This week my school library managed to redeem itself with a new selection of (still limited) books on the First World War, so naturally considering my flair and sheer interest in that event, I borrowed as many as I found worthwhile and now my work table is somewhat cluttered with the publications. My history teacher was also kind enough (at my request admittedly), to lend me some of his textbooks on the First World War as well, which are much smaller (interestingly) than the library books on the matter. Did I go overboard in estimating how much I could read with mock exams on the horizon? perhaps no. Here's the full list of what's currently on my reading agenda (in order of how I'm probably going to tackle them):

• Origins of the First World War by Graham Darby, part of the Longman History In Depth series: Read this one already, and found it promising in the inclusion of primary sources, but lacking in further analysis of the causes of the Great War. Takes in the scenery without dawdling too much in it.
• The Origins of the First World War Second Edition by Ruth Henig, part of the Lancaster Pamphlets series: Read this even shorter work too, and its concision is commendable (if only because of the nature of the publication). I suspect Henig must have been a follower or keen supporter of Fritz Fischer's theory, since the work focuses almost exclusively on the German Empire's situation leading up to and in 1914, describing most of the other powers in relation to its agenda and imperialist desires. Still, it has a fairly adequate summary of the historiographical debate which evolved from the First World War in the second chapter (mind you it only has two chapters).
• The Origins of the First and Second World Wars by Frank McDonough, part of the Cambridge Perspectives in History series: Read this one as well, and it's just a slightly longer version of Henig's work with the Second World War coverage tossed in as a continuation of the (fairly German-centric) analysis of the First World War. The summary of the historiographical debate here is actually even shorter and less comprehensive than Henig's work, though the documents included are a good repository of primary sources nonetheless.
• The Origins of the First World War Third Edition by Gordon Martel, part of the Seminar Studies in History series: Read this as well and it is the most comprehensive textbook by far out of the four. Martel is more sweeping in his investigation of Europe's situation at the outbreak of the Great War, and supplements the claims with nice primary sources and extracts here and there. Much more focus is given on the alliance system and their contribution to the crisis of 1914, which is an interesting and refreshing break from the other three textbooks.

In hindsight, I find it amusing that the titles of all four of these works are highly similar, and that I could probably mistake one for the other were it not for the author and series information. Cue the inevitable academic mix-ups in future responses on AH.

As for the secondary literature, I've got a decent trio to work through now:

• The War That Ended Peace by Margaret MacMillan: For lack of MacMillan's work on the Treaty of Versailles, this 500 or so page analysis of the leadup to the First World War is looking out to be a nice and thorough read for me. Just about to finish the first chapter, but I already like MacMillan's writing style of "setting the scene" before getting into the nitty-gritty historiographical arguments and sourcework. Right off the bat she claims that the First World War was not "inevitable" and that her work will focus on the key figures which made the critical decisions in 1914; not sure how I feel about all that with my own biases on the matter, but the book has certainly got me engaged to find out more.
• The Guns of August: The Outbreak of World War I by Barbara Tuchman: Yes, I feel terribly guilty that my flair contains "Origins of World War I" without me having read this foundational piece in the origins of the Great War. I look forward to seeing what Tuchman details in the crisis months of June to July, and whether or not she will ascribe to any of the "blame-games" which has so dominated First World War historiography for the better part of the 20th century.
• The Proud Tower: A Portrait of the World before the War 1890-1914 by Barbara Tuchman: This also critically-acclaimed book seems like a nice deep-dive into the situation of the various nation-states which would fall like dominoes towards the continental conflict of 1914. Tuchman appears to be giving particular focus on the domestic issues as well as the larger geopolitical ones in the 1890s-1900s, which I think will be an interesting avenue of reading for me. The book's structure is also rather nicely laid out, focusing on the events and developments within certain countries at various time periods. Curious however, that no chapters are dedicated to the Balkans, Austria-Hungary, or even Russia, and that somehow Tuchman found the Hague worthy of inclusion instead.

Following on from my previous Thursday Reading and Recommendations comment, I can now wholeheartedly recommend John Darwin's works (The Empire Project and Unfinished Empire) as must-reads for any student of British imperial history. They certainly earned top spots on my bookshelf and history reading favourites, thanks to Darwin's insightful, precise, yet concise writing style and the magnificent sourcework he's included on all matters discussed.

I've been reading The Rule of Women in Early Modern Europe, which I bought around Christmas in a sale. It's so important, if you're interested in queenship, to get a good transnational perspective - it'd be very easy to get sucked into mainly looking at English and/or French queens and generalizing from there, but there are countless individuals who are worthy of being examined.

This collection deals with the obvious choices, Elizabeth I and Isabel of Castile, the slightly-less-obvious-but-up-there Jeanne d'Albret and Isabeau of Bavaria, and then a few royal women I hadn't heard of before, like Isabel Clara Eugenia and Catherine of Brandenburg. Isabel Clara's example was particularly interesting - her father, Felipe II, granted her and her husband the Spanish Netherlands on her marriage, which meant in practice that her husband ruled while she acted as a consort. Except that that's putting it way too simply, since she took on the symbolic role of king a number of times (acknowledging that their power was derived from her) and had a more active role in politics behind the scenes. Then, after her husband's death she was named governor and exercised even more direct power.

I strongly recommend it!

I would like to recommend ‘The Stolen Village: Baltimore and the Barbary Pirates’.

It’s a sweeping tale of piracy that takes us from the rugged coast of 17th century Ireland to the great slave city of Algiers. You’ll meet Sultans, fisherman, concubines, slaves, and one of the last Gaelic Chieftans.

It’s sweeping and intimate all at once, and the ending contains a bit of historical speculation about the events that literally left me gob-smacked.

I can’t recommend it enough.

I was looking for some books on the economic growth in the post war period. Where should I start?

What are some good texts on Park Chung Hee? I'm mainly interested in his time as President of Korea.

Does anyone have any recommendations for books covering the reformation and then the thirty years war? Either one book or multiple would be great, ideally with a good writing style so they’re enjoyable to read.

Does anyone have any book recommendations on the electrification of Germany?

I've been reading June Dreyer's China's Political System 10th ed.

I am not a huge fan. For a political science book, it feels like a lack of actual political science. The introductory chapter with an overview of methodological perspectives on the Chinese system and development was fine, but the further treatment of the administration and the system is surprisingly shallow. Instead of the history on how the system developed, it's more of a modern political history of china talking more about what actors do rather than why or how institutions developed. The treatment of the legal system also seemed questionable.

That said, it could be an ok book on modern political history if i didn't have other expectations.

My last complaint is that it doesn't source claims, no good footnotes, endnotes or even just a bibliography. I understand it's meant for undergrads or something, but why would you omit good sourcing? The lack of sourcing (or even better, quality footnotes with nuanced source discussions) makes the book quite useless for anything aside from entertainment-reading.

Does anyone have any book recommendations for reading about Bronze-Age (Pre-Collapse) Err... Societies/Economics? Particular focus, if possible, on the functioning (both social and economic) of Palace Economies, maritime trade/economies, and the 'Bronze Trade' itself.

Any recs (book, peer-reviewed journals, papers) for learning more about Celtic Mythology/Ancient Celtic people? I’d prefer ones that acknowledge the impact of Christianity but still try to stay as original as possible (from the little we do know!)

I've re-read Joseph Ellis' book on Thomas Jefferson , American Sphinx. It's less a biography than a collection of all the intelligent things Ellis has to say about Jefferson. One bit caught my attention this time, and that's Jefferson's tendency to magical thinking when it came to his farm. Monticello is sitting in the Piedmont, and the soil there is thin, rocky, with a lot of clay. Mostly farmers raise livestock on it, now, but Jefferson tried to grow wheat. He thought he could "rebuild" the soil over years, but never came close. On the other hand, he made a very decent profit from the nail making shop he erected. Yet he persisted in crop farming. Wonder , now, what would have happened if he had applied himself more to nail making. There might have been some really ingenious kinds of nails early in the 19th c.