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40-Degree Day posted:Can I get some recommendations for some good Civil War reads? Battle Cry of Freedom by James McPherson is excellent. 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. Check out The Myriad Faces of War by Trevor Wilson for the British experience.
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Dec 3, 2012 06:19
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Xanderg posted:Hey everyone, I was wondering if anyone knew of a good book on the Russian Revolution? Ideally what I'm looking for is something that has a narrative approach covering the 1917 to 1922 period, with a little bit of background. It would be great if it included important, sourced, information on literacy, poverty, etc, all the things that would show why the revolutions happened and what advantages or disadvantages both sides had. More importantly I would love it if it incorporated diaries/journal entries on the revolutions from both influential figures as well as commoners on both sides of the conflict. You should grab The Russian Revolution, 1917 by Rex Wade. Granted, it only deals with 1917 and the February and October revolutions, but it's absolutely essential reading. It's very accessible too.
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Jan 10, 2013 06:41
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Vogler posted:I am looking for a good or a great biography about Joseph Stalin, but it is not so easy. Every recommendation I have come across has been with reservations. Try "Stalin: Revolutionary in an Era of War" by Kevin McDermott.
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Mar 31, 2013 05:20
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tweekinator posted:Could anyone give me a recommendation for a biography of Lenin? I've realized I know very little about him. Robert Service's one-volume treatment is decent enough although avoid his biographies on Stalin and Trotsky at all costs.
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Apr 13, 2013 14:15
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Comrade Cheggorsky posted:What’s wrong with his biographies of Stalin and Trotsky? Sorry for the late reply. I personally didn't find his Stalin bio to be engaging or illuminating in the least, and his Trotsky book is filled with simple errors and has been hammered by critics. http://www.insidehighered.com/views/mclemee/mclemee_on_trotsky_in_ahr
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May 8, 2013 07:11
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quote:• history of hauntings, witch hunts, and demonic possession throughout Europe and America I'm not really sure what kind of book you're after here, but I'll suggest a few that might be of interest. Norman Cohn's 'Europe's Inner Demons' is an essential history of the European witch-hunts. Also 'Witchcraze', by Anne Llewyllyn Barstow puts the question of gender front and centre. Carlo Ginzburg's 'Ecstasies' is a typically broad-stroke Ginzburgian look at witches and folk-belief that forms a neat counter-point to Cohn. Similarly, 'The Night Battles', also by Ginzburg is quite good. 'Satan the Heretic' by Alain Boureau is a good, short book on the explosion of interest in demonology that occurred in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Filled with neat little stories about demon summoning. And of course 'Religion and the Decline of Magic' by Keith Thomas.
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Jul 23, 2013 04:03
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The Black Jacobins by C.L.R James doesn't cover the entire history of Haiti, and it's quite old now, but it's still regarded as a classic for good reasons.
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Nov 19, 2013 05:07
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Nixonland is great but I would call it more a cultural/political history of the period with Nixon as the centrepiece than a straight-up biography of the man. Also Perlstein's previous book about Goldwater "Before the Storm" is really good if you're into the history of the Birchers and all those zany fringe-groups.
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Apr 16, 2014 04:28
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Lee Harvey Oswald posted:Speaking of Perlstein, part 3 of his right-wing trilogy comes out this summer. The bad guys win in the end. Cool, thanks for this. Fingers crossed it is as excellent as the other two.
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Apr 24, 2014 04:05
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McMeekin. I haven't that read that particular Applebaum book but I though GULAG was pretty terrible.
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May 3, 2014 10:49
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Mao's China and After by Maurice Meisner is essential imo.
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Jun 5, 2014 06:23
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Taylor's analysis of the origins of WWII is definitely out of fashion these days but I wouldn't call it false. It has it's merits as one of the first major works in English which tried to move away from the Hitler-centric viewpoint that had dominated scholarship up until then
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Sep 27, 2014 11:47
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