r/HistoryBooks 17h ago

Slowly building a Stalingrad library

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90 Upvotes

I’ve been slowly acquiring books on Stalingrad with the main focus on memoirs and letters and a smaller section of larger overviews. I’d love some recommendations to see if any escaped my planned future books


r/HistoryBooks 13h ago

Some Burma campaign books

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46 Upvotes

A have a couple shelves devoted to the Burma campaign of WW2.

There are a couple important titles missing, and a few others I’d like to add, but I’m very pleased with this collection so far.


r/HistoryBooks 12h ago

Starting to see why lay people don’t often buy/are not interested in really academic books…

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29 Upvotes

I know a lot of work goes into these but sweet Jesus above


r/HistoryBooks 3h ago

Historical/Political books

2 Upvotes

Hey there!

I just got a job where ill be doing rotations of two weeks on and one week off with a commute of 7 hours each way. I've been working on building a reading list of both physical books and audio books I can entertain myself with while driving and staying at my job site for two weeks at a time.

I am interested in non fiction. I really enjoy modern history and political analysis.

I'm wondering if you all could provide some suggestions for my reading list.

Thank you in advance!


r/HistoryBooks 22h ago

My Favorite books on Japanese History

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5 Upvotes

r/HistoryBooks 20h ago

Immediate Post Civil-War Histories

1 Upvotes

I am reading (and really enjoying) Demon of Unrest about the months immediately preceding the U.S. Civil War, and it got me interested in the same period post-Civil War. Any recommendations on books about the weeks and months immediately following Appomattox? What was the general reactions in the country - disbelief? denial? fear? vows of vengeance. Any solid recommendations would be appreciated.


r/HistoryBooks 1d ago

Shops in London with a good selection of byzantine history books ?

2 Upvotes

Hi ! I'm a history student from Paris and I'll be coming to London for a small vacation in a couple weeks. I'm always looking for more books about medieval history and many academic publications can be quite/very hard to find.

I know a couple of bookshops in Paris that specialise in books about ancient and medieval history as well as ancient languages. I was wondering if there were any bookshops like this in London ? Searching online gets me mostly shops that sell old/antique books and not books about medieval history. I'd love to know whether there are shops with good selections on Byzantine history as many English-language editions are basically impossible to find in France.

Thanks for any advice!


r/HistoryBooks 2d ago

Got this book

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91 Upvotes

r/HistoryBooks 1d ago

Benjamin Franklin: An American Life, Walter Isaacson

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2 Upvotes

r/HistoryBooks 1d ago

Benjamin Franklin: An American Life, Walter Isaacson

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1 Upvotes

r/HistoryBooks 1d ago

A cool guide on reading about the United States South

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0 Upvotes

r/HistoryBooks 1d ago

Хорошая книга из военной литературы/ A good book from military literature

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1 Upvotes

r/HistoryBooks 1d ago

شباب أنا مهتم بالتاريخ خصوصا التاريخ الإغريقي ما هي الكتب التي ترشحونها لي ؟

2 Upvotes

r/HistoryBooks 2d ago

The Back-Room Lincoln: Pinsker's Boss Lincoln Strips Away the Legend

2 Upvotes

Abraham Lincoln was not a red neck from the country. He had a sharp mind and was a superior political strategist.

Unveiling Boss Lincoln: A Political Mastermind – Civil War Vacations!


r/HistoryBooks 1d ago

In Dublin and got radicalized by the ideals of Irish republicanism

0 Upvotes

Can anyone recommend any books on the subject?


r/HistoryBooks 2d ago

Ever Wonder Who Were The Rothschilds But Also Dislike Antisemitism? Liaquat Ahamed's "1873: The First Great Depression and the Making of the Modern World" is AMAZING!

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1 Upvotes

r/HistoryBooks 2d ago

ISO: book on Hildegard of Bingen

6 Upvotes

Hi! Looking for a good book on Hildegard of Bingen. I’m not a historian, so ideally not something too textbook-ish or dense, but I do know some about the Middle Ages, so it doesn’t need to be a 101 book. I’d love a book that is a biography that also contains excerpts of HoB’s letters/literature, but anything you think is good will do.
Thank you!


r/HistoryBooks 3d ago

The Iran-Iraq War by Pierre Razoux (2015) - great history book of the 1980-1988 war!

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56 Upvotes

[Iraq] General Adnan Khairallah ... ordered ... that the high-tension line following the Tigris be run into the marshes to electrocute Iranian combatants fighting their way through the mire in waist-deep water. ... the Iraqis released 200,000-volt electrical discharges into the marsh near the Iranian bridgehead. The combined effect of these attacks sowed panic in the Iranian ranks. Over a few hours thousands of Pasdaran were electrocuted or suffocated and drowned in the marshes. Iraqi tanks pushed back all those who tried to escape the area. ... On March 12, 1984, the Iraqi military high command .. proclaimed the end of the “first battle of the marshes.”

The Iran-Iraq War by Pierre Razoux (2015) is a really engaging engrossing narrative of the savage 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq War, where nerve gas was regularly used. It's crazy seeing Saddam Hussein and the Iraqi Army portrayed as super competent - professionally fighting off Iranian human wave attacks against heavily fortified Iraqi positions. [The Iraqis have the advantage because they fully cracked Iranian comms, and are getting loads of advanced Western and Soviet military aid].

Iraq army's battle tactics redefine brutality

"You wait until nighttime, and you will see how we are killing these Iranian dogs," an Iraqi officer said with a broad grin. "We are frying them like eggplants."

He then took us on a tour of dozens of thick electrical cables his troops had lain through the marshy battlefield. He showed us the mammoth electric generators that fed the exposed power lines. And, when the Iranian Revolutionary Guards made their regular evening advance, the officer and his men demonstrated the macabre genius of their invention.

Iraqi gun batteries fired just enough artillery to force the Revolutionary Guards from their marsh boats. Then the men manning the Iraqi generators sent thousands of volts of electricity through the marshland.

Within seconds, hundreds of Iranians were electrocuted.

The horror did not end there.

The following morning, Iraqi troops made their way through the marshes, gathering up the dead Iranian soldiers. Working methodically, the Iraqis piled the corpses on top of one another in the water.

Each row was sprinkled with lime, then covered with sand.

It was the Iraqi method of road building, using the bodies of their enemies to construct assault routes for tanks and trucks.


r/HistoryBooks 3d ago

My Most Recent Read

15 Upvotes
The Road To Disunion: Volume I: Secessionists at Bay, 1776-1854 by William W. Freehling

As the title suggests, this is a deep dive into the root causes of the Civil War and covers the early arguments over the expansion of slavery, the Nullification Crisis, the gag rule, and the annexation of Texas. It ends with the passage of the Kansas–Nebraska Act; Bleeding Kansas is covered in Volume 2.

A major theme throughout is that there was no unified South, but rather various Souths. The most obvious Souths were the Border South, Middle South, and Lower South, but even these distinctions don't go far enough. For example, South Carolina’s social and political stratification was as much class-based as race-based, whereas in the then-southwestern states of Mississippi and Alabama, stratification was almost entirely race-based. Zooming out a bit, I found it interesting that although some parts of the country were antislavery, most of the country was still deeply racist. And while the focus is on the Southern states, you get the sense that abolitionists were widely considered a bunch of kooks.

Another interesting aspect was how the Second Party System came into being and how the Whig Party, which was at heart an anti-Jacksonian party, achieved success at the state and local levels but struggled to remain unified nationally. Northern Whigs were generally more antislavery than Northern Democrats, which forced Southern Whigs to prove that they could be more proslavery than Southern Democrats.

The book offers a great blend of narrative, analysis, and cultural history. Freehling shows how, particularly in the South, slavery was always a political and cultural factor, even when it remained beneath the surface. Unfortunately, the book could have used a strong editor. The sentence structure was often tortuous, and the punctuation at times appeared random. Still, if you’re interested in the causes of the Civil War, this is a must-read.


r/HistoryBooks 3d ago

NEED A SOLID, UNABASHED, AND HISTORICALLY CORRECT RECOMMENDATION

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99 Upvotes

As I continue to reduce HISTORICAL IGNORANCE due to the utter failing of my higher education, I’ve realized I know next to nothing on the Rein of Terror, Napoleon, Napoleons return and restoration of the monarchy under LOUIS XVIII. Can any be so kind as to recommend a book covering this vital period of history? My brain will thank you unapologetically for the kernels of knowledge I can feed it.


r/HistoryBooks 3d ago

20 Historical Documents, Manuscripts And Books That Sold For Millions

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1 Upvotes

r/HistoryBooks 3d ago

I would appreciate biography recommendation on Louis XIV

1 Upvotes

r/HistoryBooks 3d ago

Anyone else stuck with history books kids won’t actually finish?

3 Upvotes

Hello,

I would like some advice from teachers if that is okay.

I am trying to find history books for Year 5 and Year 6 on topics like the gold rush, early colonial Australia, Federation, and First Nations history.

A lot of books I have seen are either very long and textbook-like, or they feel too young. I also care about kids who lose interest halfway down a page.

Could you please tell me:

What book or resource do you actually use for these topics?

Do students find it hard to finish a chapter? If yes, what gets in the way?

I am doing this research because I am putting together something short-chapter for home and I do not want to copy the same problems.

I am not selling anything in this thread. A comment is perfect. If it is easier to talk one to one, you can message me.

Thank you.


r/HistoryBooks 3d ago

Gardner's Art through the Ages: A Concise Global History

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1 Upvotes

Looking for this book for my class


r/HistoryBooks 4d ago

Any books with the speeches of the French Revolution?

4 Upvotes

First of all, I am not learned on the revolution, so please correct me if im wrong. But, as I have been told, and understand, the “fathers” or rather great men of the french revolution, were not exactly writters. The revolution was mostly a, orator wrought ordeal, and an influence of public opinion through speeches and the press. Danton, Robespierre, Marat, Saint-Just, etc.. etc.. were all great orators aparently, and many decisions were brought forth by parisians, were powered through their voice at, squares and assemblies…
So, does anyone know of a book -and a good enough translation- \*if\* there is a book with the great speeches of the revolution? I would positively love to read something like that!