I've been reading the Third Reich Trilogy by Richard J. Evans. I'm on the second book now, The Third Reich In Power, and overall, it's a fascinating read. I never realized the extent that the Nazis coordinated personal and governmental institutions into the "National Socialist Ethos." I always thought the primary goal was just to remove Jews from public and private life, but it was much more ambitious and comprehensive.

I also really appreciated Evans' analysis on the effects of rearmament on the economy. It was a central part of Germany's economic recovery, but the frenetic pace the Nazis maintained led to massive shortages and eventually drove Germany into initiating a war it was unprepared for. Hitler's "blitzkrieg," then, seems less like a brilliant military strategy, which I assumed before, and more an attempt to overwhelm the enemy and prevent an extended war of attrition that Germany could not maintain.

I've been reading a lot of semiotics books while in the field to try and ground some of what I'm doing in a more scientific framework. Unfortunately, much of the work in semiotics is based around the idea of literary works and language, whereas I work with material culture and other less "intentional" things. This may be a bit out of everyone's area, but is anyone aware of books discussing the semiotics of non-literary sources?

This week has been murder for my reading intentions. I've been watching a lot of CSPAN-2 instead. For no particular reason.

But I finished off the book on Seeds of Empire, which was all about the Texas Revolution. It was in that awkward spot between great and frustrating where I already agreed with the argument and knew the basics, so there was much explaining old news followed by new details.

From there I fell prey to an Amazon flash sale and picked up Jefferson and Hamilton: The Rivalry That Forged a Nation which is very far from my normal reading choices. I picked it up as an audiobook back when I had an audible account. The content seemed interesting but the narration was awful. Full of awkward pauses and weird emphasis. I returned it. Come a two dollar sale, I took a second bite at the apple. Just about done with the Revolution now and it's...ok? I think part of the problem is that the protagonists have jack to do with each other for large sections of their lives, so you get a dual biography as an extended prologue. The Hamilton sections are old news because I've listened to Chernow (and got a copy for reference). The Jefferson ones are a combination of not interesting and old news, with nowhere near enough slavery talk. I'm starting to suspect there's not a lot of news in general, since Ferling seems fairly conventional on both men to date. At least he's not a bad writer.

I hope slavery's coming, but seriously thinking about dropping it in favor of a proper slavery study. The American Revolution is ok, but Hamilton is in the field so there's lots of talking about battles that I find plodding. I've got a giant reading list for slavery that I'd like to sort through and make more progress on. Keeps making eyes at me. Showing its shapely bits. Teasing me with the usual "if you thought that made you cry, wait until NEXT chapter..." gambit.

And I really ought to read the fiction I promised myself when I finished the last slavery study, but what are the odds of that happening?

Any books about the history and evolution of the concept of Empire? Why we call Empires pre-Roman entities, why we call Empire the Roman Empire, the Roman "Empire" legacy in the Middle Ages, how it ended up having todays meaning, ...

Looking for two book requests. The first being about England following WWII with regards to the postwar economy and society.

The second about the Suez Canal Crisis. Again, written from the British perspective.

Thank you!

I've lately felt my brain slipping a little, mostly due to the demands of life pushing out time to enjoy the intricacies of history. I decided to steal from /u/freedmenspatrol and start intentionally reading again, just a few chapters at a time. My goodness, has it made a difference.

First, I finished Warren's New England Bound: Slavery and Colonization in Early America. Overall I felt she did an admirable job compiling stories of slavery in early New England, but, and here I betray my bias, though she acknowledges pervasive Native American slavery in Massachusetts, the book focuses almost exclusively on African slavery. Native slaves are mentioned being taken as captives, or shipped to Barbados, but unlike Newell's Brethren by Nature: New England Indians, Colonists, and the Origins of American Slavery where Native slavery takes center stage, Warren discusses the Indian slave trade less than I expected. I did, however, love her emphasis on the commercial connections between New England and Barbados, and stressing that despite later historical amnesia surrounding slavery New England, "the region in many ways depended on plantation slavery- those plantations were simply offshore" (p.12).

I finished Lepore's The Name of War: King Phillip's War and the Origins of American Identity this week. I went in with the expectation of a standard war book, but Lepore transcends those boundaries to discuss everything from how colonists struggled with the rhetoric of a "just war", to the development of an American identity, distinct from Indian and Spanish influences, to how the memory of King Phillip's War was used to not only bolster early U.S. nationalism, but also to emphasize the trope of the disappearing Indian. I very highly recommend this book. It does start a little slow, but the pay-off is immense.

Finally, I wanted a quick read so I'm in the middle of Taylor's American Colonies: The Settling of North America. Good gracious, this is like a Cliff's Notes version of North American history on amphetamines. It's exactly what I wanted to read, a concise review of colonial history in North America (and a little on the Caribbean), but based on my areas of knowledge I know five to ten specialized history books must have been distilled for every single page of Taylor's work. The book was published in 2001, so a few themes seem outdated (his Native American demography is a bit off), but overall I'm surprised not only at the breadth of the work but also how well it has aged. This is like a historian's beach read, and I'm having trouble putting it down.

Can anyome recommend some books about the rise and fall of Islamic empire or the Caliphates?