Dear AskHistorians,
I am trying to look for the gold standard(s) for books/sources on Military History. I have for some years read a number of books on the subject, but always at elementary level and unsystematically.
What I am looking for is for eg. a list that is usually followed in a university course covering this topic. Anything that is easy to buy online (Amazon for eg.) is better for me.
Thank you in advance and congrats to this sub for being one of the best thing on reddit!
PS: For the context. I was educated in history in Italy, so as you can imagine I have read more about European history rather than say Chinese/Indian.
I just left my PC, which is where most of my books are on :(
Anywho:
Jeremy Black (ed.)'s War in the Modern World - it has a very decent section on pre 1600s Japan written by the late Paul Varley, considered one of the few authors pre-1980s who showed less bias due to (perceived or otherwise) orientalism and exoticism, and who also authored Japanese Culture (I think the most recent version is the 4th (2000)) and The Onin War, which neatly integrates the many sources which were tales rather than accounts into an actual historical record. Black's edition also contains Chinese warfare specifically from the Ming and Qing periods, written by Peter Lorge who also authored/edited The Asian Military Revolution (which talks about the technological progress of Chinese warfare "from gunpowder to bomb") and Warfare in China to 1600 (not to be confused by Swope's book of a similar name). Black's edition also covers naval warfare, India, the Atlantic and Africa, as well as various other regions of the world mostly up to the early 19th century.
Also, Karl Friday's various publications - Samurai, warfare, and the state in early medieval Japan, Japan Emerging, both of which cover essentially all of pre-modern Japanese history, military or otherwise. Like Varley, for the most part Friday's interpretation of the more "loose" sources (e.g. tale of Heike) are reserved, instead relying on other primary sources that give a less worship-like approval of the time period. Also, Teeth and Claws - Provincial Warriors and the Heian Court [jstor].
And then there's all of Marius Jansen (e.g. The Making of Modern Japan, The Cambridge History of Japan) and William Farris (e.g. Heavenly Warriors: The Evolution of Japan's Military, 500-1300, and maybe not so relevant to military but definitely worth the read, Japan to 1600: A Social and Economic History and Japans Medieval Population: Famine, Fertility, and Warfare in a Transformative Age).
For India:
Gommans, Jos, Mughal Warfare: Indian Frontiers and High Roads to Empire, 1500-1700 (London and New York 2002).
Gommans, J.J.L. and D.H.A. Kolff (eds), Warfare and Weaponry in South Asia 1000-1800 (Delhi 2000).
Kolff, D.H.A., Naukar, Rajput and Sepoy. The Ethnohistory of the Military Labour Market in Hindustan, 1450-1850 (Cambridge 1990).
The eastern steppe area and China:
Di Cosmo, Nicola, Ancient China and Its Enemies: The Rise of Nomadic Power in East Asian History (Cambridge 2004).
Di Cosmo, Nicola, Warfare in Inner Asian History: 500-1800.
More generally perhaps:
McNeill, W.H., The Pursuit of Power: Technology, Armed Forces and Society since AD 1000.
Lorge, The Asian Military Revolution.
Hope it helps!
Is there a specific period or region that you are especially interested in? "Military History" is, obviously, quite broad, so asking for such a general frame could quickly result in a list far beyond even the most capable reader!