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Can you recommend a good book on African history with an emphasis on pre-colonial sub-Saharan Africa? I'd love an African equivalent to 1491, but a good general history will do.
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Mar 25, 2019 12:33
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Hannibal Rex posted:Can you recommend a good book on African history with an emphasis on pre-colonial sub-Saharan Africa? I'd love an African equivalent to 1491, but a good general history will do. It's not really a general history just because of how fragmentary it is(and that's mostly because of limited written sources) but I'm enjoying The Golden Rhinoceros by Francois-Xavier Fauvelle. It has a lot about North Africa but there's quite a bit of sub Saharan stuff there also.
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Mar 25, 2019 12:42
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Hannibal Rex posted:Can you recommend a good book on African history with an emphasis on pre-colonial sub-Saharan Africa? I'd love an African equivalent to 1491, but a good general history will do. I can't vouch for it because it just came out, but Martin Meredith's new book The Fortunes of Africa seems to be this. I've read his other book, The Fate of Africa, which is basically the post-colonial version of what you're looking for and it's very good.
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Mar 25, 2019 13:08
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Can anybody here recommend a good general history of the Japanese Warring States period? Preference goes to works by Japanese authors translated into English, if there even are any.
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Apr 4, 2019 00:18
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Hannibal Rex posted:Can you recommend a good book on African history with an emphasis on pre-colonial sub-Saharan Africa? I'd love an African equivalent to 1491, but a good general history will do. My understanding is that it's a bit dated but Roland Oliver and Anthony Atmore's Medieval Africa, 1250-1800 seemed to be a pretty good overview when I read it. Obviously if you want anything before 1250 it's not going to be too useful but I appreciated that it was a broad overview, covering every major region since I didn't have a lot of background knowledge at the time.
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Apr 4, 2019 00:30
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what are good books on Rhodesia
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Apr 5, 2019 05:21
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Hungry posted:Can anybody here recommend a good general history of the Japanese Warring States period? Preference goes to works by Japanese authors translated into English, if there even are any. A History of Japan, 1334-1615 is pretty good if you want a lot of details. Don't even bother with looking for translated stuff, I'm a Japan scholar and I've never even come across any. Suppose it's how we keep our jobs.
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Apr 10, 2019 04:12
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I'm looking for recommendations for the Mexican Revolution. I saw Villa and Zapata has been mentioned before, and I've read Born in Blood and Fire about Latin American history more broadly for a survey class a while back. Mike Duncan hasn't updated his bibliography yet or I'd start there.
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Apr 11, 2019 02:47
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MeatwadIsGod posted:I can't vouch for it because it just came out, but Martin Meredith's new book The Fortunes of Africa seems to be this. I've read his other book, The Fate of Africa, which is basically the post-colonial version of what you're looking for and it's very good. Seconding Fate of Africa. Also his Diamonds, Gold and War is excellent, focused on South Africa
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Apr 11, 2019 05:58
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Stephen Platt's recent book Imperial Twilight about the Opium War is real good, ya'll.
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Apr 11, 2019 06:44
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NeilPerry posted:A History of Japan, 1334-1615 is pretty good if you want a lot of details. Don't even bother with looking for translated stuff, I'm a Japan scholar and I've never even come across any. Suppose it's how we keep our jobs. why don't you do us all a favor then and publish some translations 
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Apr 13, 2019 00:27
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NeilPerry posted:A History of Japan, 1334-1615 is pretty good if you want a lot of details. Don't even bother with looking for translated stuff, I'm a Japan scholar and I've never even come across any. Suppose it's how we keep our jobs. Thanks! I'll poke around for that one.
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Apr 14, 2019 12:03
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Does anyone have any good recs for ancient and/or pre-colonial Indian history? I'd really like to learn more about the region's history before the British invaded.
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Apr 14, 2019 15:17
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I'm visiting Morocco at the end of May and would like to read up on the history so I know next to nothing. Something that covers from the ancient to the modern period would be excellent, but I realize I might not be able to get that in one book.
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Apr 15, 2019 20:19
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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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going to germany in a couple of months and i'd really like a decent one-volume overview of its history. doesn't need to be comprehensive (obviously), but i'd like it to start in at least the middle ages. alternatively, a book that specifically covers the middle ages and one that covers the 20th century would be good as well. any suggestions?
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May 4, 2019 00:29
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Not comprehensive in any way but maybe try Germany: Memories of a Nation by Neil MacGregor.
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May 4, 2019 14:14
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It's not at all what you want, but I recommend it anyway, because I think it's just a good book, and that's "Iron Kingdom - the Rise and Downfall of Prussia 1600 - 1947" by Christopher Clark.
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May 4, 2019 18:49
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Epicurius posted:"Iron Kingdom - the Rise and Downfall of Prussia 1600 - 1947" by Christopher Clark. C O R P O R A T E S T R U C T U R E S
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May 6, 2019 22:54
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Epicurius posted:It's not at all what you want, but I recommend it anyway, because I think it's just a good book, and that's "Iron Kingdom - the Rise and Downfall of Prussia 1600 - 1947" by Christopher Clark. I'll second this. I'm the first one to point out how Germany is more than Prussia, but when it comes to modern German political history an overview of Prussia really gives you the big hits. It's an excellent book and is my go-to when someone asks me for a one-volume on modern Germany.
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May 7, 2019 00:33
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Any good books on the ottoman invasions into the Balkans? Open to broader histories of the Ottoman Empire if they cover that in detail.
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May 20, 2019 03:33
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Starks posted:Any good books on the ottoman invasions into the Balkans? Open to broader histories of the Ottoman Empire if they cover that in detail. Andrew Wheatcroft's The Enemy at the Gate: Hapsburgs, Ottomans and the Battle For Europe, focuses on the siege of Vienna in 1683 but spends a good long stretch laying out the process of Ottoman expansion in the Balkans. Excellent use of primary sources from contemporary travelers and the old Hapsburg war archives.
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May 20, 2019 22:16
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1994 Toyota Celica posted:Andrew Wheatcroft's The Enemy at the Gate: Hapsburgs, Ottomans and the Battle For Europe, focuses on the siege of Vienna in 1683 but spends a good long stretch laying out the process of Ottoman expansion in the Balkans. Excellent use of primary sources from contemporary travelers and the old Hapsburg war archives. That was a very good read both on the broader requested topic and for the event in question. For Ottoman history in general, which is just... fascinating overall, and which also covers the requested topic in good detail, I really, really enjoyed Osman's Dream by Caroline Finkel. Great one-volume history of the Ottoman Empire top to bottom.
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May 22, 2019 16:20
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Something I've been meaning to post here. Matthew White, author of The Great Big Book of Horrible Things: The Definitive Chronicle of History's 100 Worst Atrocities (a book I like probably more than I should) is currently working on a history of democracy and has been posting the chapters he's written online. I thought this might be of interest to the people in this thread. I'm posting the direct links to each chapter in this list since White's site can be a little hard to navigate.
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May 24, 2019 02:02
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The_Other posted:Something I've been meaning to post here. Matthew White, author of The Great Big Book of Horrible Things: The Definitive Chronicle of History's 100 Worst Atrocities (a book I like probably more than I should) is currently working on a history of democracy and has been posting the chapters he's written online. I thought this might be of interest to the people in this thread. I'm posting the direct links to each chapter in this list since White's site can be a little hard to navigate. i like how russia is listed as a democracy only from 1991 to 2004. thought provoking stuff
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May 24, 2019 08:48
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smr posted:That was a very good read both on the broader requested topic and for the event in question. For Ottoman history in general, which is just... fascinating overall, and which also covers the requested topic in good detail, I really, really enjoyed Osman's Dream by Caroline Finkel. Great one-volume history of the Ottoman Empire top to bottom. Seconding Osman's Dream, which I've not read myself but heard good things about, and adding to the list Empires of the Sea: The Contest for the Center of the World by Roger Crowley, an excellent history of the golden age of Mediterranean galley warfare in the 16th Century, with plenty of attention paid to both particular military episodes (the Ottoman siege of Malta, the naval battle of Lepanto) and the economic/social causes that generated, drove, and finally brought an end to the galley wars. My favorite section is the deep biographical dive into the pirate king Hayreddin Barbarossa.
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May 24, 2019 14:55
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A human heart posted:i like how russia is listed as a democracy only from 1991 to 2004. thought provoking stuff When would you say it was a democracy?
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May 25, 2019 01:18
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1917-1991 
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May 25, 2019 01:28
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Anyone who uncritically regurgitates the myth about Magna Carta (particularly its original 1215 form) being of any relevance to anyone than a few extremely wealthy and long-dead noblemen, for about 30 seconds, wants all their opinions taking with a huge pinch of salt; cf Lord Sumption's skeptical speech for the 800th anniversary.
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May 25, 2019 02:16
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Vivian Darkbloom posted:When would you say it was a democracy? well obviously that guy is a dumbass who thinks that democracy means 'has parliamentary elections' but the idea that russian under putin isn't a democracy but that russia under yeltsin was is pretty funny specifically.
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May 25, 2019 03:15
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A human heart posted:well obviously that guy is a dumbass who thinks that democracy means 'has parliamentary elections' but the idea that russian under putin isn't a democracy but that russia under yeltsin was is pretty funny specifically. I mean, it was more of a democracy under Yeltsin, I guess. Russia really doesn't have much of a democratic tradition, does it? They've had, what, one actually fair election ever?
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May 25, 2019 18:12
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Silver2195 posted:I mean, it was more of a democracy under Yeltsin, I guess. Russia was basically immune to the Enlightenment so yeah, no democratic tradition whatsoever.
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May 25, 2019 18:19
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Can someone recommend me a book about the War of 1812? I know basically nothing about it, so something intro-y would be good.
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May 25, 2019 20:47
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Look Sir Droids posted:Russia was basically immune to the Enlightenment so yeah, no democratic tradition whatsoever. ???
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May 25, 2019 23:47
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Silver2195 posted:I mean, it was more of a democracy under Yeltsin, I guess. i don't think the guy who was so unpopular that he shelled parliament with tanks and had to be re-elected with the explicit aid of the americans was a great example of democracy personally
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May 26, 2019 01:44
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Catherine the Great made some attempts to implement (her understanding of) Enlightenment ideas. It didn't go over very well with the nobles and she gave up, IIRC. Though I believe the "democratic" element of Catherine's attempted "reforms" was pretty limited even by the standards of the time anyway.
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May 26, 2019 03:01
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Silver2195 posted:Catherine the Great made some attempts to implement (her understanding of) Enlightenment ideas. It didn't go over very well with the nobles and she gave up, IIRC. Though I believe the "democratic" element of Catherine's attempted "reforms" was pretty limited even by the standards of the time anyway. She didn't give up. She died. And then her son, Paul I, made some reforms. He banned corporal punishment of non-serfs, introduced some laws protecting serfs, and made it easier for peasants to buy land. As a reaction against the French revolution, though, he also increased censorship and became more autocratic. Then, after he was assassinated by some nobles, his son Alexander I took the throne. Alexander I started out governing with liberal ideas. He granted Russian Poland a constitution that was one of the more liberal ones in Europe, granting universal suffrage in Sejm elections to everyone 21 and older, let the Sejm impeach government ministers, and giving them the right to vote on most things. After a planned coup, though, and an assassination attempt, he decided, "Yep, the hell with liberalism. It just leads to revolution", and cracked down.
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May 26, 2019 03:34
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Chernobyl books? Yeah, I'm just asking because of the TV show. To be honest I'd love an audiobook because that's how I do most of my reading but the main three available are Midnight in Chernobyl, Chernobyl 1:23:40 and Chernobyl: The History of Nuclear Catastrophe and I'm not sure which I should go for? Voices From Chernobyl seems like the one I actually want overall, but it's not audio so I dunno if I'd ever get around to actually reading it.  I know.
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May 26, 2019 15:30
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Midnight in Chernobyl.
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May 26, 2019 15:35
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Look Sir Droids posted:Midnight in Chernobyl.
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May 26, 2019 18:48
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