Recommend good history books

[Muuri]

Here we can recommend good history books and ask for recommendations

Currently I'm interested in history of south and southeast Asia, particularly in India, Pakistan and Indonesia.

Any tips where to start from?

Click to read more...

 

[LadyStanley]

David McCullough is a great historical writer.

I was introduced to him via "Between the Seas" about the building of the Panama Canal.

 

[WarriorOfGandhi]

my favorite book on Pakistani history is called Shopping for Bombs. It's the story of a low-profile nuclear engineer named AQ Khan who stole the technical specifications for enriching uranium to weapons-grade while working with European nuclear firms. Once he smuggled the plans back to his homeland, he provided Pakistan with the know-how to build the nuclear bomb they so badly desired to act as a deterrent to India's nukes (a former Pakistani president said the people will "eat grass" if that's what it takes to build a nuke). After the successful test, Khan became a celebrity in his home country and then organized a trade network within rogue states that made him a millionaire, selling the technology to Iran, North Korea, Libya, and possibly Iraq. The book goes into great detail on how many US and western intelligence agencies never even knew he existed until he became too big to possibly ignore. It's basically the true-to-life story of a James Bond villain if not for the fact that Khan technically never broke any laws and is, by all accounts, a generous and nice fella.

 

[Sevanston]

I'm currently reading The Middle East: A Brief History of the Last 2000 Years by Bernard Lewis and loving it.

The title says it all, but so far I'm really enjoying that he's talking about the Middle East as a single coherent and diverse region. It's not a brief history of the Arabic, solely Islamic, not-Byzantine, not-Persian Middle East, which is too often how the subject is presented.

 

[No Fun Shogun]

Not your area of focus, but I'd recommend Ian W. Toll's Six Frigates to anybody. Essentially about the foundation of the United States Navy, the politics of building our first real fleet, initial conflicts with France in the Quasi-War and the Barbary pirates, and the lead up to the War of 1812.

Thoroughly entertaining and engrossing. Think history buffs and newcomers would both love it.

 

[Beef Invictus]

I recommend:

1453: The Holy War for Constantinople and the Clash of Islam and the West

http://www.amazon.com/1453-Holy-Con...1?ie=UTF8&qid=1413309633&sr=8-1&keywords=1453

Don't be thrown off by a title that looks just horrible . It's a really easy read. Short, but still manages to give you sufficient background information to understand both sides.


I also recommend:

Hero: The Life and Legend of Lawrence of Arabia

http://www.amazon.com/Hero-Legend-L...09721&sr=1-2&keywords=hero+lawrence+of+arabia

TE Lawrence is best described as a "generational talent" in the parlance of HF Boards.

 

[ghosted plover]

This is an amazing comparative study on ancient Indian and Greek thought. Though centered on thought, of necessity it addresses the ongoing activities and events that facilitated the exchanges. Worth considering if you have a philosophical bent.

 

[Garo]

I'm currently reading The Middle East: A Brief History of the Last 2000 Years by Bernard Lewis and loving it.

Edward Said disapproves.

 

[Sevanston]

Edward Said disapproves.

Western propaganda is best propaganda.

 

[Beef Invictus]

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown...tizes-ancient-manuscripts-shares-free-charge/

Woo! Vatican Library is being digitized.

 

[NyQuil]

So much for that library scene in Angels and Demons.

 

[Stjonnypopo]

I read a book called A Clockwork Universe which tells the story of how modern math and science came to be. It starts way back when and goes into detail on Newton vs. Leibniz argument on who invented calculus. Very interesting read.

 

[LadyStanley]

The Little Ice Age: How Climate Made History 1300-1850 by Brian M. Fagan

Recommended by one of my favorite authors. Just from the title, looks interesting.

 

[Dave]

r/AskHistorians/wiki/books

Maybe something in there for someone.

 

[IWD]

More of a natural history of life on earth, but my favourite book is the Ancestor's Tale by Richard Dawkins. It's narrated in the same way that Chaucer narrated the Canterbury Tales. Except in this book, the pilgrimage is to meet the common ancestor of all life, and every "rendezvous" point with other pilgrims (other groups that broke off from our lineage) show the phylogenetic tree of that "concestor" group.

 

[Vyacheslav]

Stalin: the Court of the Red Tsar by Simon Sebag Montefiore

A People's Tragedy: The Russian Revolution 1891-1924 by Orlando Figes

Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader: North Korea and the Kim dynasty by Bradley Martin

The War Lovers: Roosevelt, Lodge, Hearst and the Rush to Empire, 1898 by Evan Thomas

That's what I happen to have lying around the desk right now.

I also own the 1453 book that Beefy recommended, it is a good read.

 

[Oscar Acosta]

Off the top of my head one I particularily enjoyed was Khrushchev Remembers an autobiography which he claims he did not write but clearly did. Gives another side to history that we don't generally get in the Western world from WWII to the Cold War and his rise and fall from power.

Picked it up at a flea market on a whim but it was well worth it.

 

[bluesfan94]

I recommend A History of the World in Six Glasses and Salt

 

[RustyCat]

Sleepwalkers: How Europe went to war in 1914 by Christopher Clark is excellent

Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing is by far the most unbelievable book I have read.

Would recommend both of these.

 

[LT]

Could we perhaps start a new thread about good books of any academic topic, as opposed to just history?

 

[EastEnderVan]

Adam J Tooze - The Deluge: The Great War, America and the Remaking of the Global Order, 1916-1931.

Tooze is an Economic Historian but one I find readable and his insights actually help to explain the causes and consequences of World War One, which haunt us to this day.

Gore Vidal - Burr.

This is a Novel, so not a strict history text, but it's an interesting alternative look at the American Revolution, showing the incompetence and hypocrisy of historical figures that are now revered. Vidal's writing is very funny and well researched.

 

[jdhebner]

Dan Harris writes an excellent Analytical Chemistry Textbook.

Here

 

[bluesfan94]

Adam J Tooze - The Deluge: The Great War, America and the Remaking of the Global Order, 1916-1931.

Tooze is an Economic Historian but one I find readable and his insights actually help to explain the causes and consequences of World War One, which haunt us to this day.

Gore Vidal - Burr.

This is a Novel, so not a strict history text, but it's an interesting alternative look at the American Revolution, showing the incompetence and hypocrisy of historical figures that are now revered. Vidal's writing is very funny and well researched.

This is an oxymoron.

 

[LadyStanley]

Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow -- the book that inspired the musical

 

[Mrb1p]

Can we have this thread about great science book also? Create a new one? Merge it?