(Part 2) Best central asia history books according to redditors
We found 221 Reddit comments discussing the best central asia history books. We ranked the 80 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the products ranked 21-40. You can also go back to the previous section.
As is often the case with these types of notions, what you’re looking at is a kernel of progressive modernity in a pile of traditional tribal culture and conservative Islam.
By the time that we get to the 1970s, we’re talking about a country that had, even on the fringes, played a role in the great cold war rivalry between the USA and the USSR. Aid projects, construction work, infrastructure projects, foreign teachers, grain swaps, etc etc exposed a small segment of the Afghan population, primarily in Kabul and other cities like Herat, to new types of thinking and living. Combined with a monarchy set on modernizing the country, there were certainly segments of the population that were relatively liberal on matters such as human rights, education, women’s rights, and life in general.
That said, these societal changes did not reach most of Afghanistan. Islam and traditional tribal culture remained the building blocks of society throughout a vast majority of the country. Tribal warfare continued to rage through the 1960s and 1970s, even as Zahir Shah and Daoud sought modernizing reforms. Women’s rights in the country side continued to rest where it had for many centuries, with women routinely being sold as goods, not being allowed an education, and having very low social status. One of the reasons why the communists, who took over the state between 1973-1978, were so reviled by the rural population was because they attempted to increase the rights of women nationwide.
I’m at work right now so I can’t really jump into the topic in the way that I would like, but anyone who wants to read some fascinating books on the subject should check out:
The Bear, the Dragon, and the AK-47 by Ethan Rosen
The Sewing Circles of Herat, by Christina Lamb
Fountainhead of Jihad, the Haqqani Nexus by Vahid Brown and Don Rassler
Soldiers of God, by Robert Kaplan
Ghost Wars, by Steve Coll
The Return of a King: The Battle for Afghanistan, 1839-42 by William Dalrymple
Little America, by Rajiv Chandrasekaran
Edit: If anyone has any questions about Afghanistan, particularly relating to the Soviet-Afghan War, feel free to ask and I'll do my best to answer when I get off work.
Here's a starter from what my post in Which two Turkic languages would provide the greatest intelligibility?
Uzbek
Freebies
Commercial
I ended up asking quite a few knowledgeable people and reading up on why they did not use shields. Turns out its because their armor did one of the main jobs of a shield well enough:blocking arrows.
Early japanese(like 0-500 AD) used shields, but then as far as I can tell nobody used shields because they transferred to the early O-yoroi armor(shoulderpads would act as shields)...which is the same armor used in your picture. So I guess it was under some use but as far as I could tell very rare due to the armor quality. I saw references to shields as in mobile barricades similar to pavises but nothing like hand shields, simply because the armor was good enough to block arrows and would let more people use full 2 handed weapons which are better than 1 handed weapons generally speaking(bigger pointy stick beats smaller pointy stick).
My favorite source so far is: State of War.
Some more cool things from the book:
-Twenty arrows were required to kill Imagawa Yorikuni, and it was widely regarded that decent armor would easily stop "tens of arrows"
-Two days after one soldier was shot through the hand, he showed up in service records on the front lines.
-That same guy was later shot in the foot and the arrowhead caused infection, so he was relegated to guard duty forever(soldier was called Beppu Michizane).
-Mounted warriors refrained from using swords due to skittish mounts being frightened by the shadows of them apparently? [3 written sources, but good luck finding "Buki kara mita nairanki no sento" on your own]
-Battle axes were used, and broken weapon hafts were an actual problem(part of why the giant 7 foot swords existed)
Also in mildly related topic another great book is Warriors of the Steppe which talks about horse archers. I was interested to know why they are so magically good in real life, but its mostly because Nomads are just a very tough group of people with no lands you can raid, so they can travel a long distance to burn your stuff and own no territory that you can siege traditionally, not so much magical archer powers.
Vietnam was self inflicted.
You should really read Afgantsy
The ladies of Afghanistan aren't bad either:
https://www.amnesty.org.uk/womens-rights-afghanistan-history
Now the women who knew that life are mostly gone or dead, though they do remain.
When the Soviets left and America continued funding the mujahedin in earnest (https://www.amazon.com/Charlie-Wilsons-War-Extraordinary-Congress/dp/B001GVJBPC, great read by the way) shit got a little too real.
:(
And now many women who stayed behind to do exactly what Americans tell them to do, "change your own country, fight your own battle" will be even further cut off from their support systems in the US.
"Ghost Wars" by Steve Coll
The book provides an in-depth account of Central Intelligence Agency activity in Afghanistan from the time of the Soviet Invasion to the aftermath of attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Particularly taken note of by Coll is the interplay between the CIA and its counterpart in Pakistan, Inter-Services Intelligence, which utilized CIA and Saudi Arabian funding to build militant Mujahideen training camps along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in an effort to create radicalized, militant fighters sourced from many Arab countries to attack the Soviet occupation. Invariably, as Coll shows, this decision would have long-lasting effects on the region.
Good series of posts and thanks for doing this. However I would like to raise the point that Kaiser Germany was in fact complicit in the Armenian Genocide and in fact the 2016 Armenian Genocide (and other Christians) German Bundestag resolution reflected it.
https://www.amazon.com/German-Responsibility-Armenian-Genocide-Historical/dp/1886434026
https://www.hsozkult.de/publicationreview/id/rezbuecher-342
https://np.reddit.com/r/armenia/comments/4myli7/full_english_translation_of_the_bundestag/
This is also an excellent source.
It goes into more detail about the conditions faced by Russian conscripts in 40th Army. You'll notice in 'The Bear' that most Russian units were chronically undermanned - companies with 20 men, platoons of five or six guys. Afghantsy explains the terrible corruption and drug problems that plagued the Russians in the war. Many conscripts just bought their way out, serving in Kabul or Bagram at worst while many others discovered Afghanistan's number one export: heroin. Many ended up with HIV from re-used needles and countless other diseases from a lack of basic hygiene endemic to an Army with little regard for its troops.
I hope your paper went well.
What was his deal anyway? That his importance and power would be diminished as a subordinate instead of an equal?
>Why did the Azai oppose Oda?
https://sengoku-period.fandom.com/wiki/Anti_-_Nobunaga_Coalition
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azai_clan
>The Asakura clan, in particular, was disdainful of the Oda clan's rising power. Historically, the Oda clan had been subordinate to the Asakura clan, and Asakura Yoshikage also temporarily protected Ashikaga Yoshiaki but was not willing enough to march toward Kyoto; thus, the Asakura clan despised Nobunaga the most for his success.
>EDIT: I copied the wrong quote.
When Nobunaga launched a campaign into the Asakura clan's domain, Azai Nagamasa, to whom Oichi was married, broke the alliance with Oda to honour the Azai-Asakura alliance which had lasted for generations. With the help of Ikko rebels, the anti-Nobunaga alliance sprang into full force, taking a heavy toll on the Oda clan.
Ah yes. That too.
Ashikaga Yoshiaki the last shōgun of the Ashikaga-Shogunate seems to have played a role too.
https://www.amazon.com/The-Cambridge-History-of-Japan-Vol-3-Medieval-Japan/dp/0521223547/ .
https://www.amazon.com/Sources-of-Japanese-Tradition-Vol1-Up-to-1600/dp/0231121393/
So ultimately not letting himself get caught up in the kanrei positon back into a triangular balance of power between kanrei, shōgunate and emperor (The imperial house of Japan including its branch families in the patrilinial line) resulted in the Azai being maneuvered into this situation.
https://www.amazon.de/Afgantsy-Sir-Rodric-Braithwaite/dp/184668062X/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=afgantsy&qid=1562767654&s=gateway&sr=8-1
I'm just finishing The Great Game by Peter Hopkirk. It's about the struggle between Britain and Russia to control Central Asia during the 19th century.
Not only about the British in Afghanistan, but an excellent read with plenty of tales of derring-do if you're interested in the subject.
That depends on what you mean by "Russia". The entire area was very famously raided and conquered by the Golden Horde^^^1 much earlier than Charles XII of Sweden.
Further Reading
A History of Russia, Central Asia and Mongolia Vol. 1: Inner Eurasia from Prehistory to the Mongol Empire by David Christian
I just bought a new book on a whim in town today! It is a history book abut the silk road abd I can''t wait to read it. However, I already have another history of central eurasia, a history of the Roman empire, a book on manuscripts, a history of the 30 years war, a history of prussia, a history of the crusades (the logistics side of things), and a bunch of manga that I want to read! Too many books and too little time!
Perhaps this will suffice: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1885119437/ref=redir_mdp_mobile
If you're up for reading translations of source material, seminal readings on the topics, and commentary by the authors, I highly recommend Sources of East Asian Tradition by Wm. Theodore de Bary (comes in 2 volumes). It's condensed version of anthologies that focus specifically on [Chinese] (http://www.amazon.com/Sources-Chinese-Tradition-Vol-1/dp/0231109393), Japanese, and Korean traditions, history, and philosophy.
Lol, I totally understand. Still, I think there's considerable value in his works, particularly from the 80s. When he's working to synthesize the experience of socialism and advance its theory, it's pretty good stuff. When he's trying to convince people he's the only hope for the world, not so much.
Some other sources I've found useful:
A World to Win magazine had a number of important articles which are well worth digging into.
Corrigan, Philip, Harvie Ramsay, and Derek Sayer. 1979. For Mao: Essays on Historical Materialism. Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey: Humanities Press.
Starr, John Bryan. 1979. Continuing the Revolution: The Political Thought of Mao. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
(These are from academics and focus more on the theoretical aspects. They're the best academic works I know of on Mao though and are very nice overviews.)
Another academic work which has an excellent chapter on Mao (though the bulk of it deals with other aspects) is Martin, Bill. 2008. Ethical Marxism: The Categorical Imperative of Liberation. Open Court.
Badiou has a nice analysis of the GPCR in Badiou, Alain. 2008. The Communist Hypothesis. Verso.
(Some journalistic/historical accounts of Maoism in practice/development in China):
Belden, Jack. 1949. China Shakes the World. New York: Monthly Review Press.
Han Suyin. 1976. Wind in the Tower: Mao Tse-tung and the Chinese Revolution, 1948-1975. Boston: Little, Brown and Company.
Hinton, William. 1966. Fanshen: A Documentary of Revolution in a Chinese Village. New York:
Vintage.
Horn, Joshua S. 1969. Away with All Pests: An English Surgeon in People’s China, 1954-1969. New York: Monthly Review Press.
Hunter, Iris. 1986. They Made Revolution Within the Revolution: The Story of China's Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. Chicago: RCP Publications.
Milton, David and Nancy Dall Milton. 1971. The Wind Will Not Subside. New York: Pantheon.
Myrdal, Jan. 1965. Report from a Chinese Village. New York: Signet.
Finally, Li Onesto has good book on the Nepalese revolution which unfortunately was betrayed by the leadership.
Happy to help! If you want to find more to read, be sure to check out the book's bibliography. Academic books usually have a long list of references, and it's a good jumping off point if you want to go deeper into the subject.
You might also want to check out The Caucasus: An Introduction. I haven't read it myself, but it's recommend by the author of The Ghost of Freedom (in this article). The table of contents has two chapters on modern Georgian history and nationalism, and it has good reviews.
http://www.unz.com/gnxp/empires-of-the-silk-road/
https://www.amazon.com/Empires-Silk-Road-History-Central/dp/0691150346http://www.academia.edu/648710/Review_Christopher_I._Beckwith_Empires_of_the_Silk_Road._A_History_of_Central_Eurasia_from_the_Bronze_Age_to_the_Present._Princeton_Princeton_University_Press_2009
Here's a couple. The main issues brought up are that: beckwith prefers to use older historiography instead of citing more recent and up to date scholarship, he throws out a few hypotheses and does not provide lots of evidence, and lastly that the closing chapters have nothing to do with historical analysis and just seem to be a rant against modern art and music and culture.
I've still got the copy--and don't get me wrong the book isn't BAD, but it can be difficult sifting through what is historical fact and what is the author's own opinion. I've got a project I'm working on that deals with central asian history and global history, so I'm wondering if this would be a viable source I could use, or if I should not. Which is my main reason for posting on this thread.
There are 2 books out about the deployment of the UK's Para unit.
The moral of the story is: the afghanistan war is unwinnable. When the war started, they had the intention that the war would be won by the hearts and minds approach. Building schools and hospitals, making the roads better, and improving Afghani's lives. This for the most part hasn't happen. The strategy now is to set up fire bases, go out on patrols, get shot at by rockets/snipers/mortars then when they're tired of this, they withdraw from the bases and set up somewhere else.
They have had some success in a few areas, but if you read these accounts, it leaves little doubt there will never be total victory in Afghanistan.
I just finished reading Peter Hopkirk's book on this subject, aptly titled The Great Game. He goes into extensive detail on British operations in Afghanistan during the 19th century. Highly recommended.
Depends on what you're looking for.
If you're looking for modern aerial warfare, the First Gulf War and the Invasion of Iraq are excellent. You can learn about the excellent performance of the A-10 and the risky introduction of the F-15E Strike Eagle in the First Gulf War. Lots of interesting stories of the Wild Weasels (Surface-to-Air Missile System Hunters) F-16s. Vietnam War has excellent infantry perspectives.
However, overall, my favorite conflict is the Russian invasion of Afghanistan. It really demonstrated how conventional warfare cannot be used to eradicate an insurgency. Plus, all the shady shit the CIA did to help the Mujahideen against the Russians (TL;DR: They gave them Stinger missiles that allowed them to cripple Russian helicopters, which were the most important tool the Russians had on their side). To get started, I'd recommend reading :
The Caucasus: An Introduction by Thomas De Waal is a great place to start if your interested in the region. Culturally and politically it is one of the most fascinating areas on the planet.
Armenians did wage a war of independence against the Turks. These were obviously not the Armenians that were massacred.
Armenians in Anatolia have been harassed and assaulted and massacred before the Genocide of 1915. Sultan Abdul Hamid comes immediately to mind.
If you think that discussing Armenian independence is a reason to commit murder against Armenians, and you do so, then defense of one's self is only natural against such an atrocity. You would never blame a Turk for protecting oneself, would you?
The Genocide was perpetrated on the civilians of Eastern Anatolia. Not just villages that bordered Russia. We are talking about huge cities east of Ankara decimated to once and for all end the question of Armenian independence.
Jew in WWII were blamed for many, many things: Corrupting the government and people, controlling the flow of money, diluting the pureness of the German people. They were looked upon as sub-human and many experiments were done upon them to try and prove this.
As an aside, there is an excellent book by Vahakn Dadrian titled German Responsibility in the Armenian Genocide. After reading his first book The History of the Armenian Genocide, this would be a good follow-up read.
Also, there were many Jews from around the world that joined the various armies against the Axis powers specifically so that they could go and fight (and kill) Nazis.
There was the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. No German has ever blamed the Jews for trying to resist slaughter. Similarly, no Turk should ever confuse an Armenian defending him or herself against Turkish prejudice and violence.
I'm signed up for a university Uzbek class in the fall. If you're still interested then, PM me (late September, October and November). I might be aware of some neat resources at that time.
Also, here's a textbook I found on Amazon; it's not cheap, but also not as expensive as some books can get:
http://www.amazon.com/Uzbek-An-Elementary-Textbook-Edition/dp/1589017064/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1405840475&sr=8-1&keywords=uzbek
This is a must read book on the subject.
This is very good as well.
Pakistan is not a US ally - before armchair experts weight in. They have been taking our money and funneling it to Pakistan Taliban and Lakshar to fight US troops across the border in Afghanistan.
Hussain Haqqani's book: Magnificent Delusions: Pakistan, the United States, and an Epic History of Misunderstanding
source: "The Mongols" by David Morgan
http://www.amazon.com/The-Mongols-David-Morgan/dp/1405135395
>even the blood of a merry Crusader citizen selling flowers to passersby
now... having just finished reading up on the history of the mongol empire, those fellas layed waste to the middle east like the crusaders could only have dreamed of...
but
ISIS doesn't target mongolia or its descendants does, whys that ? specially as they ended a 500 year old line of sunni caliphs in the sack of bagdad. so whats all this bollocks about the crusades they keep harping on about.
I rarely find anybody out in the world who is as passionate about history and games as I am, much less on this forum. I didn't even know what reddit was until my girlfriend talked me into checking it out; I came up with the old forums and used to learn a lot from people with similar interests in the early 00's but ever since having children I've mainly been away from any form of social media or messaging boards. But because I learned that reddit has subforums for such particular interests, I've stuck around, but have certainly noticed the level of general intelligence to be about what kept me from partaking in online discussions for so long initially. But that's ok, because occasionally I'll find somebody from somewhere out in the world like you and those brief but deeply meaningful encounters of sharing passions with a stranger make it worth it, and truly there is much to learn here if one is willing to tolerate the gross amounts of tedium and juvenille humor.
What you said about Alexander is precisely how I feel about him; I've read more than one account of his life (from the shorter 'moral essays' of Plutarch, the accounts of the wars in general of Diodorus Siculus, to the lengthier rivals of Arrian like Quintus Curtius Rufus) and even where you can tell there has been exaggeration, the key points of his life for which we can be absolutely certain of are literally on the level of a legend or myth, not so disimillar to those epic figures of the Icelandic Sagas! Like you, my interest in history is broad; I'm not a specialist, in fact I dropped out of high school and spent most of my twenties in crippling heroin addiction before I got my shit together and sought help, but I've had a voracious appetite for books since I was a child and have never stopped obsessively learning.
Asides from those general Mediterranean ancient historical cultures, I am also deeply interested in the Scandinavian both pre-history and Viking era (currently reading the Heimsrkingla, in fact!), the numerous Turks and origins of the 'barbarian' tribes like the Scythians and the Alans and general Eurasian steppe cultures (especially when we get ancient or medieval accounts from the likes of missionaries of merchants of the shamanic religious beliefs), the Huns and the Khanate Empires, the Spanish conquistadors and the original conquests of Mexico and Peru (am a huge fan of histories of Francisco Pizarro), the nomadic Lapps and the Kievan Rus, the Islamic Caliphate and the entirety of the Cruades from both angles, &c I could go on of course, but each of these cultures are those of whom I've recently read accounts of and thoroughly enjoy learning about. Quite possibly if I had to narrow down the single most pertinent book that covers a huge amount of most of my historical interests in as comprehensive and detailed a manner possible, it would be the Yule-Cordier edition of Marco Polo's Travels. Its available in a 2 volume edition of some nearly 1,700 pages for very cheap paperback prices online, I'm currently re-reading it right now (along with Runciman's 3 volume History of the Crusades) for the third (!) time, and I learn more every time I pick it up. Seriously, if you are interested in any of those cultures, this book draws its sources in the notes (which alone constitute probably 1,300 of those pages) from works taken from all around the world, from the ancients like Pliny and Herodotus, to obscure Arabic and Persian, Indian and Malay Archipelago, Chinese ancient and modern, native and missionary, &c. I just cannot recommend it highly enough, unless of course you're already familiar with it, lol.
https://www.amazon.com/Travels-Marco-Polo-Complete-Yule-Cordier/dp/0486275868/ref=pd_sbs_14_t_0/144-8087320-6111126?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0486275868&pd_rd_r=77d672fa-0ec1-467b-b0fe-1b89b1094821&pd_rd_w=3i7wo&pd_rd_wg=Ir1Ng&pf_rd_p=5cfcfe89-300f-47d2-b1ad-a4e27203a02a&pf_rd_r=J7KKJVZ3617N198564E8&psc=1&refRID=J7KKJVZ3617N198564E8
Also, thank you for expressing that you feel simliary about the original Fallout games. I have a passion for them which I very rarely find shared by other people, at least not in person, and its frustrating that still 20 years later so many people go on completely oblivious to what they are missing, content to play the Bethesda games, or even New Vegas without having any notion to whom Cass is referring, or Marcus, or Tabitha and the Nightkin, the Followers of the Apocalypse, the Bozar gun and or 'That Gun', the references to the families of New Reno, and so on. If you don't mind sharing, might I ask you where you're from? You express yourself perfectly well for not being a native English speaker. I'm from Philadelphia in the US.
So if you are unwilling to accept Marco Polo's eyewitness testimony, what would be a "verifiable source" to you?
I assume none of these qualify.
http://www.salon.com/2014/01/20/7_of_the_most_amazing_women_youve_never_heard_of_partner/
http://www.rejectedprincesses.com/princesses/khutulun/
http://deadliestfiction.wikia.com/wiki/Khutulun
http://medievalpoc.tumblr.com/post/70535980643/khutulun-the-wrestler-princess
http://www.theworldofchinese.com/2014/10/badass-ladies-of-chinese-history-khutulun/
http://www.mythofhistory.com/Khutulun.htm
http://www.laphamsquarterly.org/roundtable/roundtable/the-wrestler-princess.php
http://www.amazon.com/The-Secret-History-Mongol-Queens/dp/0307407160
All these people must just be making this up, right?
>We are not fighting the second best military in the world. There is no second best. So who are we fighting for so long? Who gives them munitions? It seems as if it is a proxy war. Who is behind the insurgents?
Yet again I am going to point out that America won the war against the Taliban, the part we are not winning is the nation building. 3 months after the first American boots hit the ground they were no longer a threat to Afghanistan. In terms of funding the two big sources are going to be Pakistan and the opium trade. The taliban and other local groups collect a Zakat on the production, processing and transportation of opium and it is a very lucritive business.
>You cannot answer any of these questions.
Actually I can, this is one of the big benefits of reading.
>Think about why we can't win in Afghanistan or have our way in Syria without trying to pigeon hole or belittle me. It is not because we have the greatest military and weaponry.
You are failing to grasp this point no matter how easy I try and make it, a video is about the only way I can make this any easier. This is a TED talk with Thomas PM Barnett, he is a great academic and makes my point about the US being able to take out anyone in the world in a matter of 48 hours but not being so good at the other stuff.
Gotta be Patrick Bishops's 3 PARA (amazon UK, amazon US) or The Junior Officers' Reading Club by Patrick Hennessey (amazon UK, amazon US)
3 PARA is a British journalist's account of the 2006 tour of Afghan, focussing on the operations of the 3 PARA battle group, while The JORC is a semi-biographical account of the early career of Patrick Hennessey, detailing his time in training at Sandhurst and Brecon, going on to multiple tours as a Pl Comd with the Gren Guards.
Both well worth a read.