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This thread is amazing and has easily tripled the size of my Amazon wishlist. Can anyone recommend anything more contemporary on the revolutions of 1848, or (a bit more specifically) the Austro-Hungarian Empire (anything K.u.K-related from 1867-1918 really would be great). The last few books I read on both were pretty dated, Revolutions of 1848 (1968) by Priscilla Smith Robertson and The Habsburg Monarchy, 1809-1918 : A History of the Austrian Empire and Austria-Hungary (1976) by A.J.P. Taylor (much love for ol' A.J.P., though his view on German historiography is a bit outdated).
Drone fucked around with this message at 20:43 on Aug 6, 2012 |
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Aug 6, 2012 20:41
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smr posted:A lot of it has been superseded by later research, but yes, it was the first and it remains a worthy, canonical read. Yeah, it's still a great overview for lay historians. There's a reason why you always see a copy of it in the history section at bookstores, decades after its publication.
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Nov 15, 2012 12:06
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Lee Harvey Oswald posted:I'm looking for a World War I book that focuses on the political/cultural aspects of the war. It seems like most basic overviews spend a disproportionate amount of time on the battles and military startegies. It's also got political/cultural stuff in it, but even though it's mainly military/diplomatic, The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman is pretty much mandatory reading. There's also her The Proud Tower which focuses on life shortly before the war as well.
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Nov 30, 2012 18:11
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Vegetable posted:Playing a historical video game that spans from 1453 to 1821 and I'd like to read on European political history in that time frame. Something that sweeps across the decades while touching on all the important parts: the reformation, the enlightenment, the French revolution and such. I've only ever read about post-1900 European history so I'm hoping it won't be too dense for me. I haven't read it (though I own it), but Europe: A History by Norman Davies is probably the most comprehensive thing out there. Aside from that, you'd be better off picking something more specific that interests you and reading just about that.
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Dec 31, 2012 18:35
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Archer2338 posted:Can anyone recommend an accessible, not-incredibly long book on a specific European war from the Napoleonic wars to WWII? I am somewhat knowledgeable about the general history of the time periods, so something more specific and preferably narrative on one of the wars would be awesome. I guess I lack knowledge in the Napoleonic wars the most (and so would prefer books on that), but wouldn't mind any other war either. I really enjoyed Anthony Beevor's Stalingrad, even if it was a bit technical/academic at times. "The Guns of August" by Barbara Tuchman is pretty much mandatory reading if you're thinking of books on European war.
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Apr 18, 2013 12:17
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Anyone know of anything good on Canada's contribution to both World Wars? More interested in 2 right now, but 1 is great too.
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Apr 21, 2013 12:50
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I'm not usually big on bios, but does anyone have a definitive biography on FDR?
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Oct 12, 2013 18:42
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Dunbar posted:Of these WWI books: If you're going to read one book about World War I, read The Guns of August. It's a timeless classic of history for a reason, it's referenced everywhere, it is the big-name WW1 book.
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Oct 19, 2013 02:06
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Speaking of Norman Davies, I just started Europe: A History after it's been staring at me for years to read it. So far it's... okay? He goes out of his way early on to assure the reader that he is going to try to be us unbiased as possible, then spends a very lengthy chapter spouting platitudes about "common European identity and consciousness," tossing around vague quotes from Locke to Jean Monnet. It's a little offputting until he finally ties it in with meaningful history.
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Dec 13, 2013 11:45
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Anyone have any recommendations for stuff on the Dutch Republic and/or the Eighty Years' War?
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Jan 15, 2014 01:05
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rasser posted:Short version: It's still under the carpet. While German perceptions of the holocaust has changed gradually, much of the de-nazification took place by people burning their party membership books. Probably the closest thing that comes to my mind right away is Father/Land: A Personal Search for the New Germany by Frederick Kempe. Unfortunately, I can't really say that I recommend it. Don't let the University Press publisher fool you, Frederick Kempe is not an academic or a professional historian in any capacity. He does occasionally make an interesting point or observation, but he's also far too eager to paint Germany (and Germans) with broad brushstrokes, and much of his arguments are made on evidence that is little more than anecdotal. There's also a pervasive tone throughout the novel that Kempe (born and raised in the United States to German parents) is really playing up some sort of deep existential dilemma or guilt that he finds himself in purely because he has a German last name. I distinctly remember at one point in the book where he's talking about a bad experience he had with some kind of rude person in the service industry in Germany, and how his mind traced that immediately back to Germans just being inherently fascistic (itself a very interesting topic that has been researched, published, debated, and debunked to death). If you're looking for something a bit better but less concrete, I'd start by reading (or at least skimming) Albert Schweer's autobiographical Inside the Third Reich and then immediately following it with the mass of scholarship, both in the form of monographs and articles, that call Speer out for his massive amount of bullshit and whitewashing of his own involvement in the atrocities of the regime. While you won't get a very concise, single-volume treatment of German denazification or how Germans view the past, you will definitely develop a good understanding of the conflict that exists in Germany between the two views. There's (appropriately) a great German word which means "coming to terms with the past", Vergangenheitsbewältigung. Do a Google search for that and denazification and you should come up with some interesting reading.
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Mar 10, 2014 17:03
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scootsmagoo posted:I've started reading Inside the Third Reich by Albert Speer, Hitler's architect and Minister of Arms. I'm only about 120 pages in at this point. The author discusses the more emotional side of Hitler. He was part of Hitler's inner circle and was witness to Hitler announcing his fear of imminent death due to his failing health as early as 1935. Definitely an interesting take from someone who was granted the profession Hitler idealized and failed at --architecture. He also pretty cleverly got off basically scot-free and is an extremely untrustworthy source. Sure, keep reading it for entertainment value, but by no means should you base any historical assumptions on the veracity of his statements alone.
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Aug 11, 2014 08:05
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Does anyone have any recommendations for books dealing with politics/sociology of interwar Japan?
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Oct 7, 2014 12:46
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Leucosia posted:I've been on a Howard Zinn binge the last couple of weeks and have gotten through both The Bomb and A People's History of the United States on the recommendation of a friend. Speaking as someone whose politics tend to conveniently line up with Zinn's generally, I would definitely read A People's History with about the same amount of critical thinking as I would for any Wikipedia article. It's great for exposing an alternate viewpoint and for teaching us to question our history (which Americans tend to view as monochromatic and sacrosanct), but as a very prominent piece of popular history writing and therefore not tremendously reliable as a historical source. But for Joe Sixpack reading some history on the couch in his free time, it's great.
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Nov 17, 2014 07:59
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Fork of Unknown Origins posted:Is "Fingers of the Gods" by Graham Hancock a reputable book? It's pre-history so I know there will be some speculation, but I want to make sure it's at least based in evidence and not just some crackpot's ramblings with misrepresentation of evidence before I buy it. You mean Fingerprints of the Gods? No, it's total hackery, but if you're into paranormal stuff it's at least somewhat interesting. Also pretty decent as an exercise in critical reading. Though as far as crazy people books go, it's probably among the "best".
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Dec 19, 2014 10:42
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Lordboots posted:Hello everyone! This summer I'm going to the Balkans for a Study Abroad. The history class I'm doing it through requires me to read three books of my own choosing about any historical place, battle, people... basically if it's of historical relevance to the Balkans it will probably fly. Then I get to do a presentation on the book, AT the actual location(s) detailed within the chosen books; I am intensely excited about that. With so many options I'm finding myself having trouble making a decision. Really, I'm hoping to tap some of our goonish capacity for amassing eclectic historical information and find some really good books, particularly on Venice, and Constantinople. The one and only book I've read on anything Balkan-related was The Bridge on the Drina as an undergrad for a requirement. It was pretty okay, but I don't remember poo poo about it.
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Jan 21, 2015 06:58
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MonsieurChoc posted:My college library routinely leaves piles of books they give out, and I snagged myself a free copy of And the band played on... that I still haven't read. Any opinions on it before I start? Is it good/bad/somewhere in between? I've heard it's stellar. Bring tissues.
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Feb 9, 2015 10:58
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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.
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Dec 3, 2018 17:12
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Shimrra Jamaane posted:The Oxford History of the French Revolution is a complete historical account and the 3rd edition just came out. How decent is it for an exclusively pop-history audience in terms of accessibility?
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Dec 3, 2018 18:13
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"Merry Christmas grandpa, here's a book I found for you about Louis XVI's cock!"
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Dec 4, 2018 12:47
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So I'm currently working my way through SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome by Mary Beard and I'm liking it pretty well, considering that I know jack poo poo about ancient or classical history (or really much detail about anything before around 1500). Is there a similar sort of birds-eye-view-with-some-social-history-splashed-in work for ancient/classical Egypt, or is a topic that old just impossible to do a social history for?
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Apr 20, 2019 19:28
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The 1421 talk has got me wondering: is there a decent resource somewhere (blog, whatever) of recommended "popular history" titles that are generally well-regarded by academics? Obviously googling "<book name> review" will give you a general indication of how "good" the book is from the perspective of the layman reader, but it's harder to filter out reviews fby Joe Schmoes or non-historians from actual constructive critique by people who are savvy. Case in point: even 1421 has 3.6 stars on Goodreads.
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Jun 17, 2019 11:25
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Any fairly comprehensive but also approachable Chinese history? I don't really want to dive deeply into a specific event or period, just looking for something a bit more general and, well, centuries-spanning.
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Nov 28, 2020 15:01
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Any recommendations on the abolitionist movement in the antebellum thirteen colonies/United States? Something approachable and fairly comprehensive and not just covering the immediate pre-war years.
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Jun 1, 2021 12:50
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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.
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Aug 27, 2022 14:37
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