Bookclub Wednesday!
Hello all people,
Welcome to our weekly ebook advice thread!
We’ve got discovered that lots of people come to this sub to ask for books about historical past or sources on sure matters. Others make posts a few ebook they themselves have learn and need to share their ideas about it with the remainder of the sub.
We thought it could be a good suggestion to attempt to bundle these posts collectively a bit. One massive weekly publish the place all people can ask for books or (re)sources on any historic topic or timeperiod, or to share books they not too long ago found or learn. Giving opinions or asking about their factuality is inspired!
In fact it’s not restricted to *simply* books; podcasts, movies, and many others. are additionally welcome. As a reminder, [r/history](https://www.reddit.com/r/historical past/) additionally has a really helpful checklist of issues to [read, listen to or watch]([https://www.reddit.com/r/history/wiki/recommendedlist](https://www.reddit.com/r/historical past/wiki/recommendedlist))
Comments ( 22 )
I recently started a book on the Korean War written by Hampton Sides called “On Desperate Ground.” There’s a reason why this author has won many writing awards and it’s definitely apparent in this book. It’s so well written that I actually can visualize watching the events unfold in-person.
I’m only about a quarter of the way through the book but I’d recommend it to anyone interested in this “forgotten war.”
Is it me or does nothing coming up on the recommended list?
The Great Sea: A Human History of the Mediterranean. This book was different than most of the history books I read. It focuses on use of the Mediterranean rather than a specific country or culture. I enjoyed it and it gave me some insights into the Crusades and the impact of the plague that I hadn’t gotten from other books. It also added a few “learn more about this” topics to my list, which for me is the sign of a good history. So if anyone has recommendations for learning about the Phoenicians please list them. This book raised my curiosity on how they established trade routes that were not duplicated for 1,500 years.
Some great reads pertaining to Band of Brothers would be Hang Tough by Jared Fredrick. This goes through all the letters Dick Winters wrote to his pen pal back in the states during the war. Also another great one would be Fierce Valor by Jared Fredrick. Goes into depth of Captain Speirs as a person with 1st hand information from people that knew him.
If you love Band of Brothers these are awesome reads!
The new podcast ‘Empire’ hosted by William Dalymple and Anita Anand is excellent. It is an in depth narrative account of the history of the British Empire with plenty of context.
3 episodes released so far on the British East India company and Indian resistance against it.
Obviously, one of the greatest history books I’ve ever read is *Abraham in History and Tradition* by John Van Seters (1975). It discusses Abraham from Holy Scripture both from the point of view of history, i.e. archeology; and tradition, i.e. how the tradition of Abraham developed in the Book of Genesis, where certain layers are, according to Van Seters, identifiable as earlier and some as later (in certain cases quite late) based mainly on textual criticism.
Anyone who is even marginally interested in history should give it a read.
disclaimer: Personally, I do consider myself a man of faith and while I can see how this book would be troublesome for some believers, it only brought me closer to Scripture. However, if you are a fundamentalist, you might want to steer clear of this one.
That Dark and Bloody River by Allan W. Ekert.
It’s about the bloody fights between the white settlers and army vs the Shawnee, Delaware & other natives. It’s a heavy but good read, he did his research.
EDIT:
I’m adding another one by him, “A Sorrow In Our Heart: The Life and Times of Tecumseh”
Any good books or other media about the Mexican Revolution in the context of WWI? Maybe touching on events like the Zimmermann telegram, La Decena Trágica, Poncho Villa, and Battle of Veracruz.
There are two I read recently and enjoyed. I’m not good at writing reviews so I’ll just say “The Black Prince” by Michael Jones. He does a great job of showing how chivalry actually worked and also telling the history of arguably one of England’s most interesting noble houses.
Also, “The Maid” by Kimberly Cutter. A very accessible book about Joan of Arc. I really enjoyed it.
I asked this a few weeks ago, but I didn’t get many responses. Does anyone know a good book covering the history of the Republic of Venice? I tried one called A New History of Venice, or something to yhat effect, but once it got to the Crusades it was all ‘Deus Vult,’ making very little distinction between different factions.
Just finished **Kaiser Wilhelm II: A Life in Power, by Christopher Clark**. Review is copied and pasted from Goodreads but it is my immediate thoughts/review.
>4/5
>The book isn’t really a biography, it focuses specifically on the theme of power. Where Kaiser Wilhelm II had influence and the power to make decisions and where he didn’t, for a variety of reasons, lacked real power. Clark pretty strongly argues that for a mix of reasons that Wilhelm didn’t really have much power, especially after 1900, or that much influence over events. The basic narrative is of the Kaiser having some influence over domestic policy and an ambition to change it in the 1890s as he could manipulate the chancellors of the period fairly well, but after Bulow became chancellor Wilhelm’s domestic policy influence collapsed. In foreign policy Clark basically says the Kaiser had very little influence because his advisors effectively ‘managed’ him, sometimes even witholding information from him, and also because Wilhelm couldn’t commit to anything, one week he hated the Tsar next week he loved the Tsar (also that the dynastic connections didn’t mean that much so that area didn’t really matter). There was sort of a revival of the Kaiser’s power in the first half of the First World War, in particular his ability to appoint key officials kept Falkenhayn in the job as Chief of the German General Staff for quite a while despite him having lots of rivals. And in the Kaiser’s opposition to unrestricted submarine warfare which delayed its implementation to early 1917 rather than 1916 despite public and military opinion. But that’s before his final loss of power to Hindenburg and Ludendorff.
>A big theme is that in theory Wilhelm had a lot of power, but he failed to use it effectively. He could appoint key figures like chancellors, but once they were in office they went in their own direction. He had the potential to influence foreign policy, but couldn’t commit to anything. He had the potential to positively influence public opinion but couldnt control how he was depicted (which Clark attributes to there being so many distinct groups, parties, regions etc in Imperial Germany that anything the Kaiser said could be interpreted in dozens of ways).
>There is also quite a bit on the historiographic side of things, the views of various other historians and whether Clark agrees with them or not.
>Overall if you have any interest in pre-World War One Europe or in Imperial Germany I’d say it’s worth a read. Because it is not a biography I’d say a little bit of knowledge of the time period or of Imperial Germany in general would be a help but not essential.
I’m open to more suggestions for books (podcasts or youtube channels are fine as well) about Imperial Germany but NOT Blood and Iron by Katja Hoyer because I’ve already read it (and it is very good).
Anyway next up is **Afgantsy: The Russians in Afghanistan 1979-1989 by Rodric Braithwaite**. Very recent topic compared to most books I read. Also the first book I’ve read about either Afghanistan or the Soviet-Afghan war.
Dr E k. Victor pearce Archaeology evidence for truth
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Good books on Weimar Germany? A mix of social life, the arts, and politics (such as Blutmai, Spartakusbund, Beer Hall Putsch, etc) would be interesting
What are some good books about the American Civil War?
I’ve been reading through the Oxford History of the United States series. Currently nearing the end of Battle Cry of Freedom. Pretty soon I’m going to reach the gap of the not-yet-released volume covering 1896-1929. Can anyone recommend a decent book covering a similar period of US history so I don’t have a big gap in the narrative before jumping to Freedom From Fear?
Are there any recommendations for books about women rulers. I have one on Catherine the Great, but I would like to know about other woman leaders who shaped history before the 1900s
This may not be the right place, but its as good a place as any to start. I’m looking for a book I read in school. A couple British kids decided to use some ruins as a “fort” to help defend Britain. After a German bomber got shot down they managed to snag one of the turret machine guns before the authorities arrived. They somehow found/captured one of the Germans from the plane and made him fix the gun up for them in exchange for a boat back across the channel. That’s about all I can remember of it, I’ve tried to Google it but I can’t seem to find the book name. Pretty sure it’s a fictional story, and I’m thinking the boat had something to do with the title but not sure. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks.
Can someone recommend a picture history book that isn’t large
Hello! I’m quite interested in reading some books about Martin Luther king and the civil rights movement in general. I like a lot of people have been meaning to get back into reading like when I was younger and so I thought I might as well educate myself while I’m at it.
I started reading Hobbsbawm’s “The Age of Revolutions” – so densely packed – any supporting reading to do in parallel ? Thanks !
Hi, tall order but I’m looking for a book that covers the last 1000-2000 years, and has very short lists of major events that happened yearly, by decade, or worse by century.
Does such a book exist?
It’s to use with a game where you imagine you’re living over long periods of time and have to construct stories. But I’ll go crazy not knowing what was ummm going on in each decade.