Post: #1

I looked through the forum to see if a thread like this already existed - if so, please feel free to direct me there. Otherwise, this is a thread for suggesting books on history.

I would love to learn more about ancient Greek and Roman history, as well as English, European, and American history, but I'm not really sure where to look, since so many contemporary books are written from a SJW/anti-White/Marxist perspective. I learned about these subjects in my (mostly) Christian education from elementary through high school, but would love to go deeper.

My understanding of historical events in mainland Europe prior to the 20th century is, unfortunately, pretty lousy.

Post: #2

Well.

I've nosed around Russian, European, and US history for a bit. As have more than a few others here on this august forum.

What do you want to read?

Post: #3

(08-21-2016 05:10 PM)HermeticAlly Wrote:  I would love to learn more about ancient Greek and Roman history, as well as English, European, and American history, but I'm not really sure where to look, since so many contemporary books are written from a SJW/anti-White/Marxist perspective. I learned about these subjects in my (mostly) Christian education from elementary through high school, but would love to go deeper.

A few suggestions to give you a taste of some historical periods.

The Roman Republic: The Rise of Rome



It condenses Livy and other sources to tell the early legends and stories of the Roman Republic, such as the fall of the Tarquins and the Punic Wars. It stops before the transition to Empire.

Medieval England: The Plantagenets



It covers the English dynasty that emerged after the Norman conquest, and tells the stories from Henry II until Edward III. It cuts out before the War of the Roses, but the same author has written a book that covers that. It's in this historical backdrop that GRR Martin dreamed up Game of Thrones.

Renaissance Italy: The Medici



It covers the Medici family from their banking fortune to ascendance into the traditional aristocracy. Lorenzo "the Magnificent" de' Medici more than anyone reignited interest in the classics with his bankroll, which in turn produced some classic Renaissance artwork.

Napoleonic France: Napoleon, a Life



Napoleon created an Empire that threatened every major power in Europe, and for a time, he held his own against them. During that time, he overhauled the French state in his image. The man himself rose to power through a series of thrilling victories across the map of Europe, all before losing it all in a series of equally brutal defeats. This book tells his story.

Post: #4

I like history books that are about a specific event in time. Much less biased for the most part and you can draw your own conclusions.

My personal favorite was, "The Path Between the Seas" by David McCullough. 700 pages of the entire history of the Panama Canal. They don't teach any of that growing up in public schools. You never hear about the French influence.

I just ordered "Paris 1919" by Margaret MacMillan. Looking forward to starting it.

Post: #5

Some books that cover periods of history neglected by public education:

"An Empire of Wealth" by John Steele Gordon - a pro-capitalism history of the great American entrepreneurs of the 1800s (otherwise known as "robber barons"), the great fortunes they created, and the great civic and cultural things many of them did with those fortunes.

"Patriots" by A.J. Langguth - the history of the American Revolution from 1760 through 1783; each chapter functions also as a bio of the Founder who was most prominent at that stage of the era, so you not only get the play-by-play of the events but fascinating profiles of each of these guys you might otherwise only know as names (e.g.: John Hancock, who was much more than a guy with a flowery signature).

"The Gathering Storm" by Winston Churchill (the first volume of his history of WWII) - a well-written, detailed exploration of everything that went wrong re:preventing the rearmament of Germany and the outbreak of war in the period between Versailles and (IIRC) the Battle of Britain.

"The Forgotten Man" by Amity Schlaes - a history of the Depression, showing how the efforts taken to combat the crisis prolonged and deepened it as a result of economic ignorance, managerial incompetence, and ideological hubris.

Post: #6

Will Durant's Story of Civilization would be a great start. After reading that you can really narrow down the specific areas that interest you.

Post: #7

The best way to avoid progressive-type history is to read books that are old enough to be out of copyright and therefore free. Read this guy: unqualified-reservations.blogspot.com (directory here: moldbuggery.blogspot.com ). He references plenty such books.

Post: #8

My favorite textbook of all time is Empires in World History by Burbank and Cooper. Goes through every major Empire in World History, why it was successful, and why it fell apart in depth.

It's damned good explaining why multi-national Empires work at least for a while. It's honestly why I'm a fan of Empires as an alternative form of government.

Interesting stuff.

Post: #9

one of my favorite books



   

Post: #10

You manage to work your way through the Story of civilisation volumes by Will Durant and your knowledge base of the world in general will be like 3 times that of a normal person.

He's also pretty non PC on many issues due to era he was from.

Will probably take you years though assuming your really getting into each topic and looking into things of interest in more depth from other sources.

Post: #11

I've never read his works, but people I trust have told me to delve into books by Arnold Toynbee.

Post: #12

Some recommendations off the top of my head:

History of the Byzantine State by George Ostrogorsky. A well-written insight into the history of what is in my view one of the most interesting empires that ever existed.



Mussolini: A new life by Nicholas Farrell. Casts a new light on Mussolini's life. Everyone's heard of Hitler and his psychological issues, his weird sexual fetishes and his vegetarianism, but did you know that at one point of his life Mussolini was homeless, that he was a brilliant journalist and that in the 1930s he was one of the most adored public figures in the world? Men followed him, and women adored him.



July 1914 by Sean McMeekin. A very detailed description of how Europe was plunged into the most idiotic and useless war in its history.

Post: #13

Thanks for the recommendations, guys. Lots of good stuff to explore here.

Post: #14

Go to used book stores and find older books published in the mid 20th Century or earlier. The really older, out of print works, especially before Marxism became a commanding force in the 1930's, are unapologetically Pro-Western Civilization/white. There has been some genuine scholarship and legitimate improvement of some areas of historical knowledge since then but in general the older works are still leaps and bounds better even if some of the detail is not quite correct.

Penguin books used to have a sub-imprint called Pelican. Pelicans were paperbacks published roughly between the late 50's to the late 70's and covered many different topics in history, political science, and psychology. Some of the authors were leftist, but most weren't dishonest in their writing. Penguin books back then used to be much more UK focused but I know that in Canada and New Zealand and other ex-British colonies you can walk into a used book store and find Pelicans no problem so perhaps in the US you might be able to find them.

In Pelicans try to track down The Greeks by HDF Kitto and The Romans by RH Barrow. Those two books are roughly 200 pages each and are both just really large essays that expertly explore the culture of Greece and Rome. The Greeks and the Romans were very different culturally to each other and neither are of them just white Americans with minimal technology and togas. These books explain their mentality and how alien to us they truly were. It's something to pick up and mine for insight after you've read a few original classical works.

Speaking of which, you want to read about the past without the bullshit? Go straight to the source itself-- read the original works. Homer, Herodotus, Polybius, Cicero, and on and on. They all write things that would make an SJW have a seizure. The Penguin Classics and Oxford World's Classics are your best bet and I would also try to find older editions published before 2000 in the used book stores. If you read any classic work in contemporary (from 1990 on) translation keep an eye on the phrasing the translator is using and if it sounds subverted go and find either an older edition or an ancient internet public domain edition to double check the passage in question.

Post: #15

Recently finished this one.



It's a history of the world, from antiquity to the modern era. Don't let the name fool you, it's not just about the Silk Road. It's about how East and West interacted since the beginning over recorded history. An example is how Islam conquered the territory of two exhausted empires, Rome and Persia, but also how Rome itself influenced Islam. Another example is the European slave trade with the Arab world.

Post: #16

Reading this right now and it's amazing. The Russian Revolution, the years before it, and the context through the eyes of the craziest Tsarist Officer that ever lived.

Baron Roman von Ungern-Sternberg was a complete badass albeit cruel, sadistic, and crazy.

Post: #17

I found Plutarch’s Parallel Lives to be very direct—much more so than the prose of ancient Greece. He really connected the dots for me regarding Greek and Roman leadership. As I was reading it, I was blown away at how many ideas had been tried and failed…only to be repeated by successive generations.