For anyone who missed it, we had a question about recommended reading a couple of days ago, with responses from myself, /u/anthropology_nerd, /u/kochevnik81, /u/6ftaboveground and /u/x_fatkitty_x.

Can someone recommend books on the history of games? I'm looking for both survey books and books on early games (so things like ancient board games and games of chance in Mesopotamia, China, India, Africa and the Americas). I'm looking pretty broadly so anything about the chronology, or about games' social relevance or broader context is of interest to me.

Been a while since I've written a book review, but here we go: I recently finished Red Nations: The Nationalities Experience in and after the USSR by Jeremy Smith, and was quite pleased with it. I've gone through parts of the book before, but never all of it until now. It is a great introductory survey of the nationality question in the USSR, and as it was published in 2013 has the most recent scholarship on the topic, while also noting the historiography of it. It's not a fully academic work either, with few footnotes to citations (though important when used), and is an easy, accessible read. He also does a good job of covering the breadth of the Soviet Union, noting all regions and not just focusing on one part. For people trying to first gain an understanding of an incredibly complex topic, this is a great starting point.

Any recommendations on Latin American hacienda labor, mita-style labor taxes, or plantation agriculture before and after independence from European powers?

I recently read and liked Nechama Tec's "Defiance". Is there a good work on Soviet partisans during the Great Patriotic War as a whole that someone could recommend? I want something a bit 'fact and figures' oriented that gives context rather than a work driven by individual narratives.

Are there any books written about WW2 concentration camps as told by Nazi guards or officers?

Maybe this belongs in the Friday thread though was told to ask here. Any tips to getting good at proofreading my writing? I was writing a research paper and found it littered with errors upon the first draft, granted I wrote it with dictation. Maybe I just need to allot time to proofread in my writing process. Any tips would be appreciated. Also when you come across answering a question for instance, how do you formulate and write it? Is it a set standard in format?

New to this sub here, can anyone recommed me a book or author on the history of china? I'm talking about anything before the Mongol Invasion, preferably more of a light reading (I am by no means a historian, I just really like to study history in my free time). I appreciate any suggestion, thanks in advance

I read this fantastic article in the New Yorker recently about the possible importance of the new field of Proteomics to the study of history. I basically would like to ask Historians here about their insights on this topic and specifically what we may be able to learn from all of these old books once they are analyzed in this novel way. The article partly answers this question but I'd love to hear what the historians on reddit think about it. Thanks! 

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/11/26/do-proteins-hold-the-key-to-the-past

Can anyone recommend some comprehensive literature on the Dutch East India Company?

Perhaps I should ask this in /r/AskEconomics, too, but I'll start here...

I was looking for a books on the history of trade and/or shipping. Anybody have any recommendations? I've checked the wiki and there doesn't seem to be much of anything that fits the bill.