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I finished King and Emperor: A New Life of Charlemagne tonight. Pretty great book. I haven't read another which managed to weave the competing sources into a narrative so transparently and seemlessly. There are obviously gaps and unknowns in the history which had to be worked with but Nelson said they set out to write a good chronological biography of "Charles" and they did just that.
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May 16, 2023 06:06
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Mr_Roke posted:I finished King and Emperor: A New Life of Charlemagne tonight. She think the mother killed Carloman?
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May 16, 2023 11:18
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plogo posted:If you are interesting in the late roman empire / early middle ages I would check out Chris Wickham's works such as The Inheritance of Rome: Illuminating the Dark Ages 400-1000. Wickham is great, seconded!
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May 16, 2023 14:16
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Arbite posted:She think the mother killed Carloman? She demurred, mentioning whether Bertrada killed him or not is disputed by historians and says "readers should judge for themselves." But given that she also mentioned Carloman was "already a sick man" when he and Bertada travelled with Pippin and the Pope on their way back to Italy, I think not.
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May 16, 2023 18:03
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After reading a few other books on Cold War history, I'm currently reading Dark Sun, Rhodes' history of hydrogen bomb development. His treatment of the early development of the Strategic Air Command and LeMay's role in transforming it is quite interesting, and makes the reader really think about the challenges of developing an entirely new military organization to utilize brand new, essentially untested technology in what is ostensibly peacetime in a new strategic and political landscape. I'm curious if anyone knows of good books detailing the early development of SAC and/or of early development of Cold War military strategy (late 40s-50s).
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May 16, 2023 22:17
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fuf posted:Can anyone suggest a good book on the planning of the D-Day landings? Not so much the landings themselves or the Normandy campaign just all the planning and logistics involved? FPyat posted:Neptune by Craig L. Symonds has decidedly more to say than the books focused on the land warfare. This was ages ago but just wanted to say thanks for this. It was a really good read and exactly the kind of thing I was looking for.
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May 17, 2023 12:36
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Lewd Mangabey posted:After reading a few other books on Cold War history, I'm currently reading Dark Sun, Rhodes' history of hydrogen bomb development. His treatment of the early development of the Strategic Air Command and LeMay's role in transforming it is quite interesting, and makes the reader really think about the challenges of developing an entirely new military organization to utilize brand new, essentially untested technology in what is ostensibly peacetime in a new strategic and political landscape. I'm curious if anyone knows of good books detailing the early development of SAC and/or of early development of Cold War military strategy (late 40s-50s). Maybe it's more pop-history than what you're wanting, but I really enjoyed Eric Schlosser's Command and Control. The frame narrative is centered around an explosion in a missile silo in Arkansas in the 1980s, but most of the book covers the development of SAC, the tug-of-war between civilian and military agencies for launch authorization, the IAEA, and a bunch of mishaps, near misses, gently caress ups, etc. with nuclear weapons throughout the Cold War. If you want something a bit more grognard, Nuclear Statecraft by Francis Gavin is an interesting history of theories of why, when, and how to use nuclear weapons, deterrence, etc.
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May 17, 2023 14:14
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Thanks for the suggestion. Grognardy/academic is fine (as are opinionated works that I don't necessarily agree with; part of the fun is putting yourself in the shoes of someone like LeMay). Nuclear Statecraft sounds like it's up the right alley, and let me to some other books to try as well.
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May 17, 2023 20:19
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There's the old Wizards of Armageddon.
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May 18, 2023 01:24
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Minenfeld! posted:There's the old Wizards of Armageddon. That was one of the books that came up when I was looking into Nuclear Statecraft! Thanks for confirming that it's worth looking into.
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May 18, 2023 16:33
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Just finished a book about Geirmund Heljarskinn (Geirmund With Black Skin) called the Black Viking. Not much is known about other than that he probably had an asian mother and that he became a successful business man. The book is about Geirmund but also about what we can possibly know about a person who lived a thousand years ago with very few written sources. The author shows that names, what we know about the culture and names of locations actually can be used when we have little else.
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May 18, 2023 16:57
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Anyone read this? https://www.amazon.com/Iron-Blood-Military-History-German-Speaking/dp/0674987624 It popped up on my audible recommendations. I enjoyed his book on the HRE and enjoyed what of his book on the 30 years war I made it through.
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May 20, 2023 02:06
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Kaiser Schnitzel posted:Anyone read this? Working my way through it, albeit slowly. It's a bit scatterbrained in the pre-30YW chapters and doesn't necessarily fully explain the relevant context.
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May 20, 2023 05:59
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Having read neither, is Daniel Boorstin anything like the Durants in content and style?
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May 24, 2023 03:04
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I've been enjoying Jonathan Sumption's series on the Hundred Years War, but man, finding out that he's in the House of Lords (a fact that the book's description of the author does not tell you) does a lot to explain his attitude towards various historical personages.
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May 28, 2023 22:57
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So far, Greater Gotham is entirely about the corporate and political goings on in America and its colonies and dependencies at large, with only brief mentions of events in New York. I understand the relevance of world finance to the city, but it seems disproportionate.
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Jun 1, 2023 06:25
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Looking for a really, really good book on indigenous American history. Pre 1492. Obviously this is a tricky field for everything we don't know, and most of what we do know is from archaeology. But I'm interested in a book that best finds a compelling narrative in what is known of the pre-contact history of the Americas. I'm especially interesting in North America, especially Mississippian mound culture centered around Cahokia, but that's even harder because there wasn't any stonework or writing.
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Jun 3, 2023 19:10
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Ramrod Hotshot posted:Looking for a really, really good book on indigenous American history. Pre 1492. Obviously this is a tricky field for everything we don't know, and most of what we do know is from archaeology. But I'm interested in a book that best finds a compelling narrative in what is known of the pre-contact history of the Americas. I'm especially interesting in North America, especially Mississippian mound culture centered around Cahokia, but that's even harder because there wasn't any stonework or writing. There is literally a book about this called 1491.
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Jun 3, 2023 19:17
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Silver2195 posted:There is literally a book about this called 1491. It's a great book. Do keep in mind that pre-Columbian archaeology is a very active and fast moving field so there have been changes since 1491 came out, but it's still the best single volume out there on the subject IMO.
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Jun 3, 2023 19:23
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Yeah, 1491 is great.
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Jun 3, 2023 19:34
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Nth'ing 1491. It's rul gud.
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Jun 3, 2023 21:05
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Does anyone know a good book in English on the Kingdom of Kongo. I cannot for the life of me find one.
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Jun 4, 2023 00:57
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sbaldrick posted:Does anyone know a good book in English on the Kingdom of Kongo. I cannot for the life of me find one. These aren't entirely about Kongo but from grad school I read these books which at least have large sections on Kongo, albeit largely about their interactions with Europeans: Linda Heywood and John Thornton, Central Africans, Atlantic Creoles, and the Foundation of the Americas, 1585-1660 (Cambridge University Press, 2007). David Northrup, Africa’s Discovery of Europe (Oxford University Press, 2013). Kate Lowe and T. F. Earle, eds., Black Africans in Renaissance Europe (Cambridge University Press, 2005). David Ringrose, Europeans Abroad, 1450-1750 (Rowman & Littlefield, 2018).
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Jun 4, 2023 15:27
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Anyone have a recommendation for a book about Roman mass entertainment? Gladiators, chariot racing, that sort of stuff?
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Jun 4, 2023 18:50
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Does anyone have a recommendation for modern astronomy history that's actually about our backyard - the discovery of features of the solar system, and the engineering projects for Hubble, Curiosity, Apollo etc. I've read a lot of stuff that veers into the history of cosmology, or astronomy pre-20th Century - but not much about how the internal structure of the planets was worked out, the story of the rover missions, or the Voyagers or the ISS. I don't mind books that take a very narrow scope or whatever - books on a single mission, or the history of Martian studies. I know there's lots of books about the Apollo missions. I also don't mind anything technical - I like the historical notes in Carroll and Ostlie.
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Jun 5, 2023 06:04
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I think this one has been recommended before: https://www.nasa.gov/connect/ebooks/beyond_earth_detail.html Much of his other work can be found on his website: https://www.asifsiddiqi.com/work
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Jun 5, 2023 10:33
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I've only read Challenge to Apollo but can confirm Siddiqi owns.
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Jun 5, 2023 14:38
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Yeah Saddiqi is solid, most of the official NASA histories are great, though some of them get quite dry in a unique but difficult to read way (looking in your direction Stages To Saturn)
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Jun 5, 2023 17:53
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Yes, it's like a lava lamp.
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I just finished Perry Anderson’s Passages from Antiquity to Feudalism and found it extremely interesting. What’s the state of the scholarship on the transition from antiquity to feudalism since that came out in 1974? Are there more contemporary books that do a similar broad synoptic overview of the topic? Bonus points if they’re also Marxists, but not required. I’d also just be interested in chonky, authoritative, comprehensive books about antiquity in general.
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Jun 5, 2023 23:22
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nemesis_hub posted:I just finished Perry Anderson’s Passages from Antiquity to Feudalism and found it extremely interesting. What’s the state of the scholarship on the transition from antiquity to feudalism since that came out in 1974? Are there more contemporary books that do a similar broad synoptic overview of the topic? Bonus points if they’re also Marxists, but not required. You can check out Chris Wickham- he has an essay from the 80s, "The Other Transition: From the Ancient World to Feudalism" which outlines his thesis, which is later presented in full in "framing the middle ages" and the slightly condensed (but still a brick of a book) "the inheritance of rome". You might also find ellen maskin woods "The Origin of Capitalism: A Longer View" useful for a view of some of this historiography as of 1999. that book covers a wider range of historical debates beyond the transition from antiquity to feudalism, but its very well written and a smooth rad. plogo fucked around with this message at 13:44 on Jun 6, 2023 |
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Jun 6, 2023 13:40
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Ravel posted:Does anyone have a recommendation for modern astronomy history that's actually about our backyard - the discovery of features of the solar system, and the engineering projects for Hubble, Curiosity, Apollo etc. I've read a lot of stuff that veers into the history of cosmology, or astronomy pre-20th Century - but not much about how the internal structure of the planets was worked out, the story of the rover missions, or the Voyagers or the ISS. I really enjoyed "First Light" by Richard Preston. It's more about telescopes than astronomy, but it's a great book.
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Jun 6, 2023 13:56
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I am less familiar with his work, but you also might want to check out Jairus Banaji for an alternative marxist take from perry anderson.
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Jun 6, 2023 13:57
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Thanks for the suggestions, they look perfectly meaty.
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Jun 7, 2023 04:46
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after Wild Swans and China After Mao: The Rise of a Superpower, I got around to reading Evan Osnos' Age of Ambition. not so cohesive but an interesting series of vignettes. not gonna lie but the early 2010s when most of the book occurs feels like ancient history. must be because of the pandemic. has anyone read Surveillance State: Inside China's Quest to Launch a New Era of Social Control? I might go there next, unless people have other recommendations for Chinese history in the last decade
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Jun 11, 2023 17:37
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By that point it's barely even history and more like books about contemporary China. And most western ones are neocon tripe.
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Jun 11, 2023 19:43
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Reading through Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, I was kind of impressed by how progressive the author's views were compared to what I would have expected from a book written in the 19th century, which made it even more surprising when I hit the chapter on poison and the author suddenly transformed, werewolf-style, into what almost seemed like a different and much more credulous writer.
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Jun 15, 2023 02:37
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I started Nixonland and I'm about 200 pages in. It's really quite good.
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Jun 20, 2023 23:39
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Perlstein really is the best, if you like that you should check out the whole series.
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Jun 21, 2023 00:06
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Mantis42 posted:Perlstein really is the best, if you like that you should check out the whole series. It's a 4 book series right?
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Jun 22, 2023 01:00
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I liked the first and third books in the series the most fwiw. This article in lingua franca is nice for some context to the series- it outlines Perlstein's thoughts on the sixties historiography dominated by ex sds and other new left activists like todd gitlin and michael kazin, etc. http://linguafranca.mirror.theinfo.org/9605/sixties.html back in the 90s.
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Jun 22, 2023 19:33
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