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.
Picked up a copy of Marc Reisner's Cadillac Desert (1986) in the "free book pile" at work, and my god, I can't put it down. Just a masterfully written history of the American west and the role of water/irrigation/crimes in the making of it. Heavily recommended.
I just finished Mike Duncan's The Storm Before the Storm and loved it. I'd like to keep up the Duncan-inspired exploration of historical topics with a narrative overview of the French Revolution and/or Napoleonic Era. For the time being, I'd like to lean more towards popular history rather than scholarly analysis, though I'm certainly not against a deeper exploration of theme, context, etc. What would you all recommend?
For any historians of science out there:
What are some seminal 1st year grad school works you know?
I've just finished reading Leviathan and the Air-Pump, which I'm told is a commonly read 1st year book. I've also read Latour's reading of this book in We Have Never Been Modern and would like to know more books that deal with the fundamental question of the relationship between science and society.
I've been binging the manga "Kingdom" this last week and while normally I find history to be pretty tedious, I absolutely captivated by the way they describe the battles (and the drama surrounding them). Can anyone recommend some books that focus less on the politics and more on the actual positioning and how the battles played out? The war, era or whatever doesn't matter, though I'd prefer something before the American Civil War since I'd also like to use what I read as inspiration for a medieval fantasy D&D campaign. I've found recommendations for books about China's Warring States Period (setting of Kingdom): The Tale of the Heike, Keay's China: A History, and Roberts' translation of Three Kingdoms. But as I said, I'm less interested in the time/place and more interested in the focus on the battles and the causes and effects. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
I'm looking for books, preferably accessible/not terribly academic, about the history of trade and shipping.
Anybody have any recommendations?
Any recommendations for books featuring some of the biggest “plot twists” and strangest occurrences/figures during the Middle Ages? I love weird histories. (:
I realise I'm very late to this one and am not expecting any replies, but does anyone know of any particularly good academic histories of beer/ale? Began working for a brewery recently and would love to get into some of the history.