Can you narrow it down a bit? Is there a particular period or part of the world that interests you?
robertofflandersI on
Some academic history books I would recommend
Montaillou by Emanuel Le Roy Ladurie. My personal favorite.
The author used the reports of a French inquisitor (who would later become a pope) in his search for cathars (a Christian sect declared heretical) in the town of Montaillou to reconstruct what a medieval town looked like.
As for some other recommendations:
Guns, germs and steel by jared diamond
Orientalism by Edward said
The making of the English working class by e.p Thompson
The return of Martin guerre by Natalie Zevon Davis
The Mediterranean by Fernand Braudel
If you’re interested in the historians craft I personally find my current textbook “the pursuit of history” by John tosh very good
YakSlothLemon on
Recently I really liked:
Malcolm Gaskill’s Witchfinders about the witch hunts during the English Civil War
Norman Cohn’s Pursuit of the Millenium, fascinating stuff about end-of-the-world movements during the Middle Ages
Aslan Reza’s Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth is really good history and does a great job of evoking the world of first century Palestine under Roman rule.
PlasticIllustrious16 on
I just got through The Cruellest Miles by Gay and Laney Salisbury. It was pretty amazing. Really, my only complaints are that the first chapter is slow, and the authors insist on using the terms Eskimo and Indian. Besides that, it’s an incredible story of heroics and self-sacrifice (and very good doggies). I cried many times, both happy and sad.
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Can you narrow it down a bit? Is there a particular period or part of the world that interests you?
Some academic history books I would recommend
Montaillou by Emanuel Le Roy Ladurie. My personal favorite.
The author used the reports of a French inquisitor (who would later become a pope) in his search for cathars (a Christian sect declared heretical) in the town of Montaillou to reconstruct what a medieval town looked like.
As for some other recommendations:
Guns, germs and steel by jared diamond
Orientalism by Edward said
The making of the English working class by e.p Thompson
The return of Martin guerre by Natalie Zevon Davis
The Mediterranean by Fernand Braudel
If you’re interested in the historians craft I personally find my current textbook “the pursuit of history” by John tosh very good
Recently I really liked:
Malcolm Gaskill’s Witchfinders about the witch hunts during the English Civil War
Norman Cohn’s Pursuit of the Millenium, fascinating stuff about end-of-the-world movements during the Middle Ages
Aslan Reza’s Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth is really good history and does a great job of evoking the world of first century Palestine under Roman rule.
I just got through The Cruellest Miles by Gay and Laney Salisbury. It was pretty amazing. Really, my only complaints are that the first chapter is slow, and the authors insist on using the terms Eskimo and Indian. Besides that, it’s an incredible story of heroics and self-sacrifice (and very good doggies). I cried many times, both happy and sad.
A People’s History of the Word by Chris Harman
The Dawn of Everything by David Graeber