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.
Mittman, Asa Simon, 2006. Maps and Monsters in Medieval England. Abingdon: Routledge - a fantastic book for anyone wanting an in-depth analysis of medieval English cartography, and the concepts and perceptions behind the monstrous images that inhabit such maps and various other manuscripts.
Andrzej Pleszczynsk, Joanna Aleksandra Sobiesiak, Michal Tomaszek, Przemyslaw Tyszka, 2018. Imagined Communities: Constructing Collective Identities in Medieval Europe. London: BRILL - this a relatively new book published in 2018; I have not been able to read it yet but if anyone has had the chance to read it I would love to hear your thoughts!
Anybody have a recommendation on a book about the June Rebellion of 1832?
(Other than Les Mis)
Any good books on South India or a book covering the end of the Mughal Empire and the rise of the Raj?
This should be an easy one since so much has been written about it...what's a good book that provides an overview of the French Revolution? I might be going to France soon and just want to brush up on French history.
Finished reading one book yesterday;
Stevenson, David. 1917: War, Peace, and Revolution (2017)
The book argues about 1917 being the turning point of the war. Belligerents sought to break the deadlock, and find a way out of the Great War. Military offensives failed to achieve breakthrough, and also partly led to the Russian Revolution. Peace Initiatives were tried, but unclear war aims and desire for nothing less than total victory doomed these talks.
Designs for post-war Middle East, including a Jewish "national home" in Palestine, were laid out. By the end of the year, the Bolsheviks seized power in the October Revolution, and negotiations for a separate peace for Russia (Brest-Litovsk) were initiated. Germany's unrestricted submarine warfare forced the British to adopt convoys. The US broke off relations with Germany, and after the Zimmerman telegram, entered the war. Other countries like Siam and Japan also entered, for hopes of getting a seat on a post-war conference, an repudiate unequal treaties with Western countries.
These developments led to Germany taking the offensive in 1918, and the Americans finally mobilizing significant forces to aid the Allies. In a way, the events of 1917 shaped the course of the war through 1918.