Thread 24504339

Post and discussion about any type of history book.

>The American Revolution: A History by Gordon S. Wood

>The book traces the origins of the revolution from the increasing tensions between Britain and its American colonies following the Seven Years’ War. Wood explores how British attempts to tighten imperial control and raise revenue—through acts like the Stamp Act and Townshend Duties—fueled resentment among colonists, who believed their rights as Englishmen were being violated. This ideological clash centered on issues of representation, sovereignty, and natural rights.

>Wood then examines how colonial resistance escalated from protest to outright rebellion, culminating in the Declaration of Independence in 1776. He highlights the complex motivations of revolutionaries, showing how Enlightenment ideals, local grievances, and fear of tyranny combined to inspire the break from Britain.

>In the aftermath of war, the book turns to the revolutionary impact on American society. Wood shows that the Revolution brought sweeping changes, including the spread of democratic ideas, the weakening of aristocratic structures, and the rise of egalitarianism.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/550925.The_American_Revolution

How is this?

Really enjoyed this. Multifaceted guy. Charismatic, brave, brilliant but at times a megalomaniacal butcher.
He kept things lively.

>>24504351
The GOAT

>>24504354
i saw a few of these in the used bookstore last time, should i get them?

>>24504355
If you like survey history that will give you a broad understanding and point you in the direction of specific areas that are of particular interest to you: yes.

Finished this up a couple weeks ago. Mainly focuses on a narrative history of the military engagements but also gives a lot of background on all the political infighting within both the Union and the Confederacy and within the armies themselves. Very interesting read but I need a break before starting Volume 3.

>>24504339 (OP)
Good modern intellectual history like works by Samuel Moyn and David Armitage?

just started reading (listening :3) this book, what am I in for?

>>24504355
About a decade ago they kept popping up in bookstores that sell used/overruns. I didn't pick them up to collect the whole series and I regret it now.

>>24504339 (OP)
Do you like apples?

>>24504339 (OP)
Pop
>>24504343
Pop
>>24504351
Pop
>>24504354
Falsification
>>24504367
Acceptable for milhist
>>24504375
Bourgeois ideology

Browning C (1993) Ordinary Men

The Year of Decision 1846

>Year of Decision 1846 tells many fascinating stories of the U.S. explorers who began the western march from the Mississippi to the Pacific, from Canada to the annexation of Texas, California, and the southwest lands from Mexico.

Started reading pic related. Surprisingly, I’m really enjoying the writing style. Kinda feeling bad for Mary I, but oh well.

>>24504343
The best biography on Napoleon

It's time for /history/ to take the anglopill
Peasants vs. capitalistic farmers:
- The peasant "owner" cannot legally sell family land without permission of children
- A peasant must divide land equally between children; there is no real last will and testament
- Peasants marry young, have children young, and use the children for farm work
- Multiple generations live in the same household
- Poor subsistence farmers

Capitalistic farmers:
- A living man has no heirs and can buy and sell land freely
- An Englishman was free to give his children as much or as little as he wanted, meaning they were at risk of being disinherited if they disappointed him, but land must never be divided; it has to go to only one heir
- Englishmen married late and hired labor instead of using their own children for work; this led to a cash economy
- The nuclear family was the norm as far back as records go
- Rich market traders

tl;dr:
> The English have never been peasants as far as records can reliably show, going back as far as ~1250, according to "The Origins of English Individualism"

>>24505858
The accounts of foreign views of Englishmen are great as well
From the account of Emmanual Van Meteren, Antwerp merchant
>"The people are not so laborious and industrious as the Netherlanders or French, as they lead for the most part an indolent life...They keep many lazy servants, and also many wild animals for their pleasure, rather than trouble themselves to cultivate the land...The people are bold, courgaeous, ardent and cruel in war, fiery in attack and having little fear of death; they are not vindictive, but very inconstant, vainglorious, light and deceiving, and very suspicious, especially of foreigners, whom they despise."
From a Venetian Vistor in the 1400s
>Agriculture is not practised in this island beyond what is required for the consumption of the people ; because were they to plough and sow all the land that was capable of cultivation, they might sell a quantity of grain to the surrounding countries. This negligence is, however, atoned for, by an immense profusion of every comestible animal, such as stags, goats, fallow-deer, hares, rabbits, pigs, and an infinity of oxen, which have much larger horns than ours, which proves the mildness of the climate, as horns cannot bear excessive cold ; whence, according to Strabo, in some northern countries, the cattle are without horns. But above all, they have an enormous number of sheep, (6) which yield them quantities of wool of the best quality

>>24504339 (OP)
>Why did humans abandon hunting and gathering for sedentary communities dependent on livestock and cereal grains, and governed by precursors of today’s states? Most people believe that plant and animal domestication allowed humans, finally, to settle down and form agricultural villages, towns, and states, which made possible civilization, law, public order, and a presumably secure way of living. But archaeological and historical evidence challenges this narrative. The first agrarian states, says James C. Scott, were born of accumulations of domestications: first fire, then plants, livestock, subjects of the state, captives, and finally women in the patriarchal family—all of which can be viewed as a way of gaining control over reproduction.
>Scott explores why we avoided sedentism and plow agriculture, the advantages of mobile subsistence, the unforeseeable disease epidemics arising from crowding plants, animals, and grain, and why all early states are based on millets and cereal grains and unfree labor. He also discusses the “barbarians” who long evaded state control, as a way of understanding continuing tension between states and nonsubject peoples

>Migration began with our origin as the human species and continues today. Each chapter of world history features distinct types of migration. The earliest migrations spread humans across the globe. Over the centuries, as our cultures, societies, and technologies evolved in different material environments, migrants conflicted, merged, and cohabited with each other, creating, entering, and leaving various city-states, kingdoms, empires, and nations. During the early modern period, migrations reconnected the continents, including through colonization and forced migrations of subject peoples, while political concepts like "citizen" and "alien" developed. In recent history, migrations changed their character as nation-states and transnational unions sought in new ways to control the peoples who migrated across their borders.

>This volume will explore the process of migration chronologically and also at several levels, from the illuminating example of the migration of a individual community, to larger patterns of the collective movements of major ethnic groups, to the more abstract study of the processes of emigration, migration, and immigration. This book will concentrate on substantial migrations covering long distances and involving large numbers of people. It will intentionally balance evidence from the now diverse people's of the world, for example, by highlighting an exemplary migration for each of the six chapters that highlights different trajectories and by keeping issues of gender and socio-economic class salient wherever appropriate. Further, as a major theme, the volume will consider how technology, the environment, and various polities have historically shaped human migration. Exciting new scholarship in the several fields inherent in this topic make it a particularly valuable and timely
project.

>>24505926
That looks interesting despite the pomo bs tacked on

>>24505858
racist

>>24505925
Want to read this soon. Also something by Barry Cunliffe

This book is good. The other books by this author are also good.

>>24504339 (OP)
>In this groundbreaking work of science, history, and archaeology, Charles C. Mann radically alters our understanding of the Americas before the arrival of Columbus in 1492.

>Contrary to what so many Americans learn in school, the pre-Columbian Indians were not sparsely settled in a pristine wilderness; rather, there were huge numbers of Indians who actively molded and influenced the land around them. The astonishing Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan had running water and immaculately clean streets, and was larger than any contemporary European city. Mexican cultures created corn in a specialized breeding process that it has been called man’s first feat of genetic engineering. Indeed, Indians were not living lightly on the land but were landscaping and manipulating their world in ways that we are only now beginning to understand. Challenging and surprising, this a transformative new look at a rich and fascinating world we only thought we knew.

>>24506200
Fair enough but this sounds awfully revisionist

/thread

>>24506385
Ah thanks, I was running low on kindling.

>>24506213
Not really. It actually sounds quite conventional. Mexicas grew corn, beans, and tomatoes. Incas grew potatoes. Both built large urban settlements in spite of their inability to come up with a use for wheels other than as an accessory for children's toys, and developed metallurgy almost exclusively for decorative purposes. There were also Native American agricultural settlements all over what is nowadays the United States of America, but primarily east of the Mississippi due to climatic conditions favorable to agriculture. Exceptions may be found in Aridoamerica, such as the Pueblo people in present-day Arizona and New Mexico and the Casas Grandes site in the Mexican state of Chihuahua.

I'm not an expert on Native American tribes or anything like that (just an avid traveller who likes visiting archaeological sites), but historians, archaeologists, and anthropologists, even conservative ones, have regularly admitted that the Americas had plenty of people and had cultures on the technological level of development of Bronze Age Old World cultures by the time Columbus arrived. Admittedly, some were not as developed as others.

>>24506403
Buy the hardcover instead, saves battery

>>24506385
Zinn relies too heavily on secondary sources.

I's be startin' this.

Is this book any good?

Last history books I read were
>Thucydides' Peloponnesian War translated by Richard Lattimore
Sparta was clearly noncommital until the Sicilian Expedition, I would have loved to see any insight of their internal politics and debate but there's practically none after the speeches in book 1. The death of Archidamus is something you have to infer by his getting replaced by his son in leading the invasions of Attica.
>History of the Later Roman Empire from the Death of Theodosius to the Death of Justinian vol 1 and 2 by JB Bury
Compelling and comprehensive, spends little time dwelling on grand explanations for the west's collapse and proposes it was an unlucky confluence of incidents.
>History of the Roman Empire from its Foundation to the Death of Marcus Aurelius by JB Bury
Classic narrative summary of the ancient sources. The Illyrian revolt stood out to me as the event I had no knowledge of whatsoever before digging in.

I’m currently reading picrel. It’s a good book for a general overview of modern Iranian history.

>>24506449
>im not an expert
Clearly

The last book I finished was this one. I just want to post it to say holy shit, Metternich was a giant simp. Don’t know how anyone likes him.

>>24504916
>ESL and/or retarded

>>24507118
not him, but you're not as smart as you think you are

>>24504343
I couldn't handle all the frog names.

>>24506385
Awful.

>>24506957
>literal fifth column commie trash
You're retarded.

>>24507848
>le Dunning-Kruger!
Kys, nigger

Any good history books or articles on the institution of the police? Preferably in Latin America, but I'm also willing to read of other regions and countries.

Reading Devil in the white city atm. About 2/3rds through, picking up somewhat now. Its hard to even fathom the worlds fair from a hick in the 1800s perspective, there's been nothing comparable in our lifetimes.

>>24504351
Should i read this one or yours?

>>24506403
>>24506699 (excluding you)
>>24507956
not an argument

>>24508870
Police Craft by Adam Plantinga might be up your alley, it's written by a sergeant with the San Francisco police department about all the aspects of everyday policing.

>>24508870
More of a global history but A Short History Of Police And Policing by Clive Emsley i heard is good.

How is this?

>>24510775
Havent read it yet, but another anon said it was pretty liberal leaning and gay. So take that as you will. I already own it so I’m going to read it… at some point.

>>24511276
is there any good books that could serve as a better history of concepts?

>>24506385
I was reading somewhere that this was a required reading for some high school students. No nuance, just "See how EVIL the United States is!" Can't imagine this unapologetically biased book occupying a space in a growing, impressionable mind...would explain a lot though.

>>24511410
he's also jewish, figured I'd throw that out there. and a communist, likely. but then you have people like Allan Bloom and Leo Strauss who stood for the opposite.

>>24504372
well this never got answered, sigh.

was hoping someone would get to it eventually.

>>24511412
Pretty obvious from the victim mentality of the text. Admittedly, there is some good information but I become distrustful when I sense an underlying agenda.

>>24511427
I don't mind critical engagement, but it should belong to the domain of philosophy of history rather than history proper.

on a lighter note, is there any good histories of climate other than Little Ice Age by Brian Fagan or books about the history of meteorology like The Invention Of Clouds by Richard Hamblyn?

>>24504343
Istg you retards post this book along with the exact same question in every thread

>>24504339 (OP)
Mommsen or Gibbon for Rome?

Thoughts on the Penguin Monarch series? I want some quick, short books on certain monarchs to give me a basic understanding before I commit to longer biographies or books. For instance, I want to know the basics about Stephen, but I don’t care enough about him yet to commit to a 400+ page book. I got the one on John, and I thought it was fine.

>>24511673
I have two wishlisted on Amazon. I'm particularly interested in William The Conqueror and Aalread The Unready.

>>24504339 (OP)
I’ve been considering picking up a couple different works by (((Barbara Tuchman))). Is there any reason I should avoid her besides the obvious ?

>>24511636
they cover different time periods so feel free to read both

>>24511772
She's pretty milquetoast for a jew, nothing terribly controversial. March Of Folly has a thesis about Vietnam that some took exception to but it doesn't seem all that unjustified

>Reading history about major wars that everyone and their gay uncle knows about

If you're not reading solely about the most obscure, rarely covered conflicts in human history than you're both a filthy fucking scrub AND an utter NEWFAGGOT.

>Muh American Civil War
>Muh WW2
FAGGOT. The South African Border War is where it's at.

>>24512062
Based. WW2 is boring as fuck.

>>24504343
Its the best Napoleon biography because of the release of a bunch of his letters by the French in like 1990 or something

>>24512062
>Major military involvement from Cuba
Interesting. I had no idea Cuba got up to such shenanigans.

>>24512062
Any books on the Emu War then?

>>24512087
>Emu war
>Obscure

>>24512087
>He hasn't read The Great Emu War
>He hasn't read all of the Letters of The Great Emu War

Bump for actually good thread

>>24510223
>>24510759

Thank you!

Is there a ww2 version?

>>24512912
do you really need to read forty 1000+ page books to understand ww1?

>>24512600
You're welcome

>>24506213
So? Revisionism is integral to the study of history. Examining our narratives about the past in light of the sources, seeing if they hold up to scrutiny and, if not, proposing new interpretations is sort of the entire point of history as an academic discipline.

>>24505925
This book changed how I look at the world. Seeing Like a State is even better

I love William Manchester so much

>>24513064
That's fine and all I guess ill just have to see myself but wasn't the noble savage myth disproven?

>>24513102
This is also excellent. The introduction is one of my favorite pieces of writing.

>>24513113
1/2

>>24513117
2/2

>>24504354
I fucking hate those "big history" books so much.
No, History is not linear. History is not an adventure. History is not full of heroes and villains. History is not your materialistic, rationalistic, post-enlightenment western exceptionalist masturbatory fantasy for neoliberal propaganda purposes.

This shit from pic related is no different than "Sapiens" or "The End of History", it just pretends to be fancier.

>>24513102
Manchester is usually excellent, he would be considered one of the great American authors if people actually read good history books.

>The Glory and the Dream: A Narrative History of America 1932-72 by William Manchester

>Explores American history from the Great Depression, through two World Wars and Korea to the anti-war protests of Vietnam.

https://www.amazon.com/Glory-Dream-William-Manchester-ebook/dp/B07NMH8ZV4

>>24513283
I've been saving this one for a while now, I wanted to get educated on the USSR first but i kind of bounced off a giant Stalin bio. Im a little tired of Great Men books though, do you have any reccs?

venerable bede writes a good history sometimes when that writer stays on focus

>>24511673
They're alright. It's about what you'd expect out of a short introduction to the men. I'd recommend Yale English Kings series if you want to take it further with any of them, though I'm not too sure about the quality of the penguin ones, the Yale series are all scholarly and academic but their presentation is wildly different. Henry the Young King for example is one of the best written biographies I've ever read while Athelstan in the same series is very dry, which is sometimes to be expected from the nature of the sources.

>>24504343
It's a classic. Really good. I need something like this for Alexander, Caesar, Augustus, Genghis Khan and Hitler. >>24504375
>what am I in for?
A good book.
>>24504916
Dumb retard
>>24505737
I need a book on Elizabeth's esoteric interests.
>>24507823
This author is on my reading list. >>24509222
Bump

What are the best books on the minoan civilization?

Any German WWII memoirs that aren't set exclusively on the Eastern Front? I want some fighting against French, British, or Americans.

>>24504339 (OP)
Decline and Fall if the Roman Empire

>>24513637
You're asking for an awful lot

>>24513173
Seems to be a common trope/tripe here. Oh well, more metahistory for me.

>>24509222
I’ve haven’t read that one so I have no basis for comparison. I do recommend Alexander of Macedon though

>>24504339 (OP)
I have been enjoying pic related, but I haven't finished it.
Basically, the author tries to answer the question of "why was war during the medieval period endemic?"
And his thesis has two reasons.
1) Show of authority. Kingship is tied to martiality, so the king should be able to prove he is able to command an army. A king who does not lead an army is either a puppet or weak.
2) Economic factor, feeding the retinue was expensive, this why kings often traveled and forced their vassals to feed their troops. Another way to feed them was to go to war and feed them by raiding

>>24514604
That cover is based as fuck.

>>24506200
>>24513108
I've not read the book in question but that summary doesn't sound like he's arguing the Indians were "noble savages", but rather that they weren't "savages" at all. Whether that's true or not I couldn't tell you.

>>24513173
This. History is just a bunch of stuff that happened.

>>24513173
>I fucking hate those "big history" books so much.
>No, History is not linear. History is not an adventure. History is not full of heroes and villains. History is not your materialistic, rationalistic, post-enlightenment western exceptionalist masturbatory fantasy for neoliberal propaganda purposes.

What is history then?

>>24504339 (OP)
>revolution

>>24515157
>another

What's the single most obscure war in human history?

>>24513412
>Henry the Young King
Does it rationalize how he revolt his father?
Seemingly Philip II was just really good manipulating people.
He convinced Henry the Young King to revolt his father.
Then John to revolt against Richard
Then Arthur to revolt against John

>>24515226
the war I'm waging against your mind this very moment

>>24515314
t. kike

>>24514407
You're a waste.

>>24515367
it seems I am currently winning

>>24515515
Sorry

>>24515089
You know what I mean, genius

>>24504339 (OP)
Books similar to picrel?

Roman India

>>24504916
My hot polack HS English teacher gave me a copy of Ordinary Men after I took Mein Kampf out from the school library
>>24515123
A canvas for people to paint narratives on and infect you with their mindworms.
If you want to know things that actually happened you have to read primary sources, read archeological journals, that sort of shit. I don't do this myself ofc.

>>24515230
It does. Explains why, how and what he did during his revolts.

>>24516218
Can you summarize?

>American and poorope history exclusively
You niggers are BORING.

>>24516281
Can't tell you everything since it's been a long time since I've read it. But the main theme of his life was frustration with his father not giving him any independent power, in form of income, land or control and this deeply frustrated him. He moved to Philip's court intermittently in defiance of his father and with encouragement he rebels alongside Richard and Eleanor for this reason. His father wins, gives him slight concessions like a stipend but never actually fixes the core issue which results later again in rebellion which he dies during.

Thoughts on this book?

>>24516924
I pirated it and find him a bit disingenuous

>>24513628
Holy hooters.

>>24504339 (OP)
I am looking for a book that deals broadly with Charlemagne and the Carolingian Renaissance. Ideally something scholarly and of large scope.

>>24516952
There is no single book I know of, but there are two major biographies, I've read the one by Janet L Nelson and she covers most things pretty well but there is no great focus on the Renaissance although it is covered. There's another by Johannes Fried but I don't know much about it

>>24506173
I love Dawson.

On another subject, does anyone have any recommendations for something like Shield Of Achilles by Philip Bobbit?

>>24504343
I've only made through the first section thus far, his rise. It's one of the few books I've read which made me feel compelled to research further the context of the time period, not because it's unclear but because it's fascinating. For even a staunch critic of Napoleon, the man exhibits many admirable qualities.

Who's read Seven Pillars of Wisdom? How reliable is Lawrence's account? Is it really "a novel traveling under the cover of autobiography"?
I'm currently reading it but my eyes just pass over the desert landscape descriptions and Arabic Peninsula geography. Yet having Lawrence's eyes as they look into this region, its people, and the period makes it worthwhile. I'm gonna follow it up with a rewatch of the movie.

>>24516908
Does it mention why his father didn't give him what he wanted?
I understood the two Henry's relationship is fascinating. Like despite all their fighting old Henry did like his son (hence he didn't exile him and did mourn him).

Tocqueville in America by George Wilson Pierson

>Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America (1835) has become a touchstone for almost any discussion of the American polity. Taking as its topic the promise and shortcomings of the democratic form of government, Tocqueville's great work is at or near the root of such political truths as the litigiousness of American society, the danger of the "tyranny of the majority," the American belief in a small government that intrudes only minimally into the daily lives of the citizenry, and Americans' love of political debate. Democracy in America is the work of a 29-year-old nobleman who, with his friend Gustave de Beaumont, traveled the breadth of Jacksonian America to inquire into the future of French society as revolutionary upheaval gave way to a representative government similar to America's.

>George Wilson Pierson reconstructs from diaries, letters, and newspaper accounts the two Frenchmen's nine-month tour and their evolving analysis of American society. We see Tocqueville near Detroit, noting the scattered settlement patterns of the frontier and the affinity of Americans for solitude; in Boston, witnessing the jury system at work; in Philadelphia, observing the suffocating moral regimen at the new Eastern State Prison (which still stands); and in New Orleans, disturbed by the racial caste system and the lassitude of the French-speaking population.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/294804.Tocqueville_in_America

Why are you boring cucks all so slavishly America/Eurocentric? Read about another part of the world for once you little bitch.

>>24518289
Because the third world has no history, Juan

>>24518289
>whyte people are orientalist for daring to read black kangs

>>24516818
Better than brown.

>Why are you boring cucks all so slavishly America/Eurocentric? Read about another part of the world for once you little bitch.
Mfw

>>24518575
Yes, I am absurdly, hilariously racist IRL but I still like to read about Mongol/Chink/Nip history and stinky Mesoamerican cannibal subhumans because it's interesting.

>>24518598
Yeah, I’m just not interested in that. I don’t care what they did before Europeans showed up. Sorry! I’m going to use my limited time to read about Europeans, thanks.

>>24518289
the rest of the world is filthy

>>24517388
It does. Mostly that the Elder just didn't want to give over control, he was still actively ruling and pressing his ambitions and not willing to give up a large amount of his resources to his soon

>>24504339 (OP)
>Gordon S. Wood
Great writer.

Isn't there a history board? What is up with the jannies lately

>>24519768
>Isn't there a history board?
This is a literature board about discussing books. r/his does not discuss books, it discusses made up genetic data and youtube videos.

>>24515961
>My hot polack HS English teacher gave me a copy of Ordinary Men after I took Mein Kampf out from the school library
Well, she is Polish. Maybe she was warning you about the effects on Unit Cohesion of extensive civil conflict operations…

>>24519768
>Isn't there a history board?
Yeah, the history board is /lit/. I'd suggest you read CLR James, EP Thompson "Time, Work Discipline," and maybe Theweleit's Mannerphantasien. If you want the racism and conspiracy theory board see >>>/his/.

It is just like theology and biblical hermeneutics. /lit/ is the theology and biblical hermeneutics board. If you want pants shitting Baptists and Methodists larping conspirtard shite >>>/his/

>>24504339 (OP)
QRD on William Appleman Williams? Is he reliable?

>>24519768
the are better discussions in >>>/gif/ than in /his/, kys

>>24520228
gif is excessively into anal expansion and insufficiently analyses 2 Samuel for transsexual prostitutes.

>>24519768
/his/ is literally just Catholics and Protestants bitch fighting over who is or isn't going to hell 90% of the time.

Is picrel a good history of Pyrrhus? I want a reasonably accessible, military-focused biography of him, since I just finished a book on the Diadochi

Wood drastically underestimates the impact of social distinctions predicated upon wealth, especially inherited wealth.

>>24518609
>europeans
They in turn were not doing much until the Mediterraneans showed up

The Life and Times of Pancho Villa by Friedrich Katz

>The first part of the book deals with Villa’s early life as an outlaw and his emergence as a secondary leader of the Mexican Revolution, and also discusses the special conditions that transformed the state of Chihuahua into a leading center of revolution. In the second part, beginning in 1913, Villa emerges as a national leader. The author analyzes the nature of his revolutionary movement and the impact of Villismo as an ideology and as a social movement. The third part of the book deals with the years 1915 to 1920: Villa’s guerrilla warfare, his attack on Columbus, New Mexico, and his subsequent decline. The last part describes Villa’s surrender, his brief life as a hacendado, his assassination and its aftermath, and the evolution of the Villa legend. The book concludes with an assessment of Villa’s personality and the character and impact of his movement.

>Published 1998 by Stanford University Press

>ISBN 9780804730464

https://www.bookfinder.com/isbn/9780804730464

>>24518289

Aside from South Asia, East Asia and ancient MENA what is there really to talk about? African's didn't accomplish anything, Australian Abbos evolved backwards for 50,000 years and the only Native Americans who have interesting and well documented history are the Aztec, Mayans and Inca.

Europeans and East Asians are the only people really contributing anything positive to the world; The rest are just shitting the place up for the most part, unless you think shitty Indian food and Black women twerking are great and integral to humanity.

The Dawn's Early Light by Walter Lord

>At the dawn of the nineteenth century, the great powers of Western Europe treated the United States like a disobedient child. Great Britain blocked American trade, seized its vessels, and impressed its sailors to serve in the Royal Navy. America’s complaints were ignored, and the humiliation continued until James Madison, the country’s fourth president, declared a second war on Great Britain. British forces descended on the United States, shattering its armies and burning its capital, but America rallied, and survived the conflict with its sovereignty intact.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2713955-the-dawn-s-early-light

>>24512084
>Norman Davies
>No Simple Victory
Did you like the book? Norman's writing style usually is pleasant to read.

>>24504339 (OP)
Champlain's Dream by David Hackett Fischer

>Born on France's Atlantic coast, Champlain grew to manhood in a country riven by religious warfare. The historical record is unclear on whether Champlain was baptized Protestant or Catholic, but he fought in France's religious wars for the man who would become Henri IV, one of France's greatest kings, and like Henri, he was religiously tolerant in an age of murderous sectarianism. Champlain was also a brilliant navigator. He went to sea as a boy and over time acquired the skills that allowed him to make twenty-seven Atlantic crossings without losing a ship.

>But we remember Champlain mainly as a great explorer. On foot and by ship and canoe, he traveled through what are now six Canadian provinces and five American states. Over more than thirty years he founded, colonized, and administered French settlements in North America. Sailing frequently between France and Canada, he maneuvered through court intrigue in Paris and negotiated among more than a dozen Indian nations in North America to establish New France. Champlain had early support from Henri IV and later Louis XIII, but the Queen Regent Marie de Medici and Cardinal Richelieu opposed his efforts. Despite much resistance and many defeats, Champlain, by his astonishing dedication and stamina, finally established France's New World colony. He tried constantly to maintain peace among Indian nations that were sometimes at war with one another, but when he had to, he took up arms and forcefully imposed a new balance of power, proving himself a formidable strategist and warrior.

>Throughout his three decades in North America, Champlain remained committed to a remarkable vision, a Grand Design for France's colony. He encouraged intermarriage among the French colonists and the natives, and he insisted on tolerance for Protestants. He was a visionary leader, especially when compared to his English and Spanish contemporaries—a man who dreamed of humanity and peace in a world of cruelty and violence.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6350022-champlain-s-dream

>>24520850
>Meds aren’t Europeans
I think >>>/his/ is more your speed, champ.
Also, don’t care. I’d rather read about British people in a state of barbarity than any non-European people. I just don’t care. Sorry!

I'm reading a history of ww1 and while I enjoy the political and high level military strategy I just can't get into the fine details of the military history and battles and shit. I wanna read about the kings and politicians and generals why would I give a fuck about the scum lumpenprole human meatwaves that they send to die for them and what they're up to? It's like reading a history of space flight and the book talks about how the slavescum janitor was cleaning the toilets for the astronauts.

>>24520341
or just atheists spreading their gospel of deviance

>>24512062
haven't read either one

>>24512062
>FAGGOT. The South African Border War is where it's at.

>>24521772
Which WW1 book are you reading?

>>24524072
Nvm I changed my mind the battle of tannenburg was kino

>>24517270
Haven't read it, but I did read pic related and Asher makes a case that Lawrence made up important parts of it, like the rape.

The First Tycoon

>>24521315
Its my least favorite Norman Davies book, Vanished Kingdoms is probably my favorite
To be clear, I'm not criticizing No Simple Victory because he accomplished what he set out to do, which is, because of the enormity of the conflict, the amount of deaths, the armies in the field, how many times countries were occupied etc. He went out of his way to go up to 100,000 ft up and gave the facts, where they are available in the most dry way possible, its like reading a book written about WWII written by an accountant, and I dont mean that in a bad way, its really great, he puts everything in context but its impossible for him to go into detail because of the amount of shit that happened in 1939-1945 that would turn into multiple volumes and his aim was always a single volume, 500-ish page overview of the war
My recommendation is, to read this book first before reading any other books on WWII
In reviews ppl say about this book that he does a lot of "myth busting," I wouldnt say its myth busting, its more shooting down a lot of conventional wisdom, which turns out to not be true, in discussions of the war there is a lot of good guy/bad guy bs because the allies won, and the greatest killers, by far, were the soviets, but because they were the 'good guys' and they won and they were an insanely paranoid and closed society, people and historians didnt know a lot of details of what went on east of the Vistula until the USSR collapsed in 91 and by then a lot of the publics perception, at least in the West, were set in stone
If you are looking for a grand epic story of the war, something like Ian Tolls trilogy on the Pacific campaign, this is not for you, he really emphasizes that what we refer to as "WWII" was really a fight between two horrible totalitarian states and the campaigns in France, North Africa, Italy, SE Asia and the Pacific were all just sideshows to the main event and he does that very well

>>24504354
Cringe reddit series. The titles do not describe at all the period they're supposed to document.
>>24504351
>>24509222
I'm slightly undecided about these two books, I am most interested in religion so I will probably choose Naiden but I'm interested in everything else related to Alexander and Green no doubt deals better with it. They're both long books, but Green is 200 pages longer.

>>24512933
Not really, but World War 1 as a topic is definitely worth forty books.

>>24525382
If you're autistic and your special interest is WW1.

>>24519935
>>24520228
>>24520341
I don't care how much feces you guys left smeared in the carpet of your house, you don't get to just come live in mine. Go home and clean

>>24519768
Fag.

>>24504339 (OP)
>The Campaigns of Napoleon

Is this expensive behemoth worth getting? I’ve read a few books on Napoleon and his wars and a couple military strategy and tactic type of books. Is The Campaigns of Napoleon more geared towards West Point graduates or is it easily readable for laymen? A cursory glance makes me think the latter

>>24525450
And while I’m at it, how about

>Iron Kingdom: Rise and Downfall of Prussia by Christopher Clark

Sleepwalkers was good and Prussia interests me

>>24525426
>I don't care how much feces you guys left smeared in the carpet of your house, you don't get to just come live in mine. Go home and clean
Son, I never left my home, wipe your fucking feet.

what's a good recc to start with from zero, for someone who knows nothing about history?

I really enjoyed reading "The New Roman Empire: A History of Byzantium" by Kaldellis.

I'm a big byzaboo and I like that he is reinvigorating the field with his original research with such a humongous work.

>>24525586
Reading that right now. 600 pages in. I'm well read on Late Antiquity but when it came to the cultural stuff such as with Julian covers some things I've read, but not really gone over from that angle. I really appreciate the tangents to talk about culture, it never feels like its going off the rails and he pretty clearly shows early Church controversy. Best book of the year so far.

>>24525577
Do NOT start with the greeks. I you aren't an npc you can read on a period you interested in, otherwise WW2 is safe bet if you are a dude, Hastings or Beevor have books that cover the entire war

Do you guys ever read the history of battles and wish you were part of them? Ik war is bad and shit but it's also so kino

>>24520228
get off the porn anon

>>24525507
This was omega ultra super cringe. Kinda thing you would see commented under a YouTube short clipping Peaky Blinders

>>24525577
The college I attended had good introduction to historical periods (modern history, middle ages, 1800s), so maybe look for scholars that teach at a university in your language and find the books they recommend. I don't know if any book that is good for all of history, I don't think it exist honestly, but I know that one book will never be enough and you will understand better the more knowledge you gain.

>>24525818
All the time

>>24525577
J.M. Roberts' "The History of the World" is a pretty good one-volume world history. Probably one of the few that manages to be a narrative history rather than simply a narration of facts.

What's the best history book in existence about pirates? Preferably about the golden age of piracy, I couldn't care less about modern Somali skinnies on boats.

>>24504343
Gueniffey's mogs for up to 1802. He's been working on the next volume for the last 12 years

>>24526707
A General History of Pyrates?

>>24525144
>something like Ian Tolls trilogy on the Pacific campaign
I'll read this eventually for sure, really enjoyed Six Frigates.

>>24526728
Have you read it?

>>24519975
Nobody eh?

Good read.

>>24525763
yes, don't start with the greeks. start with the romans.

I just bought a used copy of picrel and it looks like it's actually not a super long book which I appreciate. Is there anyone here who's read it who can tell me how it is?

>>24528356
pop history, read Djilas and Fitzpatrick.

>>24513173
You're next level pretentious.

>>24528356
It's over 1200 pages in fairly small print, tripfag.

>>24527921
Watching his Yale lectures on the subject as I progress with reading Thucydides.
The lectures are very good, I can imagine Kagan's writing being equally interesting. Will definitely not be reading this book, seems like an overkill at this point.

>>24528473
My copy is more like 500-600 pages.