I got through John Beeler's Warfare in Feudal Europe this week. Obviously it's quite old and has now been thoroughly superseded by John France's Western Warfare as the standard work on the subject, but it's still quite a useful little book if you're interested in the subject. Whereas France tackles the subject thematically and is able to give a much more comprehensive view of how war was fought in the broad sense, Beeler examines it from a geographical perspective and is better able to show regional variations. His mistake of assuming a universal tradition of 40 days "feudal" service aside, he does an excellent job of showing how and why military service was different in different areas and argues against the traditional view of "feudalism" from a military history perspective.

Otherwise, it's interesting to see how little perspectives have changed on some things. Beeler viewed medieval commanders as competent, acknowledged the role of infantry as important and pointed out the use of paid troops from an early age. The biggest shift seems to have been a slight reduction in the importance and effectiveness of knights in modern historiography and a shift in focus away from battles - Beeler acknowledges the rarity of battles and doesn't condemn it like some earlier authors, but doesn't focus on this - to the medieval raid, counter raid, siege and battle avoidance that is common nowadays.

In conclusion, Warfare in Feudal Europe is still a useful and valuable book, but I recommend reading John France's Western Warfare in the Age of the Crusades first to get a better understanding of medieval warfare as a whole in this period.

Suggestions on the Irish revolution/civil war general histories?

Any good books about the history of race in the US, particularly the fluid boundary of whiteness?

I’ve been reading Interlude in Umbarger by Donald Mace Williams, about a group of Italian POWs who decorated the church in the teeny tiny Umbarger, Texas (population 150 in 1940). The 3,000 noncollaborationist Italian officers at Hereford POW camp had their rations severely restricted after VE-Day, so when the chaplain arranged for seven of the prisoners with some artistic talent to go to do murals and carvings for the church with the promise of a good lunch, they jumped at the opportunity. Williams follows the story of his principal informant, a then-lieutenant who’d learned drawing at military academy, supplemented by other interviews and unpublished documents. The narrative is interesting, but doesn’t attempt to engage with historical literature and suffers from a lack of focus. Life in Hereford and relations with locals in Umbarger are given about the same space.

I was looking to read Gibbon's work on Rome but I am struggling to find a physical copy. Is it worth listening to an Audiobook version. I am aware that Gibbon's views are rather outdated but I would still like to listen to them, more so out or curiosity than research.

I was wondering if there is a gold standard book on medieval tactics?

I've been playing some total war and it's very inspiring.

I am of Scandinavian descent and would love to learn more about my viking ancestors. Can anybody recommend some good books on that topic as well?

I know a little, as in they didnt wear horned helmets and weren't as dominant as some imply.

Thank you for any help! Love all you historians, your work is very much appreciated!

Recommendation request, and this is tough because I'm honestly not 100% sure I know what I'm looking for.

In a nutshell...is there a good history of mining? Something at a survey level.

When I read about American history I find my interest piquing at mentions of Comstock and Anaconda and the labor history in coal country of the early 20th century. When I travelled to Bolivia I marvelled at Oruro. It strikes me that I just might want to learn a bit about the history mining. Any suggestions?

I need books about diplomacy (help).

(WWII question #93,937,698,769,679,679) I'd love it if anyone could recommend some social and cultural histories of World War II. I'm having a hard time finding books on WWII that aren't military or political histories. Books on individual countries are fine, but the larger the scope the better.

Recommendations for books on post-Soviet Russia and Eastern Europe? Specifically, the transition away from Soviet-era. I'm looking for texts which focus on the sociocultural (vs just politics), and for texts on Eastern Europe I'd prefer a more general text as I'm not too knowledgeable about it. Thanks!