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Boss Level History.
Nominate 1 book per person only. I nominate this because it is six volumes of crazy-ass action and stories told by this arrogant well-spoken dude with a knack for wordplay. Although some of the chapters about religious history get a bit boring and I might have some issues with some of the finer points of his scheme, nonetheless it was an amazing read and took just over a year to read all six volumes at a very leisurely pace.
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>>9895058
Do you recommend having a background in Roman history already before tackling this?
What level of knowledge would produce the most enjoyable and informative results?
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>>9895063
I don't think it's really necessary just the main thing is sticking with it if the sentences seem complicated and hard to read at first.
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As for my recommendation, here goes something a bit different that I haven't seen here:
Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects
Giorgio Vasari
Basically short biographies of many Italian Renaissance artists from someone who was there (published in the 1500s). It's the basis of what we know about many well-known people at the time such as Da Vinci, Donatello, and so on.
It is long, but an enjoyable read if you take it slowly (you can read it in parts until you get bored then come back). It gives you a great look into the Renaissance, and its influences and influence. You might find some artists whose work you like if you're into this period of art.
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>>9895086
To add, it isn't too dry. He include funny stories about these people to spice things up
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I have a few, I like Mommsen's History of Rome, but given OP already chose something similar. I'll choose Donald Kelley's three volume history of historians.
They are:
>Faces of History: Historical Inquiry from Herodotus to Herder by Kelley
>Fortunes of History: Historical inquiry from Herder to Huizinga by Kelley
>Frontiers of History: Historical Inquiry in the Twentieth Century by Kelley
More than focusing on just a history of historians, Kelly is a historian of ideas. So he is more interested about the historiography and philosophy of history that informed each historian. So you end up getting a meta view of their thoughts, rather than just historical context and where the historian was placed in history.
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>>9895058
To start with Roman History you literally have to start with the Greeks (Polybius).
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>>9895058
Also start with Origines by Cato the Elder.
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>>9895058
Johann Huizinga's Autumn of the Middle Ages. Challenges Burckhardt's notion of a European Renaissance distinct from an earlier dark age (Burckhardt invented the Renaissance meme [we] thoroughly take for granted today) with an emphasis on a continuity (as opposed to a disruption) of art and thought. Major foci are the Van Eyck brothers, the French, and the wonderfully snotty (and incredibly wealthy) Burgundians. Said to be inspired by Huysmann's novel La Bas.
Just a great book.
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>>9895419
I will put you on a fucking pike.
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Sparta and It's Laws
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>>9895058
this book made me thought i forgot how to read
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>Golden Bough
>Gulag Archipelago
A lot smaller but I also enjoyed Mauss History of Magic, any of you fellas read his Gift book? and if so is is it good?
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>The Trojan War was a brush-fire war
>A drought in Egypt destroyed everything in Assyria
>and more fantastic adventures into the fall of the first golden age!
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