I enjoy reading deep dives about revolutions throughout history, especially when there’s an in-depth exploration of the cultural context (both material and ideological) that drives the parties involved..
When reading about older (pre-20th century) uprisings, especially successful ones, it’s easy to find nuanced analysis of the groups involved, with the assumption that most people have meaningful motivations driving them to their choices, beyond just “beying good” or “being evil”.
E.g. it’s not difficult for me to find coverage of the American revolutionary war that takes seriously the structures and beliefs driving the colonists to rebellion, or coverage of the English civil wars that empathetically explores the motivations of all parties.
Aside from self-documentary works / autobiographies, I’ve struggled to find this type of coverage of 20th & 21st century revolutionary movements / uprisings / conflicts, particularly ones not vindicated in public opinion by success.
An example of what I’m looking for would be *Armed Struggle: The History of the IRA* by Richard English – it’s the only book I could find about the history of Irish republican conflict that didn’t start with an assumed “good guys & bad guys” framing.
If your response to this question is “Well, of course you can find sympathetic coverage of just revolutionaries and not of terrorists!”, you probably aren’t the target audience for my question and that’s ok. This isn’t the forum for debate about which conflicts are “just” &or deserving of neutral or empathetic coverage, and I’m not trying to initiate one, just looking for some recommendations that may not be on my radar.
Thanks in advance!
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‘Slaughterhouse-Five’ by Kurt Vonnegut is an unconventional war story that I’d recommend for its poignant and sometimes surreal exploration of a soldier’s experience during World War II. The non-linear narrative and elements of science fiction set it apart from other books in the genre.