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Alberta Cross posted:This is an excellent book on the crusades. the last book I read was God's War, and that was an overly harsh read. Very academic. This one was a lot more enjoyable. I enjoyed God's War (even though it is, like you said, a bit dry), but I recall reading somewhere that one of the chapters (the one about the Albigensian Crusade) had some pretty major mistakes and/or oversights. I think the criticism is from an online book review so I'm not sure how trustworthy it is. Hallucinogenic Toreador posted:He also has In The Shadow Of The Sword, a book about the rise of the Arabian empire, coming out early in April. This is awsome news that I somehow managed to miss. Holland is one of my favorite writers. There is one thing that's been bugging me that someone here could probably clear up. Are there any differences in content between The Forge of Christendom and Millenium? Anyway, here's a quick run down of some of the books I found enjoyable (in no particular order): The Pursuit of Glory - Tim Blanning : Describes Europe (rulers, ordinary people, economy, politics, culture) from 1648 to 1815. The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt - Toby Wilkinson : Covers Egyptian history from the earliest days to Cleopatra. Starts out slow, but picks up speed around a third in. The author really likes to point out that Egyptian rulers were horrible nepotistic despots and does so quite frequently. Peter the Great - Derek Wilson : A short but entertaining biography of Peter the great. Lords of the Horizon - Jason Goodwin : A narrative history of the Ottoman Empire. Actually it reads more like a travel book, meanders a lot and uses European travelers' accounts for sources, so while I guess it wouldn't be great from a scholarly perspective, I enjoyed it. Iron Kingdom - Christopher Clark : A history of Prussia that covers 1600-1947. Really easy to read, one of my favorites. Europe's Tragedy - Peter H. Wilson : A history of the Thirty Years War, very comprehensive. Gives a great introduction explaining the workings of the HRE, causes of the war, etc. I did however find it pretty difficult to follow until I got a grasp of which city/bishopric was where and managed to start remembering names. Victoria's Wars - Saul David : Covers a few wars during Queen Victoria's reign (The Opium Wars, First Afghan War, Sikh Wars, Crimea, Invasion of Burma, Indian Revolt), describing the strategic situation and tactical situation for some of the more important battles. Between each 'war' chapter there's a chapter describing the domestic situation. Crimea - Orlando Figes : Like the title says, covers the Crimean War. Really well written, burned through it in two days. Describes both the strategic and political situations, as well as the aftermath. I've been looking for a book on the Normans (specifically Norman exploits in southern Italy). I'm thinking of getting Norwich's The Normans in the South, 1016-1130, but I was wondering if anyone had any other recommendations?
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Mar 20, 2012 10:27
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Bryter posted:Great book, can't recommend it enough. Popes don't get enough of a look in in most European histories, so this is pretty good at countering that. Also, just real drat interesting because of how plain hosed up a lot of the history of the Papacy is. Picked this up yesterday. I wasn't very impressed by Norwich's history of the mediterranean, so I was sceptical about another book that in many ways was out of his comfort zone, but I've read the first few chapters and it's pretty good so far. Picked up In The Shadow Of The Sword a month ago. It was okay I guess, but easily the weakest of Holland's books for me. I went in expecting it to focus on the Arab conquests, but only about the last third of the book is devoted to the rise of the Arab empire. The rest is mostly about the conflict between the Romans and the Sassanids, with a big focus on religion.
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Apr 20, 2012 18:33
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Finished Norwich's The Popes and I agree with Bryter, it's pretty great. Picked up Blood, Iron & Gold by Christian Wolmar after that. Didn't like it very much, but I think that's because the scope was a bit too ambitious (a history of railroads in about 300 pages[despite which I managed to get a sense that it was too repetitive]), so it came out a bit disjointed. Has anyone read his Fire And Steam? I'm currently reading (and immensely enjoying) Jerusalem the Biography by Simon Sebag Montefiore. Ostensibly a history of Jerusalem, a fair part of the book is devoted to overviews of the various rulers of Jerusalem (Jews, Romans, Arabs, Crusaders, Turks, Jews again, etc.). It's a very casual book, most chapters are 20 pages at most so it's very easy to put down/pick up frequently.
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Jun 3, 2012 10:48
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Finished Saul David's The Indian Mutiny: 1857, so now I'm looking for a book that gives an overview of British involvement in India. Any suggestions?
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Dec 26, 2012 13:30
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Finished The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914 a few days ago and while I did enjoy it a lot, I felt like Clark was pretty biased towards the Germans (in absolving them, I mean). edit: Another thing that I didn't feel was explained thoroughly enough was Austria's decision to use the ultimatum as a pretext to a was as opposed to an instrument of diplomacy. I understand that the hawks were in the ascendant and that with the loss of Franz Ferdinand they lost a strong moderating influence, but the decision to pursue war felt kind of sudden. I guess I probably missed something while reading. kalthir fucked around with this message at 12:20 on Jun 19, 2014 |
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Jun 19, 2014 12:14
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Jive One posted:http://www.amazon.com/Heart-Europe-History-Roman-Empire/dp/0674058097 Same here. His book on the Thirty Years' War was really dry and tended to just pile on names and locations, but I enjoyed it all the same.
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Oct 31, 2015 16:19
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Trin Tragula posted:If you're in the mood for something a bit less outwardly silly, then my recommendation can be nothing other than Poilu: The World War I Notebooks of Corporal Louis Barthas, Barrelmaker, the definitive French memoir of the First World War; in which a raving Socialist gets called up in 1914 and spends four years in the trenches complaining about everything and trying not to die. Thanks for this. I picked it up and I'm really enjoying it.
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Nov 15, 2015 09:59
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Captain_Person posted:Does anybody have any recommendations on books about Popes or the Antipopes? I enjoyed Norwich's The Popes: A History. It's pretty easy to get through, but pretty shallow as it covers the whole history of the papacy. kalthir fucked around with this message at 21:28 on Mar 23, 2016 |
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Mar 23, 2016 21:24
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fishmech posted:Is that the one that's also sold as "Absolute Monarchs: A History of the Papacy" or did he do two different books on the papacy? Looks like it's the same one. Just finished Waterloo: The Aftermath, got it after seeing a recommendation here or in the milhist thread, I forget. Covers the period immediately before Waterloo, up to Napoleon's exile, with a focus on the reactions of the various actors (soldiers, politicians and the public on both sides). I really enjoyed it.
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Mar 25, 2016 14:12
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COOL CORN posted:Is Fire in the Lake the best single volume work on the Vietnam war? IIRC, FitL doesn't cover the whole war, just up to the Tet offensive. Also it's pretty heavy on the social/political side of things in South Vietnam, and doesn't cover the military side or North Vietnam that much (disclaimer: I may be completely misremembering). It is, however, a great book and you should read it. There were some Vietnam posts in the thread a while ago: Cythereal posted:We Were Soldiers Once... And Young would be my pick for a good introduction. (I disagree, I found We Were Soldiers Once...And Young to be kinda boring. It's basically a description of the Battle of Ia Drang from the ground, which is cool and good, but doesn't really work as an introduction to the Vietnam War as a whole) Juanito posted:I really enjoyed Steel My Soldiers' Hearts: The Hopeless to Hardcore Transformation of U.S. Army, 4th Battalion, 39th Infantry, Vietnam. Very interesting stuff I seem to recall the chapter about STDs/prostitutes being pretty awful. FMguru posted:Karnow's Vietnam: A History was the standard one-volume work when I read it in the late 1980s; it may have been supplanted since then Cyrano4747 posted:"A Vietcong memoir" is the best book on the conflict o have read. It is the memoirs of the highest ranking defector. He came over with the boat people so he covers the entirety of the conflict both with the French and Americans. A human heart posted:Kill Anything That Moves is supposed to be pretty good gohuskies posted:Fire is an excellent Vietnam book - the other one I'd really recommend is War comes To Long An. It was written in the 1970s by embedded researchers and is a super fascinating political history of the Long An province of South Vietnam from the 50s through the 70s, as a study for how the war began and developed throughout the country. It's not so much a "history" of the war in the same way that Fire is, and it's not directly about the American experience, but it's an amazing contemporary account of how and why the war began and why the North and the Viet Cong would end up winning, and the analysis still rings very true. clean ayers act posted:Embers of War is a great book for the Lead up/French experience in Vietnam and does a great job explaining how the U.S. came to be involved
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May 16, 2016 14:21
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FMguru posted:John Julius Norwich (the guy who did that epic three-volume history of Byzantium) did a single-volume history of Venice. I've not read it, but based on his other work, it's probably worth investigating. He also has a single-volume general history of the Mediterranean. I love Norwich, but I found his history of the Mediterranean to be underwhelming. Read The White War: Life and Death on the Italian Front 1915-1919 a couple of weeks ago, got it based on a recommendation here. It was...ok? The combat and political stuff was good, but the book often veered off into describing the lives (and deaths) of various poets, politicians, etc., which I found pretty dull. Just finished The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer , also recommended by someone here. I really liked it, it does a really good job describing everything in a fairly simple manner and the writing style is enjoyable. Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway is terrific. Is Tully's Battle of Surigao Strait similar? I wasn't really blown away by Hornfischer's stuff, though (The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors, Neptune's Inferno). It wasn't a slog, and the books were well structured and gave me a good idea of what was going on even though I went into them with very little knowledge of the Pacific war, but I felt they could have been significantly shorter. Probably gonna try getting through Wilson's Heart of Europe next. Wish me luck.
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May 31, 2016 09:15
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Got through Wilson's Heart of Europe, and I loved it. I was sceptical of its organization (it's not chronological, instead it's separated into sections covering specific aspects of the HRE), but it turned out fine. There's even a 50-page chronological overview of the major events in one of the appendixes. There were some parts that I felt were gratuitously long and the language overwrought, but in all I found it to be a far easier read than Europe's Tragedy, since the people and locations are less numerous. Also read Crowley's Conquerors: How Portugal Forged the First Global Empire and it was pretty fun. Any recommendations for a biography of Alfred the Great?
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Sep 2, 2016 19:16
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Just finished Mary Beard's SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome. It was...pretty bad. The first 150 pages were a horrible slog, and after that the book just kinda meanders for 400 pages and fails to coalesce into a coherent narrative. Read Toll's Pacific Crucible a while ago and it owns bones. Gonna start The Conquering Tide next.
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Nov 25, 2016 20:56
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Fader Movitz posted:I'm looking for a book about the Scramble for Africa. I know very little about the period so I'm mostly looking for books that give a broader view but books about specific parts or countries are fine too. I liked Pakenham's book on the subject. It's been a while since I've read it but I think it's pretty much what you're looking for, a broad view of developments in the late 19th/early 20th century.
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Jun 27, 2017 07:54
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a7m2 posted:Does anyone have any good recommendations for books on the Byzantine Empire? Norwich's A Short History of Byzantium is fun. It's (I think) an abridged version of the three-volume series he did on Byzantium, but finding all three volumes might be a bit tricky since they've been out of print for a while.
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Aug 21, 2017 07:54
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Reiterpallasch posted:Parshall and Tully also wrote Kaigun, a monograph on how the IJN got to the place that it begins Shattered Sword at. Tsushima plays a big role in it. It's a good deal more academic than Shattered Sword, so I don't know if an audiobook is available. I can't find a book by that name by them. Did you mean this one? https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1283911.Kaigun
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Jun 22, 2020 12:25
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Koramei posted:Anyone have recommendations for something on the formation of complex societies / transition from hunter gatherers to agriculture, maybe touching on state formation but not focusing on it. As a casual reader I liked James C. Scott's Against the Grain.
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Apr 23, 2024 12:17
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