Read A Taste of War: World War II and the Battle for Food by Lizzie Collingham for a seminar I'm in, and it was excellent. Covers the major players and their food policies/soldier's rations. It was really eye-opening stuff, and I don't think it's possible to really consider World War II without considering food, and this book is an excellent resource on the topic.

Finally got around to reading Terry Martin's The Affirmative Action Empire: Nations and Nationalism in the Soviet Union, 1923-1939 (2001). For those that don't know, Martin's book (along with Francine Hirsch's Empire of Nations: Ethnographic Knowledge and the Making of the Soviet Union, 2005) is one of the most important books on early Soviet nationality policy, and pretty much the standard work on it, cited by everyone who writes on the topic nowadays. As such, I felt compelled to read it for my thesis (and am getting around to Hirsch's book as well, just need to finish coursework first).

It really is a great book. While Martin mostly focuses on Ukraine, with some side details on Belarus and Central Asia, the policies were largely in place across the entire Soviet Union. He did his research in the Russian and Ukrainian archives in the mid-1990s, so was one of the first to get in there and look at this stuff, which is why he in part has led to a drastic shift in the historiography of the Soviet nationality policies, and the general perception of the Soviet Union in that time. At times it was a slow read (though that may also be because I read the thing nearly non-stop for a week, powering through it when at times I was not totally focused; also since most of it was not actually relevant to my research, I kind of didn't care as much), but its full of important things and assertions that went against the previous notions of the Soviet Union. However he did make one somewhat contentious claim, that the Holodomor was not deliberate genocide, but the evidence he has to support it make it sound a lot better than just outright denying it.

If anyone is interested in early Soviet nationality policy, or even reading the foundation of modern studies on the topic, this is something you have to read; though of course, anyone even somewhat interested in the topic is probably aware of this fact, and has either read it already or knows what it says.

Anyone know of good books which cover British relations with the Pahlavi dynasty?

I'm nearly finished Frances and Joseph Gies' Cathedral, Forge and Waterwheel: Technology and Invention in the Middle Ages. Overall it's pretty good. It does a fine job as a summary of how technology changed over the course of the Middle Ages but inevitably suffers a bit because it is so general and covers such a broad time period that it is relatively scant on details. Some technologies receive a lot of attention while others are necessarily neglected. I think it would have been a tad more profound for me if I'd read it a few years ago. Still, I'd recommend it as an introductory text to people if they're interested in the subject.

I'm writing a paper on king Francis I and emperor Charles V's meeting at Aigues-Mortes in 1538 following the treaty of Nice putting an end to the 8th Italian War. I'm focusing on how they interact with each other ( the ceremonial, the etiquette ,...Etc ).

For this I use the memoirs of Archambaud de la Rivoire, a provincial nobleman from Aigues-Mortes who witnessed the 2 days long meeting and offered his house to the emperor for his stay.

It's very interesting to see how they interact with such friendship, such fraternity ( after all they are brother-in-laws in 1538 ). " My brother, I want you to see and I want you to hear that in this country you are currently in, you have as much power as if you were in your countries of Spain or Flanders ". Knowing that they were such rivals and that four years later war started again, it is very interesting.

Currently reading JH Elliot's Imperial Spain. Amazing book. Very well written. One of those books which will constantly provide waves of realization as you understand issues and phenomenon a other authors touched upon but which you, as a reader, never really understood.

Surprised at his explanations of the success of the conquistadors, though. He attributes it to the "vitality" and religious fervor of the Spanish along with the "fatalism" of the Indians. No mention of the tens of thousands of Indian allies who went into battle with Cortes and others. I know it was written in the 50s, but I'm still astounded at how abstract his explanation is and of how completely he ignores the concrete military aid of Indian allies during tho period.

Finished up Waldstreicher's Slavery's Constitution. I liked it quite a bit, particularly for the novelty of both admitting that debates over representation always included the issue of slave representation and then going further and not handwaving away the obvious implications. I've read more than enough of weighing the big name framer's occasional troubled consciences more heavily than their largely unequivocal actions. Also found it considerably more interesting than the laser-focused, and thus heavily sanitized, emphasis on constitutional theory as though it were an end unto itself that I've sometimes encountered elsewhere.

Following it up with Mason's Slavery and Politics in the Early American Republic.

I'm looking for some good reads about the LRDG's campaign in Northern Africa and the history of the SAS, especially its first 10 years and their involvement in Northern Ireland in the 70s and 80s. Anyone know of any particularly good books or articles?

Anyone can recomend a good introdutory book on Art History? I'm majoring in Cultural Production now, and a lot if my colleagues are asking me for one, since I'm an history enthusiast, but I don't know any that offers an easy yet abrangent reading. Thanks!