CFC's Top Recommended Historical Works

Was talking about this with TF over in the Tavern book thread, and we've talked about it in the historical work recommended thread here as well. Let's put together a reading list of the best historical works we have read as a recommended "must-read" list. I think we should have a nomination process for each book, and then we discuss its merits and whether we agree that it should make the final cut. Thus, it would be best if multiple posters have read each book.

I'm thinking a three-tier type system here--we will have the final books that we have agreed upon, nominated books that many have read and are being actively discussed, and considered books that only one or two people have gotten around to, but might be good enough for the list. Feel free to comment on this, especially if you think I'm going overboard with it.

In the future, we could even get a mod to sticky this and keep it at the top of the W-H forum. Pretty please?



So, I'll start with books that have come up in book threads repeatedly so far (and that I have read) and nominate them for the first round:

Nominated:
The First World War by Hew Strachan
Iron Kingdom by Christopher Clark
Battlecry of Freedom by James McPherson
1491: New Revelations of America before Columbus by Charles Mann

Additionally, I'll start off with a considered book too, just to put it on the radar. I'll have to check my home library to see if there is anything else that deserves mention.

Considered:
Nature's Metropolis by William Cronon



EDIT: The second post in this thread (link) will contain a continuously-updated list of the books we recommend.

List of Recommended Historical Works

The First World War by Hew Strachan
Iron Kingdom: The Rise and Downfall of Prussia by Christopher Clark
Battlecry of Freedom by James McPherson
1491: New Revelations of America before Columbus by Charles Mann
What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848 by Daniel Howe

I tried to strip out the goofy reference and search tags from the Amazon links, let me know if the links work properly for everyone else.

What defines a history work for the sake of this thread?

It is a broad spectrum. Are we sticking to pure history books or is there wiggle-room for books such as Guns, Germs and Steel for example? (Which is a must-read IMO)

Also I think this thread would benefit by linking the books listed to their Amazon or Google Books page.

I don't know if we want to limit ourselves to exclusively surveys, either chronological or thematic, books focused on single (but still important) events, or include excellent biographies as well. I want to leave it somewhat open and hear what other people think about it.

When the list starts getting longer, we can sort it into survey works, biographies, particular time periods, or however makes it manageable. The only real strict limitations I would put here is that it must be a book or otherwise long article, nonfiction, accessible to the average person (i.e. no articles behind paywalls), and influential or otherwise a significant contribution to the historiography of that particular subject. I think the idea here is to come up with a readable, good list of books that will convert fanboys and amateur history buffs into contemplative people with as comprehensive as possible an understanding of the subject.

I don't have a problem with links--I'll put them in the official list (2nd post) when we get going.

China Marches West was tossed around here a lot, and reading it now, I believe its worth a mention.

Johnson's Kingdom of Matthias is a wonderful read. Excellent book on morality of the market revolution in the antebellum US. One of the most well-written monographs I've ever read.

1493 is equally awesome.

Scanning my shelf here, I have the following titles to add to the list. The considered list:

Nature's Metropolis by William Cronon
China Marches West by Peter Perdue
Kingdom of Matthias by Paul Johnson
1493 by Charles Mann

Scanning through my shelf, I have picked out the following titles:

On pre-Civil War American history, I'd want to know what others think about What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848 by Daniel Howe and The Impending Crisis: America Before the Civil War, 1848-1861 by David Potter. For the Lincoln Administration in particular, I found Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin fascinating. I need to wait and see on Holt's book, but it's excellent so far.

As far as biographies go, John Adams and Truman by David McCullough are solid. I know I mention this guy probably more than anyone else on the forum, though, so I'm probably a bit biased towards including his works.

The Peloponnesian War by Donald Kagan is probably one of the first serious historical works I read, although I have not gone back to it recently to see if it was the quality or nostalgia that has kept that title alive.

I remember The Inheritance of Rome: History of Europe from 400 to 1000 by Chris Wickham being dense but good.

More to come, especially following discussion.



EDIT: Well, I'm a filthy liar because I went and looked up Dachs' list from before:

Dachs said:

It'd probably look something like

Barbarian Migrations
First World War Part I
1491
China Marches West
Transformation of European Politics
Battle Cry of Freedom
Thirty Years War: Europe's Tragedy
Iron Kingdom
Power and Plenty
History of the Byzantine State and Society
Alexander to Actium

and probably some stuff to fill quota in sub-Saharan Africa, India, EEur, and the Arab World, although those regions don't have a whole lot of good magnum opus-type books around for them

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I'd like to suggest Facing East from Indian Country: A Native History of Early America by Daniel K. Richter, a history of the colonisation of Eastern North America (around 1500-1800) which attempts to centre the Indian rather than European experience. But, I think I'm the only here who's read it, and I don't really trust myself to judge these things- I simply lack the perspective to judge the merits of a book work as history, rather than just as a good or bad read- so I won't be put out of it's not added.

I respectfully ask that my suggestions not get torn to strips for being "lowbrow" as I make no claims to being anything other than an enthusiastic part time reader of history. But a good read is a good read. If, OTH, you feel these selections provide an inaccurate or poor historical account, then no worries, debate away.

Stalingrad.....Anthony Beevor (yes, that old chestnut. I finished it and straight away started again)

A Brief History of the World......Geoffrey Blainey (an Australian). Cavemen to the internet in 1000 pages. For perspective, WW2 is two or three pages.

Cavemen to the internet in 1000 pages? That sounds like a very tall order.

It's actually closer to 600 odd.

I heartily second McPherson’s “Battle Cry of Freedom” for an excellent history of the Civil War from one of the era’s most respected historians.

If the purpose of this list is to increase interest in historical non-fiction then a good WWII survey is a must. My favorite WWII history is “A World at Arms” by Gerhard Weinberg although at over 900 pages it may not be what more casual readers are interested in. A Short History of World War II by James Stokesbury however does an excellent job in under 400.

So, I haven't read any of the subsequent books since my last post, but 1889 has the right idea--I think we should discuss the titles and second/defend their inclusion before we they are added to the official list.

#rLf: I haven't read Stalingrad, but I have read The Battle for Spain by the same Antony Beevor. It's a comprehensive history of the war as well as the political situation in Spain during the lead-up to the conflict. Some of the publisher notes indicate the work incorporates more information from Russian sources than was previously available in the first edition; I don't know how that version looked but my copy did cover the Soviet motives in supporting the Republican government and the tension between the communist, anarchist, and democratic factions. I was planning to pick up Stalingrad at some point, I'll try to do so by the summer.

Another "dilemma" of sorts: I've read Evan Mawdsley's Russian Civil War and Orlando Figes' A People's Tragedy: 1891-1924. Mawdsley's work is more focused on the war itself, and while it has the advantage of brevity Figes' work is more complete. There is more material on how the monarchy ended and the lead-up to the world war, Russian peasant society and how radical thought entered it, and it covers the Kerensky period with more detail than Mawdsley. Furthermore, I think Figes' does a more complete analysis of the advantages the Bolsheviks had that lead to their victory. Anyone else familiar with these works and want to chip in?

Beevor has also written Berlin and The Second World War, both of which are good books. The chapters on Japanese atrocities in China in The Second World War are especially interesting (at least to me) because they talk about events which aren't covered by most Western historical sources when talking about WWII.

I just finished What Hath God Wrought by Howe - we discussed this book a few months ago. It was everything I expected from a Pulitzer prize winner. Most highly recommended.

Team of Rivals by Presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin is also excellent, as is James McPherson's Battlecry of Freedom and David McCullough's John Adams.

Kagan's The Peloponnesian War was just Very Good, and probably doesn't belong on anybody's essential reading list.

So how are we voting on these?

Was it you I was talking with about WHGW? I remember discussing it in one of the book threads around here while I was reading it, especially on railroads.

Good question on the voting process, not sure how we should handle it. I was originally thinking we would have considered books that would be seconded by other posters to be nominated for the heavy discussion and voting. I only "pre-nominated" the books that have come up time and time again when we discussed the possible titles that would go on a list like this. Not sure if that is too formal or over-the-top for the forum, feel free to post an alternative system.

In the future we could always divide up the books into two lists--the must-reads and then the very good titles that are excellent on their subject but didn't make the short list.

Back in July, you, I and Cutlass discussed WHGW as part of the Oxford History series on the Historical Book Recommendation thread. I ordered the book and found that it exceeded my expectations. I was especially impressed by the detail Howe went into on all the various topics - yet very readable.

One of us (you) should accept the nominations by pm. Posters could rate the books (that they've actually read) "A", "B" or "C";

A - Excellent. Most highly recommended. I would buy this book. 3 points

B - Very good. Worth attention. I would borrow this book. 2 points

C - Meh. It was lying around. I had to read it for school. 1 point.

As the members pm you with their book recommendations, a simple grade, and maybe a criticism or comment. You could keep an occasionally updated list on your #2 entry.

Alternately, a simple consensus list could be kept on #2, when any three or four of us agree on a goodie.

Members could continue listing their favorites and discussions continued throughout the thread.

I'll nominate Ronald Syme's The Roman Revolution, William Doyle's Oxford History of the French Revolution, and AJP Taylor's The Struggle for Mastery in Europe.

I've heard bad things on this forum about Team of Rivals - the charge was levied (by Dachs, I think; it usually is) that it was guilty of finding a thesis and adapting the evidence to fit it, and trying to make that thesis relevant to the modern world. I know I saw the first five minutes of a documentary on Spartacus which tried to do that (essentially linking the Roman campaign against him with the Allied campaign in Afghanistan) and had to turn it off; it's quite jarring done badly.

Flying Pig said:

I'll nominate... William Doyle's Oxford History of the French Revolution, .

I've heard bad things on this forum about Team of Rivals...

Click to expand...

I've been looking for a good work on the "Frev", thanks.

I personally found Team of Rivals informative, detailed and "intimate". I felt I left it with a better understanding of the interelationships and dynamics of the various personalities with each other and with the times. So much so, that in Lincoln, I could see that David Strathairn's Seward was spot on...