Book Recommendations

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Great book on the KGB

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Just about anything by Peter Hopkirk is great

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Or maybe just post the major definitive book on a subject that you love.

I feel as if I'm self-bumping too much so I'll let you guys decide if you want to share or let this die.

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This is a good in depth read about one particular tribe of horse indians who held out against the Spanish, Texans, and Anglos for a long time. There are some fascinating stories in there. It doesn't do the whole 'oh the indians lived in harmony with the earth and used every part of the buffalo' thing, instead focusing on how the dynamics of the tribes occupying the american plains were affected by guns from the French in the north, horses from the Spanish in the south, and the influx of displaced East Coast tribes, pushed onto the plains by Anglo colonization.
The adventures of Britt Johnson, a freed- slave in Texas whose story the western 'The Searchers' was inspired by, is well worth googling.
I'd love to see a modern film adaptation of his story.
Anyway I read this book over and over until it fell to bits almost.

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and these two, obviously. If you haven't read them you are in for a treat.

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>>311040

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>>311040
>C. Mann

>>311041
I listened to this as an audiobook (and that whiled away a few hours as you can imagine- I was a tradesman so often spent my working day alone on a job, so nice long audiobooks were ideal|).
Then I found a copy just like the one in the picture, so bought it for 50p

>>311043
I'm missing something, Is a joke flying overhead?

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>>311050
forgot pic, obviously

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this †bh fåm

>>311054
semen

>>310931
next time make it a "request thread" so people keep the thread bumped by asking requests and kind anons helping them

>>311059
oh. I thought that but then I thought 'no one could possibly be so childish'. Forgot where I was for a second

>>310931
Keegan's "The Mask of Command" and "Six Armies at Normandy" are also excellent. I have some reservations about Keegan as a historian, but he is a masterful writer. The introductory essay on the uses of military history in "The Face of Battle" is outstanding.

>>310942
Read this ages ago when it came out. Really really fascinating, as is the story of how it came out.

>>310931
The Invention of Decolonization makes the French decolonization of Algeria pretty clear.
I heard a guy speak as a plug for a book called The Civil War of 1812. It seems like a fun read if you like early American history.

>>312382
I read it (Civil War of 1812). But I read so many books I can't remember anything about it. I gave it 4/5 stars on Goodreads, which is high for me, so recommended.

>>312499
...if you want to read about 1812 I HIGHLY recommend Pierre Burton's two volume history. Extremely thorough and vivid; one of the best history books I've ever read.

>>312499
...actually I've read every book posted in this thread so far except for OPs.

>>310954

Seconded. Love Hopkirk's stuff.

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>>310931

Historian Mark Mazower does a great job showing how fucked up and disorganized Nazi rule was: blatant corruption, brutality, and desperation.

<- One of his books

Anyone know of any decent books on the mongols after the collapse of the mongol empire (post yuan). Im thinking the oriats/'northern yuan'/~15th century

What's some stuff that's good for laypeople? I still haven't bought my Christmas presents yet.

Is Commentaries on the Gallic War a good read or is it just Julius Caesar waving his dick around? I've never read anything related to Rome. Is this a good starting point or should I start elsewhere?

>>315724
Bad idea for a starting point.

Read Rubicon or Caesar: Life of a Colossus instead

>>315742
I had looked at both of those. I'll look into them a little more. Thanks.

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>>314170
As far as pop history goes, pic related was given to me as a birthday gift and I loved it. It has outrageous stories of corruption, and sin, and poor Teddy Roosevelt trying desperately to enforce the law. Extremely entertaining and very, very well researched.

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>>314170
As far as page-turners go, I couldn't put pic related down. It reads like a novel.

Both of Christopher Clark's books, The Sleepwalkers (political situation leading up to World War I) and Iron Kingdom (history of Prussia) are fantastic.

>>314170
Clark's stuff is good: clear writing style, nothing too complicated. The Sleepwalkers especially is fine because the political situation is so fascinating.

Roger Crowley's books are really good as well, Empires of the Sea especially would be perfect for a layperson.

>>311068
Honestly a book request/recommendation thread should probably be stickied.

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Read pic related recently. The hype is well deserved.

>>316035
won't it get too big and lag out? or its something that'd be made once a week or something?

>>316302
Probably once a month it would need to be cleaned out. It wouldn't move that quickly.

>>314072
This looks good; Quanah Parker is featured in the Comanches book I recommended up thread.

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Braudel's "The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II".

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The Great Big Book of Horrible Things