s Campaigns of Napoleon so I have plenty of context to work with but might be an issue for others.

Unfortunately it appears that the best historical accounts of the Empire in a holistic sense and not just its military accomplishments are in French and remain untranslated.

# ¿ Jun 1, 2020 14:38

Shimrra Jamaane: Aug 10, 2007; Obscure to all except those well-versed in Yuuzhan Vong lore.

Conversely are there any books that cover an overview of Post Napoleonic 19th century France that aren�t just some 200 page textbook that costs $70?

# ¿ Jun 6, 2020 23:39

Shimrra Jamaane: Aug 10, 2007; Obscure to all except those well-versed in Yuuzhan Vong lore.

HannibalBarca posted:

cosign, although make sure you're getting the newest edition. the audible version I listened to earlier this year stopped around tiananmen.

Yeah do search out the newer edition. The first one is great but it ends with Tiananmen and the author positing that this could be the start of a democratic awakening in China as seen in the revolutions occurring in Eastern Europe at the time and well, whoops on that one.

# ¿ Dec 13, 2020 02:09

Shimrra Jamaane: Aug 10, 2007; Obscure to all except those well-versed in Yuuzhan Vong lore.

Man I wasn�t aware of those comments by Foote in the 90s. Yikes.

# ¿ Feb 3, 2021 03:26

Shimrra Jamaane: Aug 10, 2007; Obscure to all except those well-versed in Yuuzhan Vong lore.

A New World Begins is the new definitive account.

But if for whatever reason you want a solely Marxist interpretation of the Revolution I would hope it�s just for historiography reasons because scholarship has moved beyond that.

# ¿ Feb 5, 2021 18:14

Shimrra Jamaane: Aug 10, 2007; Obscure to all except those well-versed in Yuuzhan Vong lore.

I can personally recommend literally anything that Goldsworthy has written.

On the other hand I thought SPQR was decidedly mediocre.

Stay away from Anthony Everett imo.

# ¿ Apr 24, 2021 19:45

Shimrra Jamaane: Aug 10, 2007; Obscure to all except those well-versed in Yuuzhan Vong lore.

LeeMajors posted:

Crossposting because this feels like a better home for it

If you want a more in-depth overall history of WWI read Pandora�s Box by J�rn Leonhard and Cataclysm by David Stevenson.

# ¿ Apr 27, 2021 18:52

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# ¿ May 2, 2024 10:02

Shimrra Jamaane: Aug 10, 2007; Obscure to all except those well-versed in Yuuzhan Vong lore.

ToxicAcne posted:

How trustworthy is Trotsky's account of the Revolution? And does anyone have any good overview books on Russian History? I asked the CSPAM commie thread but I wanted a different perspective as well.

Ughh

Anyway People�s Tragedy by Figes is great. Stay the gently caress away from Richard Pipes.

# ¿ May 1, 2021 16:32

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > The Book Barn > The History Book Thread! looks like I need to set up space for a Nazi shelf

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