Finished up the Atchison biography and dug into Eric Foner's Gateway to Freedom, the first work I've ever read on the underground railroad. Turns out that I had picked up the historiography of the subject by implication from general antebellum surveys, which is always satisfying. Foner is not the most enchanting prose stylist, but damn if this thing isn't riveting. He must be mellowing in his old age too, since every chapter is under 40 pages. I'll probably finish it tonight.

Then... I ought to have thought about then before I started this post. It might be Sinha's The Slave's Cause, but I'm conscious that I know more about Whiggish antislavery -apparently I <heart> the national bank- than I do about the Democratic side and I've found a quite short book on the latter. So probably Jonathan Earle's Jacksonian Antislavery and the Politics of Free Soil. But maybe instead Sowande' Mustakeem's Slavery at Sea in advance of the AMA.

After doing a presentation on Maritime Trade in the Mediterranean, I decided to pick up Fernand Braudel's The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II. I've only read a little bit so far, but I'm highly impressed by his writing style -- it might even be able to make environmental history interesting.

I have a friend who is really interested the history of Gaelic and Norse interactions but does not have much background information. What is the best book(s) to get them or articles to send their way that you guys would recommend?

Noticed a few weeks ago that Stephen Kotkin's second volume in his Stalin biography trilogy, Stalin: Waiting for Hitler, 1929-1941, finally has a release date: October 10, 2017 (his website had it at 2016, and the final volume for 2019). Considering how well-written his first volume was, how encompassing it was, I've been waiting for this to get released. Just a shame I won't be around to get it right away (though sure that can be resolved).

I'm looking for a chapter in a book or a journal article on the Tuchins and their organization. I know I've read it somewhere before, but I can't find it in the books I have on hand or by searching online, and it's driving me crazy. Does anyone know where I can find any chapter or article that might match the description?

Does anyone have any recommendations for literature on the Judenräte in Poland during the Holocaust? I'm trying to find more recent stuff on the topic.

Any books to recommend about the Qing dynasty, particularly for the later years? I've also got access to most journal repositories, so journal articles would be good too. I've got a very rough familiarity with the general events and narrative.

I'm a high school senior (equivalent) in Singapore thinking of entering Cambridge's Robson Prize for history: most of the questions are rather Eurocentric/Britcentric, even, and my personal interest lies there anyway.

The question in particular is "Did the Opium Wars doom the Qing empire?": I've already done some light reading on the Taiping Rebellion, and a bit on early Republican China since I was already interested in that.

I feel there's a bit to unpack with the question, in particular the assumption of decline/factors leading up to Xinhai etc. etc.

Thus far, I've started reading Peter Zarrow's After Empire. Up next is Jack Gray's Rebellions and Revolutions (China from the 1800s to the 1900s) and Jonathan Spence's God's Chinese Son.

Thank you very much!

my areas are disabled history in pre-modernity(so til 18thc),animal history,ottoman history,court history,renaissance history and gender history.Currently doing an essay on courtesans for a master's class on women during the Italian renaissance. I have been reading Vecellio's costume book which shows the 16th century writer's version of clothing from all over the world at the time.I recommend it.Also looking at greenblatt's work on stuff like self fashioning and exchange in relationship.you should also look up zoppino's passage on prostitutes which is like something from the deepest darkest part of 4chan.

I'm nearly finished with Ron Chernow's Washington: a Life, which has been an excellent read. After this I think I'm going to read something more relevant to my research, although what exactly I am not sure.

Are there any good articles that compare the civil rights policies of 19th century US Presidents such as Cleveland to 20th century ones like FDR? I'm interested in the elements of continuity there have been in the President's approach to civil rights across these periods particularly.