I've recently become very interested in the history and peoples of the Eurasian Steppe, and in steppe life and culture in general. Can anyone recommend some thorough, in-depth, scholarly texts, either in the vein of general overviews, or more specific discussions of particular peoples, processes, or regions? Whatever you think might be relevant, shoot. Thanks.

I just picked up Noga Arikha’s (2008) Passions and Tempers: A History of the Humours. I haven’t begun to read it critically, yet, but it is impressive in its scope.

For my girlfriend, who is not a historian nor a history buff , but who’s interested in the history of the Romanov family I’m looking for an accessible yet historical accurate book on the subject. Any recommendations?

I'd love to learn more about Artemisia I of Caria or her female contemporaries. Anybody know of a good, historically decently accurate book on her life? Many thanks in advance! ; )

I recently read Bill Bryson's 2010 book At Home: A Short History of Private Life, and loved it. Any other books covering the history of something seemingly insignificant, quirky, or something we don't think about very often?

Any good recent books / papers on the nature of history / status of the field? Looking for something in the vein of Armitage and Guldi's The History Manifesto. 🙂

Does anyone have a recommendation on Marxist histories of pre-industrial revolution Europe? Preferably something accessible to a layman with no formal education in history. I'd be open to Marxist histories in the Renaissance, medieval or ancient periods. I've looked with Google and Wikipedia but I'm still not sure which authors or works are most foundational in Marxist history of these time periods

I’m working through the fruits of the Palgrave sale a few weeks ago, and there’s some great stuff in there. War in a Twilight World: Partisan and Anti-Partisan Warfare in Eastern Europe, 1939-1945 (eds. B Shepherd & J Pattinson) is interesting so far. There are some neat essays in it about different historiographical frameworks for understanding partisan warfare (an area of my flair field in which I am admittedly quite under-read!) - do you privilege the role of Moscow as a central organizing force which set both rhetoric and policy, or do you privilege the autonomy and agency of individual local partisan groups, seeing them as driving political realities on the ground which then drive official policy?

Also tracked down an annotated copy of Reznichenko’s 1984 Taktika, which as the name suggests is a tactics textbook for Soviet Army officers during the late Cold War. This edition was produced in 1987 by the British Army‘s Soviet Studies Research Centre at Sandhurst. It’s a nice reference work for the nitty-gritty on how the Soviets intended to fight at the tactical and tactical-operational level during the tail end of the Late Unpleasantness (and of course it was an influential book for many of the people currently in leadership roles in the Russian military during the Current Unpleasantness, but - 20 year rule.) It’s also interesting historiographically, both because it gives a window into what the Russian military historical-academic establishment thought about their previous conflicts during that time, and because it gives a window into what Western Russia-watchers understood of “the other side of the hill” so to speak.

What are some good books on pre-colonial Ireland?

I'd like to learn more about the Armenian Genocide. What are some good books for that? Clearly I could Google, but for this topic I wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a Kevin M. Kruse and a Dinesh D'Souza and I don't want to get D'Souza'd.