(Part 3) Top products from r/history

Felipe Fernandez-Armesto (an Oxford professor of history) has written several books you might like.

The World - A History, a two volume work, is very well regarded in teaching circles. I have heard great things about this book, but I haven't read it myself.

I have read his Millenium - A History of the Past One Thousand Years and can highly recommend it. Looking at Amazon though, it looks like it might be out of print. He also wrote Humankind - A Brief History.

A Terrible Beauty - The People and Ideas that Shaped the Modern Mind. A History by Peter Watson may also be of interest; though it focuses exclusively on the 20th century. In it, the author attempts to provide a history of the twentieth century that does not focus on 'wars and dates', and that addresses an alarming lack of focus in many recent history books. As Watson puts it himself in the Introduction "In one recent 700-page history of the first third of the twentieth century, for example, there is no mention of relativity, of Henri Matisse or Gregor Mendel, no Ernest Rutherford, James Joyce, or Marcel Proust. No George Orwell, W.E.B. Du Bois, or Margaret Mead, no Oswald Spengler or Virgina Woolf. No Leo Szilard or Leo Hendrik Baekeland, no James Chadwick or Paul Ehrlich. No Sinclair Lewis and therefore no Babbit." (He was referring to Martin Gilbert's The Twentieth Century - Volume 1, 1900 - 1933). I highly recommend this book. Another example, but of a far more personal nature, would be Clive James's Cultural Amnesia, a fascinating collection of biographical essays on some of the 20th century's greatest thinkers, musicians, artists etc. James is justifiably famous (in the UK at least) for his prose and erudition, as well as his humourous critical columns.

Finally, the much lauded trilogy by Daniel Boorstin sounds like a good fit too. The Discovers, The Seekers and The Creators are excellent. Personally, Boorstin's style is not my favourite, but there is no arguing the value of these books; superb works of learning.

If you want more recommendations, just ask. :)

EDIT: Kenneth Clark's famous TV series Civilization may also interest you. It is primarily a history of western civilization and, by implication, a history of western art & culture. It's also from the 1970's so it is considered a little dated in some circles; Clarke certainly shows his western bias. But nevertheless, it is wonderful TV, remarkably interesting, well produced (though not HD!) and a fascinating subject.

The Making of the Atomic Bomb, by Richard Rhodes is one of my favorite books of all time, of any genre. I have yet to encounter any work of history that comes close to it.

• It reads almost like one of the great works of literature, even though it is grade A 100% history through and through (~800 pages of history in addition to almost 100 pages of notes and bibliography).
  
  
• It documents not just the scientific process that went into The Bomb, but the geo-political factors, a half-century of scientific development that made it even conceivable, and most importantly, reveals the humanity of all those involved so you see the interplay of personalities and how all that culminated in what actually happend.
  
  
• It pulls no punches when it comes to the effects of the bomb on people. Tongues of Fire was, without a doubt, the most painful chapter I have ever read in any book, history or no. My first reading I had to put it down multiple times, my body shaking, before I could continue. Even recalling that chapter as I type sends a chill through my body.
  
  And if you don't want to take my word for it, you can try...
  
  Carl Sagan - "A stirring intellectual adventure, and a clear, fast-paced and indispensable history of events on which our future depends... the book is surprising and revealing."
  
  Isaac Asimov - "Rhodes' The Making of the Atomic Bomb is the best, the richest, and the deepest description of the development of physics in the first half of the century that I have yet read, and it is certainly the most enjoyable."
  
  The back cover of my copy has praise from a number of Nobel Prize winners as well.
  
  tl;dr If you enjoy history, this is simply a must read. Political, scientific, military, and intimate personal history all in one incredibly epic tomb surrounding one of mankind's greatest and most terrible achievements.

A few titles on specific topics that seem uncovered:

• The Thirty Years War by C.W. Wedgwood -- Written in the '30s, this is still probably the best single volume on the topic (in English anyway). Fantastic place to start for anyone looking to get into a hugely significant though often overlooked conflict in European History. It was recently republished in paperback so shouldn't be too hard to come by.
  
  
• The Crusades: A History by Christopher Riley-Smith -- There are endless books on the various Crusades from an endless array of perspectives and focuses. To me, Riley-Smith is the best single volume on the whole subject. Again a great starting point for those new to the area.
  
  
• The Atlantic World: Europeans, Africans, Indians and Their Shared History, 1400-1900 by Thomas Benjamin -- This is a rather hefty work but serves as a wonderful encapsulation of the subject of Atlantic History. As is often the case in this field, particular attention is paid to the complex interconnections of economic and social exchange at various edges of the Atlantic World. For something a little more focused, The British Atlantic World, 1500-1800 by David Armitage is also great.
  
  
• Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest by Matthew Restall is an awesome take on the subject. Restall basically debunks most modern misconceptions about the conquest of South America drawing on an array of creative source material. For primary reading on the conquest of Mexico specifically, by far the most important is The Conquest of New Spain by Bernal Diaz del Castillo-- basically reads as an adventure novel.

A PEACE TO END ALL PEACE by David Fromkin. In my opinion, you should start with this before anything else. Well researched, respected in the academic community, well written. It's absolutely one of the best books on the subject, and the first place I would go.

Bonus FYI: the "redrawing" period went on from 1918-1922.

Also, this book is primarily focused on the Middle East, so you won't get as much on post-war Germany, or the African continent. But it will give you tons of context for what happened during the peace conference.

A Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East https://www.amazon.com/dp/0805088091/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_zs7iDb51WDZHF

Edit spelling.

I personally don't believe that much in hero-worship regardless, particularly in a military context, so I'm biased. Granted, if I were to sit next to Chuck Yeager or Adolf Galland, I'd probably be impressed, but the levels to which some people take it, particularly in the case of the WWII German armed forces, is pretty weird.

You can't separate the politics from the military aspect, unfortunately, even though the idea of the just-doing-their-jobs Wehrmacht is a pretty common trope (that was itself perpetuated among postwar Allied officer corps very strongly by many German officers). Despite the fact that it's a pretty tedious read, Smeiser and Davies do a great and thorough job of debunking this.

As for "who was a Nazi"...in the case of Hans-Ulrich Rudel, he was one of the most outspoken prominent Nazis I can think of among German officers.

What are the best books on Hannibal (particularly ones that may have been overlooked)?

Personally I like Lazenby's Hannibal's War (for the academically inclined) and Dodge's Hannibal (for a general audience).

EDIT:

For those interested in learning more about Hannibal, here are my top picks from books actually on my book shelf:

1. Hannibal's War by J. F. Lazenby (little dry, but well documented history)
   
2. The First Punic War: A Military History by J. F. Lazenby (can't really understand Hannibal without the prelude)
   
3. The Punic Wars by Adrian Goldsworthy (dude knows more about the Roman Army than anyone)
   
4. Hannibal by Theodore Ayrault Dodge (Dodge was a Union officer in the Civil War and wrote some great books on Hannibal, Caesar, Alexander, etc. ... probably the best companion to primary source material on a first read through -- and it's out of copyright so you can find free copies online)
   
5. Scipio Africanus: Greater Than Napoleon by B. H. Liddell Hart (was Scipio the real, and somewhat overlooked, genius of the Second Punic War?)
   
   And recommendations and from /u/gevemacd :
   
   
6. Hannibal A Hellenistic Life by Eve MacDonald (/u/gevemacd herself!)
   
7. Cannae: The Experience of Battle in the Second Punic War by Gregory Daly (I haven't read this, but the slow trapping and butchery 70,000 men on a hot day seems like a fascinating topic for history as it was actually experienced)

As a matter of fact, yes! David Fromkin wrote a wonderful book on the subject, "A Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East." It is engaging and very informative!

http://www.amazon.com/Peace-End-All-Ottoman-Creation/dp/0805088091

Modris Eksteins' Rites of Spring covers WWI but goes much further than that. It focuses much more on the cultural changes of the period you're interested in, and national psychologies. It's a great read--I highly recommend it!

Complete novice? Extra Credits.

Seconding the Podcasts from Carlin, "Punic Nightmares" and Duncan's History of Rome and Born Yesterday. Seriously, Duncan is amazing. Major history hard-on.

Also, the History Channel has a pretty fun website, and there aren't any pawnshop aliens American Trucker-Pickers.

And if you want to read something that was written a tad earlier, Appian's histories cover the Second Punic War in several sections: The Spanish Wars, The Hannibalic War in Europe, and The Punic War and Numidian Affairs about Scipio in Africa (he also writes about the First Punic War), Livy deals with the Second Punic War in chapters 21-25 and 26-30, Polybius uses the Punic Wars to extol (and for us, explain) Roman virtues and institutions, and Plutarch gives two Generals treatment in his Parallel Lives, Fabius and Flaminius.

Modern books, I liked Adrian Goldsworthy's [The Punic Wars] (http://www.amazon.com/The-Punic-Wars-Adrian-Goldsworthy/dp/0304352845), and had WAY too much fun reading this book about Scipio and this book about Hannibal in tandem.

Oh... after you're done with all/any of that you might want to go buy Rome Total War and play as the Scipii. Extra points if you download Europa Barbarorum. Rome 2 is out and presumably awesome (and EB2)

I recommend "Peace to end all Peace" By David Fromkin http://www.amazon.com/Peace-End-All-Ottoman-Creation/dp/0805088091

do yourself a favor and read "A World Undone"

this book is an amazing look at ww1 and the individuals that drove the war... I studied WW1 in college (history major) and this book stands out as one of my all time favorites.

Try The Rise and Fall of Great Powers by Paul Kennedy. It was writen in the early 80's before the fall of the soviet union so it has some dated world views, but it offers a great narrative of how the world power structure we know today evolved over the centuries from the 1500's.

http://www.amazon.com/American-Nations-History-Regional-Cultures/dp/0143122029/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1370907077&sr=8-1&keywords=american+nations

You seem to be asking for something that is larger in scope than the topics that this book covers, but it's an interesting history of the American political system. It discusses why certain states and regions vote the way they do, going back to colonial allegiances and the national origins of the original settlers.

Boorstin's The Discoverers. http://www.amazon.com/Discoverers-Daniel-J-Boorstin/dp/0394726251

It's a history of science and exploration, with (IIRC) just enough reference to war and politics so you get some context (or at least have your interest piqued). It is formatted as a collection of relatively brief essays, with each essay about a person, place or significant deveopment, so it is good for bathroom reading, or for reading straight through.

Also, Grun's Timetables of History makes a good companion for this or any other reading you do.

http://books.simonandschuster.com/Timetables-of-History/Bernard-Grun/9780743270038

It really is just a very large table (hundreds of pages) divided by era and year along the vertical axis, and region along the horizontal axis, so you can see the major events in the world around a specific time. It includes Asian and African history, so it is more than Western European/American-centric. It is NOT very detailed -- its goal is to provide broad context.

I would also highly recommend Adolf Hitler by John Toland It's massive but great.

https://www.amazon.com/Rise-Fall-Great-Powers/dp/0679720197

I read this as a freshman in college. Its a good starting point. Feel free to skim the many charts and graphs and just stay with the narrative. Very comprehensive

A World Undone ( http://www.amazon.com/World-Undone-Story-Great-1914/dp/0553382403/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1325016559&sr=8-1 ) is a phenomenal one-volume account of WWI. Just enough details to be really interesting, but not so high-level as to be dry. It's well written and very readable. Plus, it includes small, side chapters that help explain the history and historical context of events of the main chapters. It's really a phenomenal read.

First, the city of Rome is quite different from the empire. For hundreds of years, Rome was first a kingdom, then a republic, but it became an empire under Augustus (who ruled from 30 B.C to 14 A.D.).

Traditionally, the founding of the city of Rome was dated to 753 B.C. Two brothers, Romulus and Remus (who were allegedly left by the riverside and nursed by a she-wolf) grew up and decided to found a city. They quarreled over where the site should be, and fought. Romulus killed his brother Remus, founded the city, and became the first king of Rome. Seven kings ruled Rome from 753 B.C. until 509 B.C., when the last king Tarquin the Proud was overthrown and Rome became a republic.

Now, our primary source for the early history of Rome is Livy, who lived from 59 B.C. to 17 A.D. and wrote a 142 book history of Rome. 35 of these books have survived, and books 1-5 cover Rome from its founding up to 390 B.C.

Here is his Wikipedia article:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Livy

And here you can buy his early history: http://www.amazon.com/Livy-Early-History-Penguin-Classics/dp/0140448098

However, a lot of questions have been raised about how reliable Livy is. He was writing hundreds of years after the beginning of Rome, and we don't know very much about his sources. Did he have access to historical records from the era of the kings and the early republic? Was he simply relating myths and folk tales about early Rome? We don't know for sure, and a many historians have argued (and are still arguing) about this.

To add to this, recently archaeologists have found evidence of a Roman wall and pottery fragments that date from 850 B.C. or even before that. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/13/archaelogists-find-rome-century-older-than-thought

Rome was probably originally just a good place for traders and travelers to cross the river. As commerce grew, a village sprang up on a couple of the hills, and that village slowly grew into a town, which then grew into a small city.

Sources: Livy's "The Early History of Rome."

Anthony Everitt: "The Rise of Rome: The Making of the World's Greatest Empire."

Yes, definitely! But at least at the beginning, it seems like the release of these disease was unintentional (versus the plague blankets that came later). From what I read, the initial plague vectors were fishermen off the coast of New England (possibly Brits or Portuguese) and from early Spanish explorers. Further, the original British plan for colonization was similar to that of the Spanish in the south- conquer, put the natives to work, extract resources back to the UK. But that fell apart due to the plunge in native populations and their decentralized governments (compared to South America).

Anyway, I'm not an expert on this subject, this is just what I remember reading in Why Nations Fail (https://www.amazon.com/Why-Nations-Fail-Origins-Prosperity/dp/0307719227).

This guy sums it up: https://www.quora.com/If-the-British-had-colonized-Central-South-America-and-the-Spanish-colonized-North-America-would-the-social-and-economic-development-situation-be-the-opposite-of-what-it-is-today

No it doesn't prove anything of the sort. The original budget was not $6000, the letter Szilard convinced Einstein to write to Roosevelt about the possibility of developing an fission bomb was sent in 1939 - you don't write the president if you think you need $6000. It was clear from very early on that the project would be astronomically expensive.

Excellent book on the whole story -

http://www.amazon.com/Making-Atomic-Bomb-Richard-Rhodes/dp/0684813785

I enjoyed Scipio Africanus: Greater Than Napoleon.

For those interested in a good read about The Somme, check out John Keegan's The Face of Battle.

https://www.amazon.com/Face-Battle-Study-Agincourt-Waterloo/dp/0140048979

If you're looking for a history of the experience of British women and civilians A Testament of Youth is a good read.

Now if you're looking for military history Alistair Horne's The Price of Glory is an incredibly detailed account of the largest battle of the great war. I can't recommend this book enough, it's also part of a three book set that deals with France and Germany's relationship over the years you're looking at.

Finally if you'd like something a little more out there The Rites of Spring is a good book.

Well, you could try Livy's first few books. Livy is pretty readable.

It’s heavy on the ancient; before the Greeks & Romans, though at the peak of Egypt. But, 1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed is a really cool book about the really ancient world, & how the different civilizations interconnected & dealt with each other & how the whole thing came crashing down during the Bronze Age collapse.

The author has also done a video giving the short hand account of things if you want a kind of preview:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRcu-ysocX4

http://www.amazon.com/On-Killing-Psychological-Learning-Society/dp/0316040932

Great book, even if it's not exactly what you're looking for.

The Raise and Fall of the Great Powers by Paul Kennedy

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0679720197/

The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers
http://www.amazon.com/The-Rise-Fall-Great-Powers/dp/0679720197

In there somewhere.

John Dower's Embracing Defeat anwers these quesitons in a good amount of detail with an understanding of Japanese culture and perspective. It's a great read.

https://www.amazon.com/Embracing-Defeat-Japan-Wake-World/dp/0393320278

Wonderful book. https://www.amazon.com/1177-B-C-Civilization-Collapsed-Turning/dp/0691168385

The last kingdom by Bernard Cornwall. Excellent fictional account of the Viking invasion and the old English push to throw them out http://www.amazon.com/Last-Kingdom-Saxon-Chronicles-Series/dp/0060887184

Hi, "Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II" deals with this very subject and talks about the five years immediately following the surrender. It is a fascinating book and won the Pulitzer. I read it in conjunction with "Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945" that deals a bit more expansively with the same subject in Europe and also won the Pulitzer. I cannot recommend either enough.

King Leopold's Ghost by Adam Hochschild is really good. Its about the Belgian King's rule over the Congo.

We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our Families: Stories from Rwanda by Philip Gourevich is an account of the Rwandan Genocide of '94.

That's more recent history, but the fact is little is written about pre-colonial Africa (not dealing with Egypt). I haven't read much, but I'm sure theres some decent readings about the Mali Empire (maybe start with Mansa Musa?).

Hap hap hello there! I am a bot and you linked to Amazon.

This comment contains 1 pricing graph(s)

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Product 1: The Last Kingdom (The Saxon Chronicles Series #1) (0060887184)

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I highly recommend the books by Bernard Cornwell, called the Saxon Series beginning with The Last Kingdom

edit: fixed link

I specialize in the Eastern Front of WWII and I posted this list before, but here it is again separated by various 'subject fields' that I would recommend.

General accounts:

http://www.amazon.com/When-Titans-Clashed-Stopped-Studies/dp/0700608990/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1291153455&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/Russia-War-1941-1945-Alexander-Werth/dp/0786707224/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1291153464&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/Thunder-East-Nazi-Soviet-1941-1945-Modern/dp/0340613920/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1291153476&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/Absolute-War-Soviet-Russia-Vintage/dp/0375724710/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1291153500&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/Hitlers-War-East-1941-1945-Assessment/dp/1845455010/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1291154610&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/Road-Stalingrad-Cassell-Military-Paperbacks/dp/0304365416/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1291154642&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/Stalins-Germany-Cassell-Military-Paperbacks/dp/0304365408/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1291154651&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/Writer-War-Soviet-Journalist-1941-1945/dp/0307275337/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1291155429&sr=8-1-spell

If you're interested in memoirs I'd suggest:

http://www.amazon.com/Blood-Shores-Viktor-Leonov/dp/0804107327/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1291153160&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/Over-Abyss-Ilya-Grigo-Starinov/dp/0804109524/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1291155091&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/Red-Sniper-Eastern-Front-Pilyushin/dp/1848841205/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1291153218&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/GUNS-AGAINST-REICH-Memoirs-Artillery/dp/1844159310/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1291153235&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/PANZER-DESTROYER-Memoirs-Army-Commander/dp/1844159515/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1291153218&sr=8-5

http://www.amazon.com/Through-Maelstrom-Soldiers-Eastern-1942-1945/dp/0700616055/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1291153262&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/RED-ROAD-STALINGRAD-Recollections-Infantryman/dp/184415145X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1291153594&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/Red-Star-Against-Swastika-Eastern/dp/1853676497/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1291154848&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/Penalty-Strike-Commander-Stackpole-Military/dp/0811735990/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1291153274&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/BUT-NOT-FUEHRER-Helmut-Jung/dp/1414034458/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1291153385&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/Through-Hell-Hitler-Henry-Metelmann/dp/1932033203/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1291153401&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/Stranger-Myself-Inhumanity-Russia-1941-1944/dp/B000INB00S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1291153579&sr=8-1

Barbarossa:

http://www.amazon.com/War-Without-Garlands-Barbarossa-1941/dp/1885119712/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1291154897&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/BARBAROSSA-DERAILED-SEPTEMBER-Encirclement-Counteroffensives/dp/1906033722/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1291154932&sr=8-3

http://www.amazon.com/Operation-Barbarossa-Germanys-Cambridge-Histories/dp/0521768470/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1291154932&sr=8-4

http://www.amazon.com/What-Stalin-Knew-Enigma-Barbarossa/dp/030011981X/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&qid=1291154932&sr=8-15

http://www.amazon.com/War-Annihilation-Genocide-Eastern-Perspectives/dp/0742544826/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1291154969&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/Germany-Second-World-War-Attack/dp/0198228864/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1291155069&sr=8-1

For Stalingrad/Leningrad:

http://www.amazon.com/STALINGRAD-Army-Survived-German-Onslaught/dp/1932033726/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1291153298&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/Leningrad-State-Siege-Michael-Jones/dp/0465011535/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1291153298&sr=8-2

http://www.amazon.com/Enemy-at-Gates-Battle-Stalingrad/dp/1568523688/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1291153218&sr=8-6

http://www.amazon.com/Armageddon-Stalingrad-September-November-Trilogy-Studies/dp/0700616640/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1291153365&sr=8-3-fkmr1

http://www.amazon.com/Stopped-Stalingrad-Luftwaffe-Hitlers-1942-1943/dp/0700611460/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1291153419&sr=8-1-spell

http://www.amazon.com/900-Days-Siege-Leningrad/dp/0306812983/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1291153517&sr=8-1

Kursk:

http://www.amazon.com/Battle-Kursk-David-M-Glantz/dp/0700613358/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1291154515&sr=8-1

(When it comes out) http://www.amazon.com/Demolishing-Myth-Prokhorovka-Operational-Narrative/dp/1906033897/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1291154515&sr=8-2

Air War:

http://www.amazon.com/Barbarossa-Air-Battle-July-December-1941/dp/1857802705/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_5

http://www.amazon.com/Stalingrad-Air-Battle-1942-January-1943/dp/1857802764/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_4

http://www.amazon.com/Kursk-Air-Battle-July-1943/dp/1903223881/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_2

http://www.amazon.com/Bagration-Berlin-Final-Battles-1944-1945/dp/1903223911/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_6

http://www.amazon.com/Black-Cross-Red-Star-Barbarossa/dp/0935553487/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1291154679&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/Black-Cross-Red-Star-January-June/dp/0935553517/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1291154679&sr=8-3

http://www.amazon.com/Black-Cross-Red-Star-Eastern/dp/0976103443/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1291154679&sr=8-2

German Army:

http://www.amazon.com/War-Extermination-Military-Studies-Gemocide/dp/1571814930/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1291153628&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/Hitlers-Army-Soldiers-Nazis-Third/dp/0195079035/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1291153651&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/Myth-Eastern-Front-Nazi-Soviet-American/dp/0521712319/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1291153681&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/Wehrmacht-History-Myth-Reality/dp/0674025776/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1291153690&sr=8-1

Partisans:

http://www.amazon.com/Defiance-Nechama-Tec/dp/0195376854/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1291154794&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/Stalins-Guerrillas-Soviet-Partisans-Studies/dp/070061480X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1291154812&sr=8-1

Daniel Boorstin writes very well about this. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0394726251/ref=pd_aw_sbs_b_1

Scipio , he face HANNIBAL and defeated him and Carthage. Also, I recommend book by B.H Liddell Hart http://amzn.to/2l4sw1S which goes to an in-depth analysis of the tactics and strategies of Scipio. IMHO, Scipio is better.

Not an article, but King Leopold's Ghost is a great book, as is The Congo: From Leopold to Kabila

Or if you have an hour to kill White King, Red Rubber, Black Death is a very well made documentary.

That video is just some excerpt of John Perkins' book, Confessions of an Economic Hitman.
I have read the book some long time ago, and whether you believe it or not, the techniques are plausible and the facts check out.

For instance, Indonesia is reeling from a dictatorship (1965-2008) installed by the CIA for fear that the former President was leaning towards Moscow, and thus communism. As part of that deal, Freeport-McMoran mining company of Texas got to exploit a huge swath of Eastern Indonesia for gold and nickel, for decades, with single-digit percentage for the Indonesian people.

The projected value of the mine Is MULTIPLE times the parent company net worth.

> No he wasn't.
> He was gassed. Once.
> He also didn't have an abusive childhood.

Whoever I was replying to with that said he was shot.

Probably THE definitive book on Hitler: https://www.amazon.ca/Adolf-Hitler-Definitive-John-Toland/dp/0385420536/ref=sr_1_sc_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1483118512&sr=8-2-spell&keywords=tolland+hitler

It's on audible as well.

http://www.amazon.com/Face-Battle-Study-Agincourt-Waterloo/dp/0140048979

You'll never go wrong with John Keegan

You can't go wrong with Livy:

http://www.amazon.com/Livy-Early-History-Penguin-Classics/dp/0140448098

I highly recommend reading the Agincourt chapter of John Keegan's "The Face of Battle". Keegan talks about what a French soldier would have experienced on an individual level, something that was largely absent from discussions of warfare before Keegan wrote this book in the early 1970s.

It predates modern politics by quite a bit, at least in my understanding. I've read Albion's Seed and American Nations, and from my understanding Appalachia and the Scots-Irish culture, plus the Deep South, have always supported war. All of them. The South is also saddled with a culture of honor, and, having been raised in Texas, I can say you lose serious face walking away from a fight.

We like to attribute the contemptuousness towards education as an outgrowth of their poverty, but I think the reverse is true. And I think the contempt for education comes from all the admiration going to "men of action," soldiers, fighters, etc. If you have to distinguish yourself with books and fancy words, you probably can't fight. Or worse, you're afraid to.

There are a lot of examples of kings and monarchs who led their armies, but just having finished reading CV Wedgwood's The Thirty Years War I can't help but think of Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden. In the context of the Thirty Years War he's definitely a singular character among a wide cast of interesting characters.

After the collapse of Bronze Age civilization in the Med basin, there was an interregnum that lasted until about 900BC. Athens and other Greek communities were part of an area-wide renaissance and though Athens proper was small it eventually had an outsized impact as it became an economic powerhouse that ruled over a wide area. As the economies of the area recovered, Athens succeeded more than most and money is what pays for a wide range of elevated arts and sciences such as those you listed.

Eventually, War and Pestilence came for mighty Athens but by then the histories had been written.

http://www.amazon.ca/Adolf-Hitler-Definitive-John-Toland/dp/0385420536/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1413555276&sr=1-2

IMO you're looking for the book, "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man" by John Perkins.

https://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Economic-Hit-John-Perkins/dp/0452287081

The idea that the Wehrmacht engaged in an honourable war and the SS committed the atrocities is known as the "clean wehrmacht myth". There's lots of books and sources available, some good starting points would be https://www.amazon.com/The-Myth-Eastern-Front-Nazi-Soviet/dp/0521712319 and https://www.amazon.com/War-Extermination-Military-Studies-Genocide/dp/1571814930

There's also a wikipedia page that might be more accessible on the "clean wehrmacht myth". The gist is that we needed allies for the war against communism, so we rehabilitated the German Army and let them have a scapegoat. We literally let them write the history of the war in the East.

Eric Carle wrote 1177 BC; The Year Civilization Collapsed. He covers a lot of history leading into and resulting from the collapse. In those discussions, he relates a very interesting theory on the sacking of Priam's Troy and why.

I read that civilians came around at night after the battle of Waterloo looting corpses and the wounded and even murdering some of them first.

I suggest reading this for anyone interested in first hand accounts from the Napoleonic wars

This is supposed to be good - The Thirty Years War - CV Wedgwood

As far as being hesitant about killing fellow countrymen there is an interesting section of the book "On killing" that deals just with that.

The book said the accuracy of shots in battle was something like 60% less accurate than the norm. It also talked about the increasing accuracy and willingness to kill over the years as the military progressed to targets that looked more and more human-like.

Not all history but very interesting read.

http://www.amazon.com/Killing-Psychological-Cost-Learning-Society/dp/0316040932

The translations are well written. I read a couple of his books on the early history of Rome for one of my college courses. This is one of the ones we read. He died shortly after the reign of Augustus (the first), and into the beginning of Tiberius.

Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty

> Why Nations Fail

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Why_Nations_Fail

https://www.amazon.com/Why-Nations-Fail-Origins-Prosperity/dp/0307719227

http://whynationsfail.com/summary/

The Shame of the Cities by Lincoln Steffens. A muckraking book about urban corruption in the gilded age.

Embracing Defeat by John W. Dower. Insights into the American occupation of Post WWII Japan.

Homeward Bound by Elaine Tyler May. A close examination of American life during the Cold War era.

In Pharaoh's Army by Tobias Wolff. Absolutely fantastic first person account of the Vietnam War. Better even, than "The Things They Carried."

There's a book called: A Peace to end all Peace
http://www.amazon.com/Peace-End-All-Ottoman-Creation/dp/0805088091

It was a great book and helped me have a decent understanding of how the West screwed over rebelling Muslims during WWI which eventually led to the conflict we see today. It doesn't directly reference Hamas but it talks about why the Middle East is screwed up and tensions between the Jews and Arabs following WWI.

https://www.amazon.com/Killing-Psychological-Cost-Learning-Society/dp/0316040932
This book talks about the natural aversion we have when killing another human and the study they did after WWII and how they learned to train today's soldiers to kill more effectively. The main method is the use of life-like targets from silhouettes to mannequins. Also the use of video like games for training, they learned this from the kids who played "Duck Hunt". The kids who grew up playing "Duck Hunt" significantly cut the learning curve how to shoot a pistol and hitting the target.

I will just refer you to The book "On Killing" it's 400 pages long. I tried to get a digest of the main points.

Here is a link

On Killing is required reading at the FBI Academy and is on the United States Marine Corps' recommended reading list. If you don't want to - Here is a short review with counter-points.

Good Resources is King Leopold's Ghost. http://www.amazon.com/King-Leopolds-Ghost-Heroism-Colonial/dp/0618001905

To get more into it. It was the Age of Colonization and the Carving up of Africa. As the major powers took chunks for the nation for themselves King Leopold decided he wanted a part of the action.

He paid explorers to chart of the Congo River and claimed a large swath of land along it. He was competing with France to his North, and Germans to the East.

It is important to note that the Congo Free State started not as a Belguian colony but as King Leopold's personal colony. He exploited the lands for Ivory and later Rubber by essential enslaving the natives in their own homeland. Those that didn't make quotas had their hands cut off. The population in the Congo crashed, and it is general considered the 4th worst destruction of human life after the Holocaust, Stalin's Soviet Union and Mao's Communist China

The book Heart of Darkness is written about what Joseph Conrad saw when he visited.

Eventually as people learned of the atrocities King Leopold was forced to turn it over to the Belgium nation. When they took over Missionary school and other more "civilized" systems were set up, but the exploitation continued in a slightly less extreme way.

Pretty much, yeah. His intent was basically to have minesweepers clear the straight, battleships bombard the coastal guns and enter into the harbor of Istanbul with enough firepower to force a surrender (it almost certainly would have).

The problem was that - after clearing the forts and the Ottoman guns almost entirely running out of ammo, supplies, and communications - a single Ottoman mine layer got through some pretty lax night time patrols. It layed some mines and scampered off; those mines sunk a couple of battleships and damaged others.

These ships were specifically chosen because they were old and expendable. Iirc Churchill thought along the lines that if every single ship under the admiral's command had been lost but Constantinople were captured it would have been a great victory.

Unfortunately, due to having been at peace for so long, the naval commanders were terrified of losing ships. In peacetime it meant demotion and disgrace, but in war it was neccessary, and that's something that didn't translate well after literally lifetimes of no naval warfare. As soon as the battleships retreated due to relatively light losses at a point in the battle in which the Turks later admitted they literally could not have stopped another push, the naval campaign ended. To add to this debacle out of Churchill's hands, the naval commander had a nervous breakdown when Churchill pressed him to continue attacking.

Once the sea battle ended another began: there was an internal fight over where a prepared expeditionary force in the Mediterranean (which included the only pre-war combat troops not decimated by the Western Front) would be used to try and force Gallipoli by land or attack another, French-supported location.

Gallipoli won out, there were weeks and weeks of delays, a German military attaché completely reworked the Dardanelles' defenses, Churchill got less troops than he asked for, the commander was a bit of a dolt, the landings were completely botched in both location and execution, and so Gallipoli became as much a trench-filled disaster as everywhere else. Some months later, the Allies pulled out.

If you like the era, check out G. J. Meyer's A World Undone. It's a fantastic and total account of World War I and Gallipoli gets at least a chapter devoted to it. It reads like an actual book rather than a dusty old historian's textbook and is truly fantastic, and I cannot recommend it enough.

Since we were breaking their codes, we knew that Japanese high command believed that "since it took us 4 years to build the first nuclear weapon, then it would take 4 years to build the second one." They knew that Hiroshima was hit by a nuclear weapon because they had 2 separate nuclear weapon programs. When they surrendered, the 3rd nuclear bomb was being flown from San Diego to Honolulu.

I recommend reading the 2 books by Richard Rhodes:
The Making of the Atomic Bomb which describes the various nuclear bomb projects underway during WW2 and after.
Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb. While more about the separate hydrogen bomb projects, it includes details from what used to be the Soviet Union's archives after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The first book described how the Japanese knew Hiroshima was destroyed by an atomic bomb - the head of the Tokyo based bomb project was rushed to Hiroshima later that day and he recognized what was going on, especially when confirmed by radioactivity.

Honestly I would start with the U.S. Civil War.

Then work your way backwards in time from the Civil War, tracing the events (cultural and political) that led to the Civil War. This will eventually include the 3/5ths compromise in the Constitution, as well as a discussion of the cultural differences between the different original colonies, such as those outlined in Up in Arms, a review of American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America. Deep diving into the Antebellum period also will take you by the history of everything from how the US was formed, the revolutionary war (which slammed multiple very different cultures together against a common foe), to the impact of slavery, the economics of the North's industry and the South's plantations, and how things like the Cotton Gin gave southern slavery a second life.

Antebellum compromises even shaped the northern and southern borders of the United States. The South didn't want the North to push upwards into Canada (and add more free states, upsetting the balance between Free and Slave states), just as the North stopped a Southern push into Mexico and central America for the same reason.

Also, working your way forward from the Civil War, you can trace the threads from a shortened southern Reconstruction period, as well as an increased impetus towards westward expansion driven by an economy left in ruins. (Interesting fact: in terms of absolute numbers more American died during the Civil War than in all other wars America was involved with, including World Wars I and II--combined.)

Tracing forward from the Civil War you can see the effects of a failed Reconstruction on racism, eventually leading to the Civil Rights Movement 100 years later, as well as subtexts of racism on everything from the how we handled the Great Depression to our involvement in World Wars I and II.

If you also look at the U.S.'s approach to military affairs, you can also see it sharply echoed in how we fought the Civil War. And that warrior culture has painted U.S. attitudes towards foreign wars and even underlies the irony of a population that, as soon as the shooting starts, becomes extremely patriotic.

tl;dr: I really think the U.S. Civil War is an extremely important event in U.S. history, and a lot of U.S. history prior to the Civil War and afterwards can be framed in terms of the Civil War itself.

Edit: stupid typos.