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.
Is there a book on, and this is going to be a bunch of stuff, 1800s era, carne barking, snake oil selling, professional wrestling/strong man contests, religious revival...all American performance art that mix commercialism, deception, fast talk, and blur reality and fantasy? Con artists who used the isolation of the new West to film flam and scam marks as they traveled between towns with an element of public performance, not just selling the Brooklyn Bridge. I suppose PT Barnum would fit here, too.
It would be preferable if the book connected to the modern day equivalent or offspring.
Sorry if the what I’m describing isn’t actually connected, and the topic is too broad.
edit: And magicians!
I have a freshman honors seminar this semester who is going to read with me all of Tsuyoshi Hasegawa's Racing the Enemy, one chapter per week. I read it a long time back but it'll be good to read it again, and slowly. I'm looking forward to it, even though I have plenty of other stuff to do this semester!
What are some compelling books on Roman law? Or which historians have written extensively on Roman law?
Can anyone recommend some good english language books about the 3 Kingdoms period of China
Is there a book or article about the Berlin Air Safety Centre? It's mentioned in many of the books I read, but so far, I haven't been able to learn anything that's not in the Wikipedia article.
Hi. I recently learned of Comparative Mythology, and I want to learn a little more about what stories seem to repeat across different cultures and theories on why this occurs. What are some good places to start?
Does anyone have accessible books that reliably chronicle the history of Russia and the Soviet union? It's hard to find any that haven't been tainted by red scare level paranoia.
Anybody have a recommendation for a book about the German Revolution of 1918-19?