I am an adult who works in a field that has NOTHING to do with history, living in a 3rd world county that gives no care at all for world history. I want to get over these facts.
In short; I want to learn history.
So here is my hare-brained idea; over the next three years, I want to learn about history; from a political, military and humanitarian point of view. Emphasis on the humanitarian.
So I wanted someone -anyone really- to help me by pointing out the highlight periods of our history, especially the modern history and all that leads to today's conflicts. And to give me some sort of how to start, what books to read first and about what. And if philosophy and art are of special interest to me, how to go about that.
In short -again- help me get some sort of curriculum to go through over a 3- 5 year period.
Thanks for putting up with me.
If you are looking for ideas, I have a few!
Colonial Expansion
Enlightenment
WWI
WWII
Decolonization
Some of these you can see how they factor in our current world ideas, and why some things are like the way they are. For instance, why Israel is a hot button topic, why Taiwan is not on the United Nations Security Council anymore, etc!
Also, for the arts, I can only help on songs and music of the American Civil War, for that is what I am most of research in!
For History, I highly recommend "A History of Western Society " by John P. McKay, Clare H. Crowston, and Merry E. Hanks. It talks about a wide arrange of events of Western Society from Colonialism to the end of the Cold War.
A good book for the introduction on politics (it is more about the science behind it, but it covers some historical aspects of it) is called "Intro to Global Politics" by Steven L. Lamy and John S. Masker it covers modern political techniques, schools of thoughts, and some examples like the War on Terror, Cold War, WWI and WWII.
I do hope all these help you on your history exploration! There are so many resources out there that you can look for! This but a few small ones!