# World History and Military History Book suggestions wanted... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 25, 2003, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-history-and-military-history-book-suggestions-wanted/203723 "2003-09-25T12:23:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![by-tor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/by-tor/32/266_2.png) [@by-tor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/by-tor)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2003, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-history-and-military-history-book-suggestions-wanted/203723/1 "2003-09-25T12:23:15Z")
Hi. I am looking for books that cover all of world history. I have only found one that I like so far “History of the World” by H.G. Wells. Unfortunately it only covers up until World War II. Any suggestions would be welcome. Also I am interested in a book that covers all of military history, with an emphasis on tactics and strategy, not weapons. Thanks in advance for any titles! ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2003, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-history-and-military-history-book-suggestions-wanted/203723/2 "2003-09-25T15:22:36Z")
Anything by Stephen Ambrose. I’m plowing through his _D-Day_ right now. Unbelievably well reseached and clearly written. ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2003, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-history-and-military-history-book-suggestions-wanted/203723/3 "2003-09-25T15:47:07Z")
Military histories covering all time periods: B.H. Liddell Hart - _Strategy_. It covers from the Greek Wars up to the first Arab-Israeli War with the emphasis on strategy, surprisingly. John Keegan - _A History of Warfare_. One of his best works, the emphasis is more on the nature of warfare than strictly on strategy and tactics. J.F.C. Fuller - _A Military History of the Western World_. Three volumes, it covers the Greek Wars to World War II. Fuller and Liddell Hart laid a lot of the theoretical groundwork for armored warfare between the World Wars. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2003, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-history-and-military-history-book-suggestions-wanted/203723/4 "2003-09-25T15:56:54Z")
Something of a hijack, but does anyone know the name of the book that was written about H.G. Wells’ _History of the World_ about a year or so ago? The claim of the book was that Wells plagiarized most of his book from an earlier work by a female author. I looked at the book in a store and planned on picking it up later, but unfortunately I’ve forgotten the title and author. ---
**Author:** ![vl\_mungo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc8723/32.png) [@vl\_mungo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vl_mungo)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2003, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-history-and-military-history-book-suggestions-wanted/203723/5 "2003-09-25T19:27:00Z")
[The Face of Battle](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0140048979/002-2094745-7178429?v=glance) by John Keegan or anything by Cornelius Ryan ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2003, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-history-and-military-history-book-suggestions-wanted/203723/6 "2003-09-25T20:27:42Z")
Honestly, I’d stay away from Keegan. He’s really overrated, epsecially in the conclusion department, and he perpetuates the “beautiful people” myth by proclaiming that primitive people never (or rarely) killed each other in warfare. Also too many errors and oversimplifications for my liking. Hart and Fuller are much better. IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![CyberPundit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@CyberPundit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CyberPundit)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2003, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-history-and-military-history-book-suggestions-wanted/203723/7 "2003-09-25T20:42:31Z")
John Robert’s History of the World is an excellent one-volume world history. He has a one-volume history of the 20th century which is also worth reading. ---
**Author:** ![Foolonthehill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Foolonthehill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foolonthehill)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2003, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-history-and-military-history-book-suggestions-wanted/203723/8 "2003-09-25T21:06:05Z")
A slight hijack; Why whole world history? Single volume “World Histories” are by neccessity condensed, lacking the in-depth thinking that shorter Histories have. As an opinion only, more seems to be learned by specific history than generalized histories. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2003, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-history-and-military-history-book-suggestions-wanted/203723/9 "2003-09-25T21:22:50Z")
[The Story of Civilization](http://www.samizdat.com/isyn/durant.html) by Will and Ariel Durant. I’m reading it right now, and by gum, it is the greatest story ever told. Unfortunately, it will take you only from prehistoric times to the Napoleonic era (that’s not enough?). ---
**Author:** ![bonzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2003, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-history-and-military-history-book-suggestions-wanted/203723/10 "2003-09-25T23:38:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Little Nemo \* > Something of a hijack, but does anyone know the name of the book that was written about H.G. Wells’ _History of the World_ about a year or so ago? The claim of the book was that Wells plagiarized most of his book from an earlier work by a female author. [The Spinster and the Prophet](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1568582366/qid=1064533539/sr=1-7/ref=sr_1_7/103-0198572-8135800?v=glance&s=books) by A.B. McKillop. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2003, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-history-and-military-history-book-suggestions-wanted/203723/11 "2003-09-26T04:17:41Z")
Thank you, bonzer. Have you read it, and if so, what did you think of it? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2003, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-history-and-military-history-book-suggestions-wanted/203723/12 "2003-09-26T06:56:29Z")
I’ll throw in [_Guns, Germs and Steel_](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0393317552/102-2191375-4269751?v=glance) by Jared Diamond, though be warned; it’s more a scholarly than a dramatic work. Diamond typically starts a chapter with a premise (i.e. Native American societies didn’t develop resistance to a wide variety of diseases because they didn’t have a lot of domesticated animals) and then spends 20+ pages proving that premise. It’s a very interesting work, but not much of a page-turner. ---
**Author:** ![by-tor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/by-tor/32/266_2.png) [@by-tor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/by-tor)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2003, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-history-and-military-history-book-suggestions-wanted/203723/13 "2003-09-26T12:36:10Z")
Thanks for the suggestions! Foolonthehill: I just want to get a good grasp of the overview before I get into the details. ---
**Author:** ![constantine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3bc359/32.png) [@constantine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constantine)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2003, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-history-and-military-history-book-suggestions-wanted/203723/14 "2003-09-26T21:31:15Z")
I second the recommendation for Will and Ariel Durant’s “The Story of Civilization.” Fantastic. Of course it is 10 volumes long, but thank God for that. I’m only on the 4rth volume, but I’m so excited that there are so many other volumes stretched out before me. ---
**Author:** ![dead0man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/edb3f5/32.png) [@dead0man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dead0man)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2003, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-history-and-military-history-book-suggestions-wanted/203723/15 "2003-09-26T23:49:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bryan Ekers \* > \*\*I’ll throw in [_Guns, Germs and Steel_](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0393317552/102-2191375-4269751?v=glance) by Jared Diamond, though be warned; it’s more a scholarly than a dramatic work. Diamond typically starts a chapter with a premise (i.e. Native American societies didn’t develop resistance to a wide variety of diseases because they didn’t have a lot of domesticated animals) and then spends 20+ pages proving that premise. It’s a very interesting work, but not much of a page-turner. \*\* I agree. I bought the book after hearing about it on here about 1000 times. It sounded fascinating and it can be, in small doses. But as you said, it’s a pain in the butt to keep turning the pages on it. Its one of those books that will probably take me 3 years to read, as I keep putting it down to read something else. ---
**Author:** ![bonzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2003, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-history-and-military-history-book-suggestions-wanted/203723/16 "2003-09-27T12:05:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Little Nemo \* > Thank you, bonzer. Have you read it, and if so, what did you think of it? No, I haven’t - merely happened to remember the title.