Recommended Reading

PDN · 03-01-2008 10:10am

Two excellent books I read recently:

1. Storm of Steel by Ernst Junger. A very matter of fact memoir of trench warfare in World War I from the German perspective. It avoids making moral judgments so has a very different tone to most of what I've read about the trenches (the British war poets etc). Unfortunately Junger became a bit of a poster child for the Nazis, but that doesn't lessen the impact of this remarkable book.

2. God's Secret Agents: Queen Elizabeth's Forbidden Priests and the Hatching of the Gunpowder Plot by Alice Hogge. This is Hogge's first book, but she writes well and describes how the Jesuits sent missionaries to England during the anti-Catholic paranoia that followed the Spanish Armada. I was struck by the savagery of the persecution and the courage of the Jesuits. The missionaries slowly gained a foothold, helped by Nicholas Owen - the Oxford joiner who became a master architect of 'priest holes' and secret hiding places. The book skilfully builds up to the needless tragedy (for English Catholicism) of the Gunpowder Plot.

Killaqueen!!! · 06-01-2008 9:29pm

I don't know any books about the land war or Land League but I'd have to recommend Parnell by F.S.L Lyons. It's THE book on Charles Stewart Parnell. I'm going through a phase of being really interested in this man! It, of course, has elements of the Land League in it so if you're interested in that era it's worth getting your hand on a copy.

thusspakeblixa · 21-01-2008 11:16pm

I don't know if they've been mentioned but I'd really recommend either ''Atatuerk'' by Andrew Mango, or ''Gallipoli'' by Alan Moorehead. Particularly the latter.

Belfast · 04-05-2008 12:10pm

Free to download all out of copyright.
http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/results

Belfast · 04-05-2008 12:11pm

Middle east
Lost Secrets of the Sacred Ark: Amazing Revelations of the Incredible Power of Gold by Laurence Gardner

Megalithic
Atlantis of the West: The Case For Britain's Drowned Megalithic Civilization by Paul Dunbavin

Age of Enlightenment
The Empire of Reason: How Europe Imagined and America Realized the Enlightenment by Henry Steele Commager

American politics
The Right Nation: Why America is Different by John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge

WWI
The myth of the great war :a new military history of world war one by John Mosier (How the Germans won the battles and how the Americans saved the Allies)

WWII
A Low Dishonest Decade: The Great Powers, Eastern Europe, and the Economic Origins of World War II, 1930-1941 by Paul N. Hehn

The Luftwaffe : Strategy for Defeat by Williamson Murray

The Last Year of the Luftwaffe, May1944 to May 1945, by Alfred Price

This Is Berlin: Radio Broadcasts from Nazi Germany by "William Shirer"

Hitler's Greatest Defeat: The Collapse of Army Group Centre, June 1944 By Paul Adair

Hitler's Espionage Machine: The True Story Behind One of the World's Most Ruthless Spy Networks by Christer Jorgensen

very good site about the u-boat war
http://www.uboat.net/

David Irving is one of the most controversial authors of history books.
He is one of the few English speaking historians and can read and speak German and was able to read original source documents in German and interview witness in German.

David Irving books
Download for free or buy
http://www.fpp.co.uk/books/index.html

Vietnam war
The Linebacker Raids: The Bombing Of North Vietnam, 1972 by John Smith

Flume · 19-05-2008 10:36am

Belfast wrote: »

David Irving is one of the most controversial authors of history books.
He is one of the few English speaking historians and can read and speak German and was able to read original source documents in German and interview witness in German.

David Irving books
Download for free or buy
http://www.fpp.co.uk/books/index.html

Be very careful when reading through these. I find a lot of the ideas while striving to be original are slightly far fetched. Still good to read though.

The third reich by michael burleigh is an excellent book and very easy to read and covers from the fall of the weimar to the fall of the nazis in great detail.

Reformation by Diarmuid MacCulloch is also very well written, dealing with the reformation period and its effect throughout Europe.

Belfast · 19-05-2008 6:59pm

Flume wrote: »

Be very careful when reading through these. I find a lot of the ideas while striving to be original are slightly far fetched. Still good to read though.

All history books need to be treated with a degree of scepticism

Pride Fighter · 03-06-2008 9:09am

The thread is 5 years old and not a mention of Herodotus, the father of history.

reregholdsworth · 03-06-2008 9:24am

Manach wrote: »

From a rather conservative and pessimistic view of human nature:
3 tips:

The 30 year war - CV Wedgewood, the stupidites that kept this German Civil war going for so long and the human cost.

If you are interested in the early seventeenth century and the Thirty Years War you could do worse than to look up Frances Yates' 'The Rosicrucian Enlightenment' which is a well-researched and tightly argued thesis on the prehistory of the Thirty Years War and the Royal Society.

Yates' focus on the marriage of the Rhine and the Thames (Frederick, Elector of the Palatinate and Elizabeth, daughter of King James) and the consequent enthusiasm for universal reform is very well constructed and paced across the seventeenth century.

oh yeah, and Herodotus

pablomakaveli · 02-09-2008 6:37pm

id recommend Barbarians by Terry Jones (he was one of the Monthy Python guys). its a fascinating book and shows how roman propaganda gave people the view that the civilizations they defeated were backward when in fact this is completely untrue.

thejamescaird · 29-09-2008 4:22pm

my last 2 books

guns germs and steel
jared diamond

he explains how better availabilty of good strains of wheat and barley etc as well as the big five animals for domestication in eurasia which were not available on other continents led to europeans and chinese being much more advanced than native americans and africans and australians

long but fascinating:)

generation kill
evan wright

sickening real life description of trigger happy marines in iraq slaughtering as they go. lowered my estimation of the usa sadly for me.:(

MarchDub · 02-10-2008 12:59am

For a great new insight into WWII I recommend:

Patrick Buchanan : "Churchill, Hitler and the Unnecessary War."

Really compelling new insight into the war and what went into making it and how propagandized it has become. OUtlines the work of many contemporay historians who are attempting to de-mythologize this period.

Diarmaid Ferriter : Judging Dev: A Reassessment of the Life and Legacy of Eamon De Valera.

Dev has been too demonised and this is an excellent reassessment. Recently many of Dev's private papers have been made available to scholars and Ferriter's work reflects the new insight that they give to the study of Dev's time.

Carmel McCaffrey: In Search of Ireland's Heroes.

Great overview of Ireland since the twelfth century. Very readable. Same author did In Search of Ancient Ireland for the RTE/PBS series.

mr kilo · 27-10-2008 4:51pm

are there any books which cover the IRA escape attempts of the Curragh.

thejamescaird · 30-10-2008 3:10pm

MarchDub wrote: »

For a great new insight into WWII I recommend:

Patrick Buchanan : "Churchill, Hitler and the Unnecessary War."

Really compelling new insight into the war and what went into making it and how propagandized it has become. OUtlines the work of many contemporay historians who are attempting to de-mythologize this period.

Diarmaid Ferriter : Judging Dev: A Reassessment of the Life and Legacy of Eamon De Valera.

Dev has been too demonised and this is an excellent reassessment. Recently many of Dev's private papers have been made available to scholars and Ferriter's work reflects the new insight that they give to the study of Dev's time.

hey is that the pat buchanon former republican politician in usa?

also does it mention the money collected in america from irish american people for the republican movement during devs tour which later he more or less stole.

mr kilo · 06-11-2008 10:10pm

thejamescaird wrote: »

hey is that the pat buchanon former republican politician in usa?

also does it mention the money collected in america from irish american people for the republican movement during devs tour which later he more or less stole.

ya thanks alot u just blocked my comment...lol.

MarchDub · 10-11-2008 6:31am

thejamescaird wrote: »

hey is that the pat buchanon former republican politician in usa?

also does it mention the money collected in america from irish american people for the republican movement during devs tour which later he more or less stole.

You have to read work critically - not take one point that irks you [no matter how justified] and refuse to see anything else.

These books are excellent and thorough which is why I recommend them. They are not "popular histories" aimed at supporting any particular prejudice but more explorations based on original source material. If you have any training in critical thinking [?] you will know what I mean and I do stand by them as good recommendations. Well written and scholarly.

97i9y3941 · 11-11-2008 4:12am

some personal faves of mine

Stalin the court of the red tzar

young stalin *a prequel to stalin court of red tzar*

mao the unknown story*best book i ever read*

Fall of berlin 1945*intresting cause it contains personal accounts

Hitler and stalin*best selling 1992 book,been reprinted so many times

The Dictator's Shadow: Life Under Augusto Pinochet *i recently acquired and finished that book,ordered it from the states,found it excellent,as far as i know its the most up to date bio about the man,contains some personal photos and alot of info about his crimes against humanity

ilkhanid · 20-11-2008 1:50am

A book I enjoyed greatly is "Bararossa" by the late Alan Clark,a history of the German-Russian struggle in the Second World War. It has to be treated with caution as much of it is out-dated,it deals with the Russian side in much less detail than the German and it has a ferocious anti-german bias,but it is incredibly gripping, has wonderful pen portraits of the principal protagonists and is well written. Clark's account of Stalingrad is among the best, as good as Beevor or Craig.
Another excellent work is "Peter the Great, his life and world" by Robert Massie, an extraordinarily detailed and beautifully written work populated by amazing characters which covers a whole region and era and tell you an enormous amount about Poland, Charles the king of Sweden, Turkey...about much more than just Peter himself.

zesman · 04-02-2009 10:19am

Three I read recently were:

The Nazis: A Warning from History by Laurence Rees

Young Stalin by Simon Sebag Montefiore

Stalingrad by Anthony Beevor

All of which I'd highly recommend to anyone interested in Hitler, Stalin and World War Two

97i9y3941 · 04-02-2009 10:47am

young stalin,great book,morbid feeling way his poetry was included in the book

Denerick · 27-02-2009 8:07pm

I've done an awful lot of reading of Irish history recently, patricularly the war of independence/civil war period. For the war of independence there a lot of good, well researched and interesting books out there, such as Hopkinsons book of the same name, Fitzpatricks 'The Two irelands'. Memoirs are good in this period and equally plentiful. Tom Barry, Liam Deasy, Ernie O'Malley (By far the best written, most readible) Dan Breen and Michael Brennan have all written accounts of their experiences. I'm a bit of biography/memoir whore anyway and there are several good bios on Michael Collins (The most obvious been Tim Pat Coogan, but you really need to overlook some of his amateurish ramblings sometimes) and de Valera. Even Séan Mac Eoin and co. have good bio's written about them.

The Civil War unfortunately is less well written about, probably because of a lack of sources. Michael Hopkinson's 'Green against Green' is virtually a textbook, a monument to historical writing. O'Malleys 'The Singing Flame' is a number one must read, as is Liam Deasy's 'Brother against Brother'. Again I'm rambling with the memoir whoring but Tom Garvin, the UCD political scientist wrote a great wee book, '1922, the Birth of Irish democracy'

So yeah, if you can get through that and take a look at the bibliographies you'll still probably realise who much reading you would still have to do!

DublinDes · 15-04-2009 6:35pm

Denerick wrote: »

I've done an awful lot of reading of Irish history recently, patricularly the war of independence/civil war period. For the war of independence there a lot of good, well researched and interesting books out there, such as Hopkinsons book of the same name, Fitzpatricks 'The Two irelands'. Memoirs are good in this period and equally plentiful. Tom Barry, Liam Deasy, Ernie O'Malley (By far the best written, most readible) Dan Breen and Michael Brennan have all written accounts of their experiences. I'm a bit of biography/memoir whore anyway and there are several good bios on Michael Collins (The most obvious been Tim Pat Coogan, but you really need to overlook some of his amateurish ramblings sometimes) and de Valera. Even Séan Mac Eoin and co. have good bio's written about them.

The Civil War unfortunately is less well written about, probably because of a lack of sources. Michael Hopkinson's 'Green against Green' is virtually a textbook, a monument to historical writing. O'Malleys 'The Singing Flame' is a number one must read, as is Liam Deasy's 'Brother against Brother'. Again I'm rambling with the memoir whoring but Tom Garvin, the UCD political scientist wrote a great wee book, '1922, the Birth of Irish democracy'

So yeah, if you can get through that and take a look at the bibliographies you'll still probably realise who much reading you would still have to do!

" Dan Breen and Michael Brennan have all written accounts of their experiences. " I see you've mentioned this guy Micheal Brennan quite a bit in various postings. I've done a google ( Micheal Brennan IRA etc ) and I cannot find very much references to him. Certainly if he wrote a book it must be out of print a long time.

Can you give me any information of what he wrote ?

Denerick · 16-04-2009 12:40am

Yeah, its called 'The War in Clare, 1911-1921.'

I think its out of print (Last edition I think was in 1980)

Do you have access to one of the bigger public libraries in Dublin? They have good access to most major books of the period (Don't know if Brennan's would be there, worth a look though.

If your interested in the war in Clare then David Fitzpatricks 'Politics and Irish Life' is a must read. It should be available in most big bookshops (Like Hodges and Fidges, Chapters etc.)

conchubhar1 · 17-04-2009 6:11pm

http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0072900423/student_view0/

America: The unfinished nation

the best read book i have ever read - plenty of detail - easy to read - concise and the website is great for primary sources also.

zesman · 30-04-2009 4:25pm

Did anyone ever hear of a book "The Bolldy White Baron". Something to do about the Russian civil war apparently

Ostrom · 30-05-2009 12:49am

I see Cormac O' Grada has a book out on the famine (or have I just not been looking...?)

Anyone had a look yet?

Was in Hodges Figgis the other day and saw a new publication from John Andrews (old Trinity head of geography). Librarian in the freeman says he is still active and working away on cartographic history - Impressive size of a book from a guy who must be well into his 80's.

Anyway, I tend to find Irish historical geographers highly enjoyable - just putting it out there

brianthebard · 22-06-2009 9:35pm

This is the collection of free e-resources suggested by users in the past few weeks. If anyone has any others they'd like added to it please post on the original thread. I hope the way I've organised it makes some sort of sense.

Source material (all forms);

www.marxists.org (not just marxist texts)
http://www.ucc.ie/celt/
http://www.hartford-hwp.com/
http://gallica.bnf.fr/ (in french)
http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/ (related to conflict in Northern Ireland)
http://meta.montclair.edu/spectator/index.html
http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page
http://hip.nli.ie/ (horizon portal on national library of Ireland)
www.cartoons.ac.uk
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/
https://stillslibrary.rte.ie/
www.difp.ie (foreign policy documents from 1923 to 1932)

General Archives;
www.archive.org
www.nationalarchives.ie
www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
http://www.ria.ie Royal Irish Academy

Libraries;

http://www.lcweb.loc.gov/catalog US library of Congress
http://www.nli.ie National Library of Ireland
http://www.bl.uk/ British library
http://www.nls.uk/ National Library of Scotland
http://www.llgc.org.uk/ National Welsh Library
http://www.bnf.fr/ French National Library
http://www.newberry.org/ Newberry Library

Parliamentary documents;

http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/ (Dail Debates)
http://www.eppi.ac.uk/eppi/digbib/home (British papers on Ireland, 1801-1922)

Heritage, Population and Census;

http://griffiths.askaboutireland.ie/gv4/gv_start.php
http://www.histpop.org/ohpr/servlet/
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/
http://www.limerickcity.ie/Library/LocalStudies/
http://www.dublinheritage.ie/
http://pilot.familysearch.org/
http://www.seanruad.com/

brianthebard · 23-06-2009 3:56pm

Actually might leave this open for a while at least, if anyone has any questions, notices any problems with the links, please let me know. Are the short descriptions enough?

ocianain · 12-07-2009 5:26pm

Pox, by Deborah Hayden. On of the most original and provocative books I've ever read. The author shows how disease, in this case syphilis, affected world history and literature. Wilde, Stoker, Henry VIII, Abe Lincoln, Lenin all had one thing in common, syphilis. In it's tertiary stage the infected person feels like electricity is flowing through their body, that they were never more alive and creative, they feel like they can do anything. This of course is the recipe for the making of tyrants. She also has a website that's cool

Aedh Baclamh · 15-07-2009 2:41pm

I'm looking for a book that will give a good, detailed account of the entire WWII. I've numerous books on the subject (Stalingrad, Berlin - Antony Beevor, etc) but no book covering the whole war. It's frustrating to know about x battle but fail to see it's complete importance in the grand scheme of things and how exactly it came about.

Thanks.

Amtmann · 07-08-2009 11:24am

There's a fantastic new general history of the Holy Roman Empire (1400-1650) by Thomas A Brady Jr out since May I think. It's here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0521717787/ref=ox_ya_oh_product

MultiUmm · 17-08-2009 10:41pm

I'm currently reading a very interesting book called "Greek Mythology and Religion" by Maria Mavromataki.

Unfortunately I'm not sure if you can get it in Ireland, my brother bought it as a gift when he was in Crete.

You never know, it might be somewhere on the internet to purchase.

Arnold Layne · 12-10-2009 8:42pm

Stalingrad and Berlin - The Downfall 1945; both by Antony Beevor are excellent.

Stalin - The Court of The Red Tsar is another great book.

I'm currently reading Mischa Glenny's Book - The Balkans 1804 - 1999 which is very good and I am also reading Millenium by Tom Holland, although I do rate Persian Empire and Rubicon which I rate higher than Millenium.

Eoinp · 10-11-2009 9:39pm

Echo some of the early notes on herodotus and would add Sallust. Also there is a great review book of histories written by John Burrow http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/book/9780140283792/A-History-of-Histories

AJP Taylor again, especially the origins of the second world war which is excellent.

In terms of the English Civil War: The Nobel Revolt by Adamson is wonderful stuff.

Reading Roger Cowley's book on the Battle for the Med in the 16th Century right now which is good and just finished a book on Edward I by Marc Morris, A Great & Terrible King: Edward I And The Forging of Modern Britain.

So many more!
Eoin

spylon · 13-11-2009 3:06am

Steven Runcimen's books on the crudades and the fall of Constantinople are superb.

mikemac · 24-11-2009 1:32pm

Victorian London by Liza Picard

Well actually, I got it as an ebook from itunes
Very interesting on all aspects of social history and the living conditions (horrendous for many!) at the time

bogtotty · 02-12-2009 11:49am

Can anyone recommend a decent book on the history of Dublin? I'm looking for something similar to the Oxford Companion to Irish History, something that covers the whole development of the city rather than just one period or social movement, which is all I've been able to locate so far. And it has to be available to buy online, I live a long camel ride from a decent bookshop.

Help appreciated!

pavb2 · 16-12-2009 6:05pm

Recently read Voyage of the Catalpa detailing the true story of the attempted rescue of Fenians from Australia (posted on literature but no one else seems to have read this). Best book i have read in a long time

Also Adventures with the Connaught Rangers detailing peninsular wars from an Irishman's perspective.

Maybe this has been mentioned and may be I'm in the wrong place but seems to be a lot of interest in Stalin/Russia/WW 2 would recommend Dan Carlin's podcasts in general or specifically "Ghosts of the Ostfront"

nagero · 31-12-2009 7:18pm

The National Archives has just released more data from the 1911 census. They now include religion, occupation, number of childen, years married, illness, literacy in the search results.

http://census.nationalarchives.ie

Similar data for the 1901 census is supposed to come online before the middle of next year.

There is also an iPhone app http://bit.ly/icensus (by me) which is a companion to the website. Makes it easier to browse and search on a small screen.

markesmith · 09-02-2010 1:08pm

I've just finished Iron Kingdom, highly recommended for a glimpse into the unique history of Prussia:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Iron-Kingdom-Downfall-Prussia-1600-1947/dp/0140293345/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265716458&sr=1-1

At the moment I'm veering between two oldies, 'Europe since Napoleon' (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Europe-Since-Napoleon-David-Thomson/dp/0140135618) and Decisive Battles of the Western World (http://www.amazon.com/Decisive-Battles-Western-World-v/dp/0907590462).

Also, for footie fans, "Behind the Curtain" and "Ajax" (book about Ajax Amsterdam during WW2) are great reads.

#15 · 11-02-2010 12:57am

Can anyone recommend a book on the 30 years war? I remember reading a review in the Times culture supplement a few months ago but I cannot think of the name of it. If anyone knows the name, please let me know. Failing that, any good book on the 30 years war would be fine. Thanks.

pavb2 · 12-02-2010 11:35am

Thirty Years War 1618- 1648 (Essential Histories) - Richard Bonney

I've got this on Amazon wish list seems to have reasonable reviews it's one of the Osprey type military books but fine for me as I'm only looking for introduction/overview.

Hope this helps

Amtmann · 05-03-2010 10:30pm

#15 wrote: »

Can anyone recommend a book on the 30 years war? I remember reading a review in the Times culture supplement a few months ago but I cannot think of the name of it. If anyone knows the name, please let me know. Failing that, any good book on the 30 years war would be fine. Thanks.

Geoffrey Parker has a great book on it.

ukulelvis · 09-03-2010 11:18am

Also there's the new(ish) "Europe's Tragedy: A New History of the Thirty Years War" by Peter Wilson. Am about to tackle into that myself.

Amtmann · 10-03-2010 11:12am

pavb2 wrote: »

Thirty Years War 1618- 1648 (Essential Histories) - Richard Bonney

I've got this on Amazon wish list seems to have reasonable reviews it's one of the Osprey type military books but fine for me as I'm only looking for introduction/overview.

Hope this helps

I actually bought that one very recently. To be honest I was very disappointed. For the price you're better of getting a proper history, such as Parker's. That's just my opinion though!

Eliot Rosewater · 14-03-2010 4:39pm

I wonder could anyone recommend a good introduction to the Spanish Civil War. I have only previously read Orwells book.

Im stuck between:

With so many reviews of each on Amazon.co.uk, each book is labeled biased at least a few times. Thoughts?

sparkfire · 20-03-2010 7:45pm

The Prince by Machiavelli is an interesting text even it does have a cynical view of humanity. Candide is also an entertaining satire of 18th century society written by the philosopher Voltaire.

patsman07 · 07-04-2010 3:03am

World War two An Autobiography. Nearly finished it. Very good read. Taken from many personal accounts of the whole war.

#15 · 27-05-2010 11:45pm

Anyone know a good book on Nazi Racial Theory? Or any material relating to it? Particularly in relation to Ireland, Britain and/or the Celts.

Even conference documents, anything really....!

Thanks.

the_monkey · 31-05-2010 4:49pm

Right now I am reading The Rise and fall of the third reich by William L Shirer, excellent account of events in Germany from 1920 - 1945...

Recommended Reading

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