Historical Book Recomendation Thread

[holy king]

cool, thanks.

 

[Smellincoffee]

Lately I've been fascinated by pre-automobile transportation, specifically railroads, trolleys, rivers, and canals. I've been been doing some digging and have found a few interesting titles (Blood, Iron, and Gold: How the Railroads Transformed the World; The Artificial River: the Erie Canal and the Paradox of Progress), but they're only a start. Can anyone recommend any titles in this vein? I'm especially interested in reading how these forms of transportation influenced urbanism and their role in people's lives; social history, I suppose.

 

[Phrossack]

Anything good out there on the Russo-Japanese war out there? Hearing about Mukden piqued my interest.

 

[Dachs]

Anything good out there on the Russo-Japanese war out there? Hearing about Mukden piqued my interest.

I wasn't a fan of the recent Rising Sun, Stumbling Bear. It's just serviceable.

 

[Antilogic]

Know of anything better? Citino devoted more than a few pages towards what was "learned" (and I use that term loosely) from the Russo-Japanese War leading into WW1, but there's not a lot of detail on the campaigns.

 

[ParkCungHee]

I was going to recommend Soldiers of the Sun, but if you're interested in campaign histories more, I wouldn't recommend that.

 

[Dachs]

I was going to recommend Soldiers of the Sun, but if you're interested in campaign histories more, I wouldn't recommend that.

It's also rather sparse on that particular war anyway.

 

[Antilogic]

Heh, was reading the reviews on random books on this subject, came across a book on the Japanese Navy during the Meiji period until WW2. The price tag is utterly ridiculous, with a new copy costing something like $1,800 and the used copies range from $188 to $4,000!

 

[ParkCungHee]

It's also rather sparse on that particular war anyway.

Eh in my experience, a sparse good book is far better then a dense mediocre one.

 

[Dachs]

Eh in my experience, a sparse good book is far better then a dense mediocre one.

I guess it can be. Still, I was somewhat disappointed with the treatment. Soldiers of the Sun did pretty much entirely skip over the actual campaigning in Liaodong, and relegated the major Russian counteroffensive that led to the Battle of Shaho to a single vague sentence.

 

[ParkCungHee]

I guess it can be. Still, I was somewhat disappointed with the treatment. Soldiers of the Sun did pretty much entirely skip over the actual campaigning in Liaodong, and relegated the major Russian counteroffensive that led to the Battle of Shaho to a single vague sentence.

Well yeah, like I said, if you're interested in the actual military campaigns, it's not just sparse, it's nearly useless.
Coverage of the Russo-Japanese war in general was a little thin, but I'd still recommend it in terms of the outbreak of war, the treaty settlement, etc. etc.
As a political history, it's still good, but sparse.
As a military history, well...it's not even there.

 

[Bowsling]

Anyone have any recommendations for Prussian administration and industrialization 1815-1867?

 

[fengzi597]

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.

'from forth the day' is a fantastic history book.highly recommended!!

 

[Antilogic]

'from forth the day' is a fantastic history book.highly recommended!!

Welcome to the history book corner!

What's the author on that book? I searched Amazon and this one came up.

 

[Bowsling]

Stolen Continents by Ronald Wright is an excellent book. Gives a whole new perspective on American (the hemisphere, not the USA) history. It would be especially nice if the europa Universalis development team would read it.

 

[Traitorfish]

Are there any good general books on Polynesian and/or Melanesian history? I've been reading a little anthropological stuff that deals with the region, and I'd like to learn a bit more about it.

 

[JohannaK]

I dunno if someone already said it, but the Peloponnesian War books by Donald Kagan are great.

 

[Antilogic]

I dunno if someone already said it, but the Peloponnesian War books by Donald Kagan are great.

I've read the one-volume compilation by him, it's excellent. One of the first serious history books I read when I started getting into this nearly a decade ago.

 

[SeekTruthFromFacts]

Anything good out there on the Russo-Japanese war out there? Hearing about Mukden piqued my interest.

Sir Ian Hamilton was a British military observer on the Japanese side, and you can read his (extensive comments) as a free e-book if you'd like a primary source.

 

[Zulu Impi]

Here's a question for the fellow WH readers: I want a good overview of Mexico in the 19th and early 20th centuries (say, up to WW1). Needs to cover the politics, the coups, the big names like Antonio López and Porfiro Díaz. The Mexican-American War from the opposite perspective would also be a plus.

Any ideas?

Well this is a bit specific, but I remember Santa Anna of Mexico by Will Fowler giving a strong overview of at least 19th C. Mexico. It is also a pretty good read.
Edit: seeing as this is the historical book recommendation thread The Campaigns of Napoleon by David Chandler is an excellent review of his strategies and tactics though a bit long(1100 pages).