I cannot recommend enough the groundbreaking work done by Giancarlo Casale, who is an Ottomanist.

He published, "The Ottoman Age of Exploration" (Oxford University Press, 2010), which challenges our idealized thought of "land empires" of the Ottomans, and instead he proves that the Ottomans were a naval power as well, intent on exploration and naval trade proliferation in the Indian Ocean. Challenging the narrative that Portugal or Spain (Western Europeans in general) were the only "explorers". But instead the Ottomans intervened and explored far and wide from East Africa to Aceh in Sumatra, from their acquired base of Suez (from 1517 onwards).

What is even more fantastic is that he has written a lot on the topic, including essays on Ottoman naval warfare, which you can find on his resume online. He is also endorsed by my favorite [Middle East] professor, Richard Bulliet (Columbia University).

For more information: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-ottoman-age-of-exploration-9780195377828?cc=hk&lang=en&

If anyone has any questions on the topic, feel free to enquire, I would love to talk about it, as it is some truly groundbreaking material (a lot of newly translated primary source works from Portuguese, Venetian Italian and Ottoman Turkish).

I've recently been on a history kick after exhausting all my other podcasts; I checked out Dan Carlin's "Hardcore History" and it has really piqued my interest in Genghis Khan and the Mongols.

Various threads across this subreddit have stated that Weatherford's Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World was not that historically accurate, and that it should be taken with a grain of salt. I want to make sure that I'm not steered in the wrong way right off the bat – I want to learn whatever about this time period that I can, as I find it fascinating.

I guess my question is: what would be two or three good books to give me a solid foundation in the knowledge of the Mongols of this time? What other books/periods would you suggest reading up on since I'm interested in this?

Thanks in advance. This subreddit is truly filled with knowledge and I'm amazed at the standard it is held to.

I'm finally getting around to reading Eric Cline's 1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed. I'm a big fan of Robert Drews' The End of the Bronze Age, but I've been told that Cline's citations are more up-to-date, so I'm curious.

I'm currently reading Controversies and Commanders by Stephen W. Sears and I get an impression he's making excuses for the actions of a few Generals. There seems to be a lot of excuses made for McClellan and Hooker that seems to run contrary to what I've read from other historians. Am I reading too much into his writing?

looking for new history podcasts i came across a free recording of the "popular history of france from the earliest times volume 1" by Guizot recorded by loyalbooks. A quick google search hasn't turned up much concerning the work's significance (though guizot was a 19th century politician) but considering the company seems to be only putting up the "classics whose copyrights have long expired" it seems that it must be an important work. Can anyone help me out with the historical importance/place it in the long historiography of France.

http://www.amazon.com/Popular-History-France-Earliest-Volume/dp/0554333759

I posted this in the thread yesterday and was suggested to post it here today so I figured I may as well. Thanks to /u/Doe22 for the suggestion yesterday, keen to pick that up next week.

I've always been fascinated with the Maritime Republics (Venice, Genoa, Pisa, Ragusa etc), and I've read some great general books but I am interesting in taking a focused look at each city-state. The city-specific books I've read are from around the 1910s and I was wondering if anyone had any more recent books they could recommend?

Thanks!

Posted this in the Friday thread and reposting it here since it seems appropriate:

Separate Topics: Start of WWI, Modern Afghan Culture, and War Commentaries

Did some recent reading and am looking for followup [reading]:

-o- Holger H. Herwig's The Marne, 1914: The Opening of World War I and the Battle That Changed the World

• Going to pick up Herwig's The First World War: Germany and Austria-Hungary 1914-1918

• Any good complements to The Marne, 1914 for looking at the opening of the war?

-o- Thomas Barfield's Afghanistan: A Cultural and Political History

• Looking for a book that takes a lower level look at modern Afghan culture (mostly day to day stuff in rural locations). Since Afghanistan is rather diverse, I'd be quite okay with a book that focused on one of the many ethnic groups.

-o- Rex Warner's translation of the War Commentaries of Caesar

• Looking for war commentaries written in a similar style. Being from the same period isn't important, but the style and commentary from a command perspective is what I'm looking for.

Currently reading a book called The Birth of a Nation. It discusses William Monroe Trotter and DW Griffith. Trotter was a civil rights activist and greatly opposed Griffith's film. The book delves into the background of both men and how they ignited the clashes of the civil rights movement.

Currently reading Charles Windolph's I Fought With Custer: The Story of Sergeant Windolph, Last Survivor of the Battle of the Little Big Horn, as told to Frazier and Robert Hunt. Finished the autobiographical Part 1 and now on Part 2, Contemporary Narratives Bearing on the Custer Fight.

Windolph died at the age of 98 in 1950. He served with the 7th Cavalry for 12 years and was awarded the Medal of Honor in recognition of his actions at the Little Bighorn in providing covering fire for soldiers attempting to procure water for the besieged surviving members of the companies commanded by Reno and Benteen. His is a fascinating yet often overlooked testimony that prizes bravery over blame, concluding in much the same fashion as has Robert M. Utley many years later that it suffices to say that it was simply the Sioux and Cheyennes' day on that fateful Sunday in June of 1876.

There's a few different periods I want to look into but I'm not too sure where to start with reading. Would anybody be able to me to readings about the Yongle Emperor (not too sure how the title is used in English?), in particular I'm interested in the expeditions he sponsored.

I'm also interested in the periods where Europes powers were expanding over seas (Spanish, Portuguese, English etc), mainly around the Caribbean, though I don't know too much about it. Would anyone have any recommendations for this general time period?

Also where would I post questions asking about history degrees/specialties?

Thanks for any help.

So I picked up Orlando Figes' Peasant Russia Civil War: The Volga Countryside in Revolution 1917-1921 and Robert Conquest's Harvest of Sorrow: Soviet Collectivization and the Terror Famine after seeing them cited in another work. I was bummed when I later checked the discussion on this sub about the two author's track record. It seems like the Figes is a decent study overall, if dated (in retrospect, it probably wasn't a good idea to go with works written/published before 1991); the Conquest on the other hand is almost universally panned, which really concerns me. What, if anything, in Harvest of Sorrow is redeemable, what should I be skeptical of, should I just cut bait with it altogether? What other works should I be looking out for if I want a comprehensive picture of Soviet collectivization/grain seizures/the interwar years in Ukraine?