Thank you for these! Gibbons’ book seems so daunting to me…especially as I only have a cursory knowledge of the Roman Empire.
I think The Twelve Caesars could be good for me.
And thank you for the fiction recommendations! That sounds right up my alley.
Does he know what happened to that Russian guy on The Sopranos???
I read it, pretty good.
Dreadnought: Britain, Germany, and the Coming of the Great War, Robert K. Massie, and Castles of Steel by the same author- this explains the naval build ups of the late 19th and early 20th century, and why GB was so irate of the kaiser building his german navy. Mind you- these are BIG thick books.
I do not like that book. Gibbons hated the Church, and made up his fact that the Christians burned the Library of Alexandria. (It was actually the Romans, first under Julius Caesar, then also later the Romans). Gibbons facts are bad.
I enjoyed several of those, but his book on the Bible is poorly researched and very biased.
I found this book engrossing, couldn’t put it down. If you haven’t yet made it to the end I encourage you to give it another try. Especially if you didn’t reach the part where Hitler mobilizes the Wehrmacht and his evil marches toward its zenith.
I did finish it after a few attempts. An ebook version that ran a slideshow of maps, character thumbnails, location images, etc synched to the book would be cool.
The northerners worked to uphold African-American civil rights but the Republican Party wasted no time in capitalizing on the disenfranchisement of much of the Democratic Party’s voter base. Even the Fifteenth Amendment was as much about every freedman being a guaranteed Republican vote as it was about equal rights.
A great book and an important story to tell, but I had a hard time getting through it because of the unrelenting brutality.
Buried Treasures of Chinese Turkestan
Originally published in1928, the travels of archeologist and adventurer Albert von Le Coq.
One of my favourite books! It helps to be Buddhist, and I do love this part of the world in general. But it’s just an awesome read.
(Just thinking about it makes me want to go fetch it, maybe read it again!)
Speaking of Asia…
The Secret History of the Mongol Queens by Jack Rutherford. The lives of Genghis Khan and his daughters. Genghis married his daughters to neighboring chieftains, and then conscripted their husbands into his army, leaving his daughters to rule over their new kingdoms in his name. Helped to build his empire and elevated his daughters to rulers in their own rights; the sons-in-law were lucky not to be killed in battle. Fascinating stuff.
I am getting a lot of great recs here, and you know what? some of these great books are really cheap as used books at amazon, from indy booksellers.
And as soon as the Southerners got back into power they disenfranchised all those Republican voters. The ones they didn’t lynch, that is.
Ted Morgan died a few months ago. He was born a French aristocrat but grew disillusioned and turned himself into an American. His bibliography includes some good books, especially on the Cold War, and some of its hotter moments.
William Manchester was a popular historian. His reach may have exceeded his grasp, but that wasn’t always his fault. The Churchill family kept as much out of his grasp as served their interests. A history book itself could be written about historians thwarted by jealous guardians of the archives: Churchill, Martin Luther King Jr., Frank Zappa.
Let’s please not forget that good art history is good history overall. It should contain insights into all the other aspects of the societies it describes. Simon Schama is a good source for that.
Literary History works the same way, showing a period’s history through the methods unique to its writers. A reader can learn as much from The Great War and Modern Memory by Paul Fussell as from a straight history by John Keagan.
On your recommendation I’m reading this book. It’s great. Thanks!
Guns, Germs, And Steel Jared Diamond. I have never shouted at a book so much and it may rival my TV when Trump is talking. However, Jared asks an important question, “Why does the Western World have stuff, and Papua New Guinea does not.” that question deserves a non-moronic non-racist answer. He fails, but he tries and it started me down a rabbit hole.
A Splendid Exchange: How Trade Shaped the World by William Bernstein got closer to the mark, I feel. But I still look for other views on why our modern world has such an uneven wealth disparity. Whatever answer you hear will only be a component and I will stop when I find enough components to give me a clearer truer picture.
I have a few more on this front, but these are a good start for that.
Only one more so my recommendations have some weight.
The Military Experience in the Age of Reason by Christopher Duffy. Essentially, “How did we go from feudal levies carrying sharp sticks and armored knights to conscripted infantry and modern combat.” There are dry bits discussing Government Reforms and equipment minutia, but most of it describes general advancements interesting to everyday people. When was steady pay a thing? Why did people agree to fight? What did they get to eat? How were they healed? What provisions were made for dependents of dead soldiers? It helps that Christopher Duffy is such a good writer he could make a phone book interesting, there are plenty of digressions where he goes on to talk at length about anything remotely relevant but whatever he picks is also fascinating. I read this for a project, but it was so much more fun to read that I thought I have been recommending it ever since.
@Wilson and @Capn_Carl - I also just downloaded Postwar to my Kindle…excited to read it.
I, along with many people, have heard about Guns, Germs & Steel … I avoided it, thinking that it was a “political/history book for the airport-reading crowd” … But do you recommend reading these two one after the other, or in conjunction? I am interested in learning more about the concept of wealth disparity and how modernization has impacted different parts of the world. Curious to hear your other recommendations on this front, as well!
I picked up The Sleepwalkers after reading the first part of this thread, and I found it unreadable. Not because it’s poorly written, but because the print is so small. I know it’s a long book, but no one over the age of 40 is going to be able to read this. Back to the library it goes.
It’s a shame because World War One is a favorite subject of mine. Maybe I am fascinated by the idea of a modern war led being waged by counties that were effectively hereditary kingdoms.
Here are three books that I could read, and would recommend:
All three books describe the experience of the common soldiers and other people caught up in the mess that was the War to end all Wars, something often missing in military history.
It isn’t that G,G&S is light airport reading bubblegum history, it’s that the question is so god damn big. Imagine someone writing a book called, Gen Alpha: What is Wrong with Kids Today. Even if it was a completely serious study I would imagine everyone adult reading this book would throw it across the room a few times even if they agreed with much of it.
G,G&S could have effectively been called Why Are We Like This. It’s a big topic. So from jumpstreet Jared lays out the Spanish Conquistadors experience subjugating people on two continents hardly out of the Stone Age. He posits that The Aztecs, Mayans, Inca were disadvantaged, in large part, by the things mentioned in the title of the book. Great. But what about the Portuguese during this exact time. They were kicking ass and taking names on the other half of the globe, you know, against the ones that invented Steel, Gunpowder and The Black Death. Diamond ignores whatever history doesn’t suit the narrative. I don’t hate the book, it’s a good primer for those interested with little background. I would even recommend it to newer learners of history. I recommended it, but read it with a massive grain of salt. The first third is all about domesticated plants and animals and it’s dry but solid information and the best part of his book. His argument gets weaker as he talks about specific moments in time.
I will ruminate on others, and will search my bookshelf when I get home for other recommendations on this topic.
Gunpowder may have been invented in the East but the Portuguese were the pioneers in putting cannon on ships, something Islamic, Indian and Chinese peoples were fatally behind in doing. Paul Kennedy in The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers argues that what Europe had going for it was a pluralistic culture where innovation could find a place; it was less hampered by stagnant political, religious and cultural models that valued upholding the status quo.
Re. “germs” it’s notable that the classic era of colonialism in Africa didn’t take off until after the discovery of quinine. Before that Europeans mainly occupied coastline ports and only as far upriver as the first cataracts or waterfalls.
It’s been a while since I read it, but I think Guns, Germs, and Steel makes a similar argument. Europe’s topography - plains separated by mountain ranges means that it was never a single united polity, and because it was split into competing states, there was pressure to innovate in military technology that was absent in, e.g. China.