More specifically, I'm interested in something that tells sort of a general world history, but keeps a very Euro-Centric view. While I'd like to keep the main focus on Europe, I'd like to know about the situations of the other countries that Europe interacts with and imperailises, wars with and creates into their spheres of influence.
Alternatively, I'm very interested in this period basically everywhere, so something telling the history behind the eventual unification of Japan and its rise to great power status, the massive turmoil in America in its civil war and new mass industrial era, the sporadic and tumultuous Qing empire, etc, it all very much interests me. I would very much appreciate recommendations on books covering this period so I can understand more about the way the world was during this time; I hope to study and receive my degree in this area of focus.
From the perspective of a Qing Dynasty specialist, two recent books that cannot be overlooked are Julia Lovell's The Opium War (2011) and Stephen R. Platt's Autumn in the Heavenly Kingdom (2012).
The Opium War, centred on what is also known as the First Opium War (1839-1842), is not only an overview of the causes, course and consequences of the conflict, but also of how both the war itself and its wider implications – particularly the use of opium in China – have been portrayed and perceived by later generations, from the late Qing to the Republic to Mao to the present day. Even when it is discussing the war itself, it is not simply a narrative of battles and military manoeuvres, but also diplomatic and political manoeuvring, as Qing officials on the coast set up a web of lies to save face before the emperor and British plenipotentiaries took wildly varying approaches to dealing with them.
Autumn in the Heavenly Kindgom looks at the Taiping Rebellion, or, as Platt terms it, the Taiping Civil War (1851-66), during its final, decisive act from 1859-1864, as well as the closing moves of the Second Opium War, or Arrow War (1856-60). Aside from Hong Rengan and his reform proposal, Platt has two main focusses: Zeng Guofan's campaigns in the west, and the Anglo-French intervention in the east. Whilst his look at Zeng Guofan is more exploratory than investigative, he approaches the intervention with quite an interesting question in mind: why, in 1862, did Britain and France renege on their prior policy of neutrality and declare war on the Taiping, just two years after exacting sweeping concessions through a war against the Qing? Platt fails to disappoint in either area, and of the dozen or so secondary works on the Taiping I have read, his is undoubtedly the best.