Thursday Reading and Recommendations is intended as bookish free-for-all, for the discussion and recommendation of all books historical, or tangentially so. Suggested topics include, but are by no means limited to:
Asking for book recommendations on specific topics or periods of history
Newly published books and articles you're dying to read
Recent book releases, old book reviews, reading recommendations, or just talking about what you're reading now
Historiographical discussions, debates, and disputes
...And so on!
Regular participants in the Thursday threads should just keep doing what they've been doing; newcomers should take notice that this thread is meant for open discussion of history and books, not just anything you like -- we'll have a thread on Friday for that, as usual.
Did a particular book get you into history? For me, it was reading Braudel's Civilization and Capitalism when I was in my early twenties. Barely understood any of it. But I fell under a spell, and knew that I there was this whole world out there--the world of the past--that I could become familiar with, and understand. I was hooked.
I now can understand it!
I know this thread focuses on book recommendations, but I'd like to hear recommendations for your favorite historical films.
In my area of interest, I think Carlos (2010; dir. Olivier Assayas) is hands-down the best movie about terrorism ever made. Whenever I get asked for a book recommendation about terrorism in the 1970s-1990s, I always tell them that this film is better than any book on the topic.
As a sidenote, I think it would be amazing if this subreddit did a floating feature analyzing historical films. The Journal of American History has been doing film reviews alongside their book reviews for a few years now, so if academia has hopped on board with film discussions I think we should, too!
Can anybody recommend a general history on Brooklyn? I see some stuff geared specifically toward the Brooklyn Bridge or particular neighborhoods , but i'm interested in a broader history of the borough from the colonial era to WWII or even the consolidation of the city. Something akin to Burrows & Wallace's Gotham would be great, if it exists.
Thanks!
Could you recommend a few books on both the code breaking / intelligence / espionage work during ww2 and period after ww2 ended and the cold war began.
Thanks in advance for any advice offered.
Looking for the best book on Japan’s Sengoku Jidai period. I’m mostly wanting a concise history with some detail on the three major warlords, Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and Ieyasu. Any suggestions? I’ve seen “Sengoku Jidai Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and Ieyasu: Three Unifiers of Japan” by Danny Chaplin around but they don’t have it at my library and it costs $30 on Amazon so I’m looking for something either a bit more accessible or cheaper.
Good evening everyone! I'm looking for recommendations for the post-colonial period in the Great Lakes Region of Africa. I've started doing some reading on the Rwandan Genocide for a school project, and reading When Victims Become Killers by Mahmood Mamdani has me more interested in the entire region. I've perused the book list on the wiki, and noticed that it is very Rwandan focused -- I was wondering if anyone had suggestions for something focusing more on the rest of the region.
Does anyone have recommendations for readings on the history of sexology, sexuality, or the study thereof anytime in the last 100 years or so? For a bit of context - my primary (very amateur) interest is in the history of asexuality (particularly academic theories of asexuality), and I actually have found a lot of interesting primary sources, but I'm looking for more general secondary texts so that I can understand those items in their broader context.
Also, on a more general note, and recommendations on the historiography of sexuality in general would be much appreciated!