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Thread: What history book are you reading or planning to read?/ The history bookreview thread

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    Speaker of Truth Senior Member Moros's Avatar
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    Default What history book are you reading or planning to read?/ The history bookreview thread

    A bit of topic perhaps, but still interesting as it might give people some ideas on what to read next and to compare each other opinions on certain books. Though we shouldn't go to far with the latter not to derail the thread too much of course. Of course the EBI forums still have the bibliography threads which has many good suggestions and where you can still give your recommendations. But it's a bit dead and doesn't have exact the same use. Also the EB II forum could always use more off topic thread that actually content-wise have something to offer, at least I think.

    Personally I'm working on a paper on the revolution of Judah Maccabee and hence I've been looking up a lot in quite a few books. But the only one I'm really actually reading of those is Jews, Idumaeans, and Ancient Arabs by Aryeh Kasher, as it touches more of my pet subject; the Ancient Arabians. Though I'm not done with it yet it looks like a good book, though I do feel like the author likes to see the positive things in the Hasmoneans a bit too much. Still it has good information on a topic which he is right to call a bit neglected.

    This Summer I'm thinking of reading:
    The last pharaohs : Egypt under the Ptolemies, 305 - 30 B by Joseph Gilbert Manning, which has recieved some good reviews.
    I also noticed another book in the new addition shelf of our Library about Pyrrhus: Pyrrhus of Epirus, by Jeff Champion. Though I'm not sure if it is any good.

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    COYATOYPIKC Senior Member Flatout Minigame Champion Arjos's Avatar
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    Default Re: What history book are you reading or planning to read?/ The history bookreview th

    Reading "Celts: History and Civilization" by Venceslas Kruta and very slowly reading "The Persian Empire" by Amélie Kuhrt...

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    Default Re: What history book are you reading or planning to read?/ The history bookreview th

    please let me know your impressions on the Pyrrhus book, he is a very fascinating character to me. I just have Plutarch's story of him

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    Speaker of Truth Senior Member Moros's Avatar
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    Default Re: What history book are you reading or planning to read?/ The history bookreview th

    Quote Originally Posted by fomalhaut View Post
    please let me know your impressions on the Pyrrhus book, he is a very fascinating character to me. I just have Plutarch's story of him
    If I get to reading it, I will post my opinion and stuff.

  5. #5

    Default Re: What history book are you reading or planning to read?/ The history bookreview th

    I just got into "The Victors and the Vanquished: Christians and Muslims of Catalonia and Aragon, 1050-1300" Cambridge University Press, 2004 and so far its interesting. Not really the EB time period but still... if anyone has some recommendations of books on Iberia or Roman Hispania I'd be interested.

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    Speaker of Truth Senior Member Moros's Avatar
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    Default Re: What history book are you reading or planning to read?/ The history bookreview th

    Quote Originally Posted by Ichon View Post
    I just got into "The Victors and the Vanquished: Christians and Muslims of Catalonia and Aragon, 1050-1300" Cambridge University Press, 2004 and so far its interesting. Not really the EB time period but still... if anyone has some recommendations of books on Iberia or Roman Hispania I'd be interested.
    As far as I'm concerned books posted here shouldn't need to be from the time period. I'd wish I could anwser your question, but alas I've never really read books specifically on Roman Iberia or other Iberian history.

    The EB bibliography recommends the following three books though:
    The Romans in Spain, 217 BC – AD 117, C.H.V. Sutherland
    Roman Spain: Conquest and Assimilation, Leonard A. Curchin
    Hispaniae: Spain and the Development of Roman Imperialism, 218-82 BC, J. S. Richardson

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    Default Re: What history book are you reading or planning to read?/ The history bookreview th

    Quote Originally Posted by Moros View Post
    If I get to reading it, I will post my opinion and stuff.
    reading a pretty nice review on amazon seems to put it in high regard, apparently the author constantly notes the limitations of each sources and doesn't put Pyrrhus on any pedestal (of note is that the other review saw the not constant praise of the eagle as a bad thing :P )

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    Speaker of Truth Senior Member Moros's Avatar
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    Default Re: What history book are you reading or planning to read?/ The history bookreview th

    Quote Originally Posted by fomalhaut View Post
    reading a pretty nice review on amazon seems to put it in high regard, apparently the author constantly notes the limitations of each sources and doesn't put Pyrrhus on any pedestal (of note is that the other review saw the not constant praise of the eagle as a bad thing :P )
    Hmmm that's indeed always a positive thing.

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    COYATOYPIKC Senior Member Flatout Minigame Champion Arjos's Avatar
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    Default Re: What history book are you reading or planning to read?/ The history bookreview th

    Oh any time period?
    Then I just finished The Vikings by Else Roesdahl, quite a nice read...

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    Default Re: What history book are you reading or planning to read?/ The history bookreview th

    A critical history of early Rome; Gary Forsythe
    Vulnerat omnes, ultima necat



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    Default Re: What history book are you reading or planning to read?/ The history bookreview th

    if historical romances count ... (well do they ? )

    last one i read pertaining these subjects was mythology in the ancient world can´t remember the author but basically deals with the diferent pantheons of gods from ancient cultures around the world

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    Member Member geala's Avatar
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    Default Re: What history book are you reading or planning to read?/ The history bookreview th

    I usually read some books in parallel. I'm just reading "A war like no other" by V.D. Hanson, "Reinstating the Hoplite" by A. Schwartz and "Weapons and Warfare in Renaissance Europe" by B.S. Hall (a very good book with a very misleading title). And some German books (presumably of less interest for the most ), one about the house and family in ancient Greece and one with new studies about early and high medieval fortifications.
    The queen commands and we'll obey
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    Member Member M to the A's Avatar
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    Default Re: What history book are you reading or planning to read?/ The history bookreview th

    - The Celts, the history of a European people - John Haywood
    Some basic history

    - The Celts, history and culture treasures of an ancient civilization - Daniele Vitali
    Nice pictures :P

    - The making of the Slavs, history and archaeology of the lower Danube region c. 500-700 - Florin Curta
    Not sure what to think of that one. It says that the book offers an alternative approach to the problem of Slavic ethnicity in south-eastern Europe between c. 500 and c. 700, from the perspective of current anthropological theories. Didn't start reading it yet so guess I'll see
    Politics, just like the tropical forest, feeds itself from its own waste.

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    Default Re: What history book are you reading or planning to read?/ The history bookreview th

    A few months ago I read The Celtic Empire, The First Millenium of Celtic History 1000BC - 51 AD by Peter B. Ellis, and from there I began reading Henri Hubert's books on the Celts but I didn't have the time to finish them (they were from the library). Those were very good and I wish I had more time with them because I love reading about the Celts.
    I also began China Through the Ages: History of a Civilization by Franz Michael. It's a good overview and beginning point of one wanted to study China. A pity I have to return it, too.

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    Default Re: What history book are you reading or planning to read?/ The history bookreview th

    You should read these books they are really good.
    http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie=UTF8&k...l_5zufi2wbbh_b

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    The Rhetorician Member Skullheadhq's Avatar
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    Default Re: What history book are you reading or planning to read?/ The history bookreview th

    Historiae - Tacitus
    "When the candles are out all women are fair."
    -Plutarch, Coniugia Praecepta 46

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    ridiculously suspicious Member TheLastDays's Avatar
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    Default Re: What history book are you reading or planning to read?/ The history bookreview th

    Bengt Hägglund - History of Theology (Basically a book on church history, concentrating on the development of different doctrinal views)
    Good book if one is interested in that kinda stuff

    If anyone could recommend a book about Pre-Alexander Middle East (Assyria, Babylon...), I'd be grateful
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    Member Member Constantius III's Avatar
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    Default Re: What history book are you reading or planning to read?/ The history bookreview th

    I finally found a copy of Nick Sekunda's Hellenistic Infantry Reform in the 160s BC via a university library consortium.

    For coursework, I'm slogging through David Rollason's Northumbria 500-1100: Creation and Destruction of a Kingdom. It's pretty good, though I wish there were more in the bibliography on the site at Yeavering.
    "The Roman Empire was not murdered and nor did it die a natural death; it accidentally committed suicide."

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    iudex thervingiorum Member athanaric's Avatar
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    Default Re: What history book are you reading or planning to read?/ The history bookreview th

    Quote Originally Posted by geala View Post
    And some German books (presumably of less interest for the most ), one about the house and family in ancient Greece and one with new studies about early and high medieval fortifications.
    Do post them. Some of us are actually fluent in German.


    Quote Originally Posted by TheLastDays View Post
    If anyone could recommend a book about Pre-Alexander Middle East (Assyria, Babylon...), I'd be grateful
    Try A History of the Ancient Near East by Mark van de Mieroop. It's a good introduction and has been recommended to me and my fellow students by another expert on the field.
    Last edited by athanaric; 04-22-2011 at 09:32.




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    ridiculously suspicious Member TheLastDays's Avatar
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    Default Re: What history book are you reading or planning to read?/ The history bookreview th

    Thanks, I'm going to see if I find it at the library... I can't really afford to buy expensive books at the moment ;)
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    Speaker of Truth Senior Member Moros's Avatar
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    Default Re: What history book are you reading or planning to read?/ The history bookreview th

    Quote Originally Posted by athanaric View Post
    Try A History of the Ancient Near East by Mark van de Mieroop. It's a good introduction and has been recommended to me and my fellow students by another expert on the field.
    Yes indeed I've heard good things about that book as well. It was also in the recommended bibliography list from my classes on ancient Mesopotamia. Though that may also be the case because the guy is Belgian and got his bachelor over here. Chauvinism, chauvinism everything is chauvinism.

    Edit: books in other languages, especially the well spread ones can always be suggested as well. Translations of them often exist as well and a good historian should be able - or willing to learn - to read more than one language anyway.
    Last edited by Moros; 04-22-2011 at 10:48.

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    ridiculously suspicious Member TheLastDays's Avatar
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    Default Re: What history book are you reading or planning to read?/ The history bookreview th

    Very true... if you wanna study a subject, like for example theology, you'll find a lot of books in German for example... I'm of course lucky with that but you know what I mean...
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    Speaker of Truth Senior Member Moros's Avatar
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    Default Re: What history book are you reading or planning to read?/ The history bookreview th

    Quote Originally Posted by TheLastDays View Post
    Very true... if you wanna study a subject, like for example theology, you'll find a lot of books in German for example... I'm of course lucky with that but you know what I mean...
    German might very well be the second language in numbers of writings when it comes to archaeology and history of a lot of places. Though of course it does depend on the region, literature on the ancient Iberians for example is mostly Spanish and Portuguese I think. English might be the most well spread language and all, but having at least two other big languages really helps a man's research possibilities (German, French, Italian,...).

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    EB:NOM Triumvir Member gamegeek2's Avatar
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    Default Re: What history book are you reading or planning to read?/ The history bookreview th

    The Rise of the West by William McNeill. Old, interesting to see 50+ year old perspectives on world history.
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    Lost between books & coins Member DeathFinger's Avatar
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    Default Re: What history book are you reading or planning to read?/ The history bookreview th

    I'm reading a lot of articles those last times, but the last book I read was :Baratin, C, Les provinces orientales de l'empire parthe, Lyon 2009, a thesis in French on the Eastern borders of the Parthian Empire.

    And the last book in English (^^) was Karttunen, K, Indian in the Hellenistic World, Helsinki 1997. A very good one if you're interesting in this area not only for the political facts.
    Last edited by DeathFinger; 04-23-2011 at 14:56.

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    ridiculously suspicious Member TheLastDays's Avatar
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    Default Re: What history book are you reading or planning to read?/ The history bookreview th

    I have now started to slowly read "A History of the Japanese People From the Earliest Times to the End of the Meiji Era" - Frank Brinkley and Dairoku Kikuchi

    I'll post my opinions on it when I'm done, which might take a while because it's more of a "reading side project".
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    iudex thervingiorum Member athanaric's Avatar
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    Default Re: What history book are you reading or planning to read?/ The history bookreview th

    I'm currently reading Les Sarmates. Amazons et lanciers cuirassés entre Oural et Danube by Iaroslav Lebedynsky. Progressing slowly because I technically don't speak French (Latin and English helps a lot though). Any opinions on that book?
    Last edited by athanaric; 04-23-2011 at 18:44.




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    Member Member geala's Avatar
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    Default Re: What history book are you reading or planning to read?/ The history bookreview th

    Quote Originally Posted by athanaric View Post
    Do post them. Some of us are actually fluent in German.

    ....
    Ok, your risk.

    - Haus und Familie im antiken Griechenland, Winfried Schmitz, 2007: a short introduction into the structures of the family, education, inheritance law in Athens, Sparta and the Hellenistic times, lots of information about continuative literature.


    I will start to read tomorrow:

    - War in the Hellenistic World, Angelos Chaniotis, 2005 (I started the book a year ago but for some reasons stopped after a third)

    - Krieg, Handel und Piraterie: Untersuchungen zur Geschichte des hellenistischen Rhodos, Hans-Ulrich Wiemer, 2002


    BTW, this thread was already very helpful for me, just ordered the book about Pyrrhus.
    The queen commands and we'll obey
    Over the Hills and far away.
    (perhaps from an English Traditional, about 1700 AD)

    Drum, Kinder, seid lustig und allesamt bereit:
    Auf, Ansbach-Dragoner! Auf, Ansbach-Bayreuth!
    (later chorus -containing a wrong regimental name for the Bayreuth-Dragoner (DR Nr. 5) - of the "Hohenfriedberger Marsch", reminiscense of a battle in 1745 AD, to the music perhaps of an earlier cuirassier march)

  29. #29

    Default Re: What history book are you reading or planning to read?/ The history bookreview th

    Today I just started The Poison King: The Life and Legend of Mithradates, so far it seems pretty good.

  30. #30

    Default Re: What history book are you reading or planning to read?/ The history bookreview th

    Quote Originally Posted by athanaric View Post
    I'm currently reading Les Sarmates. Amazons et lanciers cuirassés entre Oural et Danube by Iaroslav Lebedynsky. Progressing slowly because I technically don't speak French (Latin and English helps a lot though). Any opinions on that book?
    i am having a hard time believing that Latin and English are allowing you to read a french history book, how are you doing this?

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