Looking to expand my understanding of the French Revolution I already have an understanding of the broadest of strokes but I wouldn’t lay claim to much more than that so if anyone has any recommendations for good overall histories to just give me a better base that’d be helpful. I’m also very interested in Robespierre and the terror in general so what are some biographies you recommend of either Robespierre or other important figures from the more radical earlier period of the revolution would be useful, as well as anything specifically covering the terror. The revolution really strikes me as something where there’s so much written from every which way that curation is more difficult than just finding something on the topic so that’s where I really need help. Also, english resources are preferred my french is sadly just not good enough for me to read anything that would be nuanced and complex enough to be what I’m looking for. Thanks in advance.

Could someone please recommend a book on the pre-modern history of Africa? I tried out When We Ruled: The Ancient and Medieaval History of Black Civilizations by Robin Walker but kept running in to issues.

1. He uses nineteenth and early twentieth century racial definitions and rhetoric in a seemingly non-satirical way. I acknowledge that people of African descent have frequently been shut out of mainstream history and culture, but he even refers to "Ibn Battuta, a Moroccan of White Berber origins" (Walker, p.66). He seems to want to advance the theory that much of human civilization is due not to people of African descent, but specifically of Black descent, a distinction that I find racially charged. Perhaps I should have gathered that from the title.

2. He presents theories that do not have much support in the academic community without clarifying such. The example that caused me to give up the book is his discussion of agriculture at Wadi Kubbaniya. He claims that humans cultivated crops there, but all the references I can find to Wadi Kubbaniya online mention only harvesting typical of later hunter-gatherer societies.

But Walker did bring up a couple dozen societies, artifacts, and historical accounts that led me wanting to know more about pre-colonial Africa. Does anyone have a more credible history that they can suggest? I'm okay with popular history if it's researched well, but would prefer something akin to an intermediate college or beginner scholastic work appropriate for graduate students.

Any good (or...any at all?) English language bios on August von Mackensen?

I’ve asked about this a couple times but got no responses, so this’ll be my last request since I won’t have access to my university library for a month starting Saturday.

I’m doing research for my school’s production of the Greek play The Birds, and my director wants to make the show about youth political movements. Does anyone have good books or resources about:

• Youth culture in Ancient Greece (500-400BCE, primarily)
• a history of youth activism anywhere in the world, hopefully including stuff earlier than the turn of the 20th century but certainly including more modern/recent stuff.

Bonus points if there’s something about youth activism/politics in Ancient Greece, but I suspect there isn’t much on that matter.

Late Ancient/Early Medieval Europe

Does anyone have any reading recommendations on the development of "civilization" (complex economic activity, literacy, and large scale stable states) in "barbarian" (non-Roman controlled, i.e. Scandinavia, Central, and Eastern) Europe? In particular, I want to know how these changed in the 1 CE to 1000 CE period.

I have a little bit of background (I have read like Rosenwein's textbook, a bit of Chris Wickham's and Peter Heather's work, as well as Bartlett's The Making of Europe), but most of what I know on this topic is inferring from passive assumptions in these works. I gather that there were not large settled "states" in the region prior to the collapse of Rome (excepting maybe Nomad empires?), literacy, complex economic activity (e.g. very specialized or long-distance staple trade), or anywhere near the focus on "cities" that Rome had. (This is why I am using the term "civilization", because there does seem to be a difference between the urban civitas and whatever was going on in what is now Poland). I think that there was settled agriculture in these barbarian lands, and that the techniques and species used for it can ultimately be traced to the Fertile Crescent via the Mediterranean, but even this I am not sure of. I also think that the reason our sources open up is because of Christianity's emphasis on elite literacy, but I can't tell if there is also a lack of political and economic scale before that.

I know this might not seem like an especially coherent question, but I am looking for an overview which helps me understand the academic consensus on this topic and how these strands come together. I will be having to teach high school world history next year and I really want to be able to answer questions.

Thank you in advance!

P.S. I’m reading Walls by David Frye, and while I am honestly a little disappointed (his whole Sparta chapter flies in the face of /u/Iphikrates book and podcast episodes), I am intrigued by his contention that the line between “civilized” and not is the militarization rates of adult men vis-a-vis other ways (i.e. walls) of protecting the community. Anyone have any reading relevant to this (either reviews of his book or anthropologists writing in favor or against this idea) that you recommend?