If you are just getting started digging into a brand new subject, how do you determine which monographs to read? I have been tasked with reading a handful of monographs of my choice, but they are supposed to be the "heavy hitters" of their subject matter, having changed or still changing the way their sub-field is seen.
Also, where do I even find these monographs?
Sorry that this is so basic.
PhD exam lists!
As long as you are not, you know, reading for actual PhD exams, they are pretty much the greatest resource ever. They're topically organized ("Atlantic history" "20th century cultural history"), often subdivided into smaller groupings, and custom-designed through collaboration between an expert prof and an interested grade student to reflect (1) the fundamental, old-school scholarship on a topic (2) the leading edge of it (3) the different directions the field is currently going in or major things it has previously established.
The important thing to be aware of is that there isn't usually an "Oxford Handbook of Early Modern Europe" or whatever on there. You're reading specific-argument books from the beginning. So the first couple, you will probably feel somewhat lost and take notes on EVERYTHING. That's fine and normal. Roll with it. By the fifth book or whatever, you'll be laughing at what you had to write down the first time. ;)
(Oh, yeah--if you're trying to master a field, DEFINITELY take notes. And see also this week's Monday Methods on how to read an academic book.
Three excellent resources for PhD comps lists online for the world to share are from:
If you're trying to focus down on a really narrow subject, say, "Confession in late medieval Europe," your best bets are to find a "literature review" article (on academia.edu, or if you have access, through JSTOR/Cambridge/T&F/whatever database) OR, even better, a recent PhD dissertation related to the topic. Dissertations usually have a MASSIVE literature review/historiography section because a large part of the purpose of a diss is "SEE, DR. ADVISOR, I READ ALL THESE BOOKS, I SWEAR I DID." ;)
But in general, comps lists are where it's at.
You could start by googling for reading lists posted for university courses or by lecturers. Alternatively, find a good undergrad work from an academic publisher that covers the broad umbrella field most closely approximating your area of interest and work off of its bibliography.
Just bear in mind that leaping straight into current debates mightn't be the most efficient approach. I've tried it a few times and sometimes found myself floundering; also fads and fashions can lead to some very narrow and stylized debates that are best approached after acquiring a solid, independent frame of reference in the topic.
Edit: Also this discussion is live still, links to the AskHistorians booklist, and has lots of commentators with useful advice.
Google scholar has this really, really neat search feature where it will partially rank books and articles by their number of citations. While not always foolproof, it's a good benchmark.
For example, when I searched "Spanish Conquest" I got: Stern, S. J. (1993). Peru's Indian peoples and the challenge of Spanish conquest: Huamanga to 1640. Univ of Wisconsin Press.
I've seen this book on every Colonial Latin America exam list and it's been cited in 642 articles or books so safe to say it's important.
You can also set the search to recent. I do this when I want to know what's been published in the last year or so on a topic.
Annnnnndddd you can create alerts.
Annnnnnnnnnnnnnddddd it will give you direct links to articles so you don't have to search databases if you are searching on a campus internet. It will also sometimes give you indications if it's in your library.
Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnndddddd you can keep a book list and copy the citation into a bibliography. Again, not always foolproof but incredibly useful.
I'm a fan.