Post and Discuss Books about history, all eras and locations welcomed
>>23272053Reading this right now
A Noise of War: Caesar, Pompey, Octavian and the Struggle for Rome - A.J. Langguth>Thru civil wars & world conflicts, the Roman Republic had survived 400 years, it stretching from Spain to Syria & beyond. But at the millennium, it seemed about to buckle. An entrenched Senate wouldn't & couldn't respond to the nation's precipitous decline; its leaders, locked in the status quo & fighting for privilege, were talking reform to death. As the Republic careened to the brink of ruin, the battlelines were drawn by three figures, all larger than life: Caesar, the bold, rash general; Cicero, the greatest orator of his time; & Pompey, a brilliantly successful campaigner, were locked in a fierce struggle for Rome's future. The contest began with debate in the Forum but led soon to violent riots, then armed revolt on the battlefield & bloodshed on the Senate steps. In the end, it was Octavian, Caesar's clever nephew & unmerciful political heir, who would claim victory. Rome was poised at the dawn of the Augustan Age.
just giving you lads a bump because /his/ is dogshitThis is a good book for people wanting more insight into British 19th Century politics without reading some dry textbook from 1920.
>>23272053
To all frogs: read it, and apologize to the man
It’s always the same books
>>23272053If I want to follow western civilization through primary sources from Herodotus to modern day, what would the reading order be after Herodotus's Histories?
>>23272053Worth reading?
>>23272053currently reading. its wonderful
>>23274172It's always the same low effort bookless posts.
>>23272053Started reading this after finishing The Education of Henry Adams.
Steve Coll's Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001>Provides a comprehensive overview of the CIA's and other covert agencies' operations in Afghanistan, from the Soviet invasion in 1979 through the summer of 2001, detailing the rise of the Taliban and bin Laden, the secret efforts of the CIA to capture or kill bin Laden since 1998, and their failure to stop bin Laden, al Qaeda, and the events of September 11th.
>>23274919>Chris WickhamHis Inheritance of Rome book about the early middle ages was incredibly boring and you could tell his marxist view of history began to seep in by the end. He even has a whole section detailing how he could never, "have a beer", with St Augustine.
Kolyma Stories, by Varlam Shalamov. It brings on great depression to see reality.
Zapata and the Mexican Revolution - John Womack>This volume recalls the activities of Emiliano Zapata (1879-1919), a leading figure in the Mexican Revolution; he formed and commanded an important revolutionary force during this conflict. Womack focuses attention on Zapata's activities and his home state of Morelos during the Revolution. Zapata quickly rose from his position as a peasant leader in a village seeking agrarian reform. Zapata's dedication to the cause of land rights made him a hero to the people. Womack describes the contributing factors and conditions preceding the Mexican Revolution, creating a narrative that examines political and agrarian transformations on local and national levels.
Gunpowder Plot: Terror and Faith In 1605>In England, November 5 is Guy Fawkes Day, when fireworks displays commemorate the shocking moment in 1605 when government authorities uncovered a secret plan to blow up the House of Parliament--and King James I along with it. A group of English Catholics, seeking to unseat the king and reintroduce Catholicism as the state religion, daringly placed thirty-six barrels of gunpowder in a cellar under the Palace of Westminster. Their aim was to ignite the gunpowder at the opening of the Parliamentary session. Though the charismatic Catholic, Robert Catesby, was the group's leader, it was the devout Guy Fawkes who emerged as its most famous member, as he was the one who was captured and who revealed under torture the names of his fellow plotters. In the aftermath of their arrests, conditions grew worse for English Catholics, as legal penalties against them were stiffened and public sentiment became rabidly intolerant.
>>23272053Reading this right now. I have read the first two essays which were about problems of reformation research and the German humanists and the beginnings of the reformation. The last essay is about how the German imperial cities played a decisive role in the spread of the reformation beyond Luther’s Wittenberg.
I love reading about Siberia and Central Asia
>>23276114>His Inheritance of Rome book about the early middle ages was incredibly boringNTA but damnit, I bought that book sight unseen and just leafing through it was dry as dirt. Sounds like I got a dud but I will give it a fair try at some point.
>>23274172>>23275473Contribute or gtfo
>>23277045Cant find this anywhere
>>23275473Cope, these threads are less useful than the Amazon algorithm
>>23277946Really? I found it at a local used bookstore.
>>23273903Chud detected. See this powerful new book:https://files.catbox.moe/qhezz9.epub>The very idea that there was a human past before recorded history only emerged with the Enlightenment, when European thinkers began to reject faith-based notions of humanity and history in favor of supposedly more empirical ideas about the world. From the “state of nature” and Romantic notions of virtuous German barbarians to theories about Neanderthals, killer apes, and a matriarchal paradise where women ruled, Geroulanos captures the sheer variety and strangeness of the ideas that animated many of the major thinkers of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, including Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Charles Darwin, and Karl Marx. Yet as Geroulanos shows, such ideas became, for the most part, the ideological foundations of repressive regimes and globe-spanning empires. Deeming other peoples “savages” allowed for guilt-free violence against them; notions of “killer apes” who were our evolutionary predecessors made war seem natural. The emergence of modern science only accelerated the West’s imperialism. The Nazi obsession with race was rooted in archaeological claims about prehistoric IndoGermans; the idea that colonialized peoples could be “bombed back to the Stone Age” was made possible by the technology of flight and the anthropological idea that civilization advanced in stages.>As Geroulanos argues, accounts of prehistory tell us more about the moment when they are proposed than about the deep past—and if we hope to start improving our future, we would be better off setting aside the search for how it all started. A necessary, timely, indelible account of how the quest for understanding the origins of humanity became the handmaiden of war and empire, The Invention of Prehistory will forever change how we think about the deep past.
>>23279472im scared to download this anon. 70 mbs ? wtf is in there
Warriors of God: Richard the Lionheart and Saladin in the Third Crusade>A dual biography of the legendary Richard the Lionheart and the Sultan Saladin, iconic hero of the Islamic world, Warriors of God recounts the life of each man and reveals the passions of the times that brought them face-to-face in the final battle of the Third Crusade.>Richard the Lionheart, commonly depicted as the romantic personification of chivalry, here emerges in his full complexity and contradictions as Reston examines the dark side of Richard's role as the leader of the blood-soaked Crusades and breaks new ground by openly discussing Richard's homosexuality. Reston's compelling portrait of Saladin brings to life the wise, highly cultured leader who realized an enduring Arab dream by uniting Egypt and Syria and whose conquest of Jerusalem not only sparked the Third Crusade but ignited the first jihad and turned Saladin into a hero of epic proportions. In riveting descriptions, Reston captures the fascinating clash of the two armies as they battled their way to the outskirts of Jerusalem. There, Saladin's brilliant maneuvers and Richard's sudden failure of nerve turned the tide.
>>23280185Wow. Sounds great.
>>23280185>Richard the blood soaked tyrant who was probably gay>Brave and Wise Saladin who probably the template for Chad thundercock. pass.
>>23281049>Saladin who probably the template for Chad thundercockNow it all makes sense.
Looking for books on lost cities/civilizations/etc.
>>23279472I don't think you actually read the other book
>>23281346
>>23273987Apologize for what? He thought he was the smartest statesman in Europe and found out the hard way that was not at all the case.
>>23280185Saladin literally burned children alive. How does he have such good pr?
Minutemen and Their World>On April 19, 1775, the American Revolution began at the Old North Bridge in Concord, Massachusetts. The “shot heard round the world” catapulted this sleepy New England town into the midst of revolutionary fervor, and Concord went on to become the intellectual capital of the new republic. The town―future home to Emerson, Thoreau, and Hawthorne―soon came to symbolize devotion to liberty, intellectual freedom, and the stubborn integrity of rural life.
>>23282017Maybe read the book? It explains that. His hands were forced. The reason why people think he's a retard is because the highly unpopular 3rd republic needed a justification for existing - they put all the blame on him as if it wasn't they weren't responsible for any of it.But even if he were 100% responsible for it people tend to forget that he ruled over france for like 20 years. He IS modern France. Moreso than Napoleon and De Gaulle ever were (even though France wouldn't be where it is today without them).He is the most underappreciated ruler in France history (most french people barely know there was a 3rd Napoleon - he isn't even in the school programs!), and yet he is one of the greatest.
East of the Sun: The Epic Conquest and Tragic History of Siberia - Benson Bobrick>The history of the vast expanse of land that became the dreaded symbol of Soviet terror details Siberia's great events with portraits of the men and women who created or were crushed by them.
1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus - Charles C. Mann>1491 is not so much the story of a year, as of what that year stands for: the long-debated (and often-dismissed) question of what human civilization in the Americas was like before the Europeans crashed the party. The history books most Americans were (and still are) raised on describe the continents before Columbus as a vast, underused territory, sparsely populated by primitives whose cultures would inevitably bow before the advanced technologies of the Europeans. For decades, though, among the archaeologists, anthropologists, paleolinguists, and others whose discoveries Charles C. Mann brings together in 1491, different stories have been emerging. Among the revelations: the first Americans may not have come over the Bering land bridge around 12,000 B.C. but by boat along the Pacific coast 10 or even 20 thousand years earlier; the Americas were a far more urban, more populated, and more technologically advanced region than generally assumed; and the Indians, rather than living in static harmony with nature, radically engineered the landscape across the continents, to the point that even "timeless" natural features like the Amazon rainforest can be seen as products of human intervention.
>>23280185low quality pop history written by a journalist, this thread would enjoy it. slurp it up plebs
You, yes you. The person who makes these thread, posts pictures of books you haven't read, and then a greentext of literal advertising copy alongside. What is the point? Why not say YOUR thoughts about the books? This is literally a shitty version of an Amazon catalogue. These threads take this form over and over again. It's just bizarre, totally inorganic.
>>23273501you took a look at that cover (which is inexplicably a photoshopped image of ALEXANDER, which has nothing to do with the subject of the book) and thought "time to show my friends on 4chan this high quality history book" written by a low brow journalist
>>23272053To the anon who recommended pic related many threads ago... I bought the book but it's still in my TBR pile.
>>23283720>the first Americans may not have come over the Bering land bridge around 12,000 B.C. but by boat along the Pacific coast 10 or even 20 thousand years earlierhey i recognize this theory from a documentary on the subject. it seems that when they were uncovering settlements, the more south they went the older the vestiges as opposed to the northern parts of the americas. from what i remember the ice wall dividing north america on its length was what prevented them from expanding south on foot and at its location, on one side there are the newest settlements and just a couple km away a bunch of boomer ones. i just wonder why after sailing along the coast past the ice wall they just didn't stop at around N. Mexico for example and went down to nowadays Peru.
>>23272053Any recs for Chinese history that looks at numerous variables such as class, climate, etc?
Hey anons, I had a really vivid dream, that s going to serve as the nucleus of a novel. To that end, I’m looking for some good books on 9th century Christianity, the norse/norse paganism and interactions between them. Thanks. I’ll recommend Peter H Wilson for German Military history in exchange.
>>23285691I wasnt impressed with Heart of Europe for how much it is getting shilled.It was far too general and only scratched the surface and in the end its a single book covering a thousand years of HRE history,
>>23272053>>23275182https://www.overdrive.com/series/new-oxford-world-history?sort=PublishDate&sd=desc
>>23272053funerals>kek
>>23285691I can't think of anything in particular for the exact period. 'Struggle for Empire: Kingship and Conflict Under Louis the German' is good for a narrative of the period for the Carolingians and 'The Rise of Western Christendom: Triumph and Diversity, A.D. 200-1000 ' for well, Christianity in Western Europe
>>23282017Compared to his uncle Napoleon III actually managed to give France some long standing territorial gains in Savoy and Nice
>>23287254Oh sick
>>23279472>people that thougbt about the topic were bad, so no one should think about the topicyou and the author should be send to labor camps
Anybody here write about history?I've started publishing essays on substack.
>>23272053Anyone read this? Is it definitive? I bought this copy for eight dollars (including shipping) and I think it looks great. Reads great too from the little I've skimmed over.
Does anybody maybe have recommendations for books on Edo era Japan?I am aware of Jansen's The Making of Modern Japan, but I would prefer something that specifically focuses on that period, as I am looking for a comfy vacation read, and what followed does not fit that.
>>23288499>Reads great too from the little I've skimmed overYes he is a very good writer, his book The Fall of Japan is also excellent.
>>23272053Sumerian SwindleP.S. Anyone know any similiar books?
The War for America 1775-1783 - Piers Mackesy>Piers Mackesy views the American Revolution from the standpoint of the British government and the British military leaders as they attempted to execute an overseas war of great complexity. Their tactical response to the American Revolution is now comprehensible, seen as part of a grand imperial strategy.https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/180164820-the-war-for-america-1775-1783
>>23276114>>23277815I have the book I was just wondering, same anon who made the initial post.Still looking for some good economic histories of the Middle Ages aside from picrel
Boats. Can't get away from boats. Current boat read.
>>23288847This was a pretty cool read about guilds and their economic importance.
>>23289179Bit on the pricey side on Amazon
>>23289289https://libgen.li/get.php?md5=a3dc86730210fd5f219259ebb13c9f57&key=7QGF1OF5MS3YSWO0
>>23289408What else do you have?
>>23289439No, I mean titles. Idc if I have to peruse libgen I just want a list.
>>23289453Well if you really do care about the economics of the middle ages Chris Wickham's stuff might actually be decent.
>>23289458Oh ok. Also this book seems interesting, this and Operation Gladio seem like cool “conspiracy-history” stuff
>>23288918
>>23274177I did this years ago, so my order might not be correct but if memory serves: >Herodotus >The Peloponnesian War by Thucydides>Hellenika by Xenophon (aka "A History of My Times") >The Expedition of Cyrus (aka "Anabasis") by Xenophon >The Anabasis of Alexander by Arrian (For Herodotus, Thucydides and Arrian there are editions called "The Landmark Series" that are incredible. Notes, maps, etc. Pricey though If memory serves the next is a tricky gap: The Diadochi (the wars of Alexanders generals). Diodorus Siculus I believe covers it but I could never track them down back in the day. >Polybius (don't really remember him desu)Then I jumped to Rome: >Livy (my personal favorite ancient writer. Covers ancient semi-legendary Rome all the way up until a bit before Caesar I think? Again, long time ago) >Caesar's Commentaries of course Out of chronological order / non-historical mentions: >Plutarch's Lives >The Iliad >The Odyssey >The Aeniad >Aeschylus plays I'm not a historian at all, and I'm sure I missed things or am not remembering perfectly but despite basically never posting and being entirely a lurker I was inspired to answer your question because it was exactly what I did years ago. Have fun anon
Just got pic rel>>23289701Really enjoyed both Anabasis, but I'd suggest to read Homer first. It really gives the context for the Greek way of life and death.
>>23287254Why is the whole Norman Conquest-Angevin Dynasty-Domesday book so small? From all the stuff its covering it should be amongst the largest of them.Especially compared with the following '13th century'?Also, I have read pic related last year, a series of book on the Medieval Holy Roman Empire which is extremely readable while still being highly detailed. Giesebrecht has one of the best narrative accounts of the Staufen era especially that you can find,Unfortunately I dont think it ever had been translated from German
Any books on the second bulgarian empire?
>>23289701theogeny days and sheildmetamorphisis by ovidthe prince by machivelli
>>23288458Spergler is that you?
>>23289571Great War better than sequel. Even considering how retarded it started.
Books focusing on strategy?
>>23292015I read this one a while back. Neat history and neat military strategies
>>23276114>>23277815I read his inheritance of Rome book recently. Best history book I've ever read. Yes he is obviously a leftist, but he is a true historian and doesn't hide information or form delusion just for the sake of it. The only signs are (1) a blatant stress on having a page or two on women at steady intervals to fill some obligatory 'woman history quota' (2) does his best to reduce ethnic differences between the german invaders and the Romans (3) introduction he goes on and on about narratives in history and how they are bad. These are easily seen and dont involve distorting any truth. Probably the best run-down of the early middle ages you could ask for. Especially good for me because I was specifically interested in how we went from late rome to what I know of the high middle ages. As far as being 'dry', for me it wasn't that. Always plenty of anecdotes and it never felt like he was spending too much time on something. That is more or less subjective though, depending on what you like; for me the closer it can get to proper academia without boring me the better. I actually found it because it was the main text for the Yale open course on the early medieval period.
>>23272053Hello lads, I recently read this essay herehttps://www.chesterton.org/history-versus-the-historians/And I was wondering if any of you would be able to recommend some of your favorite works from not, not about history wrote by a historian.
>>23292767Perhaps I was too harsh on the book. I guess I just ended up hating it over time because I can't remember a single thing from it besides, like you said, a few anecdotes he mentions here and there.Details like pic related are interesting and what I remember most of. I guess my lizard brain just wishes there was an early middle ages history book that has a coherent narrative to it with characters, events, and intrigue. Although I do understand that the time period covers a lot of areas, Byzantine, Franks, Islamic world etc. Reading the primary sources (Bede, Gregory of Tours), would probably be more interesting instead of reading Wickham where he talks about Islamic trade for 50 pages.
>>23293421>I guess my lizard brain just wishes there was an early middle ages history book that has a coherent narrative to it with characters, events, and intrigue.Try Powers and Thrones: A New History of the Middle Ages by Dan Jones.
>>23293561Thanks. Will put it on the backlog.
>>23276101Great book.
Present at the Creation: My Years in the State Department>Dean Acheson analyzes the processes of policy making, the necessity for decision, and the role of power and initiative in matters of state.>Acheson (1893–1971) was not only present at the creation of the postwar world, he was one of its chief architects. He joined the Department of State in 1941 as Assistant Secretary of State for Economic Affairs and, with brief intermissions, was continuously involved until 1953, when he left office as Secretary of State at the end of the Truman years.
>>23289453
>>23274172I haven’t heard of any of the books prior to your post fag.
>>23294948Thanks for the rec but I already tried reading them and got visibly bored a quarter of the way through. Might try again later.
>>23293561I own that
>>23292767It doesn’t sound like I’d enjoy it but then again I have his Medieval Europe book.
>>23292256Wishlisted
>>23288458Most of my work is sociology from a right wing male and MGTOW perspective but I occasionally pen articles relating to history. I did one analyzing Cromwellian England and Calvinist theology/metaphysics. It’s short but makes a point.
This is by far the longest, and best biography on any man I've ever read. Best biography in the Yale Kings.(Second place(s) goes to Failure of Empire on Valens and Henry the Young King)
Waiting for my copy of pic rel, I see Horne has a pretty extensive oeuvre of works on French military history, what would be the best to go for after this?
>>23272053Currently reading this in order to understand the Byzantinist perspective on the First Crusade. It's the history of the first crusade seen through the eyes of the Emperor Alexios.
Been slogging through this. Really interesting premise, but instead of a narrative format we get a collection of essays format, so it's kinda wonky.
I need books on the civil war bros, holistic
>>23298937I found Eliott's Imperial Spain 1469-1716 a better read.
Any books on ancient naval warfare?
>>23299236Also would like some books on the historical debasement of currency
>>23299195For the American civil war?
>>23299401yes
>>23299231I'll give it a shot. I assume it's more narrative driven instead of being essays?
>>23299195Bruce Catton and Shelby Foote:https://www.goodreads.com/series/59994-army-of-the-potomachttps://www.goodreads.com/series/73103-the-civil-war
>>23299365Anyone?
>>23300838> historical debasement of currencyWealth of nations by adam smith talks a little about it I guess. But u outta google instead of trying to use others as google. Google it up
>>23300976I guess I wanted personal choices
Working my way thru the flashman papers, and loving every second.>>23285691If you dont mind fiction, bernard cornwells "the warlord saga" and "the saxon tales" might be worth looking into.
>>23299236Age of Titans
>>23277089I had my eye on this not that long ago... Any good?
>>23301967I personally enjoyed it. Like any history book your enjoyment will depend on your interest in Russian history. The first quarter of the book is dedicated to setting the stage with the Mongol invasions, fur trades, and the exploration and conquest of Siberia. Then the latter half of the book is about Siberian prisons, the railway systems, and Soviet Siberia to the modern age. It's a lot of information but I think the author makes it engaging with all the anecdotes and memoir sources. For instance, his part on Siberian workers in the 20th century isn't some broad stroke. He gave a cool story about a Canadian marxist that immigrated over there. Stuff like that sprinkled throughout the book made it interesting to me.
>>23288847>Still looking for some good economic histories of the Middle Ages aside from picrelMost anything by Christopher Dyer, but especially "Making a Living in the Middle Ages: the People of Britain, 850–1520"
>>23289458His "Inheritance of Rome" was boring as shit. Just my two cents.
I'm looking into mid and late 20th century Cambodian history are there any books anyone cab recommend on the subject?
>>23302100Imagine slogging through it all only for the author to reveal that he detests the very people he researches in the last chapter. Surely this is an impartial academic. This tainted the whole book for me.
>>23301501Not available in the format I want
Anyone have anything that covers the Kamakura period(and the period leading up to it)in depth? Going through Sansom up until 1334, and it's alright, but it feels more like an overview. Recs in moonspeak welcome as well.
>>23302408Someone one posted a massive list of jap stuff a while back. At any rate the next two books each cover around 200 years of histoty as opposed to over 1000 for the first>General OverviewHistory of Japan by George SamsonA History of Japan to 1334, Volume 1A History of Japan, 1334-1615, Volume 2A History of Japan 1615-1867, Volume 3>Early Japan/ArcheologyHimiko and Japan's Elusive Chiefdom of Yamatai: Archaeology, History, and MythologySacred Texts and Buried Treasures Issues in the historical archeology of Ancient Japan>Primary SourcesTales of the Heike (multiple translations avaialble) - Genpei War basically the Iliad of JapanKojiki - Heldt Gustav (oldest historical chronicle of japan)Nihongi - william astonA Tale of Flowering Fortunes Annals of Japanese Aristocratic Life in the Heian PeriodPillow book - account of heian courtTale of Genji - similar to aboveTokushi Yoron - Joyce AckroydThe history of the fujiwara house (toshi kaden) - mikael bauerOkagami - Life of Fujiwara Michinaga one of the most powerful nobles in the heian periodChronicles of Oda Nobunaga - only primary sengoku source in english as far as I'm awareTaiheki a chronicle of medieval japan - partial translation (12 out of 40 chapters)Chronicle of Gods and Sovereigns: Jinno Shotoki of Kitabatake ChikafusaThe future and the past - a translation and study of gukansho, an interpretative history of japan written in 1219 - medieval japanese chronicle from a buddhist perspectiveThe Onin War: History of Its Origins and Background with a Selective Translation of the Chronicle of Onin by H. Paul Varley - usually held as start of sengoku jidaiJinno shitoki would the most valuable primary source since it was written by a man who was part of the events from the fall of kamakura to the northern and southern courts periods>Heian Period (794 to 1185)Insei Abdicated sovereigns in the politics of late heian japan 1086-1185Suguwara no Mizhizane and the early heian courtImperial politics and symbolics in ancient japan - the tenmu dynasty 650-800Yoritomo and the founding of the kamakura bakufuFriday, Karl (2007). The First Samurai: The Life and Legend of the Warrior Rebel, Taira MasakadoFriday, Karl (2003). Samurai, Warfare and the State in Early Medieval JapanFriday, Karl (1992). Hired Swords: The Rise of Private Warrior Power in Early Japan>Kamakura Shogunate (1192–1333)Minoru Shinoda - The Founding of the Kamakura Shogunate 1180–1185. With Selected Translations from the Azuma KagamiIn Little Need of Divine Intervention: Takezaki Suenaga's Scrolls of the Mongol Invasions of JapanKenmu: Imperial Restoration in Medieval Japan H Paul VarleyThe World Turned Upside Down: Medieval Japanese Society Pierre Souyri,For secondary sources I would get Pierre Souyri's book
>>23302975>Muromachi Shogunate (1336–1573)John W. Hall - Japan in the Muromachi Age-University of California Press (1977)Japans Renaissance the Politics of the Muromachi BakufuA sense of place _ the political landscape in late medieval JapanJohn W. Hall - Japan in the Muromachi Age-University of California Press (1977)John Ferejohn, Frances Rosenbluth - War and State Building in Medieval Japan-Stanford University Press (2010)The Origins of Japan’s Medieval World _ Courtiers, Clerics, -- Jeffrey P. MassSengoku Jidai (1467 to 1603)Sengoku Jidai. Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and Ieyasu: Three Unifiers of JapanWar and faith ikko ikki in late.muromachi japanA sense of place _ the political landscape in late medieval JapanChris Glenn - The Battle of Sekigahara_ The Greatest, Bloodiest, Most Decisive Samurai Battle EverHideyoshi - mary elizabeth barryJaponius Tyrannus oda nobunaga reconsideredTokugawa Ieyasu - conrad totmanConrad Totman - The Green Archipelago_ Forestry in Pre-Industrial Japan-University of California Press (1989) - why Japan is such a green place. Much of the forests and other greenery were destroyed and only restored in the early modern periodSamuel Hawley - The Imjin War_ Japan's Sixteenth-Century Invasion of Korea and Attempt to Conquer China>BuddhismFoundation of Japanese Buddhism: The Aristocratic Age Vol IFoundation of Japanese Buddhism: The Mass Movement Vol IIRe-visioning _Kamakura_ Buddhism -- Payne, Richard KarlRobert E. Morrell - Early Kamakura Buddhism_ A Minority Report
>>23285691Stefan Brink/Neil Price - The Viking World has some useful chapters on itIf you can read German there are parts in Karlheinz Deschner's Kriminalgeschichte des Christentums
>>23272053Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin by Timothy SnyderThis book argues that Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union should be considered two sides of one genocidal atrocity- centered in the "bloodlands" of Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. It's pretty gripping.
>>23284062It's Alexander's mural with Caesar's face shooped onto it, which is exactly the kinda shit Caesar did when he commissioned statues.
>>23303856stop defending garbage graphic design. it's a low quality shop of the pompeii mural meant to dazzle plebs that walk by it in the bookstore, it is not an actual historical image, nor is it some arcane reference by the author about how caesar is following in the footsteps of alexander and fucking with statues, alexander is nowhere in the title of the book and has nothing to do with the subject matter
>>23299195
>>23302137Whoops?
>>23272053Books and briographies on viziers, ministers, eunuchs, etc.
Anyone have recs for Dark ages and early medieval history for the following regionsFrance (Franks)Germany Italy
>>23305132Johannes Fried - CharlemagneTimothy Reuter - Germany in the Early Middle AgesSam Barnish - The Ostrogoths from the Migration Period to the Sixth CenturyJohn Julius Norwich - The Normans in the South
What a fucking borefest
Currently using google translate to read ancient Chinese history books and I'm just this close to getting actual brain cancer. Does anyone know how to translate an entire epub file using something like ChatGPT?
>>23306019could always learn chinese
>>23306019Are you too much of a hipster to read translations or secondary literature?
>>23306083I can't find any fucking translations. I eventually had to find some Chinese sources from a Quora thread, can you believe that? A fucking Quora thread. Currently, I am reading the works of Lu Simian, who is apparently a very famous Chinese historian, but apparently none of the 1.4 billion chinks had the slightest idea to translate any of his works. I hope their entire culture dies out, gatekeeping faggots.>>23306075no
>>23306101What topics does he cover that no English literature covers?
>>23306119I wanted actual native Chinese sources. And the English selection of Chinese history seems so limiting. I went through a few Reddit threads looking for recommendations, and I kid you not, it was the same 3 suggestions:>The Search for Modern China>China: A History>The Cambridge Illustrated History of ChinaI even scoured Goodreads and even that was very very limiting. What's surprising to me is that from my general overview, there seem to be thousands of native Chinese sources. Why had not one person decided to translate them?Picrel is what I'm currently reading (google translated) 先秦学术概论/Introduction to Pre-Qin Academics
starting some reading on pt barnum. im a vegasfag, starting to busk on the strip (60% for the cash flow, 40% for the fun and humor of it). i watched the hugh jackman movie on him, and now i take a day or two a week to just chill at the library and look for old ideas Barnum created
>>23306101>>23306158The best thing wouls be for china to sponsor a complete translation of Sima Guang's zhizhi tongjian which covers 2000 years of vhinese history from the zhou to the beginning of the song
>>23306101>>23306867This lu simian guy seems to cover the same material as Sima Guang so it's obvious what his main sourcr
Books on the Napoleonic wars?
Books on the deccan sultanates?
Does anyone have good material on the conquest of the americas both north and south
>>23307031>>23307046>>23307240>Post and Discuss Books about history, all eras and locations welcomed>Post BooksNiggas this aint /r/. If you want recs you outta post some of your own favorites. Give and take
>>23307319The thread is already close to dead faggot, remove recs and it'll be gone within hours.
>>23307332>remove recs and it'll be gone within hours.Good. Quality over quantity. A brief reign of splendor over a prolonged suffering of mediocrity
>>23307349You make it sound very grand, but it's a history thread on 4chan /lit/
>>23307389Just imagine what could have been if people werent as shortsighted as you
>>23272053for being the defining era in the history of the religion in question it's not given much attention
I like reading about more obscure figures in history
>>23307513This author wrote 2 books and almost 2000 pages on this one english monarch
>>23272053Does pic rel count as a history book? Not a leftist whatsoever, but I find it very interesting.
I got Thomas Costain's Plantagenet quartet and jonathan sumption's 5 book series on the hundred years war. I don't know where to start it's overwhelming
>>23279472"don't look for facts because people in the past misused our biases about that which we did not know facts about" is absolutely a retarded take. War Before Civilisations already covers the Hobbesian, Rousseauian world views and how they err.
Are there any good books on venice other than this? I like it but Venice is so interesting. If there any deep dives on it that would be nice
>>23307031Andrew Roberts - Napoleon: A LifeRoger Parkinson - The Hussar General: The Life of Blucher, Man of WaterlooDavid Gates - The Napoleonic Wars 1803-1815Gregory Fremont-Barnes - The Napoleonic Wars: The Rise and Fall of an Empire>>23307864Indirectly, Michael Mallett - The Italian Wars
>>23308227Thanks
>>23279472> accounts of prehistory tell us more about the moment when they are proposed than about the deep past—and if we hope to start improving our future, we would be better off setting aside the search for how it all startedThis is totally non sequitur. Learning about prehistory is hard as shit due to minimal evidence, yes. Then his next bit is about improving the future? By not studying this subject. The only way we’ll solve quantum gravity is by ending furniture design. Trust me I have a PhD.
Any recommendations on Byzantine history? Particularly interested in naval history.
>>23308380Anthony Kaldellis - The New Roman Empire: A History of Byzantium
>>23308400>Anthony Kaldellislmao
>>23307513>>23307544Are you spying on me because I've read both of these books pretty recently
>>23308529What's wrong with him, nothing I've read from him was all that bad
>>23299195James Ford Rhodes’s seven-volume History of the United States from the Compromise of 1850 to the Compromise of 1877; Allan Nevins’s four-volume Ordeal of the Union from 1847 to 1861, and four more on The War for the Union; David M. Potter’s 600-page study The Impending Crisis 1848-1861; Bruce Catton’s three volumes on the Army of the Potomac (Mr. Lincoln’s Army; Glory Road; and A Stillness at Appomattox), his three additional volumes, The Centennial History of the Civil War, plus two volumes on Ulysses S. Grant’s Civil War career; Douglas Southall Freeman’s magnificent four-volume biography R.E. Lee and his additional three-volume Lee’s Lieutenants; and Shelby Foote’s The Civil War, three engrossing volumes totaling nearly three thousand pages.
>>23307864Vipers Of Venice
>>23307554>Not a leftist whatsoever, but I find it very interestingIt's literally just a "whitey bad" book before those became popular. It's also marxist, and marxist academics look at problems from a completely different angle than anyone else (the wrong and disporven years ago one). It's "interesting" the same way looney rants by the likes of Alex Jones or Francis E. Dec are "interesting"
>>23306164Which book? I wishlisted three of them, one of which is his autobiography
>>23305060Sounds interesting, unfortunately I have nothing but I’ll bump for interest!Also should I read Wickham’s “Medieval Europe” after reading picrel or Braudel’s “Out Of Italy”?
>>23307579
>>23276137This book is criminally underrepresented. It really shows how bleak humanity can be.
>>23307509nice I always wanted to learn about early shi'ism
>>23310286Me on the left.
What the best book or series of books about the holy roman from its founding to 1493? I just got these two volumes which are histories from 1493 to the dissolution of the holy roman empire.
Reading some Livy. Plan to re-read Machiavelli's Discorsi once I finish the second pentad, just hope I don't get sucked down a republican rabbit hole and end up reading fucking Gordon Wood or some shit, instead of getting back on track with the Roman historians and reading Polybius
>>23299365this one is good, assuming you haven't read it
>>23272053Any good books about Benjamin Franklins life and times? I've watched some of the Apple TV show and the PBS documentary about him, I know his autobiography is quite good but a pretty short read.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VwLF8rnwK8https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/benjamin-franklin/the-autobiography-of-benjamin-franklin
>>23309345Bumping for interest
>>23303838Garbage book.Snyder pens it as an original idea when previous historians spotted the similarities before the war even started. Anybody with the surname of Snyder needs to stay out of literature...and film.
can you /his/bros rec a narrative history that is entertaining and/or has good prose? thanks
>>23311053What time period or war would you want to read about?
>>23311074ancient rome, medieval western europe, feudal japan, french revolution, napoleonic wars, american civil war, cristero war, vietnam war, yugoslav wars.
>>23311097>ancient romelivy, polybius, appian, >medieval western europejohathan sumption's hundred years war series was recently completed >feudal japangeorge samsom trilogy >napoleonic wars>>23308227
I'm very interested in the free companies of the 14th century. Are there any books that specifically deal with that topic or should I start with classic textbooks about the 100 Years' Wars?
>>23311224As the post above you mentions, Sumption's 100 year war series just finished up. It's 5 volumes. Haven't started the 5th yet but the others are solid.
What are some good books on the Picts?
>>23311518For historical fiction, Bran Mak Morn - Robert E Howard
>>23273987Is there a good English biography of Napoleon III? I tried looking for one and couldn't find anything that seemed definitive. Same with Richilieu.
Are there any avowedly pro confederate historians? Ideally, one who makes a genuine appeal for the social necessity of slavery. “Pro slavery apologia” is what I’m asking for, but I want the south to be the primary concern of the authors research. A guy named Edward Long wrote a book called “A history of Jamaica” which apparently makes arguments for slavery though I have not been able to read it yet.
>>23310932……
>>23311755There's not really any good ones on Napoleon III the closest being Alan Schom - which isn't very good at all since Schom is rather fond of just inserting what he wants to believe instead of what the actual source says. Edward Shawcross is supposedly working on one that will hopefully fill that gap.
>>23311778You can start with Pollard.
>>23311837Thanks anon
>>23311042>and filmkek
>>23311837>Dixie chud mad
>>23310308What you posted and author Peter Wilson i think his name was "the heart of europe"
>>23312446>Peter Wilson i think his name was "the heart of europeI distrust single volume works that span 1000 years in general. Better off to just read A history of germany in the middle ages by henderson instead
Other than Venice are there any other narrative histories of other italian states?
>>23311518This is the only one I've ever read. It was interesting
Alright gonna make a poll instead https://strawpoll.com/eJnvvYBPEnv
>>23310432This was the standard biography of Big Ben for a while and even won the Pulitzer, so I'd start here.I'd also recommend checking out his personal letters/writings. Library of America has a good compilation
>"Oh, this book about medieval Europe looks good">look up author>Jewish
>>23313092Literally me, except American history. You guys turned me into this, now I google the name of the author before buying every book to make sure he isn't JewishAnd this strategy has never steered me wrong
>>23313124>That paintingYou should read this.
>>23311042He’s an Ohioan so I will give him a pass
>>23311992Cocksucker ruined Watchmen.
Any spicy history category books about Jews?
>>23313092>>23313124I am a reader since I was young. And I have only learned about the hebrew people and their 109 history recently thanks to Austrian Painter edits on youtube ( not kidding). Anyway however now if I go back I realise so many books I read, in various categories which always irked me in a wrong way like I cannot explain like leaving me feeling vaguely uncomfortable are written by Jews. And the rest that weren't written by Jews but made me feel the same way were 90% written by a woman. This ranges from children's literature to historical fiction all that stuff. Anyway give me reccs on Jew history books
>>23314348>>23314389
Panzer Leader>Germany's opening run of victory in World War II was only made possible by the panzer forces that Heinz Guderian (1888—1954), the father of modern tank warfare, had created and trained, and by his audacious leading of those forces from 1939 to 1941. Guderian's breakthrough at Sedan and lightning drive to the Channel coast virtually decided the Battle of France. The drive he led into the East came close to producing the complete collapse of Russia's armies, but at the end of 1941 Guderian was dismissed for taking a timely step back instead of pandering to Hitler's illusions. He was recalled to service only when Germany's situation had become desperate, and he was eventually made chief of the General Staff when all had become hopeless.https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/254024.Panzer_Leader
>>23310432
What sheer rubbish, obscure history books do you guys read. Grim.These are all paper bundles as fuel for the fireplace masquerading as books.
>>23315303oh yeah? Share one that's worthy of YOUR praise then. Lest you be remembered as a pseud laughingstock, Haha just a jest, we all know nobody will remember you. UNLESS you lavish us with quality books ofc :^)
>>23315336>Share one that's worthy of YOUR praise then.
>>23315364>that subject matterThanks but no thanks
Just copped this, I'll read it after I finish The Guns of August
>>23288918I adore all the German parts of this and Castles of Steel. The British are just boring in comparison other than Fischer's melodramatic tantrums
Any suggestions for France in the 1960-1980 timeframe?
>>23272053Good books on the Years Of Lead in Italy?
>>23280185you and that projecting fag author should kill yourselves
>>23303034yeah that title does not scream bias at all.Further research shows that author is german hysteric atheistcuck
>>23272053Any of you have recommendations for books about medieval European architecture and city layout?
>>23317813Check out DH Lawrence's Etruscan Tombs.
>>23317867See>>23288847
>>23296163please plug it. Sounds interesting.
>>23318983I don’t think this is a place for self promotion
Professor at my university just wrote this. It's pretty damn short but is also one of the best English language books on Louise Michele and the role of women in the commune.
>>23318983its joseph bronski
>>23319027>Book about the Paris communeOh, that sounds very interesti-->Louise Michele and the role of women in the commune.Nevermind. I don't give a shit.
>>23319060No I’m not Joseph Bronski
>>23273987Personally I think the only people who read this book are annoying frogs who hate Milton.
>>23317204>Encyclopedia of the American RevolutionNice, military history from that era is endlessly fascinating to me. I'm reading a public domain book on Francis Marion aka The Swamp Fox by William Gilmore Simms about his life and guerrilla warfare tactics during the revolution. https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/843
Any books on Southeast Asia/Philippines?
>>23272053Books on rites of passage and martyrdom in the Middle Ages? Want to get a “you got anthropology in my history” perspective. Something similar to the Thomas Becket chapter in Victor Turners “Dramas, Fields, And Metaphors”
>>23320610Thank you for the rec, fren
>>23320698>In Our Image - Stanley KarnowJust a caveat, I've read some papers stating that some stuff in the book is outdated or even outright wrong, but it's a common starting point.
>>23287254Salway, Myres and Stenton are hardly worth reading anymore with how outdated their books are.
>>23301058Bernard Cornwell's books fucking suck. Shill them anywhere on /lit/ again and I will find you.
>>23273501Lol
>>23317813picrel is a nice read with the added benefit of being recent (2021)
Do you prefer fiction or non fiction in your books
>>23310432came here to ask the same question >>23313083>>23315131thank you, kindly.
I think there are a few reccs itt already about this, but I would like to read more about what life was like for the average person, specifically throughout British and American history. in return, I recommend reading Debt: The First 5,000 Years.
>>23324449Have you read this? Its /lithis/ approved
>>23272053History of the French Revolutionary wars but focusing on stories surrounding the Eagle standards of his armies. Nothing impressive, lacks sources but definitely good for getting someone into Napoleonic history. Something to give to a kid to read.
>>23324531I will read it. thanks, anon.
>>23324449I've read Pirate Enlightenment, or the Real Libertalia by David Graeber and quite liked it, he does do a good job trying to express how pirate communities around Madagascar would've lived alongside native Malagasy even with a lack of direct evidence.Although I feel like he didn't get a chance to edit it properly before his death just because it doesn't read very well, sometimes it's just a dump of scattered ethnological accounts that don't come together.
>>23325492thanks. I hadn’t heard of this one before.
>>23325533It's a fun book, but like I said published over two years after his death so it feels incomplete, it isn't very long at least so it's worth checking out.I think he was some kind of Madagascar autist who lived there for a while and learnt a lot about the local people and history.I also think David Grann is very good and a lot like David Graeber.
>>23299236This just appeared on the Annas chron.https://annas-archive.org/md5/03a569643c0085db90e86c21bc9e91dcSea Power a Naval History. Potter and Admiral Nimitz. 5th Century to 1960.
>>23301058Tried Cornwall. Hard nope. Free story site novels have better characters and dialogue.
>>23326578Chron = chyron.
>>23326578Thanks, but need someone to answer this >>23320882 too. Martyrology is interesting topic to me. Thanks in advance.
>>23324449I love reading about colonial New England so I'll provide a few recs:The School Upon a Hill: Education and Society in Colonial New England - James Axtell (1976)Puritans at Play: Leisure and Recreation in Colonial New England - Bruce C. Daniels (1996)Circles and Lines: The Shape of Life in Early America - John Demos (2004)Worlds of Wonder, Days of Judgment: Popular Religious Belief in Early New England - David D. Hall (1990)Daily Life in Colonial New England - Claudy Durst Johnson (2002)The Devil Made Me Do It: Crime and Punishment in Early New England - Juliet Haynes Mofford (2011)Ye Heart of a Man: The Domestic Life of Men in Colonial New England (1999)
>>23305060I'm planning to read this at some point, maybe it will help you somewhat.
>>23317886The beginning was so obnoxious I gave up on it.
>>23327905awesome, thanks!
Just watching a Michael Sugrue about Luther. Are there any books in particular that go over the immediate events/debates of Luther's nailing thesis to the door?
>>23328645
>>23272053Originally written for precocious children, this is a very comfy read.
>>23310391Does this guy gives source to all his jew bad claims?
>>23324531I have his “Out Of Italy” which I plan to read down the road
>>23328919lmao
>>23330324?
>>23311053>>23311097>ancient RomeThe Rise of Rome by Anthony EverittRubicon by Tom Holland>medieval EuropeThe Civilization of the Middle Ages by Norman F. CantorA History of Medieval Europe by R. H. C. Davis>French revolutionTwelve Who Ruled by R. R. PalmerThe Coming of the Terror in the French Revolution by Timothy Tackett>Napoleonic warsThe Diary of a Napoleonic Foot Soldier by Jakob WalterThe Age of Napoleon by J. Christopher Herold>American civil warThis Hallowed Ground by Bruce CattonNone Died in Vain by Robert Leckiethis >>23273578>Vietnam warDispatches by Michael HerrChickenhawk by Robert Mason
>>23279472>retard just makes shit up and then projects saying that’s what other people do and copes and seethes so hard about it he fabricated enough rationalizations about it to fill a whole entire book
Found this today, picking it up from the library on Monday.I am a reader who enjoys style as much as substance, so please recommend me histories that are exceptionally well-written, regardless of subject matter.
>>23328919Would this pair well with Malachis books or no?Papal history is some of my favorite history. I actually read all three volumes of History Of The Popes by Wyatt North and I want more.
>>23273606It's a shame /his/ is such fucking garbage. It is well and truly the actual worst board on this fuck awful website.Also just read this. Didn't know Mormonism was so kino desu. Author both defends polygamy but calls mormons bigots for not liking trannies which is one of the weirder doible standards I've encountered in a history book.
>>23336100No one actually likes trannies. They probably just got paid money by publisher to throw that in for diversity points.I do have that book wishlisted though, good mentioning it.
>>23272053do you guys know any good books on:>weimar republic>stasi>years of lead in italy>dreyfus affair>may 1968?
Any of you history nerds know any fantasy books that read like a history book but with an alternative history instead?
>>23337421Fire & Blood by GRRM
>>23336100This looks fucking great.
>>23337488Neat. Second time I've seen this recommendation. Thanks anon.
>>23337421Ash, A secret history.
>>23337511Hope you enjoy! Just to add you don't need to have seen GOT or read ASOIAF to understand and enjoy this book since it covers events hundreds of years prior to the main series. I loved it.
>>23337522Excellent. Thanks again then.
The History of The Kings of Britain>Completed in 1136, The History of the Kings of Britain traces the story of the realm from its supposed foundation by Brutus to the coming of the Saxons some two thousand years later. Vividly portraying legendary and semi-legendary figures such as Lear, Cymbeline, Merlin the magician and the most famous of all British heroes, King Arthur, it is as much myth as it is history and its veracity was questioned by other medieval writers. But Geoffrey of Monmouth's powerful evocation of illustrious men and deeds captured the imagination of subsequent generations, and his influence can be traced through the works of Malory, Shakespeare, Dryden and Tennyson.
>>23337421legend of the galactic heroes
>>23337534Wishlisted it
>>23337520Will second this.
>>23336141For sure. I also know they're a common bugbear for this board, but the guy tries to write the history literally up to the present day (December 31st, 2022; he wrote it over the pandemic) so he ends up touching on the queer stuff going rn. After he goes over the LDS's involvement in Prop 8 the book stops being history and becomes this guy's opinions about random things in the Mormon church. This literally only happens in the second half of the very last chapter so it's easy to skip.>>23337504Big recommend. Mormons are either the true Israelites or the greatest larpers history has ever seen, which imo is actually more impressive.
>>23337534Sad this author isn't related to that one Duke of Monmouth who it apparently took like eleven swings of the ax to decapitate and stood up from the chopping block halfway through with blood spurting from his neck to show the entire crowd to general consternation and hilarity. Wish I could have been there or at the execution of Madame du Barry.
>>23327905anyone know of some books like this but for the south?
one last bump
>>23338656Just stopping by to say you're a sick retard.
>>23311518>PictsNever existed. Just like Knights (brigands and mercenaries), Cowboys (confederate deserters and black ranchers) and Ninjas (farmers and terrorists).
Washington was a wealthy landowner who owned slaves. There is a famous national myth that he had wooden dentures, but in reality he made dentures out of the teeth of his slaves. Food for thought.
>>23341859Sounds based
>>23341852Revisionism is a helluva drug
>>23341859>>23341881https://www.mountvernon.org/george-washington/health/washingtons-teeth/george-washington-and-slave-teeth/>In both cases, the explicit notation “on the account” of the dentist points to Jean Pierre Le Mayeur as the end recipient. If Washington had been purchasing the teeth for himself, there would have been no need for this information; the entries would have simply recorded the item and payment, as when Washington purchased poultry, wild game, fish, and garden produce from enslaved individuals.https://daily.jstor.org/were-george-washingtons-teeth-taken-from-enslaved-people/>In 1784, Washington paid unnamed “Negroes” for nine teeth. We don’t know the precise circumstances, says Van Horn: “The president’s decision to pay his slaves for their teeth may have been a recognition on his part that teeth were something sacrosanct and personal.” On the other hand, being enslaved meant that any economic exchange was inherently not fair.So, they don't actually know and it's speculative. Typical.
Now I just feel depressed
>>23341852>knights (brigands and mercenaries)you are partially correct. A knight depending on the location and time period could either mean just cavalry or someone who has taken a personal oath to their lord. In which case it is a mercenary who has a personal obligation to follow their leader rather than just money.>ninjas (farmers and terrorists)Who portrays ninjas as anything other than this? Naruto?
>>23314389take it as a lesson, you can't get a good account of history from a people that hate them.
>>23273606Watching an interview with Aldous right now.https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=inNyLHWbzxASeems like a decent communicator, will give this a read.
>>23272053any recommendations for prose-heavy, stylish tomes or collected volumes? something along these lines>French Revolution by Carlyle>Crusades by Runciman>World History by Toynbee>Fall of Roman Empire by Gibbon
