Hello, my dad was talking about 'the great game' between england and russia in the 1800s and I was wondering if there were any recommendations about books on that topic that are recommended.

I had found two books which might be good starting points and was curious if anyone could give me insight into the authors/quality of the books:

The Great Game: The Struggle for Empire in Central Asia by Peter Hopkirk - This one sounds great but it was published in 1994 so not sure if it is dated in some way.

Tournament of Shadows: The Great Game and the Race for Empire in Central Asia by Meyer and Brysack - This one sounded interesting from the reviews but there were also some comments about it not really bringing together the various things they were talking about during the book back to the overall power struggle between the two, so I wasn't sure if it was as good an option as the other one I mentioned.

Thanks in advance for your insight!

This may be too vague, but can anyone recommend any reads on history of science written in an accessible way?

For further context, I've been processing oral history interviews for my university, and it's been so intriguing to see the things our ag science folks researched in the 50s and 60s. I'm wondering what other weird things (or just things I take for granted) happened historically to move us along to what we know now, but my technical knowledge is pretty limited.

I can't afford a history degree, so if someone has books to recommend for a fledgling historian, I would be very grateful.

That, and Cold War social history.

What is a good single volume survey for Ancient Rome that covers all periods?

I am going to repeat a previous request - I am looking for critical histories of western philosophy that don't just present the viewpoints of individuals and groups, but also their criticisms and how relevant that philosophy is seen as being in the present day.

How do y'all assess the quality of a history book before reading it? How can you tell if the author is a credible source or not? For example, I was looking for books about the overarching history of Sicily and found a few different ones online, but I couldn't find much info about the authors and whether they were credible sources on the topic. Is there something like Goodreads specifically for history books that y'all use?

Any recommendations on the history of railroads? Somewhere on the intersection of its economics and technical development

Is there a cool gift or book I can get my history major friend? I'm not entirely sure what points in history he has a special interest in, so american history would probably be best.

Are there any good biographies about John B. Stetson, the hatmaker?