The Book Recommendation Thread

[Beirut]

Good thread SFTS.

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Now if you are looking for a good read - anything by Barabara Tuchman - if you haven't read "A Distant Mirror" - then why not - where have you been???? 1914 is also fantastic - history books that read like a novel

I have "A Distant Mirror". An excellent book. I also have "The Zimmerman Telegram" by Tuchman. Reads like an Agatha Christie novel. Great history, a great story, and lots of fun. Oh and I have "The Guns of August". Classic! Hmm, I didn't realize I had three of her books. Neat. She really is a fantastic writer.

When you say "1914", are you sure you didn't mean the book from Lyn Macdonald? She has a book called "1914". I have Macdonald's book "1915", which is excellent.

[Scienter]

I just finished two scarily good books on North Korea. The first, Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader, is a comprehensive history of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il's reigns. The author traveled to NK several times as well as interviewed defectors. It's a terrifying picture of what life in North Korea is like, and more than that, it explains how it got that way. The second, Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea, is an even scarier picture of what life is like in NK. It's a series of stories from defectors. Each comes from a different background: a soldier, a pediatrician, a teenager, a longtime party loyalist, etc. It really delves into the level of brainwashing the North Koreans have undergone as a society.

If you're interested in North Korea, these two books are excellent. Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly leader is one of the most detailed books on NK out there IMO. Definitely not pop history.

[CountArach]

I have a number of books on Roman historiography (particularly Livy) that I could recommend if anyone is interested. For starters I've been reading Livy on the Hannibalic War by D. Levene and it has been really enlightening and has changed the way that I have read and thought about Livy to a large extent. There are points throughout where I think he is overreaching but his 40 or so pages where he discusses racial characteristics in Livy was particularly worthwhile. Immensely well researched.

The most illuminating book I have read in a long time though that might appeal to a broader audience is The Roman Triumph [It appears to be on sale for an immensely low price] by Mary Beard. Beard is known for writing books that question almost everything that is taken for granted in whatever field she is studying at the time. In this case she challenges some fundamental aspects of the Roman triumph and makes us reconsider just about every image we have of it. I disagree with some of her conclusions, and she does over-reach at times, but the sceptical methodology she brings to the field is astounding.

I've got lots of other stuff if people are interested. Like I said it is mostly on Roman historiography (particularly Livy) and is all scholarly material.

[edyzmedieval]

I've been reading Varangians of Byzantium, a interesting book which details the accounts of how the Vikings or Rus warriors/merchants have made their way towards Constantinople where they formed the infamous Varangian Guard. I never expected it to be such a detailed account, but I was proven wrong, pretty hefty book at 260 pages of quality research done on a very obscure corner of Byzantine history.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Varangians-B...3132243&sr=8-1

[Hooahguy]

I know this is modern warfare, but the book House to House by David Bellavia is an excellent account of the Battle of Fallujah.
War by Sebastian Junger is also an excellent book about Afghanistan.

[Subotan]

I just finished two scarily good books on North Korea. The first, Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader, is a comprehensive history of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il's reigns. The author traveled to NK several times as well as interviewed defectors. It's a terrifying picture of what life in North Korea is like, and more than that, it explains how it got that way. The second, Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea, is an even scarier picture of what life is like in NK. It's a series of stories from defectors. Each comes from a different background: a soldier, a pediatrician, a teenager, a longtime party loyalist, etc. It really delves into the level of brainwashing the North Koreans have undergone as a society.

If you're interested in North Korea, these two books are excellent. Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly leader is one of the most detailed books on NK out there IMO. Definitely not pop history.

Oooh! Another North Korea buff! I read Nothing to Envy and found it fascinating, as it's so rare to get a "real" North Korean perspective of the regime. It could have done with more about how well the defectors integrated into Southern society, as the sadly typical East Asian bigotry to people who come from different backgrounds already seems to be worryingly high, even to fellow Koreans.

One book which I really really recommend is Famine in North Korea by Haggard and Nolan. It's a analysis of the famine from an economist's perspective, and it's much less dry than you might imagine. Utterly engrossing and tragic, as both show that the famine was something completely avoidable, and entirely the fault of the regime, as opposed to floods and Yankee Imperialists and such.

In contrast, North Korea: The Struggle Against American Power by Beal is a truly atrocious book. It's absolutely drenched in disgusting apologism for Pyongyang, for example the bizarre comparisons the author makes between American policy towards North Korea and the invasion or Iraq, and mealy-mouthed statements which lend an aura of credibility to Northern propaganda, such as Kim Jong-Il being born on the slopes of Mt. Paektu, which is universally agreed by external observers to be a blatant falsehood.

[Warluster]

In contrast, North Korea: The Struggle Against American Power by Beal is a truly atrocious book. It's absolutely drenched in disgusting apologism for Pyongyang, for example the bizarre comparisons the author makes between American policy towards North Korea and the invasion or Iraq, and mealy-mouthed statements which lend an aura of credibility to Northern propaganda, such as Kim Jong-Il being born on the slopes of Mt. Paektu, which is universally agreed by external observers to be a blatant falsehood.

Uh oh... I was just heading here to write up a glowing recommendation for Tim Jeal's Stanley book and then saw this - does Jeal have a sort of reputation as being a sort of 'rebel' author? I thoroughly enjoyed his Stanley book, but he was constantly going against the common, established opinion of the last century. Had slight suspicions he could be a BSA...

After Stanley I have been reading Europe's Tragedy, which is slowly going through the social, political and economic causes of the Thirty Years War before detailing the military and political campaigns during it. Am quite looking forward to it - though really want to get stuck into some Victorian history... can anyone recommend?

[Scienter]

One book which I really really recommend is Famine in North Korea by Haggard and Nolan. It's a analysis of the famine from an economist's perspective, and it's much less dry than you might imagine. Utterly engrossing and tragic, as both show that the famine was something completely avoidable, and entirely the fault of the regime, as opposed to floods and Yankee Imperialists and such.

I'll have to check this out! Thanks! National Geographic did a documentary following an eye doctor who went to North Korea to do cataract operations. Parts of it were very unsettling. Upon having their bandages removed, every person who had the operation immediately ran to the front of the room and tearfully thanked a photo of Kim Jong-Il for their newly restored eyesight. Another good film is Crossing the Line, about an American who defected to North Korea. He comes across as completely unsympathetic but it's still very interesting.

[Banquo's Ghost]

If I may, I would like to recommend three books relating to a period of history that fascinates me.

"Fatal Purity" by Ruth Scurr is an excellent analysis and portrait of Maximilien Robespierre and his influences on the Revolution. Most histories of Robespierre are rather histrionic, but this is a well-balanced account that illuminates more of the man - and thus makes the monstrosity of his actions both understandable and, sadly inevitable. One appreciates how the idealist, L'Incorruptible, marches unstintingly towards the lake of blood waiting at the Place de la Concorde.

"1812 Napoleon's Fatal March on Moscow" by Adam Zamoyski is the most readable account of that astonishing endeavour - an excellent narrative history that communicates the full horror of the war and mistakes on both sides.

Finally, "Napoleon 1814: The Defence of France" by Andrew Uffindell addresses what I believe to be the Emperor's greatest campaign of all. Though ultimately lost, the rearguard action with few troops on the doorstep of Paris against the combined armies of the European Coalition is an absolute masterpiece of tactical brilliance. The use of terrain, speed and misdirection - all Napoleon's greatest contributions to military thinking are described here in detail as well as the aspect often missed in campaign accounts: the effect on the civilian population. The Hardback is worth investing in, if only because the dust-jacket bears a reproduction of the most eloquent painting of the entire epoch, Meissonier's 1814 Campagne de France.

[shlin28]

I really would like to second the recommendations for "Europe's Tragedy" and "1812: Napoleon's Fatal March on Moscow", as they are both fantastic books that I literally devoured when I read them. Don't be afraid of "Europe's Tragedy"'sintimidating length as Wilson's writing style makes it very easy to read. He also put forward an interesting thesis about how religion did not play the decisive role in causing the conflict and that the war was not inevitable, which is the opposite of the popular conception of the Thirty Years' War (I think).

For those more into the political situation after the Napoleonic Wars, there is "Rites of Peace", also by Zamoyski, which covered the Congress of Vienna and like his other books is very readable despite the amount of material covered. It is quite funny in parts and so made a very nice change of pace after the sheer depressingness of 1812!

[Furunculus]

Lord Kinross on The Ottomans is a thoroughly awesome book.

[King Kurt]

Good thread SFTS.

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I have "A Distant Mirror". An excellent book. I also have "The Zimmerman Telegram" by Tuchman. Reads like an Agatha Christie novel. Great history, a great story, and lots of fun. Oh and I have "The Guns of August". Classic! Hmm, I didn't realize I had three of her books. Neat. She really is a fantastic writer.

When you say "1914", are you sure you didn't mean the book from Lyn Macdonald? She has a book called "1914". I have Macdonald's book "1915", which is excellent.

Opps - my mistake - I meant The Guns of August. I would also agree with you about Lynn Macdonald. I have read several of her's - the Somme, Paschendale - she brings the massive scale of these actions down to individual details which make them so powerful. Figures of thousands of dead become more real when you hear individuals stories.