Hygro
soundcloud.com/hygro/
It's on my list. If you read it, let us know.
It's on my list. If you read it, let us know.
Traitorfish
The Tighnahulish Kid
I've read Debt. It's good, but a bit directionless. Graeber has a number of strong ideas, but they don't really tie together into a coherent thesis. Worth reading as an overview of the subject, I think, if mebbe not so much as a polemic.
It's on my Amazon 'wish list', which I'm keeping an eye on to see if it drops into an affordable price - unfortunately, it's one of the most expensive items on there, but I'll certainly get it if I see it in a charity shop or being reduced.
Considering it, but I'm scared it will make me a communist.
I'm currently reading it. It is not as bad as looked from the excerpts and first chapters. But his many examples from history are nice read but are not persuasive and goes nowhere, his main thesis that debt is older than money is totally acceptable in economic theory for quite time as he himself admit in second or so chapter, and he succumbs to some logical lapses as he piles and piles another story on top of another.
ParkCungHee
Deity
- Joined
- Aug 13, 2006
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Can anyone recommend a thing on the Congo Wars/Great Lakes Wars?
Ajidica
High Quality Person
- Joined
- Nov 29, 2006
- Messages
- 22,482
Yes.
Martin Meredith's State of Africa in the later chapters if you are relatively unfamiliar with the Great Lakes Wars. (I believe it was reprinted as The Fate of Africa, not sure on the differences between the two and honestly cannot remember which version I read.) The book covers basically the entirety of Africa from 1950 to roughly 2005, so it is quite a large book.
http://www.amazon.com/Fate-Africa-H...id=1421086814&sr=1-3&keywords=martin+meredith
http://www.amazon.com/State-Africa-...id=1421086814&sr=1-4&keywords=martin+meredith
If you are more familiar with it, Gerard Prunier's Africa's World War: Congo, the Rwandan Genocide, and the Making of a Continental Catastrophe. It is probably THE book on the subject, but is an absolute doorstop of a book and given the detail he goes into, it can get very confusing very quickly with all of the different guerilla groups, political parties, armed wings of political parties, leaders, and so on. Plus, as it was originally written in French the writing can be a bit choppy, which isn't helped by Prunier's occasional tendency to hop around between topics. (That hopping around more or less unavoidable given the scale of this conflict though.)
http://www.amazon.com/Africas-World...d_sim_b_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=0G0R0K4E6Y3H15Q1SP8H
I haven't read it, but I've heard good things about Jason Stearn's Dancing in the Glory of Monsters: The Collapse of the Congo and the Great War of Africa. From what I can tell from the reviews, he is a bit more focused on what happened inside the Congo and personal experiences, while Prunier tries to put the conflict in context of Africa's post-independence history and takes a more international view.
http://www.amazon.com/Dancing-Glory...d_sim_b_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=1KHJDPGKJM6VZV8CGME1
Lastly, Romeo Dallaire's Shake Hands with the Devil, the autobiography of the UNAMIR Force Commander during the Rwandan Genocide. While not strictly about the Congo Wars, it is still a fascinating read while offering numerous insights on UN Peacekeeping operations.
http://www.amazon.com/Shake-Hands-D...21&sr=1-1&keywords=shake+hands+with+the+devil
Hope that helps.
ParkCungHee
Deity
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That helps tremendously.
JohannaK
Heroically Clueless
I have an enquiry. Anybody has recommendations on early 20th Century China? People, parties and factions within and without the Republic are my main interest. Thanks in advance.
JohannaK
Heroically Clueless
Yes, at first sight there are three of four books I would be interested in reading thoroughly, while the Cambridge publications can probably give a good overview. Thanks.
Domen
Misico dux Vandalorum
Not really books, but great collection of historical sources:
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/default.asp
Including several Medieval chronicles.
I was reminded that there was a discussion of that book in this other thread starting with this post if you'd like to look at that.
Hygro
soundcloud.com/hygro/
Honestly we the economics nerds need to read that book. I'll get it from a library when I can.
I recently read Halsall's Barbarian migrations and the Roman West, 376-568 and I liked it. I realized that there was a huge gap in my historical knowledge between early Rome and the 80 years war. Now, the 300-500 era is slightly covered. Does anyone have a recommendation about 500-1400 (continental) Europe?
The series is about 40 years old now, but Longman Books published a dozen or so books under the "A General History of Europe" strand, with titles such as Europe in the Central Middle Ages 962 - 1154 and Europe in the High Middle Ages 1150 - 1309.
Louis XXIV
Le Roi Soleil
Making of the Middle Ages by R.W. Southern remains the gold standard for 11th Century Europe when studied holistically (political, economic, social, cultural history). It's short and readable, but it doesn't hold your hand.
Jan H
Prince
I don't know how good your Dutch is, but I enoyed this book a lot:
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20321577-twee-steden
"Two cities - Rise of Constantinopel, Fall of Rome (330-608)" by Fik Meijer
As far as I can tell, it hasn't been translated to English yet...
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20321577-twee-steden
"Two cities - Rise of Constantinopel, Fall of Rome (330-608)" by Fik Meijer
As far as I can tell, it hasn't been translated to English yet...
I'm reading it now, I'm liking it but it is looking a bit old in certain places.
R.W. Southern said:
Louis XXIV
Le Roi Soleil
Yeah, it's important to understand when it was written. And to understand Latin, yeah, definitely understand Latin (OK, maybe not, but I seem to recall a passage in Latin that he just writes without bothering to translate it as if everyone speaks Latin).
I don't agree with everything in the book. There's one point where he casually refers to something as feudalism where I imagine, had the book been written twenty years later, he would have put more thought into it. But it isn't crucial to any of the points he was making. Overall, he had such a vivid imagination that allowed him to picture the world of the time and express it clearly. It really gave a clear sense of what the world was like back then and why that matters.
I don't agree with everything in the book. There's one point where he casually refers to something as feudalism where I imagine, had the book been written twenty years later, he would have put more thought into it. But it isn't crucial to any of the points he was making. Overall, he had such a vivid imagination that allowed him to picture the world of the time and express it clearly. It really gave a clear sense of what the world was like back then and why that matters.
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