Re: Book recommendation/request thread
Posted: 2012-05-05 09:01am
Protip: this is the history sub-forum.
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I can personally recommend all those books, but would advise a new reader to start with A.H.M Jones first, because it is the best general overview. I'd also suggest one should take a look at Alexander Demandt, Stephen Mitchell and of course Peter Brown.Fire Fly wrote:I have found myself with ample time this summer and I have been on a reading binge of the later Roman Empire (4th to 6th century) with a focus on the western half. What sparked this sudden interest? First, in the discussion of U. S. politics this subject comes up quite often and I thought that I would educate myself in this subject since it seems to be so popular in political circles. History, to some people, is repeating itself and this time Rome is America. After having read these books, I have to say, many of the people who make these allusions and allegories seem to be rather wrong and are stretching the known facts to suit their own political ideology. Second, many lay people know of Caesar and the gladiatorial games but know rather little about the later centuries, myself included. Since so many facets of the Medieval Age (Dare I say, even the modern age?) find roots from the later half of the western Roman Empire, reading up on the history of the later Roman Empire would improve my understanding of the evolution of Western history. I would like to recommend the following books for your consideration on the subject of late Roman antiquity.
I haven't read it myself, but I generally find that a good way to judge a WW2 history is to look at the section on Barbarossa and see if the author claims Stalin went AWOL in the first couple days. If so, you're likely going to get general pop-history. If not, you might have yourself a good one.Shadow6 wrote:Is Antony Beevor's latest book The Second World War worth picking up? I liked his previous works (Stalingrad, Berlin and D-Day), but I'm not particularly informed on how well regarded he is as an author.
How big a scope do you want? There's no single volume that covers 55-75. Most (understandably) concentrate on 65-72, and from a heavily American perspective. Shelby Stanton's The Rise And Fall of an American Army is a good mixture of combat operations, organisational issues within the US Army and OOB - although it's getting long in the tooth. Outside of that, the US Army's Centre for Military History has been digitising a ton of stuff, including their official histories on the Vietnam period. Sadly only two volumes covering up to late 1967 in the 'Combat Operations' series have been published and digitised, but there are also histories of the advisory effort and individual campaigns/branches available. But none of that stuff covers other combat operations like the air campaign against North Vietnam or MACVSOG operations - or, as I said, Vietnamese operations from either a RVN or Communist perspective (or indeed a 'Free World' one - ANZAC, ROK, Thai etc).jollypillager wrote:3: ANY book on Vietnam that is an actual military history and not a personal account, historical drama, or focused on things that aren't military campaigns / history.
OK, that narrows it down slightly.jollypillager wrote:I really want something that addresses doctrine, tactics and their effectiveness on the battlefield with analysis of individual encounters being probably neccessary. It seems every book I pick up on the subject is basically a personal biography or a political big picture discussion.
I'll see if I can find Stanton's book, thanks for the suggestion
Much information on this remains, unsurprisingly, classified. That said, there is some extensive material available at GWU's National Security Archives' Nuclear Vault, including histories, if not the actual plans themselves, of SIOP-62 and -63.jollypillager wrote:I'm looking for good books on the following topics:
1: In depth analysis of the strategies that would be used in a full nuclear exchange between the US and USSR, bonus if it gave evaluations for different time periods during the Cold War to reflect changing Geopolitical, Technological and Doctrinal realities.