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Arctic Dreams by Barry Lopez, which isn't specifically about that, it;s about the arctic in general and how it influences our thoughts, but it touches on the people, obviously.
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Jun 25, 2020 15:36
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Thanks for the suggestions!
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Jun 26, 2020 13:26
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Looking for a recommendation for the Soviet-Afghan war? It doesn't have to be the entire book, even just a substantial section is fine. Also, wondering if there are any good books to focus substantially on Marshall Zhukov, big upside if they talk about him as an actual person and what he was like or extend into his retirement (or just substantially after WW2).
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Jun 29, 2020 17:03
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Zhukov wrote his own autobiography in the 60s, but I think only edited versions are available in English. Even in Russian I don't think the full unedited version was available until the early 00s. From what little I know about it, the full version at least was held up as fairly accurate. I've only ever read the initial American publication from the late 60s, though. But even that seemed generally decent for a WWII book written by a ranking Soviet general in the Brezhnev freeze.
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Jun 29, 2020 17:40
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I tend to avoid autobiographies, but I did order that one, but I make a personal rule to never read an autobiography unless I read a second book written by a third party.
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Jun 29, 2020 17:59
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Dreylad posted:That reminds me, on the subject of morality and historians, James Axtell's "The Moral Dimensions of 1492" is pretty good primer on that subject, and even if you disagree with the framework Axtell presents it tends to spark some good debate. This is an excellent, excellent essay for providing a structure for this discussion (as you mentioned, whether a person agrees with him or not).
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Jun 30, 2020 01:29
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Pick posted:Looking for a recommendation for the Soviet-Afghan war? It doesn't have to be the entire book, even just a substantial section is fine. The Hidden War by Artyom Borovik isn’t a history of the war on a tactical or strategic level, but rather stories of what Soviet troops went through during the conflict. There’s also The Soviet Afghan War: How a Superpower Fought and Lost by the Russian General Staff which is a translation of high level after action report of the conflict.
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Jun 30, 2020 04:31
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I've read The Bear Went Over the Mountain: Soviet Combat Tactics in Afghanistan which is just about military tactics but is very informative. The same author did The Other Side of the Mountain about insurgents but I haven't read that. Afgantsy: The Russians in Afghanistan 1979-89 is fine but not enlightening compared to other sources.
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Jun 30, 2020 04:37
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Pick posted:Also, wondering if there are any good books to focus substantially on Marshall Zhukov, big upside if they talk about him as an actual person and what he was like or extend into his retirement (or just substantially after WW2). For this you probably want Stalin's General: The Life of Georgy Zhukov, by Geoffrey Roberts. It's got a primarily military focus, however, despite aiming at being a bio. Then again, he was most notably a general, so.... There are other bios, but they heavily rely on Zhukov's own memoirs, and those are pretty slanted. Xotl fucked around with this message at 08:05 on Jun 30, 2020 |
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Jun 30, 2020 07:38
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Pick posted:Looking for a recommendation for the Soviet-Afghan war? It doesn't have to be the entire book, even just a substantial section is fine. Zinky Boys
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Jun 30, 2020 20:22
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Thanks! I will get these books.
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Jul 1, 2020 04:26
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Also, it's light history in many respects, but I found How to Feed a Dictator thoroughly enthralling. Written by a Polish journalist and published this year, it's an easy one-afternoon read. Most of it is just straight translation of the experiences shared by the head chefs of Saddam Hussein, Idi Amin, Pol Pot, Fidel Castro, and Enver Hoxha after this fellow tracked them down. I actually found the Enver Hoxha section the most interesting even though he's easily the least commonly-known of the set. All of them were people with some level of personal interaction with the leader. Interestingly, the guy who was head chef for Idi Amin had previously been the head chef for Milton Obote, and then remained through Amin's tenure into Obote's return.   Anyway, an insightful look at how people viewed events when they were in surprisingly close proximity but had no political power. The most fun guessing game is who denounced their associated leader and who continued to vouch for them. Pick fucked around with this message at 18:27 on Jul 3, 2020 |
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Jul 3, 2020 06:42
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That's a great story.
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Jul 3, 2020 07:37
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Pick posted:How to Feed a Dictator Thanks for bringing this up, I'd never heard of this and definitely am going to get it now.
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Jul 4, 2020 20:12
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Pick posted:How to Feed a Dictator TIME Magazine posted:The waiters know well Trump’s personal preferences. As he settles down, they bring him a Diet Coke, while the rest of us are served water, with the Vice President sitting at one end of the table. With the salad course, Trump is served what appears to be Thousand Island dressing instead of the creamy vinaigrette for his guests. When the chicken arrives, he is the only one given an extra dish of sauce. At the dessert course, he gets two scoops of vanilla ice cream with his chocolate cream pie, instead of the single scoop for everyone else. The tastes of Pence are also tended to. Instead of the pie, he gets a fruit plate.
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Jul 4, 2020 22:02
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Tbh Pence comes out sounding even worst in that quote. No pie?! Psycho...
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Jul 5, 2020 02:18
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Can anyone recommend a good history of the Black Panthers? I've been meaning to read up on them for a while now.
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Jul 6, 2020 17:57
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SubG posted:Other reading on the subject: I know I shouldn't be surprised but jfc that is the most childish/royal poo poo.
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Jul 6, 2020 18:07
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Yes, it's like a lava lamp.
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Viola the Mad posted:Can anyone recommend a good history of the Black Panthers? I've been meaning to read up on them for a while now. Black Against Empire: The History and Politics of the Black Panther Party is a good choice. The Black Panthers Speak is nice as a supplement, it's a collection of primary materials including a lot of cool posters.
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Jul 6, 2020 18:30
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Does anyone have a good recommendation for a balanced account of the partition of India and Pakistan? I am not familiar with the historiography and understand that it is a contentious topic. I have only read a general history of India before.
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Jul 9, 2020 22:27
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Midnight's Furies, by Nisid Hajari
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Jul 9, 2020 22:43
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Looking for books on The Troubles that have substantial content about how the IRA was viewed abroad by other countries (regardless of whether they were experiencing similar events, and indeed particularly if they were not).
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Jul 10, 2020 22:55
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So I started reading again in the fall (finally got a library card again), and I've mostly been reading history books. Mostly wanted to say thanks to everyone for all the recommendations in the thread. I did seek out the Penguin History of Modern Vietnam (it was good!) and King Leopold's Ghost (felt kind of meh about it in the end) because of what you've posted. I tend to like a good narrative in my history so they may not be to all your taste, but the best two books I've read so far are Dalrymple's The Anarchy and Helen Castor's Joan of Arc biography. They were both thrilling to read, and I particularly liked the way Castor structured her book.
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Jul 11, 2020 02:47
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Finished October by China Mieville today, mostly to fill the hole that the Revolutions Podcast's hiatus has left in my life. It's a good read for that purpose but I wish the scope was bigger. I understand that the book is literally called October but ending it at the October Revolution is like ending the story just as it's getting interesting.
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Jul 11, 2020 02:58
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I read, uh, all of Robert Caro’s books in June. They were each insanely good and I found myself wanting to read for insanely long stretches. They also helped me to realize how fundamentally conservative American politics are — LBJ spent his whole career building political capital just to pass a bill that pretty much everyone knew needed to pass. Currently listening to Huey Long by Terrance Williams. I’m still in the beginning of his career, but I’m interested in learning Long’s specific policies. The book talks about his willingness to push FDR from the left and how many of his ideas were implemented in the “second” new deal; can’t wait for that part. Looking into reading Eric Hobsbawm’s books soon. If anyone can speak to them, I’d appreciate it.
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Jul 11, 2020 03:38
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Cheesasaurus posted:Looking into reading Eric Hobsbawm’s books soon. If anyone can speak to them, I’d appreciate it. I've read his "The Age of XXX" books, plus Nations and Nationalism Since 1780 and The Invention of Tradition, which he co-edited with TO Ranger (who's one of the best historians of Rhodesia/Zimbabwe, if that interests anyone). All of those are definitely worth reading. Though the Age Of books are obviously more of a general overview and the latter two are more specific in their focus.
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Jul 11, 2020 04:03
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Pick posted:Looking for books on The Troubles that have substantial content about how the IRA was viewed abroad by other countries (regardless of whether they were experiencing similar events, and indeed particularly if they were not). Reiterating this request.
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Jul 13, 2020 01:32
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Can I get a link to TBB discord? One on the previous page expired. Thanks homies.
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Jul 15, 2020 08:03
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Just finished Traitor to His Class: The Privileged Life and Radical Presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt by H.W. Brands. It was ok but by the end I was a bit disappointed. For a 900 page doorstopper I was hoping for more detailed info about FDR's life and personality, especially after being spoiled by Caro's LBJ books and McCullough's Truman. It felt like the author didn't do much original research and was summarizing other works about FDR with the end result being mostly surface level. Very little info about his relationship with his children or the long term impact of his policies. The most interesting parts were near the beginning as I didn't know much about his work as Assistant Secretary of the Navy or how he visited France during WWI. Also good info about his relationship with Churchill. Overall not a recommend, too long without enough of a payoff. It has no equivalent to Caro's interviews with LBJ's circle, or his narrative explaining the dire situation with voting rights or the need for electricity in rural Texas to get across to the reader why his policies were so important.
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Jul 21, 2020 17:46
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I'm reading about the Reformation OP.
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Jul 22, 2020 18:44
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Two entirely separate things: Is there a good general history/overview of the Holy Roman Empire? I’m starting my third attempt on Peter Wilson’s ‘The Thirty Years War’ and he does a great job explaining the empire at that time, but I’d love to know more about things before and after. Is there a good book about the evolution of whaling? Like Mark Kurlansky or Bill Bryson does whales? I don’t need (or want) something super academic.
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Jul 22, 2020 18:58
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Kaiser Schnitzel posted:Is there a good book about the evolution of whaling? Like Mark Kurlansky or Bill Bryson does whales? I don’t need (or want) something super academic. May not be 100% what you're looking for but Nancy Shoemaker's Native American Whalemen and the World is a good way of looking at both 19th century Native American and whaling history. It's definitely not super dense.
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Jul 22, 2020 19:18
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Kaiser Schnitzel posted:Two entirely separate things: Maybe check out Wilson's Heart of Europe. IIRC it's organized by topic rather than chronologically, but you're unlikely to find anything else that's both as comprehensive and as up to date.
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Jul 22, 2020 19:29
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Just gonna quote myself from another thread:Boatswain posted:Any good books on the Six-Day and Yom Kippur wars? I'm interested in the military as well as geo/political facets. TIA 
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Jul 22, 2020 21:59
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Hyrax Attack! posted:Just finished Traitor to His Class: The Privileged Life and Radical Presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt by H.W. Brands. It was ok but by the end I was a bit disappointed. I took a class taught by HW Brands while a student at the University of Texas and we had to read a few of his books during the semester. I was never really too impressed by his scholarship. His output is impressive and he can tell a fun story, but his analysis was not very deep or illuminating in my experience.
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Jul 23, 2020 00:00
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Shibby0709 posted:I took a class taught by HW Brands while a student at the University of Texas and we had to read a few of his books during the semester. That seems a bit shady, basically forcing a large number of students to buy your book. I know at least at the state university I went to, it was explicitly forbidden for that reason, though professors could assign articles or scanned chapters or anything else they'd written that could be accessed freely. Actually along that topic, when I was in grad school a professor sent the class what was basically the PDF of his upcoming book manuscript and asked us for any feedback. So that was essentially getting twenty grad students to proof it. That being said it was actually pretty good so I didn't really mind. If anyone's interested, this is the book, and I would recommend it if WW2-era diplomacy is your thing: https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691157924/roosevelts-lost-alliances
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Jul 23, 2020 00:28
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Eh depends entirely on the prof. I’ve had classes where the person was a legit leader in their field and not reading their book would have been weird. I mean they assigned other books too, but if you’re lucky enough to be sharing a classroom with that caliber of scholar read their book.
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Jul 23, 2020 04:30
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If your professor is the one who "wrote the book on [x]..." then by all means, loving read it!
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Jul 23, 2020 04:35
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Also note that your prof is likely making gently caress all off assigning their own book. Publication deals for academics are garbage unless you’re the kind of person putting out NYT best sellers that are sold in airports. Edit: it’s literally you being paid for your work in exposure and professional opportunities
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Jul 23, 2020 13:46
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You get paid for your book by getting tenure. What, you want the press to offer more than that? Jeez, academics are so entitled.
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Jul 23, 2020 15:59
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