Irisi posted:Can anyone recommend a good book on the Stuarts and the English Civil war? I've been looking at Peter Ackroyds' book on the subject, has anyone here read it, or can recommend any other book on the subject for someone who's not read much on that area of history before? Specificity is your friend here - do you want to learn about the War, the Stuarts, or something wide lense? There's God's Fury, England's Fire by Braddick, but it's not very oriented towards the Stuarts as such - it deals with the diverse range of people who experienced the civil war. There's The English Civil Wars by Worden. p. standard Stuart king biographies are King James by Croft, and Charles I by Cust; There's also The Stuart Parliaments by Smith if you're getting dug in, and The Personal rule of Charles I by Sharpe. Stuart aristocracy - well, there's John Adamson's stuff, though I don't like the man.
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# ¿ Feb 20, 2015 00:26 |
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# ¿ Apr 26, 2024 17:24 |
Irisi posted:Think Worden is what I'll start with for a short overview, as I am shockingly ignorant on the topic. Probably need something wide lens at first, I really want to understand the causes of the Civil War (religion, parliment, the king himself, tensions between Scotland and England) as well as the progression of the war itself and its' effects on the average person. Will then see if God's Fury, England's Fire takes my fancy, thanks for the recommendation on that one. Worden is not a materialist at all so it's good to balance his work with something else to get a full picture.
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# ¿ Feb 20, 2015 15:07 |
It's not the most written-about of wars, though there is no shortage of primary sources and political and social histories covering that period in England and the topic more broadly. But it hasn't attracted the same war histories as other conflicts in English. There is a lot to be said about the way the war and the Indian mutiny shaped British concepts of patriotism. Figes' book is good. To read an old school take, there is Temperley England and the Near East: the Crimea. Disinterested fucked around with this message at 11:35 on Feb 21, 2015 |
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# ¿ Feb 21, 2015 11:30 |
Figes is literal scum and you should go in to reading those books sceptically, but he isn't a bad historian for all that, and there's really a pretty limited body of academic work on the War proper as opposed to the domestic politics of each party. I do know that that particular book of Figes was set as a must-read for people studying around the Crimea when I was at university, which leads me to suppose it's worth a go. Also note that the Figes book has different titles in different countries; it's the same book. In the UK it's Crimea: The Last Crusade. If you're trying to get all of this stuff from a British perspective, then I'd haul out the big major books on mid-Victorian politics if you have access to them and check for relevant references to Crimea. That would always be where I would start. Those would be: The Rise and Fall of Liberal Government in Victorian Britain by Jon Parry, as well as The Politics of Patriotism; the relevant biographies of people involved in the Oxford Dictionary of Biography, Linda Colley's book Britons. The wiki page gives links to some primary sources, too.
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# ¿ Feb 21, 2015 15:28 |
Shimrra Jamaane posted:Wait, besides being an rear end in a top hat on Amazon what has Figes done that is so bad? I only really know of him through his wikipedia article which obviously doesn't say much As I understand it he wrote a book about the victims of Stalin a few years ago and it got yanked by its Russian publisher, as it turns out not because Russians love Stalin but because it was a pretty bad and misrepresentative book.
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# ¿ Feb 22, 2015 10:02 |
Shimrra Jamaane posted:It's not like you need to look hard to find tons of evidence that Stalin was a tyrannical rear end in a top hat, why make something up? You're assuming the motive had anything to do with the subject matter, instead of being about getting to claim you've turned up original material. Questions around Stalin and the early USSR are tightly contested for a number of reasons.Anything you can do to stand out in the field of historians is going to be big.
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# ¿ Feb 23, 2015 09:34 |
Arbite posted:'The Sunne in Splendour' had to be something GRRM read before starting those books. Maurice Druon's novels are the major inspiration of his, I think.
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# ¿ Mar 4, 2015 16:28 |
It really is a startling achievement of the horrors of Belgian colonialism that when the other colonial powers found out about it they were fully morally outraged. 'You did what?! A trade in human hands?!'
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# ¿ Mar 5, 2015 18:57 |
The New Cambridge Medieval History can be pretty good too.
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# ¿ Apr 22, 2015 13:00 |
TheFallenEvincar posted:I'd be interested in a good nonfiction historical account of the internment myself as well, though I'm still looking for some more nice sizable French Revolutionary histories ala Simon Schama's Citizens. I might just reread Citizens since I read it what feels like a billion years ago and remember enjoying it as a kid, but the more I hear people refer to it now it's with talk of how politically biased it is, so maybe it'll have lost its charm for me. It's always worth keeping in mind that Schama cut his teeth studying the Dutch 'revolutionary' tradition and he's pretty pissed about the fact that the French didn't seem to give a poo poo about it when the two interacted.
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# ¿ May 13, 2015 18:34 |
Boomer The Cannon posted:What recommendations do you have for books on The Falklands War or the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan? Boyce, The Falklands War.
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# ¿ Jun 2, 2015 13:39 |
Avocados posted:Any decent cold war books but from the soviet union perspective? I read a thread on this somewhere, and it seemed like both sides were actually deathly scared of eachother but of course would never admit to it, and the USSR was more worried about the US being the instigator since Hiroshima/Nagasaki. Since reading that, my interest in the subject has returned. Maybe there's a book out there can go more in depth to it (or totally disprove what I thought was true)? MeatwadIsGod posted:I can't totally vouch for it since I'm still reading it but The Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB by Christopher Andrew and Vasily Mitrokhin is a very in-depth history of the Cheka/KGB. With this stuff you just have to be v. aware that Chris Andrew is very ideological, given his close ties to the intelligence community and his political views. He can also be a real boor in person. But he is also the dominant writer in his area for now, so you can't do without him. The book on the Mitrokhin archives is in two volumes, and there is also a book with Andrew & Gordievsky called KGB: The Inside Story of its Foreign Operations from Lenin to Gorbachev and other volumes with him. There's a good intelligence book on the Cuban Missile Crisis called by Alexander Fursenko and Timothy Naftali called One Hell of a Gamble: Khrushchev Kennedy, Castro and the Cuban Missile Crisis, 1958–1964 as well.
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# ¿ Jun 9, 2015 14:11 |
Abu Dave posted:Is there a good general world war 2 history book? Weinberg's A World At Arms.
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# ¿ Jul 5, 2015 11:50 |
COOL CORN posted:Seconding "A World at Arms". I haven't finished it yet, but I was really impressed with how everything was interconnected. I don't think there is an accepted definitive monograph covering the whole of WW1 still - as a result, it has to be attacked from many angles.
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# ¿ Jul 7, 2015 22:13 |
IXIX posted:Niall Ferguson, in his less psychotic imperial-apologist moments, wrote a book called The Ascent of Money which is pretty much exactly what you seem to be looking for, though I recall it being more about money and banking than about stocks. He also wrote a series of reasonably well regarded journal articles: Public Finance and National Security: The Domestic Origins of the First World War Revisited The German inter-war economy: political choice versus economic determinism The Balance of Payments Question: Versailles and After Kafka Esq. posted:Stuff like that, which shed a light on how money actually works, is exactly what I'm looking for. The most influential stuff in recent times is written by the big names in economics on the inter-war years: all major theories of economics have to be able to account, on a historical basis, for the 1929 crash. See this lecture by Bernanke: http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/speeches/2004/200403022/default.htm Here it's important to understand the contribution of Keynes and then later monetarists like Friedman to understanding the underlying problems in the money supply - fed hoarding, and the gold standard. If you want to understand these events economically the best stuff is really all by economists. Tooze also touches on the broader points on inter-war economics in his enormously well-regarded book on German war economics, Wages of Destruction
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# ¿ Jul 8, 2015 00:23 |
Rollofthedice posted:I'd like an academic and huge as gently caress book on the history of the Roman republic and empire, from its foundation to its 'fall'. Any suggestions? Antwan3K posted:Academic books usually focus on a way more narrow aspect, such as 'The Role of New Moneyed Elites in Agricultural Change 120-20BC' or some poo poo. The Cambridge Ancient History overview series has like 14 volumes, some of them in two parts. The problem with the Cambridge History and the Oxford History (though the Oxford history is not as ambitious) is that neither is a monograph with a driven narrative: they're essentially collections of essays, some of which may seem esoteric. The former is also primarily intended for use as a reference text for historians. The other big problem you can encounter is some works of Roman and Greek history are built for classicists. Unfortunately you're right and there is no great unifying monograph possible. The closest thing of note is probably Gibbon's work, but its thesis is discredited even if it is regarded as a great literary achievement. The best grand histories of Rome are mostly introductory texts and social histories right now. I think I would spring for a work of social history, probably Conquerors and Slaves by Hopkins and The World of Rome by Jones and Sidwell. A slightly more hoary old classic is Brunt's book Social Conflicts in the Roman Republic but it doesn't have the breadth.
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# ¿ Jul 10, 2015 18:48 |
DeceasedHorse posted:Anyone have any recommendations for books about the British Empire? I've read or will read in the future John Darwin and William Dalrymple's books, and already have a pretty extensive working knowledge of 20th century wars (although info specifically on how WW1 and 2 affected the Empire would be interesting) More approachable and general books in bold, more detailed ones not: British Domestic Politics (Overview) A Mad, Bad and Dangerous People by Boyd Hilton, and The Rise and Fall of Liberal Government in Victorian Britain by Jon Parry Imperial Britain, Thompson The Empire Strikes Back, ibid These are old standards on the subject of British politics in the 19th century, with the focus being the end of the long 18th century and early 19th century, and the mid-late 19th century respectively. Virtually nobody studying Victorian England didn't start here. But note, this will only give you background for understanding the Empire, which to try to do involves piecing together a lot of disparate things. Almost no historian of empire is an impeccable historian of British domestic politics and visa versa, just like in any other area of history. British Empire In Overview Britain's Imperial Century: 1815-1914, Ronald Hyam The Oxford History of the British Empire The Cambridge Histories of South-East Asia and Africa Imperial meridian: the British empire and the world 1780-1830 by Chris Bayly The Lion's Share: Short History of British Imperialism, 1850-1983, Bernard Porter Themes in The British Imperial Experience: Victorian Attitudes to Race, Christine Bolt Ornamentalism: How the British Saw Their Empire, David Cannadine Orientalism, Edward Said (sections of) - note, this book more or less helped invent subaltern and post-colonial studies The Forging of Races: Race and Scripture in the Protestant Atlantic World, 1600-2000, Colin Kidd The Birth of the Modern World, Chris Bayly Raj/Mutiny: The Indian Mutiny and the British Imagination, Chakravaty The Great Mutiny, Christopher Hibbert The Aftermath of Revolt: India, 1857-1870. Tom Metcalf Ideologies of the Raj, Ibid Land, Landlords and the British Raj, Ibid Indian Society and the making of the British Empire, Chris Bayly The Last Mughal, Dalrymple I strongly recommend as an addendum: Christian Responses to the Indian mutiny, Brian Stanley, in Studies in Church History 1983 if you get the chance and the Mutiny piques your interest, in terms of the British psychology about its aftermath. You should also read Empire by Niall Ferguson after you've read a bunch as a provocation to yourself and because it's a book casual people are likely to ask you about. I don't know that much about decolonisation but you should prolly read about that too.
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# ¿ Jul 14, 2015 22:38 |
Roark posted:I'd also recommend John Bew's Castlereagh: A Life and David Brown's biography of Palmerston, Palmerston, if you have any interest in biography. The biographies are more on the academic end, but they're the most recent comprehensive works on two of the most dominant figures in 19th century British foreign policy from the Napoleonic Wars to the 1870s. There's a lot of really strong biography of British 19th century leaders, as it happens, if that's your thing.Matthew's biography of Gladstone also comes to mind, as do Gaunt and Gash's respective biographies of Peel. Someone even wrote a good biography of Derby, lord knows why. Bew's book on Castlereagh is the only really trustworthy book on the subject, too, imo, although be mindful that John is also a foreign policy talking head so there's always an axe to be ground somewhere.
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# ¿ Jul 14, 2015 22:46 |
Roark posted:The two volume Derby bio, Hawkins' The Forgotten Prime Minister, was excellent, if very, very detailed and heavy (which Hawkins justifies on the grounds that there really hasn't been much work on Lord Derby since the war). It really sheds a lot of light on his role in forging the modern Conservative Party from the post-split non-Peelite Tories and anti-Russell Whigs, and how his twenty years as leader presaged Salisbury's post-Dizzy leadership/late-Victorian reaction. Oh don't get me wrong, it's good, and Derby was a great place to look to write a book in an otherwise pretty well-turned over field. DeceasedHorse posted:Fantastic, thanks guys-I hadn't considered the biography angle and it looks like I'll have plenty to keep me busy If you have access to it you can consult the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography for key imperial figures and that'll put you on a track for them.
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# ¿ Jul 15, 2015 12:11 |
Mr. World posted:Can anyone recommend a good history on the Medici or the merchant families of Italy in general? I've been reading a couple of books on the history of finance and they seem incredibly interesting. I read Machiavelli in high school but would like something more about the people themselves. Lane, The Maritime Republics might be worth a punt. BravestOfTheLamps posted:Iris Origo's Merchant of Prato is good if you want to learn about the nuts and bolts of merchant life. There is also Marshall, The Local Merchants of Prato
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# ¿ Jul 29, 2015 23:04 |
Dead Goon posted:I'm sure this has been asked many times, but could someone recommend me some books about the history of the Israel / Palestine conflicts? Avi Shlaim is a good person to start with imo.
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# ¿ Sep 9, 2015 00:10 |
Dead Goon posted:I checked this out from my local Library the other day as it was one of the few books there about the subject. I also got "The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine" by Ilan Pappe which I have started reading first and am liking so far. You have to keep in mind that Ilan Pappe is a firebrand who sometimes stretches his arguments and evidence quite far, but that nonetheless that book is indispensable.
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# ¿ Sep 10, 2015 13:34 |
End Of Worlds posted:Honestly any book about I/P that pretends not to have any bias is selling you something at best. Get a book whose bias you know in advance and interpret it with that knowledge in place. Correct. Some of the revisionists like Avi Shlaim are quite open about their biases and refer to their opponents though.
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# ¿ Oct 9, 2015 16:07 |
2001 is pretty bullshit as well as history books go
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# ¿ Oct 10, 2015 23:22 |
Jive One posted:http://www.amazon.com/Heart-Europe-History-Roman-Empire/dp/0674058097 I await the specialists of each era of its history hating in this guy with glee.
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# ¿ Oct 31, 2015 03:35 |
RC and Moon Pie posted:there is also Robert Graves' Good-bye to All That. This is probably the best book about ww1 in English, IMO.
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# ¿ Nov 2, 2015 18:58 |
Trier posted:Anyone wanna recommend me a book or two on the cold war? Preferably something about all the "classified" stuff like spies or behind-the-scenes diplomacy / backroom politics, just basically all the stuff that isn't common knowledge at this point. Russia's as interesting as America in this regard so either side of the wall would be interesting to hear about. Look for books by Christopher Andrew, then remember he's an egomaniac.
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# ¿ May 3, 2016 03:03 |
fishmech posted:Wasn't it even the reverse? Like CIA funded programs ended up propping up "dirty commies" in the colleges as part of a program of being able to point to them as proof America is better because we even let them teach. As well as the things like the CIA providing major grants to all sorts of abstract modern art and music to spite the Soviets and their love of "realist" art. It's more complicated than that, partly the point of promoting abstract art is that it's thin on social commentary. The CIA was also pumping money in to journals that funded a lot of high profile writers on authoritarianism and totalitarianism, like Isiah Berlin, Arendt et al. and sham trade unions in South America.
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# ¿ May 8, 2016 22:25 |
There's the slow one in Britain from approx 1600-19th century that is a story of an awful lot of things, between enclosure, new methods for increasing yields, new tools, mechanisation etc. and has a lot to do with the creation of positive feedback loops between the raising of draft animals, the use of their droppings as fertiliser, the freeing of labour and the shortening of harvest times etc.
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# ¿ May 16, 2016 21:41 |
Brodeurs Nanny posted:Also, how much do you all remember when you read history, especially large books which cover a lot of ground? I find names difficult to remember but years a lot easier. But I put so much focus on remembering everything about the chapter I am reading that sometimes I just forget details from previous chapters. If you understand the overall story and the forces at work that made things happen details are not that important, and if you take a good basic understand of the cause-effect and story with you when you come back to the subject things you forget will slot in to place nicely.
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# ¿ May 26, 2016 20:24 |
C.M. Kruger posted:Does anybody have suggestions for what I guess would be called "commodity history" books? What I've read previously: The History and Social Influence of the Potato.
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# ¿ Jun 25, 2016 06:37 |
Fray posted:I want to learn more about Victorian Europe. Not so much the geopolitics side of things, which I already have a background of, but more the everyday culture, economics, art, and so forth. Any recommendations? Hobsbawm's big 'Age of -' series would be a good starting point if you haven't gone there for a sort of ground-up general history.
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# ¿ Aug 5, 2016 21:37 |
Progress and Poverty: An Economic and Social History of Britain 1700-1850 by Daunton is one standard textbook if you have library access.
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# ¿ Aug 5, 2016 21:43 |
FingersMaloy posted:Is Gibbon's Decline and Fall... worth reading or is it a more a piece of history itself? Has it been eclipsed by modern scholarship? As a literary accomplishment and as a way of understanding future works on the fall of Rome, all of which are in some way responding to Gibbon.
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# ¿ Sep 24, 2016 20:27 |
InevitableCheese posted:Anyone know some good books on the Inquisitions of the Catholic Church? Are Henry C. Lea's three volumes worth the read? It's not pop history at all but my attitude is: start medieval so you get the right context. Hamilton's The medieval inquisition is the classic scholarly text but it's kind of hard to get without a good library. Same for The formation of a persecuting society by Moore. Repression of Heresy in Medieval Germany is an extremely good German case study and seems to be available cheaply used; it's also quite short.
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# ¿ Nov 4, 2016 00:58 |
mdemone posted:I just finished Blitzed: Drugs in the Third Reich. It's exactly what it says it is, and a really fascinating read because the author dug into documents and Hitler's medical file cards from his personal doctor, really went the whole nine yards. It's extremely over-exaggerated.
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# ¿ Apr 6, 2017 19:30 |
Don't actually.
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# ¿ Apr 20, 2017 04:00 |
clean ayers act posted:I apologize if this has been asked before but I've realized my knowledge of the Afghanistan war (U.S.) is basically poo poo and I'm wondering if there are any good books that cover it from the beginning to more or less the past couple of years? https://afghanistan-analyst.org/bibliography/
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# ¿ Jun 24, 2017 04:52 |
Schama's academic background is studying the interaction between French republicanism and Dutch republicanism and his finding was more or less that the French didn't give a poo poo about it so his attitude might have something to do with more than just the national mood.
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# ¿ Jul 1, 2017 19:36 |
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# ¿ Apr 26, 2024 17:24 |
cloudchamber posted:I don't know much about Schama's work on the Dutch Republic, but my impression of Citizens is that it was written when Furet's book on interpreting the Revolution was at its most popular. The whole idea of the French Revolution as a violent preview of twentieth century totalitarianism that Furet put forward is something that I think must have had a significant impact on how Schama tells his story. That's definitely what he thinks to some degree but I think of you dig you'll find its because Schama thinks of other republican traditions with less radical experiences preferentially.
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# ¿ Jul 2, 2017 00:41 |