Historical Book Recomendation Thread

I think it would be nice if we had a historical book recommendation thread, where people could suggest books of a historical nature on certain topics, and people could ask for suggestion for reading material on a certain topic.

I'll start by recommending A Short History of Canada by Morton for anybody interested in single volume history of Canada, and 1867: How the Fathers Made a Deal by Christopher Moore on Confederation. I'll ask anybody what's a good one volume history of South Africa.

suggestion: though I think this thread is a great idea, if it grows it might be worthwile to keep a survey of all books mentioned in post #1. (Listed either alphabetically, by author, or thematically.)
 
Can someone tell me a good book about the thirty years war and that time period. It is a blank spot for me.
The usually cited work on the subject is Wedgwood's The Thirty Years' War, which is still quite a good book, but it tends to emphasize the first half of the conflict a great deal. Parker and Langer have come out with more recent books, and though I've only read Parker's of those two, the scholarship seems to take into account more information and is a more balanced portrait. Wedgwood's, though, is the best read. :)
 
suggestion: though I think this thread is a great idea, if it grows it might be worthwile to keep a survey of all books mentioned in post #1. (Listed either alphabetically, by author, or thematically.)
I think that's a good idea. I'd go with thematically, especially since many books' titles don't actually give you a hint as to what they're about.
 
Babbler: THE ONUS IS ON YOU SIR. :p

I further recommend Findlay and O'Rourke's Power and Plenty as a superb history of the relationship between geopolitics and economics over the last millennium; this, combined with Kennedy's older The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers, makes an excellent primer for anybody who wishes to have more than a simplistic, pure-politics (or pure-military for that matter) understanding of history.
 
John Darwin's After Tamerlane is a good overview of world history / empires from 1400 to about the present. None of the historical events are terribly new to me (though they might be to some), but the thesis of the book is well argued (basically, that European dominance over the world was not as foreordained as some would have it).
 
I always reccomend Beevor's Stalingrad and Berlin and having just finished his Battle for Spain I can reccomend that also. Robert Kershaw's It Never Snows in September is a truly excellent view of the Market Garden campaign from the German perspective. Shelby Foote's three volume The Civil War a Narrative is a good read also although very long and he doesn't tend to list sources making it hard to check some of what he states.
 
Some of these are loosely historical:
WWI:
A Peace to End All Peace (Fromkin)
All Quiet on the Western Front (Remarque)

Israel:
Righteous Victims (Morris)

Middle East:
The Great War for Civilisation (Fisk) caveat: I wouldn't use it as a source, but it's an interesting read all the same. I just like 1st person accounts of people in the middle of history, and this is about 2000 pages of just that.

Questions:
1. There was some great book on all of history (a short history of the world, something like that) that was supposedly the general world history book. It was short, like 250 pages or so, and broad strokes sort of thing, but still quite interesting. I think it was originally written in the 70s or 80s, although it has been revised since many times. I've searched to no avail, since there are a lot of so-titled books. I got 1/3 of the way through and moved from my old library and want to finish it!

2. What's everyone's opinion on the Diamond books?
 
Lucius Flavius Arrianus, Alexander the Great. (Although written 5 centuries after his death, it uses sources now lost to us.)

J.F.C. Fuller, The generalship of Alexander the Great. (Focuses almost entirely on Alexander's military qualities. Not surprising, as the author was a major-general and the book is from Wordsworth Military Library.)

John Julius Norwich, A short history of Byzantium. (Concise version of an original 3 volume work by the same author.)

Robin Lane Fox, The Classical world. an epic history of Greece and Rome. (From Homer to Hadrian; a very good read.)

Adrian Goldsworthy, Caesar. The life of a colossus. (Excellent.)

Some of these are loosely historical:
WWI:
A Peace to End All Peace (Fromkin)
All Quiet on the Western Front (Remarque)

Israel:
Righteous Victims (Morris)

Middle East:
The Great War for Civilisation (Fisk) caveat: I wouldn't use it as a source, but it's an interesting read all the same. I just like 1st person accounts of people in the middle of history, and this is about 2000 pages of just that.

Questions:
1. There was some great book on all of history (a short history of the world, something like that) that was supposedly the general world history book. It was short, like 250 pages or so, and broad strokes sort of thing, but still quite interesting. I think it was originally written in the 70s or 80s, although it has been revised since many times. I've searched to no avail, since there are a lot of so-titled books. I got 1/3 of the way through and moved from my old library and want to finish it!

2. What's everyone's opinion on the Diamond books?

All Quiet on the Western Front: excellent description of German soldier life on the WW I Western Front.

A short history of the world: there's a fairly recent book with that title; the original book I don't know.
 
Has anyone read any of the "Idiot's Guides" to World War II, the Civil War, etc. They will never make the list of great books but they are good for a quick reference and fun to read.
 
It's a fictional story, but based in fact. There was no "Ivan Denisovich," but there were many men who led lives just like his.

On that note, I highly recommend the following books:

Children in War, P.W. Singer

The Sorrow of War, Bao Ninh

The Things They Carried, Tim O'Brien

No God But God: Egypt and the Triumph of Islam, Genieve Abdo
 
It's a fictional story, but based in fact. There was no "Ivan Denisovich," but there were many men who led lives just like his.

I read both versions and they were both pretty good (hence the "gory" content). Although Ivan Denisovich is much shorter, I think Solzhenitsyn could use more of his writing skills there, being unlimited by the necessity to just present an as accurate as possible account of events.
 
Shelby Foote's three volume The Civil War a Narrative is a good read also although very long and he doesn't tend to list sources making it hard to check some of what he states.

The reason he did that is because he wanted to make his work more like literature than like academic history. I saw a 3hr interview with him the other day online... he's a fascinating dude! I haven't read anything by him, though.
 
The reason he did that is because he wanted to make his work more like literature than like academic history. I saw a 3hr interview with him the other day online... he's a fascinating dude! I haven't read anything by him, though.

That's certainly true, and the three volumes certainly make for easier reading because of this approach. The bottom line however is that Foote quotes a lot of statistics in his book undermining his intentions to avoid making it an academic study (although in a good way since it makes for a better read).

Probably 99% of what he states in the three volumes are correct I've been told by some friends on another forum that there's 1-2 claims he makes that are considered to have been debunked, and the lack of sources in his work make it hard to investigate them. That said however they didn't feel that the mistakes were particularly glaring and like his work.

Anyway if you have the time do try and read the narrative volume. I did so by audio book but it lasted for the best part of 3 months at about 1 hour a day. If for no other reason coming from the South he makes a damn good antidote to the "Lost Cause" writers that plague the Civil War works.
 
Read the Osprey publishing versions for major war history; while being short, it is a amazing series of books, covering from the Punic Wars, to the Gulf War. The books are amazing and war strategy is deeply discussed, with pictures of regiments in line and strategic planning. Personally liked the Franco-Prussian War though.
 
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