I posted it on another thread a while ago, but might as well stick it here. Barring any sudden bursts of bibliophilia this will be my top five completed books of 2015:

My (current) top five of the year, although not all of them were published this year - I usually have to read on the way into work and that means the to-read-list has now spiralled well beyond my control:

David Crouch, The English Aristocracy, 1070-1272: A Social Transformation, (New Haven and London, 2011).

I've read this in sections before, and probably the entirety in that process but as a gift to myself I picked up my own copy and (re-)read cover-to-cover. English Aristocracy is a challenge, building on his arguments in two previous studies - Image of Aristocracy in Britain (London, 1992) or his The Birth of Nobility: Constructing Aristocracy in England and France, 900-1300, (Harlow, 2005) - which all attempt to reassess some core ideas about social structure and élite culture in the High Middle Ages. Crouch's theses regarding the origins of chivalric and aristocratic culture are starting to become much more widely accepted since he was able to root them in the sociological schema of Pierre Bordieu's habitus but his discourse on the social structure of rural society remains incredibly controversial among specialists (but then what isn't when the discourse is under the label of 'feudalism'). I think this is book best read either after or in conjunction with Birth of Nobility as the arguments (and the theoretical outlines) are so intertwined, Image, written before Crouch implemented his adaption of Bordieu is less essential but still worth reading.

David Green, The Hundred Years War: A People's History, (New Haven and London, 2014).

This book came as a recommendation of /u/Valkine, I enjoyed it immensely and it has reinvigorated my passion for the HYW and the later Middle Ages more broadly. While Green pitches his book not as a narrative history he still offers a very useful potted summary of key incidences which make it wholly accessible to non-specialists while his thematic structure demonstrates that there is still scope even in what was once a highly saturated topic for new insights and innovation. That said, this remains a largely syncretic work, not only of Green's own research but a wealth of new literature in the field. However, its recent publication means that it missed some truly revelatory bodies of research but c'est la vie in academia - I would have loved to have had discussions of Ambühl (below) or Craig Taylor's, Chivalry and the Ideals of Knighthood During the Hundred Years War, (Cambridge, 2013) incorporated.

Remy Ambühl, Prisoners of War During the Hundred Years War: Ransom Culture in the Late Middle Ages (Cambridge, 2013).

Likewise, it would have been fantastic had Ambühl been able to engage more directly with Taylor's theses and vice versa. Both are highly dependent on Maurice Keen and use his research as a leaping off point. They come at Keen from two related but different angles. While Ambühl takes The Laws of War in the Middle Ages (Oxford, 1965) as the keystone of his research Taylor is instead driving onwards from Chivalry, (New Haven and London, 1984). The two books are highly intertwined but I have a sense that Taylor is more acutely sensitive to Keen's Laws than Ambühl is to Keen's Chivalry, taking instead a more John Gillingham-rooted approach to the topic. This is still a very important book with appeal beyond specialists in the HYW. The exploration of ransoming processes offers abstracted but well-rooted case-studies which are often lacking in monographs and the attention to detail is superb. This will be my go-to for questions about ransom practice for the forseeable future, but I will likely tailor the 'culture' section with some Taylor. Finally, even considering Ambühl is writing in his second language this book reads better than most scholarly monographs.

Kevin Madigan, Medieval Christianity: A New History, (Oxford, 2015).

I have written up a review of Madigan on the Reading and Resources List, so I will merely quote that here:

'This is a book for beginners' claims Madigan at the beginning of his extensive endnotes. While producing a book for beginners might have been his intention, Madigan's command of a vast wealth of scholarship spanning the pre-history and entirety of the Middle Ages makes a beginner even of the seasoned professional. The scope and greatest strength of this magnificent new addition to the study of medieval Christianity is the thorough contextualisation of lines of development in medieval Christianity from the beginnings of the early churches right to the inception of the Reformation. Madigan achieves this without falling into the trap of ever painting these developments as inevitable - chiefly through taking a series of asides exploring alternative, later unorthodox, branches and expressions of spiritual Christianity. Like any survey, the author occasionally glides lightly over particularly contentious pressure points in modern historiography and sometimes the pressure of a subject stretching from ca. 150 to 1500 is noticeable. Still, Madigan is able to expound not only on the relevant clerical or religio-cultural context but set these within a wider social, political, and economic framework. A must read for anyone interested in medieval history. A small criticism is perhaps in an occasionally overly obtuse language which can occasionally spoil the rhetorical flow of the work - but your mileage (and vocabulary) may vary.

Adrian Bell, Anne Curry, Andy King, and David Simpkin, The Soldier in Later Medieval England, (Oxford, 2013).

This is a culmination of a AHRC funded project which has digitised and catalogued much of the evidence it discusses. As it represents the culmination of a number of notable military historians' work it is difficult to synthesise into one pithy review. All of these individuals have published widely on the topic and this book allows a wonderful prospographical insight into the soldiery (from highest peerage to lowest archer) in the HYW. While it may not be to all tastes it is a wonderful reference text and the utility of this and the online database to students and hobbyists will be immense.

Potential contenders, (ie. unfinished -although time is running out!):

John Sabapathy, Officers and Accountability, (Oxford, 2015).

Chris Wickham, The Inheritance of Rome: A History of Europe, 400-1000, (London, 2009).

Charles West, Reframing the Feudal Revolution: Political and Social Transformation between Marne and Moselle, c.800-c.1100, (Cambridge, 2013).

I'm wondering what the mods think of putting up a best of 2015 booklist like /u/TheGreenReaper7's list here.

I'm waiting for Blackwell's to re-open this morning (after being closed the past few days for Christmas), so I can pick up the only copy in town of the new Sutton Hoo excavation report before anyone else gets to it. I've been waiting years to see parts of this report!

I'm going to start two books this week. This is one

http://imgur.com/upFvf8r

I received a beautiful hardcover edition of John R. Schindler's new book Fall of the Double Eagle about the Eastern Front during the first year of the First World War. I am incredibly excited to read it.

I flipped open to a couple pages rift when I got it and noticed that the author is making arguments very similar to those I made in a lengthy essay I wrote last year. It's awesome to read that a well-established author in my field is corroborating my research, but at the same time, I can't help wishing I were seven years older and could've written the book myself!

Anyway, let me know if any of you guys have read it.

I'm a bit late to this party, but I'm currently about halfway through Anne Curry's Great Battles: Agincourt and really enjoying it. It's fascinating stuff and probably the best discussion of the sources we have for the battle of Agincourt I've ever read. While there are more in depth works on the topic (some by Curry herself) this is easily the most approachable discussion of the 15th century chronicles I've come across. I'll post a more thorough review once I've finished the book, but so far it's one of my favorite books of the year.

I've picked up a copy of Keith Thomas' Religion and the Decline of Magic and am getting pulled in.

How's it regarded professionally nowadays?

So yesterday I finished Alison Weirs "Mary, Queen of Scots and the Murder of Lord Darnley". Now my question is two part, after finishing the book and researching the authenticity of the Casket Letters I am curious, is there any historical basis to the idea that these letters were forged to incriminate Mary? Secondly regarding Mary's family, is there any historical basis that Walsingham of England had Mary of Guise assassinated?

I just finished Agents of Empire: Knights, Corsairs, Jesuits and Spies in the Sixteenth-Century Mediterranean World by Noel Malcolm. It tells the history of a family of Albanian nobles in the late 1500s to early 1600s. I really enjoyed it for a few reasons.

• First, the style of writing and structure was very good. The general structure is to start by explaining or telling about a specific period, concept, or practice such as the Venetian giovanni di lingua or Habsburg espionage and then delve into how members of the main family fit into that larger picture.
• Second, it discusses a lot of history that I wasn't aware of before but have found very interesting.
• Third, it shows off quite well how interconnected things were around Europe, the Mediterranean, and Asia during this time period. As an example, I had no idea that the Ottomans were quite happy about the English defeat of the Spanish armada or that Venetians might spy for the Spanish king and travel the breadth of the Mediterranean in his service.

Has anyone else read this book? What were your thoughts?

I'm finishing up Pat Southern's The Roman Army which is serving as my introduction to the Roman military. I'm enjoying it so far, though it's a bit dry. She focuses heavily on other's research though,--Goldsworthy in particular--and uses primary literature sparingly. However, she does incorporate (what I thought) was a good amount of archaeological evidence.

I also (for the holidays) received a wonderful picture book of sorts called The First World War: Unseen Glass Plate Photographs of the Western Front which contains beautiful images. I don't think

If anyone has any suggestions for a similar primer on Ancient Greek warfare please let me know. I'm looking for something broad (ideally covering the end of the bronze age to the Roman period, but something covering classical hoplite warfare would be fine as well).

Edit: I'd also like to recommend The First World War Unseen Glass Plate Photographs of the Western Front. I received it as a gift; it contains stunning photos looked like they where taken yesterday.

Hey all, I was wondering if anyone could recommend some reading for me to learn more about life in apartheid South Africa. I realized I'm familiar with the very broad strokes but not much more than that. I'm definitely more interested in a material that is engaging and interesting. I don't mind depth, in fact I enjoy it a lot, but I won't finish a book if its really dry.

I'd also be interested in any historical fiction that someone thinks captures the experience of living there accurately.

Thanks, you guys are awesome even if I don't get replies :)

Is the ragtime thing actually true, or just an example?