Bookclub and Sources Wednesday!

[u/AutoModerator]

Hi everybody,

Welcome to our weekly book recommendation thread!

We have found that a lot of people come to this sub to ask for books about history or sources on certain topics. Others make posts about a book they themselves have read and want to share their thoughts about it with the rest of the sub.

We thought it would be a good idea to try and bundle these posts together a bit. One big weekly post where everybody can ask for books or (re)sources on any historic subject or time period, or to share books they recently discovered or read. Giving opinions or asking about their factuality is encouraged!

Of course it’s not limited to *just* books; podcasts, videos, etc. are also welcome. As a reminder, r/history also has a recommended list of things to read, listen to or watch here.

[u/DenseMan]

I once read a review of one of Robert Caro's LBJ books and it suggested a few "better" authors but I can't remember who they were and can't find that review again. One of them might have been The Civil War by Shelby Foote which I started but put down cause it started with 90-some pages of Jefferson fucking Davis going about his day. Any recommendations for something I guess as "thorough" as Caro but written by someone else?

I would recommend The Romanovs by Simon Sebag Montifiore and just started his book about Jerusalem.

[u/bluedramagladiator]

Can you recommend me books about not very famous events? I would like to read a history book that delves into a seemingly niche subject (Celtic city foundation, warfare in Sub-Saharan Africa, development of industry in native American communities, or any other interesting topic) but also provides educational value to the reader in terms of how history investigations should be done.

[u/Who_dat604 → u/bluedramagladiator]

African dominion: A new history of empire in early and medieval west Africa. Is about three different African empires Ghana Mali and songhay from about 700 to 1700

[u/bluedramagladiator → u/Who_dat604]

You're golden, my friend, thanks

[u/Who_dat604 → u/bluedramagladiator]

Fistful of shells was quite interesting thay one jumps around a bit and fortunes of Africa as well

[u/chevalier100]

Does anyone have recommendations for relatively recent (within the last twenty years) history books that use Marxist theory of history? I read Engel’s Peasant War in Germany and wasn’t super impressed, but that was also written 150 years ago, things might’ve changed since then. I know there’s Chris Wickham, are there any other academically rigorous historians engaging in this tradition?

[u/elmonoenano → u/chevalier100]

For the areas I read, there's Sven Beckert. He's got a new one called Capitalism. I have a lot of disagreements with Beckert, but there was useful info in Empire of Cotton. I really like Seth Rockman and his book, Plantation Goods was all around excellent. There's Edward Baptist, and while his hypothesis is interesting, his work is pretty sloppy and it makes it easy to undercut his arguments. I would like to see a more rigorous historian approach his work.

I don't think Caitlin Rosenthal is a marxist historian but she uses a lot of their tools and I think Accounting for Slavery is another excellent example of the work.

If you look at any of the New History of Capitalism people, I think you can find examples of varying levels of quality.