(Part 2) Best historical british biographies according to redditors
We found 821 Reddit comments discussing the best historical british biographies. We ranked the 230 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.
There a job called Ravenmaster, and there's only one position.
He's the head Warden whip oversees the Ravens at the Tower of London.
If you want a really funny read, that's also a great reverent take about the Ravens at the Tower of London I highly recommend:
The Ravenmaster: My Life with the Ravens at the Tower of London
It's an easy read, and really fascinating. It'll blow your mind how much personality they have and how individual and smart each one can be.
Also, having stood next to one of the Towers ravens....... They're HUGE! So SO much bigger then you think.
Instead of politician, Boris Johnson could make a great university professor
He wrote a superb biography of Winston Churchill and a great political history of The Roman Empire.
I'm sure the students would love him
i am fairly sure what i'm about to add has been posted in this sub before, but: in that PBS special 1900 House (warning, adorable 1999 paleo-website), where a contemporary family had to take on all the lifestyle habits of a turn-of-the-century family, i believe the mother reported that after being amid the stink and bathing so infrequently, when she returned to the 1999 world what really disgusted her was the smell of peoples' soaps and perfumes and detergents. i'm not saying the past was not DEEPLY GROSS because OH MY GOD, but still -- there must have been a high level of desensitization. (and, you know, also upper respiratory disease, which i'm betting clogs the sinuses and the sense of smell.)
Ooh, you're in for a treat. A few of my favorites are:
The Royals, by Kitty Kelly
The Queen Mother, by William Shawcross
Diana, Her True Story by Andrew Morton (with all the drama and revelations afterward, I think it's really good to at least read)
On Duty with the Queen, Dickie Arbiter (I expected more behind-the-scenes stuff in this one, but it was still interesting)
My friend has read Fergie, Duchess of York's memoirs (yep, plural) and she said they were interesting but not super in-depth.
If you're ever looking for a novel about a non-British royal house, I highly recommend The Commoner, by John Burnham Schwartz, which is inspired about the empress-to-be (next week!) of Japan.
Thunderstruck, also by Eric Larson, is also a great read, similarly structured- it follows a guy who murdered his wife in London and nearly escaped to America, as well as Marconi as he developed wireless (radio). I found the Marconi storyline more interesting than the Worlds Fair one from White City.
Another link with more info on the Murder Castle
One thing that struck me the most was this tidbit (left out of the wiki article)
The investigators suddenly realized the implications of the iron-plated chamber when they found the single, scuffed mark of a footprint on the inside of the door. It was a small print that had been made by a woman who had attempted to escape the grim fate of the tiny room.
According to Larson in his book, the footprint was BAKED into the enamel wall of the fireproof vault / kiln / gas chamber. She was actually pressing against the inside of the door as she burned, and her bare foot left an indelible mark as it cooked. Major WTF right there.
There is a fairly good biography about Thompson by Tom Hickman that goes into depth about not only to incredible acts of bravery, but the relationship between Churchill and Thompson. It's a quick, easy, fun read, but you don't have to take my word for it...
https://www.amazon.com/Churchills-Ministry-Ungentlemanly-Warfare-Mavericks/dp/1250119022
Seriously! He wrote a book that's coming out in... October. The Ravenmaster: My Life with the Ravens at the Tower of London https://www.amazon.com/dp/0374113343/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_Yuv2AbEKK3P31
For a start:
Holy shit. They made a book titled: The Royal Wedding for Dummies.
If you bought this book, you surely are one.
The man on the left is Churchill's bodyguard, Walther H Thompson. After he'd retired, he wrote a memoir:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Churchills-Bodyguard-Authorised-Biography-Thompson/dp/0755314492
It's on my to-read list so I don't yet know if it's good, but if other peoples' reviews are anything to go by then it's going to be a fascinating read.
Here is the best that I'm aware of- King Zog and Crown Prince Leka of Albania. It's difficult for me to cite to sources beyond wikipedia and a couple History Today articles at the moment, as most of the knowledge I have of them comes from having been in Tirana at the absolutely excellent National Historical Museum of Albania, and from speaking to Albanians. There are also a couple of books on the subject: King Zog: Self-Made Monarch of Albania, and A Royal Exile: King Zog and Queen Geraldine, Including Their Wartime Exile in the Thames Valley and Chilterns.
Ahmet Muhtar Bej Zogolli, later Zogu, later King Zog was a politician of fairly extraordinary audacity. After being a local politician and national minister, he was elected President, and did quite a bit to shore up some real corruption and disorganization within Albania. Of course, he was doing so as a dictator, with the explicit help of the Italians. In 1928 he orchastrated what was essentially a government led coup, with Italian backing, and declared a constitutional monarchy.
Though he did marry a woman with royal lineage, the monarchy was always shaky, in part due to the fact that the Italians were pulling the strings for any meaningful exercise of external sovereignty. Italy invaded in 1939, days after the birth of Crown Prince Leka. The royal family went into exile, Albania went through nationalist convulsions, and was led by the fascist dictator Enver Hoxa, who is perhaps the most fascinatingly bizarre fascist dictator in the pantheon of fascinatingly bizarre fascist dictators.
In 1997, when things had reached a crisis, Crown Prince Leka returned and there was a referendum to restore the monarchy. The results were highly contested, but officially it failed by a 2-1 margin. Crown Prince Leka left in exile again. (And later returned and lived in Tirana until his death.)
It's not exactly a popular revolution as the referendum that created the monarchy was essentially orchestrated by Zog, and made Albania a client state of Italy. But it was a monarchy that was created completely from scratch, and was at least a marginally more effective government than what had existed before.
What's amazing to me is that his views haven't changed one iota from when he was a Nixon speechwriter and, later, a leading newspaper columnist. It's bizarre to think that there was a full-on Nazi serving in a policymaking role in the White House, and that many of our most influential newspapers ran his column week after week for many years. Later, Rachel Maddow was welcoming him on her show as some sort of elder statesman of the right, affectionately calling him "Uncle Pat".
>Well, he wrote a book about how Hitler did nothing wrong.
Still getting rave reviews on Amazon
To be fair, every mainstream critic was smart enough to avoid saying anything positive about that book. Not so with his earlier work, The Death of the West, which was a direct shout-out to the book that served as the foundation of the Fascist movement, Oswald Spengler's Decline of the West.
I recently finished The Royals by Kitty Kelley after watching Netflix's "The Crown." It's a biography of the House of Windsor from its start (Queen Elizabeth's father IIRC) until the mid-90s, when the book was published.
According to an Amazon comment, it was banned in the UK as it doesn't paint the Royal Family or the aristocracy in general in a positive light. I found it incredibly entertaining and objective -- it wasn't a hit piece, nor was it written by a fawning fan, and the author clearly did her research.
Latest is https://www.amazon.com/Elizabeth-Queen-Life-Modern-Monarch/dp/0812979796 kay S. Bedell Smith
Then Her Majesty (pero parang more on coffeetable book)
I really enjoyed reading The Age of Wonder by Richard Holmes.
Also Thunderstruck by Erik Larson.
Both of these books are fantastic nonfiction accounts of the history of scientific discovery.
On the biology side, anything by Dawkins is a good choice. I recommend The Greatest Show on Earth
My gateway drug was The Panda's Thumb by Stephen Jay Gould
This one is available in English. And I was referring to your first post, where you referred to Makhno's Black Army.
Oh, I really am dealing with a full on tankie. Okay. Gotta switch gears here.
And i only vaguely mean to be rude, but are these really your arguements?
>The one that attacked the USSR by calling it a 'Jewish republic' do you mean?
I cant seem to find this being said anywhere except from Paul Avrich. Would you happen to have a source?
And even if it were true, anti-semitism in the 20s was very common place, and even if every single sailor at the uprising was an anti-semite, that doesnt invalidate their demands, and your claim that the uprising was founded on racism is just bullshit. Unless youre trying say that the words themselves were an attack and so they needed to be crushed, in which case, wew.
There really isn't much to the story. Workers demanded a better deal, they were rejected, so they rose up. The Red Army crushed them.
[Here] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kronstadt_rebellion#Petropavlovsk_resolution) are the demands.
>>The Green Armies
>Who represented lest than a hundredth of a percent of the peasant population
So thier population justified their brutal suppression? Nevermind that this isnt exactly true and that the Antonov/Green rebellion of Left SR complexion was a major force. There was also the misnamed 'West Siberian' revolt - a misnomer as this rebellion also extended to the Urals and Kazakhstan. In January 1921 the Cheka reported that there were no less than 118 separate risings afoot in the country. Both the working class and the peasantry had turned against the Bolsheviks, and their social base had narrowed drastically. The only reason the Bolshiveks werent overthrown were because most of the rebellions and uprisings were not in coordination. Shit most of em didnt even know about the others.
>Don't even get me started on the shit that was the UFT, watch this video, it was a hellhole https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiSM8SkE4mo
>TheFinnishBolshevik
Oh boy, this seems like an unbiased account.
Rather than arguing point for point on a couple of ten min videos talking about how horrible the place is, I'll just include a buttload of links for authors, most of whom were there, that say the video is full of shit.
https://anonfiles.com/file/c679accaecf0af2ccbfd42a0516a137b
http://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/peter-arshinov-history-of-the-makhnovist-movement-1918-1921
Mahkno's own memoirs
The Nestor Makhno Archive
Voline's The Unknown Revolution
Nestor Makhno- Anarchy's Cossack (By Skirda)
Russian Anarchists and the Civil War by Avrich (see that? I even used an author i criticized. Im open to alternate views, just not bullshit.)
Struggle Against the State and Other Essays by Makhno
>Stalin didn't toss anyone in labour camps, he had one vote in the National Congress, he did not have very much power.
Im sorry, are you trying to take the route that Stalin is innocent because he personally never sent anyone to prison? Thats the same route as going "Hitler never personally exterminated the jews". Aside the fact that this is nonsense, the prisons and camps were at an all time high during Stalin's reign.
>Did you know he tried to resign four times? What kind of a dictator gets refused their resignation?
http://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/lookandlearn-preview/M/M014/M014390-08.jpg
>What, SIOC, that inspired every other revolution that's ever happened pretty much?
No, the SIOC that after him all major political movements relating to 'communism' were more or less Soviet apologism/nationalism incarnate. Ffs, the rebellions in Ukraine a couple years ago had the separatists officially identifying as communist, and we both know that wasnt true. Venezuela certainly isnt a socialist power. Polpot didnt even read Marx. It goes on and fucking on.
Also, youre really trying to credit Stalin with every revolution? Thats the same line of thinking i'd expect from an ayncrap.
>You need to set aside bourgeois propaganda about the USSR, because it's leading you to make poor analysis and bad judegments about it
Mmkay. Just gonna leave these here.
http://www.chomsky.info/articles/1986----.htm
http://www.workersliberty.org/story/2013/05/15/how-stalin-destroyed-communism by Albert Gates
GREAT book!
Link for the lazy
Oh, and if you like reading you should check out Boris Johnson's book on Churchill. Supposed to be very good! I have not read it though, but I keep seeing on the local booksellers shelves.
https://www.amazon.com/Churchill-Factor-How-Made-History/dp/1594633983/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1519170983&sr=8-1&keywords=boris+johnson
Happy Odyssey Autobiography of Adrian Carton de Wiart. As an Amazon review puts it: "He had only one hand, only one eye, and surprisingly only one Victoria Cross." A great read.
Alan Turing: The Enigma Biography, not autobiography, but a great life.
A Sort of Life Graham Greene's early life. A great writer and a great read.
He's referring to Soldier I, a book by an ex-SAS serviceman.
It wasn't that book, and I think it was published a fair bit earlier than that. Called "Soldier X" or something. The name came from his pseudonym at the inquiry into the Iranian embassy siege.
Edit: found it: "Soldier 'I' http://www.amazon.co.uk/Soldier-Iranian-Embassy-General-Military/dp/1846039959
https://www.amazon.com/Churchill-Hitler-Unnecessary-War-Britain-ebook/dp/B0011UGM3W/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
I highly recommend The Tyrannicide Brief. It's the story of the trial of the men responsible for the execution of Charles I at the end of the English Civil War. When his son, Charles II, retook the throne, he put these men on trial.
It gives a great history of the legal system at the time, and the promising reforms that were put in place under the Commonwealth, only to be ruled back after the return of the monarchy.
My favorite part had to be the story of the judge who stepped down from bench, walked to the witness stand, gave evidence, then got back on to the bench to continue trying the case.
https://www.amazon.ca/King-Zog-Self-Made-Monarch-Albania/dp/0750944390
https://www.amazon.com/Plantagenets-Warrior-Kings-Queens-England/dp/0143124927
https://www.amazon.com/Wars-Roses-Fall-Plantagenets-Tudors/dp/0143127888?ie=UTF8&ref_=asap_bc
Knights, kings, clashing houses, evil queens, battles, betrayals, bastards, marriage pacts, etc...
These may be non-fiction, but they positively reek of ASOIAF and are a good read besides.
In no particular order here are five that I've read more than once.
My Early Life Winston Churchill
Memoirs Ulysses S. Grant
The Regiment Farley Mowat Not really a complete biography, just a record of his time in WW II
The Last Lion William Manchester about Churchill
Marlborough: His Life and Times by Winston S. Churchill A four volume work by Sir Winston about his ancestor. Well sourced and after reading it, you'll understand why Winston won the Nobel for Lit.
No no, it's true:
http://www.amazon.com/Royal-Wedding-Dummies-Julian-Knight/dp/111997030X/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1300751770&sr=8-5
Stuff You Missed in History Class.
Also: many libraries offer free audiobook downloads. I quite enjoyed listening to The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher, a true story about a murder in Victorian England.
Anyone looking for a history of the science behind cholera and other deadly intestinal diseases is recommended to read The Ghost Map by Steven Johnson. The lack of sanitation in London in the mid-to-late 1800's caused a cholera epidemic that claimed a lot of lives. Makes me glad every time I discover the sanitation advance in Civ.
For Turing himself I can recommend Alan Turing: The Engima and for a wider look at the stuff he was a part of during the war The Secret Life of Bletchley Park is pretty good.
I am really interested in this book by Dan Jones, though I haven't read it yet. I really like David Starkey's "Monarchy" series and I believe Dan Jones was a student of his.
I also like this book a lot. It's a very general overview of the Monarchy but it gave me a glimpse (and pictures are always nice) into each King and Queen and those that peaked my interest, I just googled more info.
For fiction novels, I plan to read The White Queen and the series that it goes along with.
Like Churchill?
I too have read the book Elizabeth the Queen: The Life of a Modern Monarch https://www.amazon.com/dp/0812979796/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_X3XjzbZ9T6ZRZ
Link in case anyone was interested. It's a good book.
Right, I think you and I's thinking is close on this. But: were these revolutions necessary at all? The english one is more tricky, but in both cases, incremental and marginal reform were happening all along. Schama's Citizens did a lot to show how the ancien regime was not hidebound and dogmatic but was instead dynamic, and innovative. It would not have stood still all through the same time period as our own had it not fallen. There might still be screwy boundaries between departments and some other cruft in the system, but surely some minor cruft isn't a justification for killing millions as the French revolution ultimately led to.
The English revolution is more intractable, and arguably wasn't so much a revolution as an imposition of law where the king was lawless but his law said one thing ('Rex is Lex') whereas Parliament had a different law. There's a really fascinating book I recommend to people on this time period - The Tyrannicide Brief. Arguably, like the American Revolution, this wasn't a revolution in the Marxist sense - the same ruling classes still were on both sides of the conflict with the same social strata and so on. Rather, it was more a civil war where various groups were in conflict on how to rule, and ideology was more dominant than some sort of class conflict.
Another recommendation for The Ghost Map. Excellent book that reads like a detective story.
The history of the kings of britain
It doesn't matter what modern bad history book someone mention here, this medieval "history" book is worst than it.