I'm currently reading Kenneth Henshall's A History of Japan: From Stone Age to Superpower in preparation for visiting Japan next month. I've actually owned the book for ages, but after two previous failed starts I'd shelved it for a good few years until I finally felt the pressure to actually read it to the end.

I can't really comment on the quality of its scholarship (although Henshall is actually an academic in this field, is able to read Japanese, and it's published by a respectable academic press, so presumably it's not terrible) but as a book it's somewhere between mediocre and bad. There's a very good reason I'd failed to read it in the past. I had thought it was because the book had been too academic for 15 year old me, but it turns out it's just really boring. It reads like a mix between one of those really bland textbooks you got in secondary school and a transcript of your most boring but intelligent friend telling you everything they know about a subject that is usually quite interesting . It even has a "what did we learn in this chapter" bit at the end of each section - which feels a little unnecessary in a book that's less than 200 pages long. It's also lacking in in depth analysis, being pretty much a stripped down narrative, although this is a little excusable given it's length. What's kind of weird is Henshall's habit of declaring that "X event is the first time this happened outside the Western World", where X is something that has definitely happened outside the Western World - or else he's operating under a very different definition of Western World than I'm familiar with.

I would say I definitely don't recommend it, but after a good deal of looking I'm not sure what the alternatives are for a short-ish survey history of Japan written by someone who seems to at least know what they're talking about. Maybe flairs who actually studies this stuff has a better idea, though.

Going through a lot of books on the Qing recently. Anyone know any good books for 18th century China? Most books seem more focused on the Ming-Qing transition or the Late Qing rather than the High Qing. I would be particuarly interested in social history of that era.

Currently going through the Cambridge history of China on the early Qing. It is a really good book with chapters covering many different aspects, and some particuarly well written. I may be biased as its a topic I am particularly interested in, but Pamela Kyle Crossley's chapter on the Banners is definitely my favourite chapter , added her orphan warriors to my reading list.

I was just recommending this in a thread and it occurred to me that people may be interested, because it's absolutely fascinating.

Inquisitorial Inquiries, edited by Richard Kagan and Abigail Dyer, is a book of testimony by those arrested under the authority of the Spanish Inquisition, along with explanations and background for each of those it discusses. It includes a mix of testimony from many of the kinds of people targeted by the Inquisition- crypto-Jews (both in Spain and in the New World), moriscos (converted Muslims), Protestants, mystics, bigamists, and sexual deviants.

I would be really appreciate if someone could recommend me any in-depth, not general history, book about the wars of independence of the Baltic states.

Years ago I greatly enjoyed reading The Healing Hand-Man and Wound in the Ancient World, Guido Majno, Harvard University Press, 1975. In the intervening 44 years I presume that much has changed in the understanding of medicine and surgery in the ancient world. Is there a recent book on this subject?

Thank you all

I’ve read all quiet on the western front before and enjoyed it, is there any other good WW1 books?

Hey there, has anyone got any recommendations (papers/books) about the history of the Korean People's Association in Manchuria? Thanks!

I recently finished The Glorious Cause by Robery Middlekauff and it left me feeling somewhat cold- it felt overly long and far too detail packed. Can anyone recommend another book on the American War of Independence?

I loved reading Battle Cry of Freedom and I'm really enjoying Empire of Liberty so its not the subject matter I dislike- but there's something about Middlekauff's writing that doesn't strike a chord with me.

Thanks!

Hey guys. Looking for recommendations for books about the Heptarchy/5th-11th century England.

Also, looking for some good historical fiction set in the Roman Republic/Empire. Particularly, though not exclusively, those with a focus on interesting Roman facts. For example, I enjoyed Pompeii by Robert Harris, which was about an Aqueduct Engineer and was full of technical information on Aqueduct design/manufacture/maintenance.

Are there any “must-reads” for American labor history?

What are some good recommendations for books on medieval Europe specifically eastern Europe and the Kievan Rus but really anything would be interesting?

Also what are some good books about colonial America and Canada and the different experiences the colonists would have in different areas?

What are some good books about the Jim Crow system? I'd prefer an academic overview that shows how it developed, how it worked, and what it was like to live under, but recommendations for other kinds of books are appreciated. I've already read Woodward's The Strange Career of Jim Crow.

Any must-read books for African history? Modern, medieval, or classical?

Can anybody provide a stable link to a free, full text version of Lorenzo Valla's Treatise on the Donation of Constantine? Asking as a poor college student who would rather buy beer.

Are there any good books about ancient Nepal? I visited this beautiful nation about a year ago, and want to know more about its history.

What would be a good book to read about the Romanian principalities all the way from the 11th century to the Romanian war of Independence?