The Hamlyn History of Medieval Life is a book disappointing only in its brevity. I bought the book a couple of years ago, popped it on my "Inspiration" shelf and forgot about it. Since I was sorting my books more efficiently the other day, I found it, recognised the author (David Nicolle) and then abandoned everything I was doing to read it.

As you might expect, it's essentially a Cliff's Notes guide to life in the medieval world. Nothing is explored in much detail due to the short length of the book and large, high quality images, but it does cover the entirety of Eurasia and India between 1000 and 1500 AD. This is possibly a weakness, since I think any one area could probably have been covered adequately if the entire book was dedicated to it, but on the other hand Nicolle is better able to highlight similarities, differences and cultural diffusion this way.

While The Hamlyn History of Medieval Life isn't something you could read for an academic course, I do recommend it for any aspiring fantasy authors as a way of learning the basic foundation for a varied and connected world. You can either than extrapolate and invent from there or, if you want to know more before you do that, then you can check out Greenwood Press' Daily Life Through History series for individual books that go into greater depth on areas covered by Nicolle.

What articles would you confidently recommend to anyone with an interest in academic history?

These articles are some of my favorites. Not only were they well-written and entertaining even to those who weren't experts in the area, but they completely changed how I saw their subject area.

This history of Caribbean pirates blew my mind by emphasizing just how small and integrated the pirate community really was and how little time the classic period that gave us our tropes lasted.

Rediker, Marcus. "Under the Banner of King Death": The Social World of Anglo-American Pirates, 1716 to 1726" The William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 38, No. 2 (Apr., 1981), pp. 203-227, https://www.jstor.org/stable/1918775

This was an excellent social history of who the people in the killing squads were, why they did what they did, and how generational divides played into the Holocaust.

Westerman, Edward. "Ordinary Men" or "Ideological Soldiers"? Police Battalion 310 in Russia, 1942" German Studies Review, Vol. 21, No. 1 (Feb., 1998), pp. 41-68, https://www.jstor.org/stable/1432392

This was a fascinating article that offered a controversial ecological explanation for Aztec sacrifice. It also changed my view of how the Aztecs themselves ideologically justified and thought about the rituals.

Harner, Michael. "The Ecological Basis for Aztec Sacrifice." February 1977 https://doi.org/10.1525/ae.1977.4.1.02a00070

Anyone has a book concerning Mycenaean Greece's economy to recommend me?

Books on pre-WW2 Jewish life in Poland?

Books on the expansion of Islam in the 7-9th century?

Books on the Russian Civil War?

Hey guys. My girlfriend’s grandparents have been looking for a book on the Seminole War Chief Osceola for ages, but haven’t found anything great. Do ya’ll have any recommendations? Thanks, and sorry if this has been asked before! :)

Reading about the idea that William Shakespeare began his life in London as muscle for a mob boss whose territory was the theater district, has me interested in the history of organized crime in 16th century London. Any book recommendations for learning more about this?

Anyone has ebook or article about "story of maize : early farmers in America " ?