I'm going to take a moment and shill, just like I did last year, the fantastic book called "Why Dinosaurs Matter by Kenneth Lacovara. I have suggested it once or twice. Maybe. Its easily become one of my favorite books I read, and also comes in both audiobook and Tedtalk appetizer style!

As a dedicated Dino lover I was already the perfect audience for the book, but Lacovara writes (and narrates the audiobook) with an incredible passion that keeps you hooked. It's also a fairly short book, I read it in an afternoon, but interesting enough that you'll reread it a few times.

I'm going to copy a block I wrote before about what the book is about.

A main thrust of his argument is that "We" use Dinosaurs as an insult. It means old, outdated, failed to move on. Part of his argument is that that is a hurtful mindset to fall into. Dinosaurs were hands down some of the most successful animals on the planet. They survived for eons beyond anything we've dreamed, evolved to fit pretty much every continent (at the time obviously) and with untold variation. More then that, Diosaurs never died out. Some species did sure, but huge portions of them evolved into birds. Again, one of the most successful species on the current planet. A big part of it is trying to change the mindset that "old" or "Extinct" automatically means failure.

The book takes you through a history of the dinosaurs and what made them such a powerful and effective species, pointing out they don't actually all die off and disappear like many of us were taught as kids, and really spends time talking about how we today can take lessons from this. Both as a species, but also how we view the world and animals around us.

And I for one found all that pretty neat.

Probably off topic and bound for deletion, but I don't know where else to express my love of your Ask Historians Reading List! I've gotten through 15 or 20 on the list, one winner after another. It's a spectacular resource, and I for one am grateful to have it available!

If you haven't read Scott C. Levi's The Bukharan Crisis from last year, you should. It's a fascinating deconstruction of problematic ideas about Central Asian history, which are not only common tropes in popular discourse but which also continue to influence academic writing as well. And it's framed around an interesting enough piece of history in itself, that being the collapse of Chinggisid rule in the state of Bukhara in the 18th century, which Levi explores as the product of both Central Asia's connections and its own internal dynamics, in contrast to the commonly-held framing of Central Asian history as fundamentally subordinated to that of the regions around it.

A top five of the best new-ish books I've read this year just for those who might be looking for something for someone (or themselves, realistically; I know our type), in no particular order:

• Forget the Alamo: The Rise and Fall of an American Myth by Bryan Burrough, Christ Tomlinson, and Jason Stanford. Definitely more of a historiography of the Alamo and of the Texas Revolution than a straight-up history of either, the book - while admittedly clearly written for a popular audience - is a cogent and detailed deconstruction and examination of the "Alamo Myth" and how a militarily poorly devised defense of an otherwise meaningless mission church has become one of the major cultural touchstones of American history. There's a particularly intriguing chapter on Phil Collins, archaeology of the Alamo site, and obsessive collectors of memorabilia.
• Charlie Brown's America: The Popular Politics of Peanuts by Blake Scott Ball. If you had told me someone would undertake a study of American politics and society in the Cold War era by examining Charles Schulz's Peanuts comic strip, I would've thought you were crazy. But - somehow - someone did, and it works incredibly well. Arguing that Peanuts was an embodiment of the political centrism and "consensus" school social and historical outlook of the mid-twentieth century, while also contending that - in incredibly subtle ways - Schulz was among the foremost progressive literary voices of the mid-to-late twentieth century, Ball uses Charlie Brown and Snoopy as a lens to examine everything from the Civil Rights movement to Vietnam to the economic issues of the 1970s and rising political tensions of the 1980s and 1990s, and how they were all perceived by the "average American."
• The Crooked Path to Abolition: Abraham Lincoln and the Antislavery Constitution by James Oakes. Despite what it says in the title, this is not yet another hagiography of Abraham Lincoln. This is a legal and political history focused on the abolitionist movement and specific antislavery readings of the United States Constitution from 1787 to 1865. Tracing the political and legal interpretations of the Constitution as an anti-slavery document (and, to a lesser extent, as a pro-Slavery document in counterpoint) Oakes illustrates the fraught politics of the antebellum era with regards to the slavery question - and how both sides frequently turned to, at times, the exact same passages of the Constitution to make their arguments.
• To Risk It All: General Forbes, the Capture of Fort Duquesne, and the Course of Empire in the Ohio Country by Michael N. McConnell. I have always argued that too many people pay too much attention to Edward Braddock and his disastrous expedition to try and capture Fort Duquesne, and no one talks about John Forbes. McConnell gives the Forbes expedition the book-length treatment it deserves, and the resulting text is an invaluable addition to any colonial Americanist or Seven Years War/French and Indian War historian's collection. Taking a micro-level approach to the largest pre-revolutionary war, this is - without a doubt - standard military history, but with the flavorings of politics and social history throughout.
• Hero of Two Worlds: The Marquis de Lafayette in the Age of Revolution by Mike Duncan. While there's no question that Duncan's "Revolutions" podcast is incredibly popular - but also incredibly enjoyable - his biography of Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette is a page turner unlike any biography I've read in recent years. Exhaustively noted and deeply researched, and making skillful use of colorful, at times humorous, prose, Duncan humanizes the mythical Lafayette. There is no echo of Parson Weems or Washington's Cherry Tree here. Stripping away the layers of myth and the haze of forgetfulness, Duncan presents a fascinating portrait of a man - young and old - filled with idealistic visions of what society should be. Duncan brings the young marquis and the old statesman back to us in a fascinating biography that makes you wonder at Lafayette's good heart, his naivety about those around him, and how he kept his faith in humanity intact in the face of everything he experienced.

Here are some of the best historical books I read this year.

Tattoo Traditions of Native North America: Ancient and Contemporary Expressions of Identity by Lars Krutak. This is an incredible book with tons of colour photographs and informative drawings. The book is divided by geographic region, typical for books that try to survey the entirety of the Americas north of Mexico. While there are some gaps, it does a pretty good job giving a comprehensive overview of different tattooing practices across the continent. There are plenty of images of tattoos as well as discussions of the meaning and method of tattooing in various cultures. Each section also ends with discussions of contemporary Native people from those regions who are involved in tattooing revivals, so you get a really good scope of the subject.

Chachapoya Textiles: The Laguna de los Cóndores Textiles in the Museo Leymebamba, Chachapoyas, Peru ed. by Lena Bjerregaard. This one is pretty niche, but if you want to learn about pre-Columbian people in Peru besides the Inca, it's a great look at the Chachapoya, the people of the cloud forest. The book focuses on the textiles found at the incredible late Chachapoya/early Inca site of Laguna de los Cóndores. There are nice discussions of topics to give context to the textiles, like Chachapoya burial practice and art history.

The Great State of White and High: Buddhism and State Formation in Eleventh-Century Xia by Ruth W. Dunnell. This book takes a deep dive into the 11th century Tangut state of Western Xia or Xia Xia. It's another pretty niche one, but I think it did a great job looking at how intertwined Buddhism was with the creation of the state.

Poesía Femenina Hispanárabe by María Jesús Rubiera Mata. Beautiful book translating the Arabic poetry of women from medieval al-Andalus into Spanish. The intellectual worlds of women in the higher classes of Andalusian societies were so rich, and this gives you their own voices!

Prehistoric Games of North American Indians: Subarctic to Mesoamerica, edited by Barbara Voorhies. Collection of scholarly essays about gaming traditions in North America. I wouldn't recommend this for the general reader since it's very academic, BUT, if the history of board games, gambling, or sports is of interest to you and you're not put off by that, it's worth checking out.

The Fiddle Tradition of the Shetland Isles by Peter Cooke. Really cool book by one of the greatest Scottish ethnographers, the later Peter Cooke. It's about how the fiddle tradition of Shetland traditionally differed between different island communities, and how changes like the fishing industry, mechanization, mass media, etc. influenced the way the instrument was played in the 20th century. There's plenty of tunes included too if anyone here is interested in learning some fiddle tunes!

Seawomen of Iceland: Survival on the Edge by Margaret Willson. Really interesting book looking at the way work on the sea is gendered in Iceland, and how that has changed in the past few centuries. Willson looks at all the evidence for women working on the sea in early modern Icelandic history, then contrasts that to the experiences of women who work in the fishing industry today, who often face significant cultural barriers to participating in that work. This one is written in a way that is accessible for a general audience but also quite detailed and well-researched.

Myth and Materiality in a Woman's World: Shetland 1800-2000 by Lynn Abrams. Can you tell I was researching Shetland this year? Well, this is another good book I read this year. If you're interested in women's history, Scottish history, the history of women in farming and knitting, or gender relations in Britain, this is a book worth checking out. By focusing on one specific case study, the Shetland archipelago, it looks at how gender, work and class related to each other across two centuries of British history.

For medieval history I would recommend The Bright Ages: A New History of Medieval Europe by Matthew Gabriele and David Perry. To be honest I can't really say what's great about it because it won't be out for another week and I haven't read it yet, but I'm looking forward to finding it under the tree on Christmas. It's another look at modern myths about the Middle Ages - I'm not sure how many books written for a general audience by medieval historians it will take to get rid of the idea of the "dark ages", especially when just as many popular books by non-historians are still perpetuating the same idea. But it's an attempt, and it looks like an exciting one.

I asked it last year, but this is the perfect chance for this kind of thing to be asked and shine the spotlight on people here.

What are some books written by flairs, mods or community members? I've seen some examples mentioned a few times before, but I'd love to have a list.

I'm always happy to shill for In the Land of Invented Languages by Arika Okrent. It kinda straddles the line of pop history and contemporary cultural analysis, written by a linguist, rather than being a 'proper' history book. Nevertheless, it's a great survey of the history of conlangs, and more importantly the people creating them: what motivated them, how did their languages work, and why did the languages gain momentum—or, rather, why did they almost all fail spectacularly? Okrent does a good job of describing how a lot of these people were men on the fringes of society, sincerely thinking their creation will have a strong influence on society, and not quite realizing how unpopular their idea actually is likely to be. It also does a dive into the actual communities of conlang speakers, such as what spawned fictional languages like Elvish and Klingon and what their fandom communities are like, as well as the culture that has emerged from the Esperanto community, despite it being designed to be a language that isn't associated with any culture.

It's a very accessible and engaging book on a particularly niche subject. It's also a good introduction to the topic of conlang history at large, since most other books are much more academic and/or focused on a particular trend within conlangs; Okrent doesn't always get into as much detail as you might wish, but she touches on a whole bunch of issues and exposes you to a broad range of events and issues that you never would've expected to learn about. It was, of course, my gateway into looking at conlanging not as a neat hobby, but a real historical interest worthy of attention.

A couple of random, recent books that would make good stocking-stuffers.

• Amy Stanley's Stranger in the Shogun's City is a wonderful exploration of a commoner within the Tokugawa period. It is rare to see this sort of treatment of a non-European subject.

• For a more morbid gift, The Faithful Executioner Life and Death, Honor and Shame in the Turbulent Sixteenth Century is an exploration of capital punishment in Early Modern Europe that corrects a lot of popular misconceptions about death and torture in this period.

• Jen Manion's Femal Husbands: A Trans History is an accessible and quite well-written account within LGBTQ history that eschews a good deal of jargon.

• If you feel the need to educate someone on American political history, Heersink and Jenkins's Republican Party Politics and the American South goes into the nuts and bolts of the Black&Tan vs. Lily-White disputes.

• Schattenberg's Brezhnev: The Making of a Statesman will fill the need of anyone needing to give out a biography that doubles as a doorstopper.

• Robert Elder's Calhoun is an excellent biography of a man who, to paraphrase my undergrad advisor, was a political genius that devoted himself to one of the most disgusting causes in US history.

Kind of a combination "asking for recs" and "making a suggestion for that booklist": can we start collecting recommended history books/resources for children and teens?

Blood Royal: Dynastic Politics in Medieval Europe by Robert Bartlett - Technically I haven't finished yet, but I really like what I'm seeing! A must-read for people who are really interested in royal history (your mother who loves books about the Tudors?), it breaks down the history of European monarchies - royal weddings, succession crises, new dynasties, etc. (A similar book focusing specifically on queens is Queenship in Medieval Europe by Theresa Earenfight, which I have recommended on multiple occasions.)

Gentleman Jack: a Biography of Anne Lister: Regency Landowner, Seducer & Secret Diarist by Angela Steidele - Is there someone on your list who is really into the HBO show? This is a great biography of Anne Lister that, uh, might make them see her a bit differently. A very good exploration of the historical record around her.

The Golden Thread: How Fabric Changed History by Kassia St. Clair - I bought this for my dad last Christmas, basically on the logic of "last time I gave you a book it was on more political/social history, now you're going to read about my stuff and see why it's so great." And he loved it! Each chapter deals with a separate "story", ranging from the hand-spinning and -weaving of Viking sails to the creation of early space suits by Playtex seamstresses. This is pop history at its best.

Pretty Gentlemen: Macaroni Men and the Eighteenth-Century Fashion World by Peter McNeil - This book is beautiful and very interesting, though it probably needs just the right recipient as a Christmas present. Most people know of the macaronis, if they do at all, through the lyric in "Yankee Doodle". McNeil shows how much there was behind the men identified as macaronis, the Macaroni Club, the crisis in masculinity, etc. etc.

Whilst the chaos of 2021 raged all around, I did manage to find some absolutely lovely books on historical topics that ought to be worth sharing here. Fair warning that I have recommended many, if not all, of them in threads for specific reading recommendations, but here they are nonetheless:

• July Crisis: The World's Descent into War, Summer 1914 by T.G. Otte (2014): When the centenary of the First World War's outbreak came around, historians of 1914 found themselves in rather high demand. Curiously enough, Otte's work seems to have slipped under the radar in the midst of the publications that marked the 100th anniversary. For an event that's achieved a level of pop-history and pedagogical presence that few other historical events reach, Otte's work is a masterpiece of a narrative. He follows the July Crisis from start to finish: scrutinising the significance of each government's actions at various stages, and showing quite clearly how the decisions taken in each of the halls of power impacted the diplomatic situation. In particular, his research into the British government's role shed new light on the oft-maligned reputation of Foreign Secretary Edward Grey, and the book as a whole is (at least in my opinion) the single best account of the July Crisis and the start of the First World War there is.
• An Impeccable Spy: Richard Sorge, Stalin's Master Agent by Owen Matthews (2019): This would be my 'historical biography' entry, and Matthews brings to light the life and times of a man whose name stands out in the pantheon of espionage figures. Not only does the book cover Sorge's life before his service in the Soviet Union's intelligence-gathering apparatuses, but it also sets his activities against the wider backdrop of a world in turmoil and uncertainty. The book doesn't tip into hagiography either; critiquing Sorge's flaws as both a character and a professional, whilst delving into the lives of those who knew him and worked alongside him at various points in his life.
• The Empire Project: The Rise and Fall of the British World-System, 1830-1970 by John Darwin (2009): Probably worth pairing this book with Darwin's other work (Unfinished Empire: The Global Expansion of Britain) as the ideal duo of publications with which to enter the vast field of imperial, global, and international histories. Darwin's writing focuses moreso on the internal mechanisms and developments within the British 'world-system' as it experienced the geopolitical rollercoaster of the late 19th and 20th centuries; a comprehensive narrative of the political, economic, and social forces which were at play. This is by no means the work on the British Empire, but it certainly is an excellent entry-point to the field.
• The War That Ended Peace: How Europe Abandoned Peace for the First World War by Margaret MacMillan (2013): The most pop-history work out of those here, MacMillan's 'chatty' (to borrow a descriptor from a reviewer) narrative of the period 1900-1914 is certainly an engaging one. She captures - without slipping into reductionism or insults - the atmosphere in Europe at the turn of the century, and recounts a litany of events which preceded the July Crisis; devoting various chapters as 'deep-dives' into the Great Powers and the shifting relations between them. A grand work which merits, at least from my view as a reader, the cliché phrase of being a 'window to the past'.

Interested in Vikings? Why not pick up Cat Jarman's River Kings A New History of the Vikings from Scandinavia to the Silk Roads (2021). Jarman begins with a question—how did a Near Eastern bead end up among the remains of a viking camp in England?—and then she traces the routes of that bead step by step to its source.

Alternatively, try Neil Price's Children of Ash and Elm: A History of the Vikings (2020). This book envisions the Viking Age from the inside out, beginning with how people of the Viking Age thought about the world and then investigating where these worldviews came from and where they took them.

If your giftee already knows something of the Viking Age, Price's work will likely be mind blowing, but note that Price sometimes makes bold arguments without acknowledging that there are alternative and sometimes more popular views. Price's style is, perhaps, more thought-provoking to those of us who already know something about the Viking Age, but it might present an unbalanced view if read by itself. For the general reader, then, I'd probably recommend Jarman's book first. It's written in a style that's easily accessible to readers with little previous knowledge of the early Middle Ages.

I don't think I've seen this one recommended yet, but how about Ostler's Empires of the Word? It's an excellent read about the rise of certain crucially important languages and scripts.

What are some good books with an exploration theme? My dad loves that kinda stuff, no matter what era. Setting off into the unknown, looking for lost cities, anything like that.

Oddly specific, but are there any good (not too academic) books on the history of the bar/pub/tavern or hospitality industry in general?

I've got so much I can recommend.

In English:

• Shirli Gilbert's Music in the Holocaust: Confronting Life in the Nazi Ghettos and Camps.
• Noriko Manabe's The Revolution Will Not Be Televised: Protest Music After Fukushima.
• Everything Ada Ferrer has ever written is excellent. Big fan of Insurgent Cuba: Race, Nation and Revolution, 1868-1898. I haven't had a chance to get her latest book, Cuba: An American History, so if anyone feels so inclined, I wouldn't mind getting it.
• Donna Haraway's Staying With The Trouble.
• Best for last: Everything Sabine Hyland has ever written is beyond sublime. Gods of the Andes: An Early Jesuit Account of Inca Religion and Andean Christianity is particularly fantastic.

In Spanish

• Luis Montoya Arias and Gabriel Medrano de Luna's Historia Social de las Músicas Populares Latinoamericanas. Una Visión Desde México.
• Marina Franco and Florencia Levi's Historia Reciente.
• Marina Franco and Calandra Benedetta's La Guerra Fría Cultural en América Latina.

This is a fantastic idea, thanks for doing it. :D

Does anyone know of a book (academic or popular) with a "big history" view of technology-society interactions, down through the ages? Not so much on the causes of innovations as on the social / sociological / political effects of their adoption / diffusion. Cheers!

I'm looking for some books to give to my friends. The topics I think they would be interested in are LGBTQ+ history of Romania, the history of Dungeons and Dragons, and something academic but still accessible about Hawai'i, its cultures and traditions (preferably with an emphasis on music, dance, things like that).

I have two book requests, both relating to Christianity during the Roman Imperial period:

-A biography of Contantine, or at least a book covering his reign. It seems really hard to get a good assessment of Constantine today, especially at the popular level. A lot of people want to lionize him, and a lot of people want to demonize him. I just want something that gives a fair overview of him, especially in regards to his religious views.

-A book on the interaction between Christian and Pagan intellectuals before the Edict of Milan. This may be a very specific ask, but is there any book that analysis Origen and Celsus, Eusebius and Porphyry, for example?

I’m looking for a book on precolonial west and central Africa preferably from 1000-1600, and a book on preferably pre-civil war Somalia (can be from anytime really)

I've read quite a few books this year (should finish at around 75), so in no particular order here are five that I particularly enjoyed:

• The Fight for History: 75 Years of Forgetting, Remembering, and Remaking Canada's Second World War by Tim Cook (2020). A historiographical look at how Canada has commemorated the Second World War, by one of the leading military historians in Canada (if not the leading). It doesn't focus on the war at all, but how it was remembered, and how it was perceived and recognized. Really interesting to see how that perception has changed in the past 75 years.

• A Spy in the Archives: A Memoir of Cold War Russia by Sheila Fitzpatrick (2013). This is a slightly misleading title, as it really is about Fitzpatrick's first research visit to the Soviet Union in 1965-66. Then a graduate student, she would become one of the founders and leaders in the field of Soviet history (it was considered too recent at the time to be serious history), and this is a rather frank look at her time there. It gives interesting insight into late 1960s Moscow, how Westerners were treated, and some mild political intrigue (including Fitzpatrick asking what really is a spy?).

• Football for a Buck: The Crazy Rise and Crazier Demise of the USFL by Jeff Pearlman (2018). I read a few books on "renegade" sports leagues this year, and this was by far the best. I knew very little about the USFL, which existed for a few years as a spring-time alternative to the NFL, and did fairly well. It ultimately collapsed due to the arrogance of one owner, and while I had heard of that story before, I do have concerns on how much emphasis Pearlman put in his book, seeing how that owner would later be elected President. Still a really solid book, and has the right mix of fun anecdotes and serious analysis to make it both fun and informative.

• The White War: Life and Death on the Italian Front 1915-1919 by Mark Thompson (2008). I had first heard of this book probably back in 2008 when it was published, but for whatever reason I only read it now; I'm disappointed it took me so long, as Thompson writes a vivid description of the futility of the Italian Front. It matched the Western Front in that regard, only instead of fighting over destroyed fields, the Italians and Austrians fought in the Alps, which presented a whole new set of challenges. Thompson also makes it clear that the Italians were their own worst enemy here, also helps give some understanding of how Fascism was allowed to develop after the war.

• The Destiny of Canada: MacDonald, Laurier, and the Election of 1891: The History of Canada by Christopher Pennington (2012). I made an effort this year to read more about Canadian history, a topic I've always had little interest in, but felt it was something I should work on. The book's premise intrigued me, as it's entirely about a late 19th century federal election, and not even something that is brought up in Canadian schools (or at least I don't think it was/is). But I was really surprised by it. Despite happening 120 years ago, the main points of the election are the same things that come up today: trade with the US, Quebec's role in the country, and that the election is decided in Ontario and Quebec. Pennington also brings to live the campaigns of both Macdonald and Laurier, and makes something that initially sounded so drab to be quite an engrossing topic.

Does anyone know a good book on the Asian/Pacific theater of WW1?

I'll be deeply grateful for any reading remotely related to this topic!

I've got a couple for contemporary Russian history:

Putin's People by Catherine Belton covers the conditions in the late USSR, the collapse and how Putin navigated the changing circumstances to ascend to power. Putin's Kleptocracy by Karen Dawisha is another good one on the subject.

Vory by Mark Galeotti covers organised crime in Russia from the pre-revolutionary period through to the krysha warfare in the 1990s, and touches on the wide ranging changes occurring in Russia across the period

If anyone can recommend any other good books on 90s Russia, I'm on the lookout!

Does anyone know any good books covering Ottoman colonialism? That is, the literal settlement of Turks (or any other non-native-to-the-province-elite that arose thanks to the empire e.g. Albanians in Egypt or Greeks in Romania) as a ruling/elite class in its various provinces rather than colonialism in the metropole/colony sense?

Hi there!

Does anyone here have any suggestions or recommendations on books focused on the society and beliefs of pre-Christianity finno-ugric peoples? Lately I have been a bit curious about them.

And as an additional question, are there any books focused around the concept of restaurants, fast food places, bakeries, and such, say, ranging from as far back in history as we can trace till modern era? I am especially interested in if they existed, in what form, and how they functioned.

Thank you and take care. :)

Any recommendations for books covering any of the following periods/topics?

• The Golden Age of Piracy

• Samurai Era Japan

• Ancient Egypt

• The rise of the Roman Empire

Thanks very much!

I'd like recommendations for books for the following topics:

• The culinary history of Shanghai in the 1940s-1970s (my mom tells me stories about the German restaurant in Shanghai that everyone aspired to go to, which resulted in everyone learning how to make schnitzel at home--would like more info on this kind of stuff)
• History in general on Chinese traditional music, both in ancient times and in the modern revival post-civil war.

Either Chinese or English sources work, although would prefer English.

Thanks!

While talking to my dad this morning about good books, he asked me to pass on one that he got based on AskHistorians recommendations that he's been loving.

If you're a fan of either Native American history or Comedy history, you'll probably really like "We Had a Little Real Estate Problem: The Unheralded Story of Native Americans & Comedy" by Kliph Nesteroff. It is an excellent book, some very powerful moments although it can be quite dark at times. For perhaps obvious reasons. Despite that though my dad's been laughing out loud at moments reading through it, and the book does a great job of showing just how strong people can be in even the darkest of times, and how humour and comedy can really carry people through.

Anyone have any recommendations on the topic of the 100 years war and the War of Roses?

The musical HAMILTON really got me curious about the actual man, and of course led me to, what I'm doing now, reading the book by Ron Chernow. It's gotten me really interested in George Washington and the Revolutionary War. I'm definitely going to pick up WASHINGTON, but I'd love some other suggestions as well. I'd love to learn more about that period, and the people, like Marquis De Lafayette and Aaron Burr.

EDIT: Reading down the thread, I've found one recommend on Lafayette: Hero of Two Worlds: The Marquis de Lafayette in the Age of Revolution by Mike Duncan. While there's no question that Duncan's "Revolutions" podcast is incredibly popular - but also incredibly enjoyable - his biography of Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette is a page turner unlike any biography I've read in recent years. Exhaustively noted and deeply researched, and making skillful use of colorful, at times humorous, prose, Duncan humanizes the mythical Lafayette. There is no echo of Parson Weems or Washington's Cherry Tree here. Stripping away the layers of myth and the haze of forgetfulness, Duncan presents a fascinating portrait of a man - young and old - filled with idealistic visions of what society should be. Duncan brings the young marquis and the old statesman back to us in a fascinating biography that makes you wonder at Lafayette's good heart, his naivety about those around him, and how he kept his faith in humanity intact in the face of everything he experienced.

Are there any deep dives into pre-Maurya periods of Indian history? Would love a recommendation.

Great question !

Any recommendations on the following:

• Cold War and the breakdown of USSR
• Colonialism
• The Troubles
• China's economic turnaround

Thanks!