Recommend me a good history book...

We also saw the sea sucked away and apparently forced back by the earthquake: at any
rate it receded from the shore so that quantities of sea creatures were left stranded on dry
sand. On the landward side a fearful black cloud was rent by forked and quivering bursts of
flame, and parted to reveal great tongues of fire, like flashes of lightning magnified in size. .
. . We had scarcely sat down to rest when darkness fell, not the dark of a moonless or
cloudy night, but as if the lamp had been put out in a closed room. You could hear the
shrieks of women, the wailing of infants, and the shouting of men; some were calling their
parents, others their children or their wives, trying to recognize them by their voices.
People bewailed their own fate or that of their relatives, and there were some who prayed
for death in their terror of dying. (pp. 443, 445)

Herodutus may have been a better story teller than he was an historian, but the histories is a great read.

Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War is a fascinating account of both what happened and equally importantly why the Peloponnesian War was fought by a first hand participant.

Finally before I travelled in the Middle East I sat down and read Jospehus's The Jewish War, which again is a eye witness account of the Jewish revolt against Rome and its supression by Vespasian and Titus.

Hope this helps

I don't so much care if the history is 100% accurate -- I plan on giving Herodutus a go at some point.

I am, as mentioned, not quite so interested in histories of war.

Avoiding the fighting makes it difficult because lots of the history at this point revolved around military campaigns conquest etc.

Definitely try Herodutus, although his central tale is the Persian War, some of his digressions (and he has many) are very entertaining and not related directly to warfare.

Another good Roman read, I think, is the Catalinian Conspiracy by Sallust - plus you don't have to read all of Cicero's blatherings all the way through - you essentially get the good bits and the meanings behind it (much more important).

As for Chinese Historian - try the Records of the Grand Historian, or something to that effect. Written by Sima...someone. (I'm too lazy to check Amazon, but you'll know it when you see it.)

this is possibly the best book ever written. The events it covers are fascinating, as is his commentary on it.

Suetonius' "Lives of the Caesars" is an enjoyably gossipy account of the lives of the first Roman emperors.

Not exactly history, but Confessions of St. Augustine is good stuff (though I've not read that much of it)

I think we should have a separate thread about Amin Maalouf.

Caesar's "Gallic Wars" is a good one. It was written more or less simultanaeously with the events it describes, to make Caesar look good to the folks back home while he charged around bashing barbarians.

Recommend me a good history book please. However as opposed to the original post I would prefer something written relatively recently that is entertaining and fascinating. Any period/topic is fine.

I have been reading these:
http://www.susanwisebauer.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/9780393059748_3001.jpghttp://www.susanwisebauer.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/9780393059755_300.jpghttp://images.amazon.com/images/P/0375422226.jpg

please

Do like this

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_jdJctIMGZmo/SaydA-MI-OI/AAAAAAAAAM0/YbFTiB3DWls/s400/Cohn-Pursuit.jpg

Full title: The Pursuit of the Millennium: Revolutionary Millenarians and Mystical Anarchists of the Middle Ages

JR Hale's Civilisation of Europe in the Renaissance would fill in some gaps between the books up there.

http://img517.imageshack.us/img517/3742/historym.jpg

Three I have enjoyed: (l-r) World War II, Cold War, Dutch Manhattan

John Keegan's History of Warfare is good. It's like reading a game of Civilization II.

Look no farther than the ILX BOOKS OF THE 00s thread, which has several.

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Books/Pix/covers/2008/09/25/slaveship.jpg

The Slave Ship: A Human History, by Marcus Rediker

I don't know if you'd be able to say this one is 'entertaining', because a lot of the material is really grim, but it's definitely interesting.

And if that sounds a bit too heavy, Nature's Metropolis by William Cronon is a good one (although the chapter about grain futures might induce sleep). It ties in the development of Chicago with the western states and looks at the commodification of nature/products with the development of the country. It sounds boring (and I was really expecting it to be) but it's one of the most interesting history books I've read.

http://ucla.collegepostings.com/photos/0393308731-Natures-Metropolis-Chicago-and-the-Great-West-p4724_t.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/98/Postwar_book_tony_judt.jpg/300px-Postwar_book_tony_judt.jpg

Keith Thomas - Religion and the Decline of Magic. From 1971 but it is wonderfully written, and a fascinating topic.

The Cold War - John Lewis Gaddis

my son is reading this - parts of it anyway - for his 8th grade history class.

Keith Thomas - Religion and the Decline of Magic.

I've got this vague intention of reading his new book, The Ends of Life, but will wait for a library copy I guess.

Also like the look of Europe's Tragedy by Peter H Wilson, about the 30 Years' War & The Inheritance of Rome by Chris Wickham, which covers the Dark Ages.

Started but didn't finish The Inheritance of Rome. That was my fault, not the book's; it's a winner imo.

diarmaid macculloch's 'a history of christianity: the first three thousand years' is really well-written and fascinating-- but also (unsurprisingly) offputtingly long.

Yeah, his Reformation: Europe's House Divided is really good, serious, interesting and well-written but also very long - I've read a chunk but am dodging the whole thing (think I said on another thread that I might just keep it for reference).

Am bad about finishing history books, tbh, especially out of the period where I feel like I'm on my feet (c. 1600-1740); suspect I'd go same way as Noodle if I start The Inheritance of Rome, but do want to give it a go.

Really well-written in fact. He's a very engaging writer.

http://www.freedomlab.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/5112VH6VC4L.jpg

i would like to point out that i have read this book in its entirety. not necessarily a huge recommendation but it's informative and has a strong central theme at least.

really though,

http://bluespriite.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/book-cover_bb.jpg

probably not at all what we're dealing with there but really great.

I'm not a fan of Bryson's lighter stuff, is that one different to his usual steez?

I've tried to read some of his others, and no they're not nearly as compelling, interesting or focused. It's easily the best thing he's done.

i have recommended this elsewhere but it's on my shelf and i loved it iirc
http://i39.tinypic.com/1zl7y10.jpg

I know it's not relatively recent but I just want to say Gibbon all-time #1 forever.

I love that guy, and don't regret a minute of the months it took me to plough through Decline and Fall. In fact, I'd kinda like to do it again. Macaulay too.

http://www.history.ucsb.edu/faculty/marcuse/classes/133c/133cproj/cprojimages/FunderStasilandCov.jpg

stasiland by anna funder, atmospheric dispatches about the psychological effect of state intrusion on citizens in the GDR

http://blog.mpl.org/mke_reads/assassination%2520vacation.jpg

assassination vacation by sarah vowell: explores the sites and remnants of the first three presidential assassinations, how they're presented and received now. vowell's writing is super endearing; she does that whole self-deprecating i'm-such-a-geek thing with a charm and purpose that seems absent from other nerd-esoterica-writers like rob sheffield &c.

Mentioned it on another thread, but this rocks -

http://www.bookschristian.com/images/products/9780631220794.jpg

Review here -

http://www.history.ac.uk/reviews/review/13

I want to get hold of Male Fantasies, as the link says its a study of Freikorps literature.

can anyone recommend a good book on the french revolution?

really want to read the carlyle book but i'm guessing it's good to be well-informed on all those names first.

I like William Doyle's The Oxford History of the French Revolution. It's dense, but it seemed comprehensive.

thanks! i'll check it out.

despite his subsequent ascension to television historian status, simon schama's 'citizens' is pretty grebt

Xenophon's account of his own exciting adventures is good fun (and very easy to read in Greek), although it might not count as history in the strictest sense (despite being an essentially true account of actual events).
― DV (dirtyvicar), Friday, April 30, 2004 2:50 PM (7 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Been meaning to read this for years, since hearing it was what Walter Hill's The Warriors was based on. Stilll not got around to it.

recommend me history books that are focused on how normal people lived their lives at certain times in history, not about important events that happened over a span of time

e.g. i quite enjoyed this: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15793575-the-faithful-executioner

that's a tough assignment. they tend to be written by academic types and the ones I've picked up here and there all seem to hover above the subject from too great a height. in the process they lose most of the human detail and definition that makes life come alive and become tedious reads.

I've had better success by reading books that were contemporary to the period. fiction or non-fiction works. no matter what the authors were writing about they can't help but include glimpses of the commonplace details of their era. it's taking the long way around, but the reading experience is pleasanter.

I liked The Blazing World by Jonathan Healey a lot. It is a narrative history of the English C17th (Stuarts, Civil War, Restoration, Glorious Revolution) but it's from a social history background and goes heavy on what normal people were up to, how the shit affected them, what's going on in villages way out of the way. Was v impressed at it pulling that off - readable narrative of the complicated Big Politics stitched with ground-level stuff, good local anecdote etc.

like a lot of history of the period just rolls through riots and mob action with disinterest or disdain where Healey seems on the side of - or at least very sympathetically interested in - the fucked-off & fucked-over, while being neither dry (ahem C Hill) nor digger-fixated romantic.

Peter Linebaugh and Marcus Rediker have written a lot of worthwhile history 'from below'. Linebaugh's London Hanged, Rediker's Slave Ship, and the pair's Many-Headed Hydra are all excellent. All academic but accessible.

Stasiland by Anna Funder is good for more recent history.

...And having scrolled through the thread now I can see I recommended one of these several years ago and my old pal schlump already mentioned Stasiland. Sorry for repetition!

https://www.amazon.com/Watches-Night-Nocturnal-1820-1930-Historical/dp/022626954X

https://f.media-amazon.com/images/I/71WsErSqlML._SL1280_.jpg

Before skyscrapers and streetlights glowed at all hours, American cities fell into inky blackness with each setting of the sun. But over the course of the nineteenth and early twentieth century, new technologies began to light up streets, sidewalks, buildings, and public spaces. Peter C. Baldwin’s evocative book depicts the changing experience of the urban night over this period, visiting a host of actors—scavengers, newsboys, and mashers alike—in the nocturnal city.

Baldwin examines work, crime, transportation, and leisure as he moves through the gaslight era, exploring the spread of modern police forces and the emergence of late-night entertainment, to the era of electricity, when social campaigns sought to remove women and children from public areas at night. While many people celebrated the transition from darkness to light as the arrival of twenty-four hours of daytime, Baldwin shows that certain social patterns remained, including the danger of street crime and the skewed gender profile of night work. Sweeping us from concert halls and brothels to streetcars and industrial forges, In the Watches of the Night is an illuminating study of a vital era in American urban history.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1066335.Ploesti

PVMIC, but I found this in a library once and blew through it in no time. It’s fun, not nearly as dry as yr average mil hist and the raid it covers hasn’t been beaten to death elsewhere.

Hah! When I was in high school I found a mass market paperback of that on a book carousel in the local Safeway. It was cheap. I bought it and read it. Had forgotten all about it.

Omar that looks incredible, like 'would bump straight to the top of my pile of books to read' interesting. thanks for sharing.

Damn, minimum £24 though :|

David Graeber’s The Dawn of Everything is everything I need from a history book.

https://www.akpress.org/the-dawn-of-everything.html

Was it Alfred that recommended Mark Kurlansky 1968? It was really good.

Xp - salsa shark … I missed this thread first time around so ty

NA if you don't know it Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie's Montaillou would fit your bill

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montaillou_(book)

Omar that looks incredible, like 'would bump straight to the top of my pile of books to read' interesting. thanks for sharing.

― salsa shark

yeah there's a kind of fascinating subgenre of books covering that same topic, there's another good one by A. Roger Ekirch which digs into that.

https://www.amazon.com/At-Days-Close-Night-Times/dp/0393329011

thanks for the recommendations!

seconding montaillou, fun book

Ok, so this is super specific, but: anyone know of a good book about the Italian community in the UK? Such a huge part of the 50's and 60's judging by pop culture, nowafaict assimilated to the point of not being noticeable.