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

Tekopo: Oct 24, 2008; When you see it, you'll shit yourself.

I'm currently reading the second volume of Civil War: A Narrative by Shelby Foote, having just finished the battle of Fredicksburg. It makes a nice detail, yet still surprisingly light read: I read Battle Cry of Freedom before I attempted to start reading this, which was a very good read as well, but since I wanted something more detailed, this fit the bill quite nicely. I have also read The Bloody Crucible of Courage, Fighting Methods and Combat Experience of the Civil War, which, for being my first book about the American Civil War, was a very technical read, although it was interesting in that it describes all the notable developments in warfare that happened during the era.

I have read Crimea by Figes and it makes for a very interesting introduction to the subject. It dwells quite a long time on the reason and effects of the conflict and how it shaped the history of the Black Sea region and also provides some interesting insights on why the alliances in WWI shaped up the way they did.

# ¿ Jan 27, 2012 00:11

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ¿ May 1, 2024 09:33

Tekopo: Oct 24, 2008; When you see it, you'll shit yourself.

I'm about 100 pages away from finishing Shelby Foote's The Civil War: A Narrative, which took me around a year due to being busy with a new job and taking a break of a couple of months after I finished the second Volume. It feels like I went through an epic journey and can't wait to finish it (and re-read it again in a couple of years time).

# ¿ Feb 26, 2013 17:31

Tekopo: Oct 24, 2008; When you see it, you'll shit yourself.

One thing I'd note for now is that I just finished reading about the Army of Northern Virginia surrendering and there's only 75 pages left or so: considering the detail and length of everything else in the book, it seems to me that isn't large enough to really give anything more than a rushed detailing of conditions post-war or even touch upon the reconstruction with anything other than a brief summary.

# ¿ Feb 27, 2013 12:05

Tekopo: Oct 24, 2008; When you see it, you'll shit yourself.

Finally managed to finish Shelby Foote's Civil War and it did seem to provide very few details on the reconstruction, apart from being very critical of it. With the amount of detail that the ante-bellum period was described in, I was expecting something similar about the post-bellum period: guess I'll need to find another book about it. Does anyone have any suggestions for books about the reconstruction and especially about the Grant administration?

In the meanwhile, I've started reading The War of 1812 In The Age of Napoleon, which centers around the political/military aspects of the War of 1812, from the attempted invasion of Canada to the Battle of New Orleans. Has anyone read this and if so, what are your thoughts? I'm also looking for a book on the French & Indian Wars, any suggestions?

# ¿ Mar 4, 2013 10:51

Tekopo: Oct 24, 2008; When you see it, you'll shit yourself.

Barlow posted:

The classic is Columbia University Professor Eric Foner's "Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877." He has a shorter history if you can't stomach all 700 pages, but if you read all of Foote that shouldn't be an issue. Reconstruction history like the war itself is a bit contentious.

Basically Foner's book in 1988 was a response to what is called the Dunning School of history which had prevailed in the first half of the twentieth century. The Dunning School argued that Reconstruction wrecked the South and that its central failing was allowing blacks to vote. The Dunning School implicitly argued that blacks inability to govern themselves made segregation necessary to save the South. Foner trys to rebut this and suggests that making blacks equal was a noble goal and as a result he ended up seeing Reconstruction largely as a positive policy that was abandoned due to Southern hostility.

Sounds like what I'm looking for. I'll see if I can find it somewhere.

# ¿ Mar 12, 2013 15:03

Tekopo: Oct 24, 2008; When you see it, you'll shit yourself.

Just finished Beevor's The Spanish Civil War and this is one of the first history books that has legitimately made me depressed. I liked the book but the entire conflict is so negative on both sides and all aspects of it that it was difficult to continue at certain points. I usually read 19th century stuff and tend to avoid WWI/WWII era stuff so this did make a change for me. I've also picked up Villa and Zapata, about the Mexican Revolution by McLynn, has anyone had a chance to read this?

# ¿ May 9, 2013 17:01

Tekopo: Oct 24, 2008; When you see it, you'll shit yourself.

Just finished Villa and Zapata: a Biography of the Mexican Revolution by Frank McLynn. I was worried that it would focus too much on the life of the two aforementioned revolutionaries but it's actually a pretty good history of the Mexican Revolution and manages to set the scene pretty well for the Porfiriato period before the Revolution, although some more information on the post-revolution period would have been interesting. The book is pretty even on its treatment of Zapata/Villa, giving an even keel on the good and bad points about the two instead of just outright idolizing them/condemning them. About the only weird thing about the book is that it seems to use quite a lot of unusual/outdated terms in some parts.

# ¿ Jun 16, 2013 20:25

Tekopo: Oct 24, 2008; When you see it, you'll shit yourself.

I've bought What Hath God Wraught but before I start it, what's the focus of the book? I was looking into something concerning the Mexican War since I couldn't find much else at my local bookshop. Does it go a lot into detail concerning that era or is the focus a lot more broad?

# ¿ Jul 1, 2013 11:10

Tekopo: Oct 24, 2008; When you see it, you'll shit yourself.

I've decided to have to have a look back at what I've read in the past three years and came up with the following list and my thoughts on the books (if no-one minds):

The Bloody Crucible of Courage: Fighting Methods and Combat Experience of the Civil War (Brent Nosworthy): A very technical, challenging read, it provides some interesting analysis of the fighting methods and relative worth of several different fighting methods used in the Civil War, including naval warfare. It was interesting but it feels more like an academic thesis. Interesting but challenging.

Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era (James M. McPherson): A good primer into the Civil War, it doesn't get into as much detail as I'd like but it was interesting enough and deals with both political, social and military aspects of the war. Leans towards the Union and didn't feel completely unbiased, which wasn't an issue for me personally.

American Civil War: A Narrative (Shelby Foote): Pretty much the classic Civil War book, it is an extremely compelling read and is pretty even-handed and I feel deals fairly with both sides of the conflict. I recommended read but quite a considerable time expenditure necessary in order to complete the book.

Crimea (Orlando Figes): A pretty interesting read considering I didn't know much about the conflict prior to reading this book. It brings forward the facts and seemed at least at the time to be fairly even-handed in its treatment of both sides. Would have been interested in finding out more about the smaller participants within the conflict though.

The Great Game: On Secret Service in High Asia (Peter Hopkirk): Felt ever so slightly biased towards the British and even without condemning the Russians directly the entire book seemed to always drive the narrative towards the side of the British. Was also paced slightly weirdly, with some events skimmed over while others seemed to have an unnecessary level of detail, especially when describing the travels of British adventurers.

Grey Wolves: The U-Boat War 1939-1945 (Philip Kaplan): An extremely light read and a pretty pop history approach to the U-boat campaign, did provide a few interesting tid-bits but I wouldn't recommend it.

The Battle for Spain: The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939 (Antony Beevor): A very depressing read, it paints no side of the conflict in a very good light. I've read some Antony Beevor stuff before and I have a love/hate relationship with his book but this was one of his more interesting books.

Gettysburg (Stephen Sears): I primarily read this book in order to have a point of contrast with Civil War: A Narrative, and it didn't dissapoint. It's very well researched and pretty in-depth, probably one of the better single-battle books I've read.

The War of 1812: in the Age of Napoleon (Jeremy Black): This was a pretty good primer into the war but it wasn't really heavy-weight enough for me. It does touch on all aspects of the war but I found it lacking and the descriptions of the battles were sparse to say the least.

Villa And Zapata: A Biography of the Mexican Revolution (Frank McLynn): A pretty interesting biographical piece about the two most important leaders of the Revolution and how they were tied to each other. It paints Villa as a man with many faults but gives enough description to make him feel very life-like. Also does a good job of explaining the major actor and events of the era.

Dreadnought and Castles of Steel (Robert K. Massie): I'm currently still reading these but they are very interesting so far and I would recommend them considering what I've read so far. Some very in-depth analysis of the causes of WWI and the main actors around the time of the naval build-ups of Britain and Germany.

# ¿ Mar 18, 2014 19:03

Tekopo: Oct 24, 2008; When you see it, you'll shit yourself.

Hieronymous Alloy posted:

I've come this close to ordering this book several times but never pulled the trigger -- usually every time I read Kipling I think about it. How long a period does it cover and how comprehensive is it?

It has a brief intro on Russia and the effect of the mongol invasion of Europe and how what would be known as Russia got through it, but the book is mostly centered around the late 18th century through the entirety of the 19th century until the advent of the first world war, although it speeds up by the early 20th century since anglo-russo relations were improving. It is comprehensive in that it does talk about the entirety of what is known as the great game, including the Caucasus and Trans-Caucasus regions, but mostly it focuses on Turkestan (Bokhara, Samarkand, Tashkent and Khiva, mostly), Afghanistan, Punjab and the near-India regions, Baluchistan and chinese cities such as Kashgar.

It briefly talks about the Crimean war and the Russo-Japanese War, but only to the extent of their effect on the Great Game area.

The book really goes into depth about the european explorers to the region, both Russian and British and their interactions within the area are really the focus of the book, although the political aspects of the Great Game also have an important role within the book.

I might have appeared to be negative in my mini-analysis of the book but really it's not bad and it is a compelling read and a great intro into that particular era and region of history. I would still recommend it despite my slight negativity.

# ¿ Mar 18, 2014 21:38

Tekopo: Oct 24, 2008; When you see it, you'll shit yourself.

Railing Kill posted:

I just finished re-reading King Leopold's Ghost and I kind of ~~want to blow my brains out~~ want to read something more upbeat. Anyone have an recommendations of history that's funny or lighthearted but still good?

Anything about the Spanish Civil War :v:

# ¿ Jun 12, 2014 16:51

Tekopo: Oct 24, 2008; When you see it, you'll shit yourself.

Just bought The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763-1789: I enjoyed battle cry of freedom and what hath god wrought in the Oxford history of the US. Anyone read it and thoughts?

# ¿ Feb 6, 2015 17:12

Tekopo: Oct 24, 2008; When you see it, you'll shit yourself.

Does anyone have a recommendation for a general book about WWII PTO, covering the entire campaign? Ideally something on the more detailed/complex end.

# ¿ Jul 13, 2015 10:29

Tekopo: Oct 24, 2008; When you see it, you'll shit yourself.

Mr Crucial posted:

The classics are:

Eagle Against the Sun by Ronald Spector - from the American perspective.
The Pacific War by John Costello - from the British perspective.
Rising Sun by John Toland - from the Japanese perspective.

Plus there's a new one called Hirohito's War by Francis Pike, which I'm reading at the moment. It's a massive book, I'm 250 pages in and it's only up to mid-1941 and the Pearl Harbor operation hasn't even been mentioned yet. It goes into quite a lot of detail about the wars in China from 1931 on which the others don't, and there's an interesting comparison of the pre-war economies of the US and Japan. Plus the author has dozens of supporting maps and charts on his website to go along with the text.

I bought Rising Sun because it looked pretty good. I had a look at Hirohito's War but some of the reviews on Amazon seemed to be very negative on it.

# ¿ Jul 24, 2015 15:44

Tekopo: Oct 24, 2008; When you see it, you'll shit yourself.

BravestOfTheLamps posted:

Half the shelf from which picked up Mao's Great Famine was about Nazis. It's always Nazis.

There was a book about volunteers from my country in the SS. Cheap publishing house by the looks of it. I skipped straight to the epilogue, where the author began discussing how unfairly the SS volunteers were treated after the war due to the paranoia of leftists, and how we should appreciate all soldiers despite their cause.

Read the Myth of the Eastern Front. One of the chapters is how there is an entire industry of small publishers that print out tracts eulogizing and lionizing the SS.

# ¿ Apr 12, 2016 14:12

Tekopo: Oct 24, 2008; When you see it, you'll shit yourself.

For a minute I thought you were referring to myth of the eastern front there :v:

# ¿ Apr 13, 2016 23:37

Tekopo: Oct 24, 2008; When you see it, you'll shit yourself.

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.

# ¿ Jun 20, 2018 08:54

Tekopo: Oct 24, 2008; When you see it, you'll shit yourself.

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"

# ¿ Jun 20, 2018 10:46

Tekopo: Oct 24, 2008; When you see it, you'll shit yourself.

I'm re-reading Massie's Dreadnought and although I am enjoying it, more or less, it's quite clear on a re-read that Massie is a huge mark for Fisher and there's really a degree of veneration towards Fisher that isn't as present in other historical figures.

# ¿ Jan 3, 2019 18:07

Tekopo: Oct 24, 2008; When you see it, you'll shit yourself.

Bob A Feet posted:

You recommend it?

I loving loved Nicholas and Alexandra and I'm currently enjoying Catherine the Great

I think it�s interesting in terms of the technological aspects of the Royal Navy and the run up to the war and he ratcheting tensions between Germany and the UK. It focuses a lot on the statesmen of the time and for a book called dreadnought it doesn�t actually focus on the ship beyond its role in international relations.

# ¿ Jan 4, 2019 12:53

Tekopo: Oct 24, 2008; When you see it, you'll shit yourself.

Does anyone have a good history of the Korean War? I've read Max Hastings and it was very broad strokes, so I'm wondering if there is something else I can read, especially if it incorporates views from both the UN and chinese/korean side.

# ¿ Nov 21, 2022 20:38

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ¿ May 1, 2024 09:33

Tekopo: Oct 24, 2008; When you see it, you'll shit yourself.

On another note, with regards to both the ACW and the experiences of regular soldiers and what they went through, I am enjoyed reading The War For the Common Soldier, which my wife got me for my birthday. It's mostly about the motivations and emotions of soldiers in the war, with a lot of focus on how soldiers resolved issues with faith, the randomness of war, how cowardice and bravery were seen and how they changed through the scope of the war. This is done mostly through the use of case studies of letters penned (or dictated) by the soldiers themselves, which was quite interesting since the letters by semi-literate soldiers are more conversational, and there is a sharp dichotomy between more middle and lower class soldiers. The book also talks about how white supremacy was viewed, both in the north but especially in the south, and the differences in the views and pragmatism of soldiers on both sides of the conflict. I enjoyed the book but I was hoping that it would also have chapters on the more materialistic parts of life in the armies, like for example what soldiers ate, where they slept, what their routines were like, what songs they sang, etc.

# ¿ Sep 21, 2023 13:54

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