Today:
Saturday Reading and Research will focus on exactly that: the history you have been reading this week and the research you've been working on. It's also the prime thread for requesting books on a particular subject. As with all our weekly features, this thread will be lightly moderated.
So, encountered a recent biography of Stalin that revealed all about his addiction to ragtime piano? Delved into a horrendous piece of presentist and sexist psycho-evolutionary mumbo-jumbo and want to tell us about how bad it was? Need help finding the right book to give the historian in your family? Then this is the thread for you!
Am I the only one that gets annoyed when you track down a citation to read it for yourself and possibly cite only to find out that what you're reading is basically the same paper as one you already read with but with like two paragraphs of more information?
What are some good books on the Italian Wars? I already requested The Italian Wars 1494-1559 by Christine Shaw and am looking at the Sack of Rome by Luigi Guicciardini and The Black Bands of Giovanni: Infantry and Diplomacy During the Italian Wars by Maurizio Arfaiol
I've been reading another book on The Beast of Gévaudan , certainly one of my favourite mystery.
It is good to see authors and researchers these last years who tend to let down the theory of the wolf. And it is a subject that is a mine of information and interesting facts of pre-revolutionary France. The story of the Beast forces you to learn about the people in this very rural province, the relations between people-aristocrats and the small aristocracy with Paris.
After reading several books and looking at many documents, I am starting to have my own idea on the subject ...
Just read Mao: The Unknown Story and pretty thoroughly shocked. I know Mao was a villain but that he was controlled by Stalin and Madam Sun Yat-sen was a PKC's spy? How much of this book should I trust? Mao believing that every kid of Mao family would have smelly armpits and oily ears?
I read the Indonesian version; the book used the word 'apparently', 'no doubt', and 'clearly' while presenting speculation as fact many times...
I'm reading and taking notes on Rimini's "Andrew Jackson" for my History 307 US in the Early National Period.
Bit late in the day, but does anyone have any good recommendations for Habsburg Austria books? There's loads on how it fell in WW1, and I've started to load up on its involvement in the Napoleonic Wars, but material seems a bit thin on the ground...
Any recommendations on gender in the cultures of North and South America? I already have Gender and sexuality in indigenous North America, 1400-1850, looking to go Central/South.
Has anyone read Geoffrey Parker's new book, Global Crisis? I read an article he wrote introducing the premise a couple of years ago and I'd be interested to hear how the book's being received.
Edit: I see that in fact it's not that new at all, just new to stores near me. Nonetheless, I'd appreciate input.
Does anyone know any books on Gender & Sexuality in Iceland or books on sturlunga-age Iceland? Thanks.