Book Recomendations

Can anyone recommend some good shit on the Vietnam War? Not ground perspectives but more overall stuff like strategy, special operations, the reasons the US came and went, and so on.

Thanks user!

Mary Beard can fuck right off

>gibbon

incoming butthurt byzzieboos

Anything good regarding some of the other non-Prussia German states like Bavaria and Saxony? A general history, not just a biography or something.

Bump

Stalingrad by Antony Beevor

mega.nz/#F!o9BjCTrb!fT_8_xiavKWYz0xERhygDg

>reading a book about the worst part of the roman empire

Even Byzantium is cooler than the Roman Empire.

Mary Beard is awful I'm sorry user. Gibbon would be a much better read even if he fedoratips a bit much.

Also to add onto this, I'd recommend reading "The History of the Byzantine Empire" by C.W. Oman. It's from the late 1800s and does a pretty good job at summarizing battles and development of the east. The chapters on Justinian are phenomenally well-written.

Gibbon might've been a better writer but literally all of his suppositions are wrong and his reasoning is entirely based on his own emotion.

Also the dumb fuck believed everything Vegetius wrote.

Oh I'm aware, it is a historically relevant book with plenty of flaws however but the series would be a much more prestigious read than a modern history book by Mary Beard for example. The reader just has to be skeptical of everything Gibbon says which can't be considered factual. Sadly too many people approach history as a hard science rather than a certain level of truth marred to a certain degree by biases.

There is no better history of philosophy written in English than pic related

It's worth reading old historians like Gibbon just to understand the historiography of the period. Like you said, treat it with scepticisism and follow it up with a more modern work on Late Antquity that takes a more nuanced approach.

I would say the current theory around Late Antiquity probably goes a bit too far the other way and tries to spin it to a certain extent as a largely transitional period, there is still an argument to be made that it was a 'collapse' as was traditionally believed.

I would like tips on podcasts similar to hardcore history or audiobooks that are really comfy

She is shit
>used BCE and CE
>everytime she refers to anatolia she calls it modern turkey, or just turkey
She is a fedora tipper
Read some based Goldswater instead

>Adrian "the late roman army didn't actually exist" Goldsworthy
yeah okay bud

One of the best books I've ever read

bit late buddy.

Oh wow really got me so sorry for trying to contribute to the thread ;_;

Better than Mary 'the late roman empire didn't exist' beard

Do either of those people actually claim those things or is this Veeky Forums hyperbole

np m8, I also recommend if you're interested in the habsburg forces Richard Bassett's For God and Kaiser

It is a great narration of the entire history of the Austrian military machine and sets to debunk falsehoods and give praise to the chite-coats where history has largely ignored their plight.

Another user in another thread reccomended me the Memoirs of Captain Coignet which i stayed up to read for a large part of yesterday and want to extend the recommendation for on-the-ground accounts of that era

WINNER OF THE LOS ANGELES TIMES PRIZE FOR HISTORY

FINANCIAL TIMES AND NEW STATESMAN BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2014

On the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War, Deluge is a powerful explanation of why the war's legacy continues to shape our world - from Adam Tooze, the Wolfson Prize-winning author of The Wages of Destruction

In the depths of the Great War, with millions of dead and no imaginable end to the conflict, societies around the world began to buckle. As the cataclysmic battles continued, a new global order was being born.

Adam Tooze's panoramic new book tells a radical, new story of the struggle for global mastery from the battles of the Western Front in 1916 to the Great Depression of the 1930s. The war shook the foundations of political and economic order across Eurasia. Empires that had lasted since the Middle Ages collapsed into ruins. New nations sprang up. Strikes, street-fighting and revolution convulsed much of the world. And beneath the surface turmoil, the war set in motion a deeper and more lasting shift, a transformation that continues to shape the present day: 1916 was the year when world affairs began to revolve around the United States.

America was both a uniquely powerful global force: a force that was forward-looking, the focus of hope, money and ideas, and at the same time elusive, unpredictable and in fundamental respects unwilling to confront these unwished for responsibilities. Tooze shows how the fate of effectively the whole of civilization - the British Empire, the future of peace in Europe, the survival of the Weimar Republic, both the Russian and Chinese revolutions and stability in the Pacific - now came to revolve around this new power's fraught relationship with a shockingly changed world.

The Deluge is both a brilliantly illuminating exploration of the past and an essential history for the present.

Bassett has an obsessive hatred of Prussia and Frederick II especially in this book.

so is it shit or hwat

Sounds like an oversold piece of shit no offense, I hate reading recommendations like this

I'm very interested in Ancient Greece but i just have a bare knowledge that i got from Wikipedia's history of the world. Is pic related a good book for having a general but more wide knowledge on the topic?

>Is pic related a good book for having a general but more wide knowledge on the topic?
I don't know about that one or other general histories of Greece

Donald Kagan is a pretty cool guy though

The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman.

It talks about the outbreak and first month of the Great War

Pls respond

This book is comfy.

these bibliographies
pastebin.com/HV7tbs6A
pastebin.com/VaPbqRNw

yes, there's about a dozen or so Veeky Forums made charts floating around here

here's a zip with a few books on saladin. I can't say anything about their quality though but i think kreuz (or whatever his name is) is an authority on him.

mega.nz/#!41Y1XIiR!KkNQ-uHeyNA7-hnGZ4UySxXuW5O3Ndbh60HEJvwvT5I

Can anyone compare this one to Schama's *Citizen*?

I read that as a .pdf I got from somewhere off the internet and I thought it was pretty helpful. Had some really interesting stuff on proto-Greek stuff (Minoans/Myceneans and transition from Bronze to Iron Age).

I just read that this week, it's great.

>hiring mercenaries

Not. Even .Once.

This link doesn't work for me.

this should work i think
mega.nz/#F!o9BjCTrb

It's asking for a password.

Are there books that detail the barricade street fighting strategy and tactics during revolutions?

'Tragedy and Hope' by Quigley.

mega.nz/#F!dlZlDbqL!TXG5bGvWufONkrQAL7b7jA

now?

Halfway through this right now, can confirm massive fedora/sjw. Alternate recs for rome beginners?

If you want something on the Enlisted Infantryman's war in the Pacific, here's some essential reading

>With the Old Breed - Eugene Sledge
>Helmet for my Pillow - Robert Leckie
>Red Blood Black Sand - Chuck Tatum
>Island of the Damned - R.V Burgin

For an Officer's take on the war
>Utmost Savagery: The Three of Tarawa - Joseph H. Alexander

For the grand scheme of things
>Eagle Against the Sun - Robert Spector
>Strong Men Armed - Robert Leckie

Anyone else can recommend books on the history of Military Tactics and Strategy? Ones that provide vivid historical examples really satisfies my Autism, I remember reading an entire book about a Prussian Officer and how he revolutionized warfare in his era but I can't remember the name of it

Don't even need to buy it, you can find it online since it's open-sourced.

Also forgot to mention Voices of the Pacific by Adam Makos, great read since its just a collection of unflitered, raw interviews with the Marines who fought in the Pacific

For most of the men who were interviewed, its most likely their last words on the War having been written only 3 years ago and most of them being in the 90s now

>All the Pacific War veterans will die in our lifetime

Feels fucking bad man

...The Heavens and The Earth: A Polotical History of the Space Age

>inb4 muh post 1950's is journalism not history

McDougall is a genius storyteller with massively researched sources

Would recommend to any interested in Space history, Cold War history, Military history, Technology and Science history, etc.

Looking for books about islam's early years, both political, daily life and warfare.

Help this apostate out?

Anything on the Pacific naval war?

...

Would this apply to Hans Delbruck as well? I have his "History of Warfare" but it's written with such a German slant that I have to take it with about a pound of salt. However, he does make interesting suppositions about the composition and numbers of various armies of antiquity and the middle ages.

As perhaps did the Habsburgs.

Read this recently. Really makes you think of what exaclty defines the "French Revolution"

>Does anyone know of a good book on the Soviet–Afghan War?
The Bear Went Over the Mountain: Soviet Combat Tactics in Afghanistan
The Other Side of the Mountain: Mujahideen Tactics in the Soviet-Afghan War
Both are absolutely required.

Is there anything on the Roman Army in the 5th century? Most books on the Late Roman Army seem to stop towards the end of the 4th

A bit OT, but what are some good sites to pirate history books from? I don't wanna pay a hundred bucks for Braudel's Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II.

libgen.io or bookzz org

i've already uploaded braudel to my library though so i'll link you to save you the trouble
volume 1
mega.nz/#!JtZl3BLB!ajMLy48agC8WwUEdyAdj3pbCtnSyk9-m3d9PPerO5Y0
volume 2
mega.nz/#!lxJAgaLI!MoAiXsCkfW2NQCy5xz89GX9jB1EqWghoDaepYXjQWLk

Didn't know Bookzz, thanks mate.

And triple thanks for the links, now I only have to spend 31.50 eurobux for the one book I'll never find online because my professor wrote it and the only people who ever bought it must have been his students after he put in on the course's texts list and the uni library.

What period of history is it

>in b4 guns, germs and memes

It's tragic story, but a good one.

Kek lad your prof is one smart nigger.

Neat thanks dude.

Bump

anyone with any good recommendations on the end of the spanish empire on the mainland?

Its good I read it.

bump

you mean on mainland europe aka the collapse of the spanish habsburgs?

Pacific Crucible by Ian Toll covers the first year of the war, from Pearl Harbor to Midway. It's a good read and shifts it's scope from the strategic considerations of King, Nimitz and Yamamoto down to the decisions and experiences of individual pilots.
It's part of a series but I've only read the first part so far.

La Guerra de Sucesión de España.

>*
this and ardennes are easily the best ww2 books out there

The Collapse of Complex Societies, Joseph Tainter (1998)

His theory of increasing demand to maintain a growing society can easily explain the fall of Rome, Byzantines & Persians, Bronze Age Collapse, Mayans, Chinese Dynasties etc. One of the most informative book I've ever read.

>an easily explain

that's how you know it's bullshit

Is there a book for the story in reddit called "Rome sweet Rome"?

this one right here, tells about the epic battle of the knights of Malta and how they btfo the Turks.

>Edward Gibbon
Meme book for meme historians.
Awfull book made for americans.

And this one, tells the story of the early swiss battles, how they btfo the rest of Europe and ended up as France's personal goon.

Any book of adrian goldsworthy is really good for beginners. Specifically Caesar: Life of a Colossus

i worded that extremely poorly, i more meant the new world mainland of mexico, central, and south america. spanish habsburgs are interesting though.

not what i had in mind but it does actually look interesting, thanks user. i'll add it to the list

gibbon is alright if you just read him as literature and not an authority on history

Easily by scientific standards, you uneducated retard. No "hurr durr aliens did it". He was looking for the most universal model to explain the collapse.

You can for example find his theory cited (and used to explain) in the last paragraphs in the wikipedia article about Bronze Age Collapse:

>General systems collapse
>In the specific context of the Middle East, a variety of factors, including population growth, soil degradation, drought, cast bronze weapon and iron production technologies, could have combined to push the relative price of weaponry (compared to arable land) to a level unsustainable for traditional warrior aristocracies. In complex societies that were increasingly fragile and less resilient, the combination of factors may have contributed to the collapse.
>The growing complexity and specialization of the Late Bronze Age political, economic, and social organization in Carol Thomas and Craig Conant's phrase[37] together made the organization of civilization too intricate to reestablish piecewise when disrupted. That could explain why the collapse was so widespread and able to render the Bronze Age civilizations incapable of recovery. The critical flaws of the Late Bronze Age are its centralisation, specialisation, complexity, and top-heavy political structure. These flaws then were exposed by sociopolitical events (revolt of peasantry and defection of mercenaries), fragility of all kingdoms (Mycenaean, Hittite, Ugaritic, and Egyptian), demographic crises (overpopulation), and wars between states. Other factors that could have placed increasing pressure on the fragile kingdoms include interruption of maritime trade by piracy by the Sea Peoples, as well as drought, crop failure, famine, or the Dorian migration or invasion.[38]

>He was looking for the most universal model
Searching for "general systems" is in itself folly.

It's bullshit.

Have you read the book, user? Otherwise this discussion is pointless.

How about something about the Successor Kingdoms. Specifically the Seleucids or Greco-Baktrians. Ptolemaics get out.

What are your favorites?

Just read this. enjoyed it a lot

that's a bias that he doesn't even hide but at least there's good info on the Austrians

>bake your turd into a bread
>"how can you know it's bad if you haven't eaten my turd bread"
no

not him but come on now bro

You too thought it was monolithic and that the Bastille was taken, the King executed and the Republic proclaimed all in the same stroke ?

Many historians cite him often. He quite describes the problematics of simplification in the first chapter. As he claimes in the book, you can find a model for everything. The point is the model cannot be too simple (no usefulness for other applications) nor too complex (cannot be used elsewhere). He attempted to find such one and has succeeded. Many systems different at first sight share similar mechanism, you just need to find it. But sure because you say there cannot be common model there simply cannot be one. Done here.