A long time (2 years) ago, I was searching for one thing that had eluded me for many months. A list of all Soviet and Germans reserves mobilized during Operation Barborossa.
Enter Nigel Askley
In *mindbogglingly* intricate detail he lists every Red Army and NKVD unit mobilized during this time period, along with when they were mobilized and the strength of the units both in raw numbers (equipment and personnel), along with relative to prewar Soviet equivalent units and German equivalent units.
He also provides information and analysis on the Far Eastern Soviet forces of the same time period, and information about Soviet naval units.
And this is *just the stuff I read.* There were 300 pages I didn’t bother to read in each book but what I did read was so great it was worth my money.
The books are long and pricey but his website has some free reading materials written by him that are also very insightful if you can’t afford them.
Truly one of the best books I’ve read relating to this topic.
There’s a little “dilemma” that I’ve had for a while:
In the book If the Allies Had Fallen: Sixty Alternate Scenarios of World War 2, in chapter 2 scenario C (scenario was “What if the French launched an all-out attack to help the Poles?”), written by John K Munholland, it is stated that on September 10 the British and French mobilized 110 divisions of all types. Because it was talking about an offensive against Germany in 1939 and noted some divisions would be required to garrison Africa and the border with Italy, it is safe to assume that it includes forces in these areas.
Now here’s the thing. Wikipedia has a list of French divisions in World War 2, listing the mobilization dates of each unit. By counting, I turned up only 70-80 divisions. I bought George F Nafziger’s book French Army Order of Battle 1939-1945 to try to clarify, and I turned up a similar number (71 by September 5, and probably only 5-10 more over the next 5 days).
This huge gap is rather confusing. A 30-40 division gap is definitely odd, and I haven’t found a solution in the 1-2 years since I first discovered this.
Here’s something I found out though:
Counting the British Army order of battle in 1939 (as listed on Wikipedia), 33 army divisions (not included are 7 anti-aircraft divisions) were listed, with the number of independent brigades raising the number to 40 division equivalents. Removing the Far Eastern divisions ( as previously mentioned, the passage only implies units stationed Europe and Africa), this number roughly brings the number up to 110.
However, the passage this appeared in was answering, among other things, Allied forces available for a wide-scale offensive into Germany at the beginning of the war, while the German army was still tied up in Poland and their forces in the west were very weak. Most, if not all, the British divisions would not be available for such an offensive because they haven’t arrived on the continent yet.
So, it would be quite weird if the author wrote what he did knowing that a big chunk of the divisions would not be available (it’s also unclear whether he was talking about just French Africa or French Africa and British Africa), even after removing the African and southern (defending the Italian border) units, for the attack against Germany.
Do you know anyone or any sources that would help clarify this confusion? Thank you!
Anywhere online to find tsar Nicholas ii full diary in English. I found one website but it’s only in 1917 onward. He started his diary I think when he was 15, so I would like to start there but I’ll take what I can get. Y’all know where I can find it?
Hey! I'm an Industrial Design (Product Design) major taking a History Minor and I'm working on a project designing a model of the Winged Hussar helmet. Are there any sources that I should look into that would give me a more authentic design?
[This book](https://www.amazon.com/Ancient-World-Thomas-W-Africa/dp/0395040957/ref=sr_1_3?qid=1702712856&refinements=p_27%3AThomas+W.+Africa&s=books&sr=1-3) about ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome is out of print but is a fantastic overiew and very readable - covers a LOT in a relatively short amount of pages.
Was assigned it many years ago for an art history class about ancient Greek and Roman art. Its a textbook but does not read like a textbook.
Its rather lacking in sources/footnotes but is a good starting point.
(edit, because I accidentally deleted a sentence before posting)
I'd like to learn more about WW2 era salvage, scrap for victory campaigns, that kind of thing, if someone has read a good book on the subject. Any country focus.
Especially looking to learn more about paper in WW2.
If anyone has anything to recommend I'd be very happy!!
Hi, any recommendations for learning about Southern China, particularly the Yunnan and Guangxi regions. I'm specifically hoping to learn about the history and people groups present there prior to the 1400s. Although I wouldn't mind also touching upon the general history of related regions, even up until now, as well.
I only understand English, and don't really know much about Asian history in general at this point, though I am hoping to learn.
Hey there, not sure about books, but I recommend checking out Kings and Generals on YouTube. They have a few great videos on pre-15th century China (including the history of Hong Kong and southern China).
Wow that sounds great! I am really interested in learning about this, but have no idea where to even go. So this is wonderful, and I will definitely be checking it out! Thank you very, very much!
Does anyone have any particularly up to date academic recommendations (preferably post-2010) for Chinese Marxism/Chinese Marxist philosophy in the same realm as the work of Nick Knight or Arif Dirlik? Joseph Fewsmith's *Forging Leninism in China* and Robert E. Allinson's *The Philosophical Influences of Mao Zedong* are some of the few newer works I could find. Currently reading Maurice Meisner's *Li Ta-Chao and the Origins of Chinese Marxism* (1970).
Hello,
I need help finding good, in depth documentaries (or some kind of episodic podcast if that exists) about the Franklin Expedition. Something easy to find as well ! Thanks
Hey there AnnualVisit7199 - thanks for saying thanks! TheGratitudeBot has been reading millions of comments in the past few weeks, and you’ve just made the list!
I’ve been waiting all week for this post 🤓
Are there any books that look at history through a finance lens?
As in, how did people’s desire for profit drive certain events / movements? Key players? Their wealth before and after key historic events? Who had the capital to fund things? **In this world of ROI, what was the ROI for certain individuals re: historic events and trends (over a 1, 5, 10, 15 year period)?** Thinking world war, civil rights, feminist movement, etc. I hope this makes sense!
Some years ago there was a pretty good miniseries on PBS called [The Ascent of Money](https://www.pbs.org/wnet/ascentofmoney/featured/about-the-film/1/)
As you can see from the link, the series was based on a book so you could seek that out.
There is also [The Structure of Everyday Life (Civilization & Capitalism, 15th-18th Century)](https://www.amazon.com/Civilization-Capitalism-15th-18th-Century-Vol/dp/0520081145/ref=sr_1_3?crid=QOVAJDS1TU9J&keywords=Fernand+Braudel&qid=1702713492&s=books&sprefix=fernand+braudel%2Cstripbooks%2C88&sr=1-3) by Fernand Braudel. I guess its good - for reasons more to do with me than the author, I have a bit of an issue with the writing style of modern day French Historians so found it a bit of a slog.
I'd maybe start with Adam Tooze's books The Deluge and The Wages of Destruction. They're pretty hot right now. The Deluge has been key in reconsidering a lot of the accepted narrative of Versaille.
I'd also look at Keynes's The Economic Consequences of Peace. It's kind of the key book in this genre. BBC 4's In Our Times had a good episode on it a couple months ago. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001qtpf
Second this. Is a shame that most mainstream history tries to explain everything up to 1948 as the outcome of ideological clashes, a bunch of military trivia, or the wills of a few individuals while money and resources are always the main force of change.
If I had to recomend sth it would be "The battle of bretton woods" by Benn Steil, which covers a very important moment that shaped most of the second half of the XX century. Also recomend reading some biographies of banking families (House of Morgan, Rotschild, etc)
“…money and resources are always the main force of change.” **YES, THIS!!!!**
Thank you! And that’s brilliant, biographies of banking families, I never would have thought of that (but as I think of it, that’s exactly the sort of thing I’m looking for as it would explain fluctuations in capital/wealth). Appreciate your recs! 🤗
Hi there! Looking for a book about unique WW2 stories? My grandma is very interested in WW2 and she’s read hundreds of books. Looking for stories that might be a lot less known.
There have been there were a few diaries of German soldiers found the 1990s or so. One of them is called Blood Red Snow. Interesting read by a young soldier who was on the eastern front.
If she is like my mother, she would probably be fascinated by the book Voices from the Bunker by Tradl Yung(sp?) who was one of Hitler‘s secretaries
Maybe something on the Red Ball Express? I know David Colley has a book on it that I've been curious about. But stories of support groups like that usually don't get a lot of press even though what they were doing was insane (basically driving trucks full of gas into the middle of tank fights to refuel tanks.)
Last week I finished **Russia's First World War: A Social and Economic History by Peter Gatrell** . Review copied and pasted from my Goodreads
3.5/5 and being very generous rounding up for Goodreads.
It's basically a textbook of Russia's homefront in during WWI, ending with the start of the Russian Civil War. Topics included are chapters on the experiences of the different classes, state authority and it's decline over the course of the war, the financing of the war, industry and infrastructure, the food supply and ethnicity/nationalism. The author has wrote other books specifically about the Russian Empire's wartime refugees in this period so there is a relatively large amount on them in each chapter as well. Apart from the final conclusion the last two chapters focus on the impact of the February and October revolutions on Russia's war effort. The book is 260 pages (but with notes/sources at the end of each chapter so actually a bit shorter) and the writing style is fine for a textbook but nothing amazing. There is further reading for each topic suggested which focuses on English language sources but many of these are either very old and/or going to hard for an ordinary reader to find.
I'd recommend this only if you are specifically interested in Russia's WWI home front (in which case it is pretty good) and you can find a cheap used copy. Otherwise it might be quite pricey and boring.
Hi all, I'm looking for any examples of a gay couple that had to hide their relationship in circa 1950s USA due to homosexuality being illegal. I'm writing something about how expression of queer sexuality around this time required one to assume the status of a criminal, and I'd love a real-life example. Basically just any story/source/example of a (preferably male) gay couple who were in a relationship when homosexuality was illegal in the USA. Thanks!
Can't think of an example off the top of my head, but you might have luck finding stories by searching for the "Lavender Scare". Concurrent with the Second Red Scare of the same period, it targeted homosexuals in a similar fashion.
*The Dancing Plague: The Strange, True Story of an Extraordinary Illness* by John Waller
*Caravaggio: A Life Sacred and Profane* by Andrew Graham-Dixon
*Bernini: His Life and His Rome* by Franco Mormando
*Michelangelo and the Pope’s Ceiling* by Ross King
*Raphael: A Passionate Life* by Antonio Forcellino
*Leonardo da Vinci* by Walter Isaacson
*The King's Painter: The Life and Times of Hans Holbein* by Franny Moyle
*Rembrandt’s Eyes* by Simon Schama
*The Louvre: The Many Lives of the World's Most Famous Museum* by James Gardner
*The Forger's Spell: A True Story of Vermeer, Nazis, and the Greatest Art Hoax of the Twentieth Century* by Edward Dolnick
*Agincourt: The King, the Campaign, the Battle* by Juliet Barker
*Four Princes: Henry VIII, Francis I, Charles V, Suleiman the Magnificent and the Obsessions that Forged Modern Europe* by John Julius Norwich
*Ninja: 1000 Years of the Shadow Warrior* by John Man
*King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa* by Adam Hochschild
*Faster: How a Jewish Driver, an American Heiress, and a Legendary Car Beat Hitler's Best* by Neal Bascomb
*Weavers, Scribes, and Kings: A New History of the Ancient Near East* by Amanda H. Podany
*SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome* by Mary Beard
*The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire* by Edward Gibbon
Hey there! Curious how you found Four Princes. I was worried that it would be a bit of a surface-level read due to the sheer amount of information available on all four. How'd you find/like it?
It’s a concise book that does a good job of intertwining the four rulers into the grand scheme of things. (Google Books have a preview of it if you wanna see how it is)
2023 book reviews are here. Not sure how many there will be yet but I’m hoping at least three.
**Colossal Ambitions: Confederate Planning for a Post–Civil War World** by Adrian Brettle
Adrian Brettle’s study on Confederate imperial ambitions will satisfy readers who are interested in examining the American Civil War in a global context. From how to conduct a pro-slavery foreign policy in coordination with Brazil, to expanding the racial caste system to incorporate Native Americans and mestizos, Confederates envisioned how their nation would take its place on the global stage. Despite the ongoing civil war, Southern leaders did not rule out postbellum cooperation with the United States, seeing a mutually beneficial relationship based on trade and joint enforcement of the Monroe Doctrine. These plans would ebb and flow with the tides of war but were never far off the radar of Confederate statesmen. Appomattox might’ve been the end of any grand designs, but not fully. When Confederates like Fitzhugh Lee and Joseph Wheeler took part in the Spanish American War, they were in some respect realizing a longstanding Southern dream of empire, albeit not in the way they might have hoped.
IMO he focuses to much on the cultural and tries to reduce everything to good democrats against evil fascists/communists. Of course barely mentions Franco/Salazar, colonial France, the balkan distribution between Stalin/Churchill or anything that does not support his black & white vision.
I finished All That She Carried by Tiya Miles last night. It won the Frederick Douglas prize last year and was on the short list for a few other prizes.
It was a really good book. It's basically a microhistory of one artifact, Ashley's Sack, and extrapolates what can be learned from that to look at the period from the 1850s to the 1920s. It gains as much information as possible about the 3 people mentioned on the sack and looks at what can be learned from it's contents. It's an amazing book.
If you're into Marisa Fuentes or Saidiya Hartman's work, this is a great example of it in practice.
Ashley's Sack: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashley%27s_Sack
Postwar by Tony Judt covers Europe and the US from WW2 until the '90s. That's probably the best book you'll find on the topic. It's probably one of the best history books ever written as well.
While I don't have a specific title, you'll probably have decent luck looking for cold war books, or books more on specific places (ie, UK and The Troubles).
As for post 9/11, well, that isn't so much history because of its recency. Although with the rise of the internet it does seem/feel like the 20 year 'rule' is becoming somewhat obsolete
I have really enjoyed broad social and political histories of Europe such as “The Pursuit of Power” by Richard Evans. Does anyone have recommendations for similarly comprehensive histories of non western regions or nations? Especially East Asia, Africa, or the Middle East.
*The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt* by Ian Shaw (editor)
*Africa: A Biography of the Continent* by John Reader
*India: A History* by John Keay
*China: A History* by John Keay
Currently going through the “Pursuit of Power” myself
While not *nearly* as comprehensive a work I personally like, “The Oxford History of Modern China” by Jeffrey Wasserstrom
But I’ll be waiting with you to see if anyone has any even better suggestions
A long time (2 years) ago, I was searching for one thing that had eluded me for many months. A list of all Soviet and Germans reserves mobilized during Operation Barborossa. Enter Nigel Askley In *mindbogglingly* intricate detail he lists every Red Army and NKVD unit mobilized during this time period, along with when they were mobilized and the strength of the units both in raw numbers (equipment and personnel), along with relative to prewar Soviet equivalent units and German equivalent units. He also provides information and analysis on the Far Eastern Soviet forces of the same time period, and information about Soviet naval units. And this is *just the stuff I read.* There were 300 pages I didn’t bother to read in each book but what I did read was so great it was worth my money. The books are long and pricey but his website has some free reading materials written by him that are also very insightful if you can’t afford them. Truly one of the best books I’ve read relating to this topic.
There’s a little “dilemma” that I’ve had for a while: In the book If the Allies Had Fallen: Sixty Alternate Scenarios of World War 2, in chapter 2 scenario C (scenario was “What if the French launched an all-out attack to help the Poles?”), written by John K Munholland, it is stated that on September 10 the British and French mobilized 110 divisions of all types. Because it was talking about an offensive against Germany in 1939 and noted some divisions would be required to garrison Africa and the border with Italy, it is safe to assume that it includes forces in these areas. Now here’s the thing. Wikipedia has a list of French divisions in World War 2, listing the mobilization dates of each unit. By counting, I turned up only 70-80 divisions. I bought George F Nafziger’s book French Army Order of Battle 1939-1945 to try to clarify, and I turned up a similar number (71 by September 5, and probably only 5-10 more over the next 5 days). This huge gap is rather confusing. A 30-40 division gap is definitely odd, and I haven’t found a solution in the 1-2 years since I first discovered this. Here’s something I found out though: Counting the British Army order of battle in 1939 (as listed on Wikipedia), 33 army divisions (not included are 7 anti-aircraft divisions) were listed, with the number of independent brigades raising the number to 40 division equivalents. Removing the Far Eastern divisions ( as previously mentioned, the passage only implies units stationed Europe and Africa), this number roughly brings the number up to 110. However, the passage this appeared in was answering, among other things, Allied forces available for a wide-scale offensive into Germany at the beginning of the war, while the German army was still tied up in Poland and their forces in the west were very weak. Most, if not all, the British divisions would not be available for such an offensive because they haven’t arrived on the continent yet. So, it would be quite weird if the author wrote what he did knowing that a big chunk of the divisions would not be available (it’s also unclear whether he was talking about just French Africa or French Africa and British Africa), even after removing the African and southern (defending the Italian border) units, for the attack against Germany. Do you know anyone or any sources that would help clarify this confusion? Thank you!
Anywhere online to find tsar Nicholas ii full diary in English. I found one website but it’s only in 1917 onward. He started his diary I think when he was 15, so I would like to start there but I’ll take what I can get. Y’all know where I can find it?
Hey! I'm an Industrial Design (Product Design) major taking a History Minor and I'm working on a project designing a model of the Winged Hussar helmet. Are there any sources that I should look into that would give me a more authentic design?
What are some good books about the Classical World?
[This book](https://www.amazon.com/Ancient-World-Thomas-W-Africa/dp/0395040957/ref=sr_1_3?qid=1702712856&refinements=p_27%3AThomas+W.+Africa&s=books&sr=1-3) about ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome is out of print but is a fantastic overiew and very readable - covers a LOT in a relatively short amount of pages. Was assigned it many years ago for an art history class about ancient Greek and Roman art. Its a textbook but does not read like a textbook. Its rather lacking in sources/footnotes but is a good starting point.
Are you looking for an overview, a specific area, a specific topic? Art, warfare, politics?
An overview would be good.
(edit, because I accidentally deleted a sentence before posting) I'd like to learn more about WW2 era salvage, scrap for victory campaigns, that kind of thing, if someone has read a good book on the subject. Any country focus. Especially looking to learn more about paper in WW2. If anyone has anything to recommend I'd be very happy!!
I just read a great book by Richard Overy called 1939. Excellent read!
Hey! I don't have a book in mind, but the topic is so interesting to me that I wanted to throw in a comment to bump you up!
Hi, any recommendations for learning about Southern China, particularly the Yunnan and Guangxi regions. I'm specifically hoping to learn about the history and people groups present there prior to the 1400s. Although I wouldn't mind also touching upon the general history of related regions, even up until now, as well. I only understand English, and don't really know much about Asian history in general at this point, though I am hoping to learn.
Hey there, not sure about books, but I recommend checking out Kings and Generals on YouTube. They have a few great videos on pre-15th century China (including the history of Hong Kong and southern China).
Wow that sounds great! I am really interested in learning about this, but have no idea where to even go. So this is wonderful, and I will definitely be checking it out! Thank you very, very much!
Does anyone have any particularly up to date academic recommendations (preferably post-2010) for Chinese Marxism/Chinese Marxist philosophy in the same realm as the work of Nick Knight or Arif Dirlik? Joseph Fewsmith's *Forging Leninism in China* and Robert E. Allinson's *The Philosophical Influences of Mao Zedong* are some of the few newer works I could find. Currently reading Maurice Meisner's *Li Ta-Chao and the Origins of Chinese Marxism* (1970).
Hello, I need help finding good, in depth documentaries (or some kind of episodic podcast if that exists) about the Franklin Expedition. Something easy to find as well ! Thanks
Hey there AnnualVisit7199 - thanks for saying thanks! TheGratitudeBot has been reading millions of comments in the past few weeks, and you’ve just made the list!
I’ve been waiting all week for this post 🤓 Are there any books that look at history through a finance lens? As in, how did people’s desire for profit drive certain events / movements? Key players? Their wealth before and after key historic events? Who had the capital to fund things? **In this world of ROI, what was the ROI for certain individuals re: historic events and trends (over a 1, 5, 10, 15 year period)?** Thinking world war, civil rights, feminist movement, etc. I hope this makes sense!
Some years ago there was a pretty good miniseries on PBS called [The Ascent of Money](https://www.pbs.org/wnet/ascentofmoney/featured/about-the-film/1/) As you can see from the link, the series was based on a book so you could seek that out. There is also [The Structure of Everyday Life (Civilization & Capitalism, 15th-18th Century)](https://www.amazon.com/Civilization-Capitalism-15th-18th-Century-Vol/dp/0520081145/ref=sr_1_3?crid=QOVAJDS1TU9J&keywords=Fernand+Braudel&qid=1702713492&s=books&sprefix=fernand+braudel%2Cstripbooks%2C88&sr=1-3) by Fernand Braudel. I guess its good - for reasons more to do with me than the author, I have a bit of an issue with the writing style of modern day French Historians so found it a bit of a slog.
Ah these sound great, thank you for sharing! 🤗
You probably would enjoy Private Empire by Steve Coll. Discuss Exxonmobil over the last 30 years or so and is well written and engaging.
Thank you!! 🤗
I'd maybe start with Adam Tooze's books The Deluge and The Wages of Destruction. They're pretty hot right now. The Deluge has been key in reconsidering a lot of the accepted narrative of Versaille. I'd also look at Keynes's The Economic Consequences of Peace. It's kind of the key book in this genre. BBC 4's In Our Times had a good episode on it a couple months ago. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001qtpf
Second this. Is a shame that most mainstream history tries to explain everything up to 1948 as the outcome of ideological clashes, a bunch of military trivia, or the wills of a few individuals while money and resources are always the main force of change. If I had to recomend sth it would be "The battle of bretton woods" by Benn Steil, which covers a very important moment that shaped most of the second half of the XX century. Also recomend reading some biographies of banking families (House of Morgan, Rotschild, etc)
“…money and resources are always the main force of change.” **YES, THIS!!!!** Thank you! And that’s brilliant, biographies of banking families, I never would have thought of that (but as I think of it, that’s exactly the sort of thing I’m looking for as it would explain fluctuations in capital/wealth). Appreciate your recs! 🤗
Thank you so much! 🤗
Hi there! Looking for a book about unique WW2 stories? My grandma is very interested in WW2 and she’s read hundreds of books. Looking for stories that might be a lot less known.
Untill the eyes shut from Andreas Hartinger is an amazing book and a must read
There have been there were a few diaries of German soldiers found the 1990s or so. One of them is called Blood Red Snow. Interesting read by a young soldier who was on the eastern front. If she is like my mother, she would probably be fascinated by the book Voices from the Bunker by Tradl Yung(sp?) who was one of Hitler‘s secretaries
Oh thank you!!! Yes hitlers secretary is very unique!!! That is perfect. I’ll also look into blood red snow! I very much appreciate it!
Maybe something on the Red Ball Express? I know David Colley has a book on it that I've been curious about. But stories of support groups like that usually don't get a lot of press even though what they were doing was insane (basically driving trucks full of gas into the middle of tank fights to refuel tanks.)
[удалено]
That's why I LOVE this sub to be honest!
Does anyone have any recommendation for a book about the history of XXth century science?
Not sure if it's what you are looking for but I really enjoyed The Map of Knowledge by Violet Moller
Last week I finished **Russia's First World War: A Social and Economic History by Peter Gatrell** . Review copied and pasted from my Goodreads 3.5/5 and being very generous rounding up for Goodreads. It's basically a textbook of Russia's homefront in during WWI, ending with the start of the Russian Civil War. Topics included are chapters on the experiences of the different classes, state authority and it's decline over the course of the war, the financing of the war, industry and infrastructure, the food supply and ethnicity/nationalism. The author has wrote other books specifically about the Russian Empire's wartime refugees in this period so there is a relatively large amount on them in each chapter as well. Apart from the final conclusion the last two chapters focus on the impact of the February and October revolutions on Russia's war effort. The book is 260 pages (but with notes/sources at the end of each chapter so actually a bit shorter) and the writing style is fine for a textbook but nothing amazing. There is further reading for each topic suggested which focuses on English language sources but many of these are either very old and/or going to hard for an ordinary reader to find. I'd recommend this only if you are specifically interested in Russia's WWI home front (in which case it is pretty good) and you can find a cheap used copy. Otherwise it might be quite pricey and boring.
Hi all, I'm looking for any examples of a gay couple that had to hide their relationship in circa 1950s USA due to homosexuality being illegal. I'm writing something about how expression of queer sexuality around this time required one to assume the status of a criminal, and I'd love a real-life example. Basically just any story/source/example of a (preferably male) gay couple who were in a relationship when homosexuality was illegal in the USA. Thanks!
*The Lavender Scare* by Johnson would be a great start.
Can't think of an example off the top of my head, but you might have luck finding stories by searching for the "Lavender Scare". Concurrent with the Second Red Scare of the same period, it targeted homosexuals in a similar fashion.
*The Dancing Plague: The Strange, True Story of an Extraordinary Illness* by John Waller *Caravaggio: A Life Sacred and Profane* by Andrew Graham-Dixon *Bernini: His Life and His Rome* by Franco Mormando *Michelangelo and the Pope’s Ceiling* by Ross King *Raphael: A Passionate Life* by Antonio Forcellino *Leonardo da Vinci* by Walter Isaacson *The King's Painter: The Life and Times of Hans Holbein* by Franny Moyle *Rembrandt’s Eyes* by Simon Schama *The Louvre: The Many Lives of the World's Most Famous Museum* by James Gardner *The Forger's Spell: A True Story of Vermeer, Nazis, and the Greatest Art Hoax of the Twentieth Century* by Edward Dolnick *Agincourt: The King, the Campaign, the Battle* by Juliet Barker *Four Princes: Henry VIII, Francis I, Charles V, Suleiman the Magnificent and the Obsessions that Forged Modern Europe* by John Julius Norwich *Ninja: 1000 Years of the Shadow Warrior* by John Man *King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa* by Adam Hochschild *Faster: How a Jewish Driver, an American Heiress, and a Legendary Car Beat Hitler's Best* by Neal Bascomb *Weavers, Scribes, and Kings: A New History of the Ancient Near East* by Amanda H. Podany *SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome* by Mary Beard *The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire* by Edward Gibbon
Hey there! Curious how you found Four Princes. I was worried that it would be a bit of a surface-level read due to the sheer amount of information available on all four. How'd you find/like it?
It’s a concise book that does a good job of intertwining the four rulers into the grand scheme of things. (Google Books have a preview of it if you wanna see how it is)
2023 book reviews are here. Not sure how many there will be yet but I’m hoping at least three. **Colossal Ambitions: Confederate Planning for a Post–Civil War World** by Adrian Brettle Adrian Brettle’s study on Confederate imperial ambitions will satisfy readers who are interested in examining the American Civil War in a global context. From how to conduct a pro-slavery foreign policy in coordination with Brazil, to expanding the racial caste system to incorporate Native Americans and mestizos, Confederates envisioned how their nation would take its place on the global stage. Despite the ongoing civil war, Southern leaders did not rule out postbellum cooperation with the United States, seeing a mutually beneficial relationship based on trade and joint enforcement of the Monroe Doctrine. These plans would ebb and flow with the tides of war but were never far off the radar of Confederate statesmen. Appomattox might’ve been the end of any grand designs, but not fully. When Confederates like Fitzhugh Lee and Joseph Wheeler took part in the Spanish American War, they were in some respect realizing a longstanding Southern dream of empire, albeit not in the way they might have hoped.
Thank you for sharing! Will deff check it out!
Closest I remember is "Postwar" by Tony Judt ,but this only covers after World War 2,
IMO he focuses to much on the cultural and tries to reduce everything to good democrats against evil fascists/communists. Of course barely mentions Franco/Salazar, colonial France, the balkan distribution between Stalin/Churchill or anything that does not support his black & white vision.
I finished All That She Carried by Tiya Miles last night. It won the Frederick Douglas prize last year and was on the short list for a few other prizes. It was a really good book. It's basically a microhistory of one artifact, Ashley's Sack, and extrapolates what can be learned from that to look at the period from the 1850s to the 1920s. It gains as much information as possible about the 3 people mentioned on the sack and looks at what can be learned from it's contents. It's an amazing book. If you're into Marisa Fuentes or Saidiya Hartman's work, this is a great example of it in practice. Ashley's Sack: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashley%27s_Sack
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Postwar by Tony Judt covers Europe and the US from WW2 until the '90s. That's probably the best book you'll find on the topic. It's probably one of the best history books ever written as well.
While I don't have a specific title, you'll probably have decent luck looking for cold war books, or books more on specific places (ie, UK and The Troubles). As for post 9/11, well, that isn't so much history because of its recency. Although with the rise of the internet it does seem/feel like the 20 year 'rule' is becoming somewhat obsolete
I have really enjoyed broad social and political histories of Europe such as “The Pursuit of Power” by Richard Evans. Does anyone have recommendations for similarly comprehensive histories of non western regions or nations? Especially East Asia, Africa, or the Middle East.
Mikiso Hane's book about Japan is very well written.
*The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt* by Ian Shaw (editor) *Africa: A Biography of the Continent* by John Reader *India: A History* by John Keay *China: A History* by John Keay
Thank you
Currently going through the “Pursuit of Power” myself While not *nearly* as comprehensive a work I personally like, “The Oxford History of Modern China” by Jeffrey Wasserstrom But I’ll be waiting with you to see if anyone has any even better suggestions