Books

The Histories - Herodotus (Waterfield translation)

HRE by Peter Wilson, it's a little bizarre in that it's split up by themes and only begins to explain the inner workings of the Empires bureaucracy (or lack of it) in the back third of the book. It has a shit ton of info though and pretty enjoyable.

>Beard

Is SPQR any good?

The Landmark Edition is fantastic and includes a lot of notes, maps, and appendices.

>SPQR

Not very "academic"

isn't Beard a leading academic in her field though? What would be a better book.

Aren't many saying he has some questionable views regarding how some things came to power and is downright dismissive of certain things? according to amazon and audible reviews anyway.

Any good books on the diadochi?

Pursuit of Glory goes in a little bit into the workings of the HRE bureaucracy (as well as the other main parts of Europe/Russia in that time frame) and is a really good book in general.

Anyway, what are some good books on the politics and such of the Gilded Age? Maybe some books about the west (especially settlement and development of places like the Dakotas, Wyoming, etc.) that don't go full on "IT WAS BAD MUH INJUNS".

She is, but the book is written for laymen.

What do you want? History of republic? Empire? Certain period?

Highly controversial.

It's not a banned book per se, but it is ideologically so in the eyes of greater academia. In any case, the author makes a very strong case. As such, I wouldn't be surprised if subsequent posters immediately tried to discourage user from reading it.

Is Rubicon a good book on Rome?

>Rubicon
it's good
remember it's pop-history

Not good enough for a true Veeky Forumstorian, but for the average pleb yeah.

I was hoping that someone on Veeky Forums might be able to point me in the direction of a good book on Otto Von Bismarck

I'll probably just stick with SPQR for now as it'll be my first book on Rome but I'd like a good book about the crisis of the third century through the fall of rome.

Read the Alexiad. Medieval Rome was way more interesting than ancient Rome

honestly american history books in general are biased as fuck.

From reading reviews on Amazon the biggest problem (since it shows up in a lot of reviews) is that she spends more time telling you that we don't actually know things/that stuff is highly questionable/etc. than she does actually telling you about Roman history. One of the reviews mentions her talking about Marius' reforms, Sulla's purges but never talking about them being on opposite sides of a civil war.

So maybe she's knowledgable but apparently she's a terrible writer who can't properly convey that knowledge either.

I know, that's why it's so hard to find anything. It's why Empire of Liberty is the best overview book I've read since it's a fairly neutral look at the time period it covers and it's able to mention shitty things that happened (like treatment of injuns) but not in a moralizing manner (i.e. when he talks about the slaughter the injuns performed on some soldiers during a small war; like mutilating them and then leaving them around as a message).

I can't read What Hath God Wrought? because it's a lot of screaming about how Andrew Jackson was an evil man, how JQA was a saint and how everything would've been better if the Whigs were in charge. I mean I don't even like Jackson but I found it to be too much. It just seems that American history, moreso than European history even, is just a tool for the left and the right to scream about how much American sucks vs. how it's the greatest nation God Almighty ever conceived with no middle ground.

Is Will Durant's the story of civilization good?

there's nothing worse than whig fanboys.

>"making America a coast to coast nation was a terrible idea!"

Then what's the best book on Caesar?

Nothing?

Adrian Goldsworthy has an excellent book on exactly that subject.

Is Hacking, like, the only one allowed to write the intros to non-foundationalist and other 'post-modern' philosophy of science lit?

Once again, Adrian Goldsworthy has an outstanding bio of Julius Caesar.

But the 19th century writer Theodore Ayrault Dodge wrote a great military bio.

To add, if anyone has any other recos on the philosophy of history and/or books on methodology I'd love to have 'em.

Any recommendations for learning about Roman culture, culture such as the general doings of the population?

Is there anything about the Reconquista as a whole? Not just about a single country and preferably detailed regarding important people of the time.

Yes, this is a great book for that sort of thing

Also watch HBO's "Rome" production, it gives a great look at the daily activities and beliefs of plebs, patricians and criminals

Thank you very much, sounds exactly like what I was looking for.

Thanks user

Is this book worth reading?

I never read your book, but on the same subject A History of Venice by JJ Norwich is pretty top tier.

I have it and I love it. It's pop history but Crowley's a really good, engaging writer and the book's not overly long. I'd recommend reading it in conjunction with John Julius Norwich's Venice book as well as, IMO, they work as companion pieces.

Norwich's book focuses largely on the city itself and its dealings on the Italian Peninsula and not much attention is paid to its overseas territory. Crowley's book focuses mainly on the overseas territories and naval conflicts so you get a lot on the rebellions in Crete, Venice's dealings in the Crimea/around the Black Sea, etc. that you don't get in Norwich's book. The book stops around the early 1500s so no Lepanto but Crowley's other book, Empires of the Sea, covers Lepanto as well as the Siege of Malta.

>mfw someone finally posts real history books on Veeky Forums

Thanks, mate. I went out and bought it. I'm really enjoying it so far.

for Rome you should always start with Mommsen.

what Persian empire do you mean?

I enjoyed his biography by Christoph Nonn but dunno if it's available in english,

I am desperately looking for a book about the early spanish conquest of the americas.
Can anybody help me out?

>for Rome you should always start with Mommsen.

Very outdated

Cortés, Hernán. Letters – available as Letters from Mexico translated by Anthony Pagden (1986) ISBN 0-300-09094-3

de Fuentes, Patricia, ed. The Conquistadors: First-Person Accounts of the Conquest of Mexico. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press 1993

Bernal Díaz del Castillo, The Conquest of New Spain – available as The Discovery and Conquest of Mexico: 1517-1521 ISBN 0-306-81319-X

León-Portilla, Miguel (Ed.) (1992) [1959]. The Broken Spears: The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico. Ángel María Garibay K. (Nahuatl-Spanish trans.), Lysander Kemp (Spanish-English trans.), Alberto Beltran (illus.) (Expanded and updated ed.). Boston: Beacon Press. ISBN 0-8070-5501-8.

Anyone know some good books on the medieval French kingdom?

>trusting women with history

I just finished Crowley's "Empires of the Sea", which was a fun and fast read for a plebian like me. I'll read "City of Fortune" next, but what I'd really like is a pleb-tier pop history of the rise and fall of the mongolian empire. Any suggestions, anyone?

Looking for some books on post-independence latin american countries; More specifically, about Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Argentina and Venezuela. Peferably in spanish and by someone from that country.

>Medieval Rome was way more interesting than ancient Rome

Medieval Rome was the papacy and the HRE

Anyone got a good recommendation for the 30 Years War?

Catholic Genocide best three decades of my life.

Alternatively books on the Dutch colonial empire?

All of that guy's Rome books are fantastic reads.

Byzaboo account of the 4th Crusade. The reason I loved it (apart from the fact that I'm a byzaboo) is that a large part of it are excerpts from the diaries/chronicles of people (from both sides) who actually fought in it.

Got this today. Is it good, Veeky Forums?

are you fucking kidding, of course it is

Crowley's book on the fall of Constantinople is a fantastic read. Sure it might not be the most detailed, but it alternates between Byzantine and Ottoman viewpoints. Guy's a great, engaging writer but like the other user said it's pretty pop tier (not that that's a bad thing)

>Anyone got a good recommendation for the 30 Years War?

Europe's Tragedy by Peter H Wilson, it's a door stopper though

I recommend "Bismarck and the German Empire" by Erich Eyck. It's written by a german born while Bismarck was still alive and shortly before the empire formed (author born in 1874 I think) and it's an alright biography, though a bit dry sometimes. I found an english translation on Amazon. Here's the link amazon.com/Bismarck-German-Empire-Erich-Eyck/dp/0393002357/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1470018742&sr=8-1&keywords=bismarck and the german empire

for those like me who are just starting studying on their own, are pop history books like crowley's a good starting point?

Great place to start. Go with the pop history for broad overview and then start delving into certain aspects that you want to learn more about.

Bumping this

I was reading The Price of Glory Verdun by Alistair Horne and it was great, are there any good books on the First Battle of the Marne?

Bump

Are there any good books about industrialization? Specifically periods of massive industrialization, like Meiji Japan, or the USA after the ACW

SPQR is a history and analysis of the historicity of the Roman Republic through Empire, it claims nothing else, and does it's job very well.

If you want a Roman history book then go online and pick from one of the dozen iterations

How do I into Kant/Hegel? I'd like to know their basics before I read Nietzsche and Marx.

plato.stanford.edu/entries/kant/

plato.stanford.edu/entries/hegel/

Any good books on the city of Rome in the period between 550-1100? What it was like right after the collapse?

...

12 Ceasers

be more specific user, the middle ages is a long ass period

Should i bother reading Altas Shrugged, or as it a meme read?

Jacques Le Goff

I'm looking more for a general history of the kingdom of France during the middle ages. Something that explains its origins with west Francia and that goes up to the end of the hundred years war. Or at least something similar.

>kingdom of France

France in the Middle Ages 987-1460: From Hugh Capet to Joan of Arc - Duby

Its a meme, but still worth reading just because of its influence

what is the best book on the Vietnam war?

amazon.com/Vietnam-History-Stanley-Karnow/dp/0140265473

I believe this is the standard history

How's this book and the series

gimmie a book that goes through all of the roman empire

What's the Mommsen for ancient Greece?

Anything on the Habsburgs? Preferably chronicling their rise to power to their fall

any good books on the general history of China?

keeping this thread bumped. for those of you who haven't had you're requests responded to try these annotated bibliographies. I saw several which corresponded to the topics asked for on this thread.

pastebin.com/u/jonstond2#

Caesar's Commentaries just came in the mail. How is it? I've heard that it's mostly Caesar writing about logistics.

I've been looking for some books on the reconquestia, any recommendations?

Anyone know any good books about the Phoenicians? Canaanites and the later inhabitants of Lebanon, not Carthaginians.

I love it, but here are some Pro Tips on reading the Gallic Commentaries:
- Corn = a bushel of grain, not maize
- Treat it as propaganda pieces written to glorify the actions of Caesar as an individual and the legion as a whole (rather than the individual soldiers, beyond a few notable exceptions)
- It's handy to have a map available that lists the events.
-There are no magic potions
-Prepare to hear mainly about maintaining an army rather than set piece battle after battle
-1000 DAYS OF THANKSGIVING LMAO

>Prepare to hear mainly about maintaining an army
That's the bit I want. I can read about battles elsewhere, but i can only get first hand accounts of how Caesar got to those battles in this book.

I just recently read Embracing Defeat, a book about Post-war Japan. It does a pretty good job of illustrating a part of history that gets glossed over in most western history classes but explains a lot about Japan today.

mcadams.posc.mu.edu/txt/ah/Caesar/

Would this happen to be the same thing?

Gibbon

Yeah. I just bought the Gallic Wars though.

The Hellenistic Age by Peter Green.

JB Bury

archive.org/details/AHistoryOfGreeceToTheDeathOfAlexanderTheGreat

Any books about tactician. military strategy.
I love reading in to commanders train of thoughts