Hello historians! I am looking for a book that explains the history of Germany (from as far away as possible to as close to the current time as available). I am a casual reader that wants to get a general idea of how the history of Germany flowed from the Roman times to our current times. I was looking at "The Shortest History of Germany" by J. M. Hawes and "Germany: Memories of a Nation" by Neil MacGregor, but after reading some of their reviews I decided to see if there any other available options (TSHG apparently is biased against the Prussians and while GMN is accurate, apparently it reads too much like a textbook).

I'd love to see if there are any other options for someone who's casually interested and would want to read a book that has some personality, but that would like to get the facts as accurately as possible. I'd love to hear if you know any recommendations! Thanks for your help!

A friend of mine have a bit of a pact this new year. We both work at a book store and while preparing a leading list for the coming months we said we’d pick a book for each other. She reads mostly fiction so that’ll be my lot but she knows very little about WWI and that happens to be one of my favorite areas of study and I need a recommendation on a WWI book to sort of “introduce” the war to my friend. My only limitations are that it can’t be “too academic” “not real real thick.” I don’t wanna get just a dry “here’s a bunch of facts” kind of thing so maybe a more popular history, written for general audiences? If anyone has any suggestions I’m all ears!

Following the nazi logic the Jews should be executed right after their arrest. Food, water, electricity and other basic things provided for them did have a cost, so why were there massive constructions, use of soldiers and resources being spent?

I'm currently reading Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. In it, Frankenstein's monster says, "I heard of the discovery of the American hemisphere, and wept with Safie over the hapless fate of the original inhabitants." A few other times throughout the book, the loss of Native American tribes are references in this mournful manner. So did 19th century Europeans really regret the loss of these societies? Did they understand the part they, themselves, played in it? Was this a general feeling, or just Mary Shelley's personal attitude?

Was there a primitive version of modern fingernail clippers? Did they use a file? Just let them grow and then break off at some point?

As a student of history, I've always wondered this but haven't really gotten a decent answer.

I'm aware that by the time of the spread of Islam, Akkadians, Sumerians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Hittites, Achaemenids, etc. had all essentially disappeared. But it seems highly doubtful to me that there was no cultural interaction, especially considering the vast amount of textual and material information left behind by these ancient peoples. Even though the medieval Muslims certainly couldn't have read cuneiform, Aramaic lives on to this day, and there were likely remains of ziggurats, administrative buildings, and statuary that certainly would have prompted some kind of response from the Muslims.

But what are these responses? Do they appear in the massive written record in the Islamic Middle East? I feel like Ibn Khaldun would have been highly interested in these civilizations, but does he actually say anything about them?

Any answers to this would be greatly appreciated!

I am currently in a WW2 kick and this book is something that I never could really get into for some reason (tried it and set it down a few times). I think I have figured out why, and I have this question.

Comparing it to say John Toland's biography of Hitler I realized that since Shirer writes it as sort of a first person narrative the whole book is sprinkled with editorializing and judgement (he calls Ernst Röhm a sexual pervert, Von Papen was a snake in not so many words and Kurt von Schuschnigg "narrow minded") where Toland's book is a straight historical recounting.

My question for the experts here is how much stock do you place in the Rise and Fall book as a historical source? Is it a generally solid book even with all the opinion?

Mods, if this isn't within the rules, please delete...I couldn't find a reason not to post it here but I have been known to be wrong a time or two. If not, I look forward to reading the opinions in here. Thank you very much!

There have been a few answers here about the uniqueness common in black American names, but this particular connection seems too coincidental to me. Haiti, New Orleans, and other formerly French areas factor heavily into African-American history, is there any documented sociological or historical connection between that and common sounds in black names today?

So, my uncle was a howitzer man in Vietnam who had severe ptsd when he got back from the war. He never talked about it for obvious reasons but my dad mentioned something about him being awarded a silver star. Is there any way I can look this up? Or look up his military records in general?

And also did citizens of these countries show any interest in it? Such as news articles or local topics of conversation?

What year did the amount of Nuclear weapons possesses by the United States and Soviet Union mean that if war were ever to break out, both sides would be completely destroyed?