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:
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.
I have finished two books.
Monsoon Islam: Trade and Faith on the Medieval Malabar Coast(S. Prange)
This excellent monograph charts the growth and interactions of the Malabar Muslim community, especially their role in the profitable pepper trade, and how their religion was affected. Highly recommended to all.
Asoka and the Decline of the Mauryas (Romila Thapar)
Coming with a fresh afterword recounting implications of recent finds and research, this volume is a sort of encyclopaedic account of Asoka's empire, as well as its sharp decline following his death. Due to the murkiness of the evidence, much of what is argued is probable, not definite. There are many tiring lists of facts and dates, as well as long chains of deductions. I would recommend this only to the dedicated student of ancient Indian history.
Anybody have any good recommendations on the radical republicans during the American Civil War and Reconstruction?
A scholar I know recently had a book published that he's been working on for the past while: Clientelism and Nationality in an Early Soviet Fiefdom: The Trials of Nestor Lakoba by Timothy K. Blauvelt. Lakoba was the leader of Abkhazia, a region of Georgia that was quasi-autonomous in the 1920s and 1930s Soviet Union, and a close ally of Stalin. He fell out of favour though, and was poisoned in 1936 by Lavrenti Beria (his rival).
This is a book I'm really interested in reading, as I spoke to Tim during my MA and wanted to write about Lakoba directly (I ended up on a more broader look at Abkhazia and Soviet nationality policy). He steered me away saying there wasn't much on Lakoba, but looking back I partly think he didn't want someone writing on "his" topic (don't read into that too seriously, I like Tim). Tim is probably the leading scholar, in English, on this topic, so this book should be good. While the price is currently about $200, a paperback is due out in about 18 months, so hopefully that will drop the price a bit (unless I can find a university library that purchases it).
What could I read for a history of banking? I imagine this is a wide topic, but I don't know where to start. I often like reading multiple specific books across a broader range to get a picture of things.
- what happened with Andrew Jackson and the central bank?
- what's the deal with Jews and lending?
- what were banks like in B.C. times?
- what's the deal with the politics of switching to the gold standard, or off of it?
More interested in the western/European/American banking system than other systems
If I wanted to learn more about the Hanseatic league what would be a good book to read to get an overview?
Would anyone be able to point me toward a good overview on Philippine history? I'd also be interested in any deep dives into particular eras or subjects, but I'm struggling to find anything that isn't about WWII in some capacity.