Reddit mentions: The best historical british biographies

There are far too many to describe one as "the best", but here are some of my favourites.

The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes is a well deserved winner of the Pulitzer Prize. A combination of history, science and biography and so very well written.

A few of my favourite biographies include the magisterial, and also Pulitzer Prize winning, Peter the Great by Robert Massie. He also wrote the wonderful Dreadnaught on the naval arms race between Britain and Germany just prior to WWI (a lot more interesting than it sounds!). Christopher Hibbert was one of the UK's much loved historians and biographers and amongst his many works his biography Queen Victoria - A Personal History is one of his best. Finally, perhaps my favourite biography of all is Everitt's Cicero - The Life and Times of Rome's Greatest Politician. This man was at the centre of the Fall of the Roman Republic; and indeed fell along with it.

Speaking of which, Rubicon - The Last Years of the Roman Republic is a recent and deserved best-seller on this fascinating period. Holland writes well and gives a great overview of the events, men (and women!) and unavoidable wars that accompanied the fall of the Republic, or the rise of the Empire (depending upon your perspective). :) Holland's Persian Fire on the Greco-Persian Wars (think Cyrus, Darius, Xerxes! Think of the Movie 300, if you must) is equally gripping.

Perhaps my favourite history book, or series, of all is Shelby Foote's magisterial trilogy on the American Civil War The Civil War - A Narrative. Quite simply one of the best books I've ever read.

If, like me, you're interested in teh history of Africa, start at the very beginning with The Wisdom of the Bones by Alan Walker and Pat Shipman (both famous paleoanthropologists). Whilst not the very latest in recent studies (nothing on Homo floresiensis for example), it is still perhaps the best introduction to human evolution available. Certainly the best I've come across. Then check out Africa - Biography of a Continent. Finish with the two masterpieces The Scramble for Africa on how European colonialism planted the seeds of the "dark continents" woes ever since, and The Washing of the Spears, a gripping history of the Anglo-Zulu wars of the 1870's. If you ever saw the movie Rorke's Drift or Zulu!, you will love this book.

Hopkirk's The Great Game - The Struggle for Empire in Central Asia teaches us that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

I should imagine that's enough to keep you going for the moment. I have plenty more suggestions if you want. :)

I love the Name of the Wind so much it hurts. Rothfuss is an absolutely amazing author, and if you love the subtlety, complexity, foreshadowing, and maturity of Martin's books you will love Rothfuss'.

Joe Abercrombie's series are thematically very similar. They're very dark, very visceral. Abercrombie brings more life to his characters than I think anyone else in the genre, including Martin. The story itself isn't nearly as complex as those written by Martin or Rothfuss, though that isn't to say it's simple and twist-free by any means.

Also, if you enjoy the world of the Seven Kingdoms, there's some great historical non-fiction that you might enjoy. I just finished the Crusades by Thomas Asbridge, which was fascinating. Edward I: A great and terrible king by Marc Morris was also excellent. The latter you will enjoy if you loved all the political wranglings of the nobility in Westeros, while the latter will appeal if you care more about the military aspects. Right now I'm reading Millenium: the end of the world and the forging of Christendom by Tom Holland, which is all about Europe at the turn of the first millenium AD, and the biblical prophecies of the apocalypse rampant at the time. It's the background for so much of the prophecies you see in fantasy series everywhere, and it's quite a fascinating read.

Edit: I suppose it's worth pointing out that the above books were recommended to me by Joe Abercrombie, when I asked him in the comments on his blog for some recommendations of well-written historical books to be used as source material for fantasy worlds.

Other fantasies that I can recommend: Scott Lynch's Gentlemen Bastards books, Peter V Brett's The Warded Man and its sequel. Brent Weeks is good too, though I have mixed feelings on how he ended his first series. Wheel of Time is a classic, but it's long and drags (though Brandon Sanderson has apparently finished it up quite nicely, I just haven't found time to read the 12 books necessary to catch myself back up). Speaking of which, Brandon Sanderson is good too. He's written Elantris (meh), the Mistborn trilogy (quite a fun read, though it won't knock your socks off), and the Way of Kings (which is supposed to be utterly fantastic). He also wrote another book in the Mistborn world that is supposed to be amazing as well.

It's all shadows and mirrors of course, but I see an interest in the occult on behalf of the CIA. To begin you have to consider what kind of organization the CIA is and how it operates. In my view, without regard for what institutional creed or beliefs the CIA may have, at its core it operates like an occult/secret society. Here's a quote from William Colby, former director of the CIA, published in his memoir:

> Socially as well as professionally they cliqued together, forming a sealed fraternity. They ate together at their own special favorite restaurants; they partied almost only among themselves; their families drifted to each other, so their defenses did not always have to be up. In this way they increasingly separated themselves from the ordinary world and developed a rather skewed view of that world. Their own dedicated double life became the proper norm, and they looked down on the life of the rest of the citizenry. And out of this grew what was later named -- and condemned -- as the "cult" of intelligence, an inbred, distorted, elitist view of intelligence that held it to be above the normal processes of society, with its own rationale and justification, beyond the restraints of the Constitution, which applied to everything and everyone else.

There really is a wealth of evidence out there. I can point you in a few different directions, if you're interested. But if you believe in occult or magical forces, then you should know that the use of occult power in military and intelligence circles goes back thousands of years, starting perhaps with the Bhagavad-Gita, or the Oracle of Delphi, or Crowley's connections to British intelligence, and so on.

My list would have to include

The Ball is Round this is an amazing history of the sport. It is a very big book but very good.

The Numbers Game This has been one of my favorite soccer reads and I am surprised at how little people talk about it.

This love is not for cowards Truly an amazing story.

Amung the Thugs a fun and alarming tale of holgainism. Something I am very glad has not developed around the sport in the USA.

also if your not already receiving them you should subscribe to
Howler Magazine and
Eight by Eight


I hope this list gets you started. I have more on my list but have not got around to them.

I cannot detail every medieval king of England - that would be too long. I can, however, outline very briefly the fates of 2 or 3 consecutive kings which might help explain that there was no hard and fast rule about counsel power vs. sovereign power:

Edward I is an excellent example of a king exercising sovereign power and effectively binding his nobility to himself and his causes. He was very active in creating policy, expanding the judicial systems, waging war in Wales, Scotland and the mainland. He worked extremely hard to be successful, and to make his kingdom successful. He was forceful enough that his nobles went along with his schemes, and Edward was always in charge. He was an excellent commander and strategist.

Now, contrast that with the fate of his son, Edward II. He was okay as a commander, but he clearly preferred not to fight. He was less interested in the exercise of power as a way of responsibly raising the success and prestige of the kingdom than he was in exercising power to benefit himself and, especially, his friends. His friends often had nearly as much power as he did, and they all - including the king - abused it to enrich themselves, thwart justice, and generally lord it over everyone else. So he had a council, but unlike his father's council which helped develop and implement policy, Edward II's council found itself struggling to get anything done because the favourites (Gaveston and later the Despencers) were running the show with Ed's blessing.

So what could the other nobles do? They tried a few things - they got parliament to back them in forcing Edward to get rid of his favourite, and to let them run the country in a more responsible manner. But then they fought amongst themselves and Ed was able to take the reigns back and recall his favourites. Eventually he alienated everyone, and his wife and son ended up rebelling against him (I'm being very general here) and eventually Ed was relieved of his crown, and either died/was murdered or hung out in Italy as a pilgrim for many years.

So, in short, it depended on the King himself. Henry VIII is another example - he was quite forceful after Wolsey's supremacy was over, but, as Robert Hutchinson has suggested in The Last Days of Henry VIII, some crucial decisions and documents may have been authored and signed by his intimates using a dry stamp because Henry was so ill. If the king was effective, he led the way. If he was egregious, it often caught up with him.

Also see King John I, Richard II, Henry III, Henry VI and James II of England. Other European countries are beyond my knowledgable purview.

Peasants were the largest demographic group in Latin Christendom, comprising somewhere around ninety percent of the population or more. Most of these people were tenant farmers who leased a portion of a larger slice of land in return for a rent of service, kind, or money (although the latter is more rare and often only found in the later Middle Ages). These people could theoretically support themselves and their family off their own land. Some of these peasants were not free—serfs—meaning, depending on when and where they lived, they may be bound to the land that they worked and could not seek legal redress outside of their primary lord (the kings justice, for example, would have been beyond the reach of these people). All of this is to say that medieval peasants, even if serfs, were not slaves—a misconception that comes from the continued use in some medieval sources of the Roman word for slave, servus, and should not be taken as a indicator of shared meaning. I've seen documents that use servus, rusticus, and—in the vernacular Old French—vilain. Outside of what they needed to pay as part of their obligation, they were free to sell, trade, or work elsewhere in the hamlet or town for wage or kind.

The details for the sort of trade you are asking about is difficult to trace since the economic lives of most peasants only appear in the records of lords and local courts when they have some sort of legal problem or reach a certain level of wealth. The community in which most medieval peasants would have interacted and traded was the Parish, which—besides the family—is the basic unit for understanding peasant society. The Parish community would have operated as a sort of social nexus for the rural peasantry, through which small transactions would have been negotiated. Work/Trade for wage and work for kind probably occurred simultaneously based on need, although certain economic historians believe quite strongly that the latter wouldn't have occurred at certain points of economic crisis.

Most farming hamlets were largely self sufficient in respect to their daily needs, so the average peasant had no need to access the sort of long distance trade I think you might be imagining. This is easier to understand when you consider what we know about their eating habits. For most, diet was simple and with the exception of certain feast days fish or meat was largely a luxury most peasants could not afford. The bulk of peasant diet probably came from cereals, supplemented by whatever local herbs and vegetables that they grew in their personal garden, of which every farm was sure to have at least one. On the plus side, beer was plentiful, although it was usually not brewed at a high ABV. A quirky and active market in late medieval England was in beer, which often was brewed by women and sold ad-hoc as a means to supplement income.

I should add that the definition of peasantry is something of a thorny topic for medieval economic historians, particularly in England where they have a wealth of sources that give them a wide range of local practice to squabble about. For your purposes, I would recommend avoiding most of these debates and read Judith Bennett's A Medieval Life: Cecilia Penifader of Brigstock, c. 1295-1344, a slender volume that will give you a good general overview of medieval peasant life rich with economic detail. For a contemporary, non-economic view of French peasant life I would recommend Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie's Montaillou: The Promised Land of Error, that chronicles life in a small southern French town through inquisitional records and provides small details about how peasants moved through the world, made friendships, and even weird things like their perception of time. A wonderful view of life peasant life a few centuries later is presented in the first few chapters of Eamon Duffy's The Voices of Morebath: Reformation and Rebellion in an English Village (2003), a book that, although about religious change, gives insight into the everyday.

edit: spelling words.

If you like the Romantics, you can't go wrong with anything by Richard Holmes:

• Coleridge: Early Visions
  
• Coleridge: Darker Reflections
  
• Footsteps: Adventures of a Romantic Biographer
  
• Shelley: The Pursuit
  
• Dr Johnson and Mr. Savage
  
• The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science (only tangentially related, but this is a very, very good book)
  
• Sidetracks: Explorations of a Romantic Biographer
  
  ____
  
  The Coleridge biographies are probably my favorite — he led an adventurous and tragic life, and even at over a thousand pages the two volumes read like a breeze (they even motivated me to read Biographia Literaria, unabridged, which I do not recommend).
  
  Holmes is an amazing biographer, so I think anything written by him will be worth your time.

Fair warning, the War of the Roses is a very complex and dense topic to dive into. Any book you pick up worth it's salt, will have (and better have) at least two chapters dedicated to just background before you even begin to get to the foundations of the causes for the War. The WotR is easily the most defining moment in English history between the Norman invasion and the Civil War and covers decades of history, literally.

Having said that, while this is not my subject area, and I'm not terribly well read in the topic, I do have a recommendation for a book that sits astride "popular history" and "academic history". I say that, because again, this is a dense subject and no book that is worth your time would be purely "pop history".

Alison Weir's War of the Roses, does a good job of making the subject accessible to readers of history, though not to fans of "lite history." "Lite History" to me are those pulpy history paperbacks that tend to populate the military history sections of bookstores about Navy Seals, Special Forces, Nazis, and those god awful books about the Merovingians being descendants of Jesus.

While the book only has one footnote that I can recall (giving a rough estimation of price equivalencies between 14th century money and late 20th Century), it does have an extensive bibliography and helpful index. Footnoting would be helpful in knowing the sources and providing additional information (my favorite thing about footnotes!) provided, but since the book is not "academic" its overlooked. The most helpful addition to the book are simplified family trees which I promise will be useful as the overlapping and twisting mixtures of marriages, second cousins, and family offshoots played a major part in being the cause and agitator of the war, and I promise you will refer to it more than once.

While the writing style is very casual and doesn't run down various rabbit hole topics that would fascinate an academic (and confuse the casual), it is still very dense. Keeping track of the names of the players, which Houses they were loyal to, and what role they play requires close attention to be paid or you will find yourself backtracking. I myself restarted the book three or four times before I reached page 100 over the years as I easily became lost and confused. I don't fault the writer at all as this was my first book on the subject and I often found myself lost. You will still need to sit quietly and read alone; this is not a book to read on a busy cross town bus, its by no means is a summer page turner.

Weir has a background in history, but is not a formal academic. She focuses mostly on historical fictions and biographies of England's royalty from the Middle Ages through the Renaissance. You can clearly tell that she has strong familiarity with the subject, knows how to research, and is thorough in covering the topics she tries to tackle (though through out her career some have been better than others). She presents her works in a way that makes complex histories and dense materials accessible to those who want to go beyond a tv documentary familiarity but not ready to delve into the dense undergrowth of an academic book.

For a casual yet informative and quality work, I recommend Alison Weir's War of the Roses.

Just don't use it as a source for your history paper.

Barbara Tuchman was brilliant writer of history.

Albert Camus was a brilliant absurdist philosopher and novelist.

Jared Diamond has written some brilliant books at the intersection of anthropology and ecology. Another good book in this genre is Clive Ponting's A New Green History of the World.

Gwynne Dyer is an acclaimed military historian turned journalist on international affairs who has written a number of very engaging books on warfare and politics. His most recent book Climate Wars is the ONE book I would recommend to someone, if so limited, on the subject as it embodies both a wonderful synopsis of the science juxtaposed against the harsh realpolitiks and potential fates of humankind that may unfold unless we can manage to tackle the matter seriously, soon. Another great book on climate change is Bill McKibben's Deep Economy.

For social activists interested in ending world hunger and abject poverty, I can recommend: Nobel Prize winning economist Amartya Sen's Development as Freedom; Nobel Prize winning micro-financier Muhammad Yunus' Creating a World Without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism; UN MDG famed economist Jeffrey Sach's End Of Poverty; and Greg Mortenson's Three Cups of Tea

For anyone of Scottish heritage, I heartily recommend Arthur Hermann's How The Scots Invented the Modern World: The True Story of How Western Europe's Poorest Nation Created Our World and Everything in It

For naval history buffs: Robert K. Massie's Dreadnought.

Last, but not least: Robert Pirsig's classic Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance.

Enjoy!

That certainly does sound interesting, for fiction. For a non-fiction account, I'd be more curious to read the following, which I probably will at some point:

Secret Agent 666: Aleister Crowley, British Intelligence and the Occult

The synopsis:

> Aleister Crowley is best known today as a founding father of modern occultism. His wide, hypnotic eyes peer at us from the cover of The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, and his influence can be found everywhere in popular culture.

> Crowley, also known as the Great Beast, has been the subject of several biographies, some painting him as a misunderstood genius, others as a manipulative charlatan. None of them have looked seriously at his career as an agent of British Intelligence.

> Using documents gleaned from British, American, French, and Italian archives, Secret Agent 666 sensationally reveals that Crowley played a major role in the sinking of the Lusitania, a plot to overthrow the government of Spain, the thwarting of Irish and Indian nationalist conspiracies, and the 1941 flight of Rudolf Hess.

> Author Richard B. Spence argues that Crowley—in his own unconventional way—was a patriotic Englishman who endured years of public vilification in part to mask his role as a secret agent.

> The verification of the Great Beast’s participation in the twentieth century’s most astounding government plots will likely blow the minds of history buff s and occult aficionados alike.

> Author Richard B. Spence can be seen on various documentaries on the History Channel and is a consultant for Washington, DC’s International Spy Museum. He is also the author of Trust No One: The Secret World of Sidney Reilly (Feral House).

I'm not sure how much of that is accurate but it should make for a fun read, and interesting to fact-check (if feasible).

Sapiens is a general history book about humanity, not so much traditional countries' history. It explores things like how did agriculture and warfare start, why is homo sapiens the only surviving human species etc.

For fun reading about history, I recommend anything written by Robert K. Massie. This is not general history; he wrote mostly about Tsarist Russia, but Dreadnought: Britain, Germany and the Coming of the Great War is a good starter for pre-WW1 European history.
I say "a good starter" because Massie's approach is very biographical - he mostly tells the story through the lives and actions of the decision makers, with less "modern" emphasis on economic factors etc. But he's a really good writer and it's the kind of history book you can read on a beach.

Ooh, you're in for a treat. A few of my favorites are:

The Royals, by Kitty Kelly

The Queen Mother, by William Shawcross

Diana, Her True Story by Andrew Morton (with all the drama and revelations afterward, I think it's really good to at least read)

On Duty with the Queen, Dickie Arbiter (I expected more behind-the-scenes stuff in this one, but it was still interesting)

My friend has read Fergie, Duchess of York's memoirs (yep, plural) and she said they were interesting but not super in-depth.

If you're ever looking for a novel about a non-British royal house, I highly recommend The Commoner, by John Burnham Schwartz, which is inspired about the empress-to-be (next week!) of Japan.

I don't think I'd be able to really stay updated, I never do with that sort of stuff. But, I have a reading list that you should add- that is if you are doing payed books:

For full on historians looking for depth in medieval subjects:

-Asbridge's The Crusades is a far better Crusades history that goes into good depth than any other I've read

-Morris' The Norman Conquest oncemore just a great book for depth and detail

-Jones' The Plantagenets this one I would avoid if you hate sensationalism in history, Dan Jones is a real historian and he writes it as a real historian but he's on the edge of being more entertainer level than educator level

-Moore's 2008 edition of The Formation of a Persecuting Society is definitely the best analysis of medieval heresy I've read

(+ for more details into his actual thought process and the full counter argument to his critics that came out against him later on )

For casual historians looking for analysis and shorter reads:

-Phillip's Holy Warriors is probably an overall better analysis than Asbridge but far less deep, if you like battles go for Asbridge but this is a far shorter read

-Asbridge's The Greatest Knight good book on the Plantagenets through the eyes of the knights

-Golding's Conquest and Colonisation a slightly more boring read, maybe go with the "A short introduction to" book isntead

-Pegg's A Most Holy War for lighter reading on medieval heresy

During that period it was a balancing act of a few primary factors: speed, guns, and armor. The amount of armor and guns directly impacted both the size and the weight of the vessel, and this in turn effected the speed.

At the time, the pinnacle of tactics during Naval Battles was what is known as "Crossing the T". Essentially, one line of ships would cut-off the other, and in doing so were able to bring all their guns to bear on their opponent. Likewise, their opponent could not bring all of their guns to bear to retaliate. This diagram shows what it would have generally looked like.

For a tactic like that to succeed you needed, as a battleship, a good combination of guns, speed, and armor. A classic example of this would be Admiral Count Heihachiro Togo and his victory over the Russians at Tsuhima in 1904. Both sides had guns that could fire at about the same range (and the bigger the gun, the bigger the range and the more destructive power). William Pakenham, who was a Royal Navy observer on-board Admiral Togo's ship, stated "when 12 inch guns are fired, shots from 10 inch guns pass unnoticed, while, for all the respect they instill, 8 inch or 6 inch might as well be pea shooters". Basically, the goal was to have the biggest guns possible on-board. This provides maximum firepower and range.

Admiral Togo had one more advantage over the Russians: Speed. He had about six or seven knots advantage over the Russians. If you have greater speed and range, then you can determine where and when the fight actually happens - by engaging the enemy from a longer distance and even moving away to keep that advantage. So if you can control those factors you can control the battle.

"Armor is speed" is something Jacky Fisher (important British admiral, key in the conception and design of HMS Dreadnought) is reported as having once said. This is because the more steel you put on the boat, the slower it is going to go. Unless of course you have new and more powerful methods of propulsion/power, which would allow you to attain a higher speed with more weight. Armor of course is important, as your ships need to be able to withstand hits. HMS Warsprite at Jutland for example, sustained 11 hits. While she was severely damage (and ordered home to Roysoth) she survived those hits and lived to see another day (a lot of days to be precise, she was engaged in WWII as well).

As u/Vonadler notes as well, money is a key issue. HMS Dreadnought cost approximately £1,784,000 in 1905. As an upgrade over other ship designs, she only cost £181,000 more. However, you have to multiply that by the amount of ships you want to build and then the number only gets more astronomical. In August 1914, the Royal Navy had 22 Battleships in commission (with 40 Pre-Dreadnoughts which are the older battleship designs that came before the Dreadnought in 1905) with another 13 under construction. And the price had only gone up since 1905. The Germans for example only had 15 built with 5 under construction. However I disagree that Vanguard was about 10 million GBP more to construct. Vanguard was built in the 1940s, 40 years after Dreadnought. Using [this inflation calculator] (http://inflation.stephenmorley.org/) I compared £11,530,503 in 1941 (the year that Vanguard was laid down) to 1905 (the year Dreadnought was laid down). In 1905, Vanguard would have cost about £5,291,677.27 pounds. A substantial increase to be sure, but only of about 297% compared to 546%. The overall point stands however, that bigger Battleships with more armor and whatnot do cost significantly more than their smaller counterparts.

And with ships you do not just have the cost of building. maintenance, crew (in the case of the German Battleships 1000+ crew members), fuel, etc... Those costs add up quickly. u/thefourthmaninaboat is also correct that the infrastructure was also a factor in Battleship design. On the other hand, cruise ships didn't really have to contend with all of this. They had their own design challenges to be sure, but armor for example wasn't really a factor.

This is my first "real" reply on this sub, so I hope it's been helpful and informative!

----------------
Sources

• Dreadnought: Britain, Germany, and the Coming of the Great War by Robert K. Massie
  
  
• From Imperial Splendor to Internment: The Imperial German Navy in the First World War by Nicolas Wolz
  
  
• Warships and Sea Battles of World War One published by Beekman House
  
  
• Inflation Calculator

For the First World War I strongly recommend Richard Holmes' Tommy: The British Soldier on the Western Front 1914-1918 which is both comprehensive and accessible. Holmes' masterpiece Soldiers: Army lives and loyalties from Redcoats to Dusty Warriors is excellent, but has a much broader scope so may offer less detail.

For a view on how Junior Officers and NCOs interacted you can try John Lewis-Stempell's Six Weeks: The short and gallant life of the British Officer in the First World War. I must caution that I am only half way through it and so far have found it to be rather sentimental and lacking in critique, but it is a good read nonetheless.

On a point of order Colour Sergeant is a rank specific to the infantry and Royal Marines, in the Household Cavalry it is Staff Corporal (or Company Quartermaster Corporal) and in other cap badges the rank is Staff Sergeant: something to bear in mind if you're interested in broader research. Also The Rifles spell it as serjeant.

You're amazing. <3

My name is Nicki. The ebook I would most like is called The Ghost Map. It's a factual book about the cholera epidemic in London in the 1850s and the race to solve the mystery of how the disease was spreading. I love historical books and this one sounds absolutely fascinating to me.

Thank you for your awesomely generous contest!!

Instead of politician, Boris Johnson could make a great university professor

He wrote a superb biography of Winston Churchill and a great political history of The Roman Empire.

I'm sure the students would love him

Hi there, I am not a professional naval historian (my master's was in American history, post civil war) but I have read quite a bit on the topic. Several books come to mind:

• I second the Massie recommendations. Here are Amazon links:
  
  http://www.amazon.com/Dreadnought-Robert-K-Massie/dp/0345375564/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1370960465&sr=1-1&keywords=dreadnought+massie
  
  http://www.amazon.com/Castles-Steel-Britain-Germany-Winning/dp/0345408780/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1370960472&sr=1-6
  
  
• The British historian N.A.M. Rodger has written two naval histories of Britain, which are very accessible. Rodger does a good job of balancing strategy and tactics with the political and bureaucratic matters that make a navy efficient.
  
  The Safeguard of the Sea:
  http://www.amazon.com/Safeguard-Sea-History-Britain-660-1649/dp/0393319601/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1370960428&sr=1-3
  
  The Command of the Ocean:
  http://www.amazon.com/The-Command-Ocean-History-1649%C2%AD-1815/dp/0393060500
  
  
• John Keegan wrote a short book, The Price of Admiralty, focusing on the naval battles of Trafalgar, Jutland, Midway, and the Battle of the Atlantic in WWII.
  
  http://www.amazon.com/dp/0140096507
  
  
• There are any number of books on Midway, but one that I enjoyed is Shattered Sword, by Parshall and Tully. They delved deeply into Japanese archives and reconstructed details of flight operations and naval SOP to illuminate the battle in a way that I had not seen before:
  
  http://www.amazon.com/Shattered-Sword-Untold-Battle-Midway/dp/1574889249
  
  And, of course, if you want fiction, both the Horatio Hornblower and the Aubrey-Maturin series are good reads. A-M is a bit more modern lit; Hornblower is entertaining but starts to read a bit older.
  
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horatio_Hornblower
  
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aubrey–Maturin_series
  
  I hope this helps. When I get home I'll take a look at my shelves and see what else comes to mind.

I’m recommending books meant for general readers here. If you want something more in-depth, I’ll be happy to supply it.

For military matters, a very approachable overview by a historian of medieval military matters is Michael Prestwich’s [Knight: The Medieval Warrior’s (Unofficial) Manual] (http://www.amazon.com/Knight-Medieval-Warriors-Unofficial-Manual/dp/0500251606) (2010).

For urban life, there is a heavily illustrated survey by Chiara Frigoni, [A Day in a Medieval City] (http://www.amazon.com/Day-Medieval-City-Chiara-Frugoni/dp/0226266354) (2005).

For the life of common people, a brief but very informative look is Judith Bennett’s [A Medieval Life: Cecilia Penifader of Brigstock, c. 1295-1344] (http://www.amazon.com/Medieval-Life-Penifader-Brigstock-1295-1344/dp/0072903317) (1998), which explains what life in an English village would be like. Much older (1937), outdated in many respects, but still very readable is H. S. Bennett’s (no relation) [Life on an English Manor] (http://archive.org/details/lifeontheenglish020976mbp) here in a free e-book link but also available second hand.

Alan Turing rocks! It's way past time for the British government to apologize, but better late than never.

If you're at all curious about Turing, I recommend "Alan Turing: The Enigma." (http://www.amazon.ca/Alan-Turing-Enigma-Andrew-Hodges/dp/0099116413/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1252681070&sr=8-1)


It's the best bio I've found of him and seems to provide the basis for some of the other bios out there.

I see a lot of great books already listed. I'll offer a few lesser-known books that haven't been mentioned yet.

Larry Gonick's Cartoon History of the Universe series is brilliant for general readers of almost any age.

I see William Shirer's The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich has been mentioned, but I find his book on France - The Collapse of the Third Republic - equally compelling.

For those who love Barb Tuchmann's Guns of August,
Dreadnought by Robert Massie and The Lions of July by William Jannen are excellent additions in covering the lead up to WWI.

For Roman History, I'd recommend Adrian Goldsworthy's Caesar: Life of a Colossus and Anthony Everitt's Augustus: The Life of Rome's First Emperor

Lone Survivor - by Marcus Luttrell


One of the best action non-fiction stories I have ever read. Considering where our troops are around Afghanistan I found this book to be amazing with its detail, the courage of these men, and the ultimate battle each faces within himself. Truly an inspiring account of events we tend to not usually have privy to within our government.


Another favorite of mine that I recently finished was Among the Thugs by Bill Bufford - it's about soccer hooliganism in Europe during the 1970s and 80s. I am a big soccer fan so I absolutely loved it, but I think it would be a good, entertaining read for anyone that likes first person accounts where the author puts you in the mix of the craziness and you can picture yourself going through the story.

I can work on the + if allowable.

I can't believe nobody has mentioned The Age of Wonder yet. This is one of the best non-fiction science books that I've ever read. Great narrative, great information, very entertaining.

Happy Odyssey Autobiography of Adrian Carton de Wiart. As an Amazon review puts it: "He had only one hand, only one eye, and surprisingly only one Victoria Cross." A great read.


Alan Turing: The Enigma Biography, not autobiography, but a great life.


A Sort of Life Graham Greene's early life. A great writer and a great read.

There's a great book, The Age of Wonder, that goes into a lot of detail about Herschel's life (including other scientists in that generation). Pretty fascinating guy, he also had a brilliant sister (Caroline Herschel) who was a famous comet 'hunter'.

He eventually built a 40 foot telescope which became famous, which his sister helped him operate. If I'm not mistaken, Herschel was also one of the first to hit upon the idea of deep space and the vast distances involved.

The Royal Stuarts by Alan Massie is a fantastically written account of the Stuart dynasty, from their origins in Scotland to their ultimate fall in the early 18th century.

The Plantagenets by Dan Jones an equally enthralling account of the Plantagenet dynasty (the Angevin line), from Henry II to Richard II--which I believe will give you what you're looking for in the medieval period. More books along this line could be Edward III: The Perfect King by Roger Mortimer which gives a much more in-depth and nuanced view of one of England's greatest monarchs (as well as some controversial opinions of Mortimer's regarding Edward II). Another of Mortimer's books Henry IV: The Righteous King gives a good, well-written look at the "usurper" of the Angevin line and the beginning of the reign of the House of Lancaster.

You might then move on to The Wars of the Roses by Alison Weir or The Wars of the Roses by Dan Jones for a good account of the tumultuous civil wars of the 15th century (I've read the former twice and adore it; I have not yet had the opportunity to read Jones' sequel).

I too am still searching for a satisfying biography of Cromwell!

I really liked Antonia Fraser's The Wives of Henry VIII - she seemed to get at the humanness of the historical figures, and quotes plentifully from contemporary letters and other sources. I'd love to hear an opinion on it from a "real historian" as I'm only an interested amateur.

I'll have to put Starkey's biography on my list - thanks for the recommendation!

Your question made me think me think of James Cook and Joseph Banks' experiences as described in Richard Holmes' The Age of Wonder. I went back to it looking for some insight.

Most conflicts between the islanders and the ship's men seemed to revolve around theft. Sex, on the other hand, seemed to be an amicable form of trade:

> Much time was spent in bargaining for sexual favors. The basic currency was any kind of usable metal object: there was no need for gold or silver or trinkets. Among the able seamen the initial going rate was one ship's nail for one ordinary fuck, but hyper-inflation soon set in. The Tahitians well understood a market economy. There was a run on anything metal that could be smuggled off the ship - cutlery, cleats, handles, cooking utensils, spare tools, but especially nails. It was said that the Endeavour's carpenter soon operated an illegal monopoly on metal goods, and nails were leaving the ship by the sackful.

Their queen, Oborea, allowed Banks to sleep with her personal servant, Otheothea, and later offered herself as a companion (though Banks wasn't interested). He also describes a Tahitian man bartering with him for the use of a woman. So it seems like the trading of sexual favors was acceptable within the Tahitian community. But I doubt the Tahitians were happy with their women acquiring "the British disease" - the STD - that became rampant during the ship's stay.

Edit: In response to u/359RP's question, another excerpt from Holmes' book:

> The only Tahitian practice that Banks found totally alien and repulsive was that of infanticide, which was used regularly and without compunction as a form of birth control by couples who were not ready yet to support children. Banks could scarcely believe this, until he questioned several couples who freely admitted to destroying two or three children, showing not the slightest apparent guilt or regret. This was a different kind of innocence, one far harder to accept. Banks pursued the question, and found that the custom originated in the formation of communal groups in which the trading of sexual favors were freely exchanged between different partners.

Source: The Age of Wonder: The Romantic Generation and the Discovery of the Beauty and Terror of Science by Richard Holmes (2010, Kindle edition)

There is a fairly good biography about Thompson by Tom Hickman that goes into depth about not only to incredible acts of bravery, but the relationship between Churchill and Thompson. It's a quick, easy, fun read, but you don't have to take my word for it...

There was basically socialism of many sorts during this time period, although it was always based on religion. For instance the pilgrims that settled America were openly and extremely socialist until the typical socialist famines came along and then they switched to capitalism.

But there were many socialist movements economically that led with religion. All that Marx did was basically promulgate a socialism that didn't require the Christian god ( although Marx still did require a Planet Sized Ghost with Godlike powers to make socialism possible).

If you want a fascinating window into the liberal and socialist factions in England during the English Civil War, check out The Tyrannicide Brief which takes place in the 1640s. Fascinating, already centuries-old movements that ultimately led to things like the US constitution and a lot of socialist communes. It covers the actions of guys like John Lilburne aka 'Freeborn John'

I don't know which category this would go under- it best fits "Broad overviews" but it's so in-depth I would hesitate to place it there. Maybe a new category of something like "Great Britain" or "English Perspective"?

Tommy: The British Soldier on the Western Front (link) by Richard Holmes (2005)

Incredibly in-depth overview of England during the War that thoroughly explains the experience of the average Tommy and how the English army operated. Uses extensive primary sources (letters, diaries, etc.) and is a good place to go if you're interested in England during the War, although it's pretty long for a casual read (~750 pages).

Not sure what you're interested in but I read Among the Thugs by Buford in a sociology class and it's a great and interesting exploration of mob mentality/crowd psych through the lens of the life and activities of soccer/football hooligans.

http://www.amazon.com/Among-Thugs-Bill-Buford/dp/0679745351

I highly recommend The Tyrannicide Brief. It's the story of the trial of the men responsible for the execution of Charles I at the end of the English Civil War. When his son, Charles II, retook the throne, he put these men on trial.

It gives a great history of the legal system at the time, and the promising reforms that were put in place under the Commonwealth, only to be ruled back after the return of the monarchy.

My favorite part had to be the story of the judge who stepped down from bench, walked to the witness stand, gave evidence, then got back on to the bench to continue trying the case.

Feminism as it currently exists today was not present in the medieval period. What we can talk about is female agency. In other words how women acted within the constraints of a patriarchal society either as individuals or as a group. Acts of subversion can be seen in a number of ways. I have mentioned a few times on here about how women could not participate fully in the church- they were forbidden to touch the alter. However, many women donated their clothes, or made personalised alter clothes for the church or priests. This meant that clothes that has touched them, that they had owned or made and perhaps worn on their body eventually came to wrap the alter - one of the most sacred parts of the church. Or touched the body of the clergyman they donated it too. While we cannot say that this was a feminist act it was certainly a way of cleverly avoiding the ban on touching (even if by proxy!).

Another, perhaps more obvious way, was that many women who were married once and became widows chose to stay that way. They elected not to remarry. Widows had a special place in society - they almost operated as men, especially in relation to property and wealth.

There are of course unmarried or single women who equally chose to live that way (a wonderful book on Cecila Penifader by Judith Bennettt https://www.amazon.com/Medieval-Life-Penifader-Brigstock-1295-1344/dp/0072903317 shows one such (well off) peasant woman. This is a super book! I return to it again and again. Also, work by Dr Cordelia Beattie discusses single women Beattie, C. (2007) Medieval Single Women: The Politics of Social Classification in Late Medieval England. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Dr Beattie has a range of really informative publications on medieval women!

Books such as World War One: History in an Hour is a good starting point, but if you're interested in a more detailed account of the First World War and you enjoy a challenge, 1914-1918: The History of the First World War by David Stephenson is really good. Another really interesting book that I've just recently read is 'Tommy - The British Soldier on the Western Front' by Richard Holmes, which is obviously a very detailed account on the British side of the First World War. I have been doing my own research on the British soldier on the Western Front for as long as I can remember, so I would be glad to give you any advice.

One of my surprise favorites was The Wives of Henry VIII (sometimes titled "The Six Wives of Henry VIII). It offers an interesting perspective of what went on with his many marriages and I've listened to it many times.

Otherwise I'm often into sci/fi fantasy. So when it comes to that I like the audio books of the original Dune series (i.e. nothing involving his son), Dan Simmons Hyperion. And if you want to twist your mind about a bit I can recommend "Anathem" by Neil Stephenson (both in print and in audio format) but it's not really sleepy time listening, at least not the first time, because it really pulls you in. And you might want to add "Snowcrash" from Stephenson as well though they are not set in anything reminding the same surroundings but his type of storytelling is structured in the same way.

Glad to have you all the same.

Incidentally, a book I've recommended to people here before is Richard Holmes' Tommy: The British Soldier on the Western Front (2004). It's affordable, vastly comprehensive, very well-written, and frankly huge (688 pages!). Holmes was one of the best military historians we had when it came to writing about complicated matters for a popular audience, and it was a pity to see him die so unexpectedly in 2011. If you find yourself interested in this subject and have some time to kill in your reading rotation, it might be worth giving Tommy a try.

I recently finished The Royals by Kitty Kelley after watching Netflix's "The Crown." It's a biography of the House of Windsor from its start (Queen Elizabeth's father IIRC) until the mid-90s, when the book was published.

According to an Amazon comment, it was banned in the UK as it doesn't paint the Royal Family or the aristocracy in general in a positive light. I found it incredibly entertaining and objective -- it wasn't a hit piece, nor was it written by a fawning fan, and the author clearly did her research.

The Age of Wonder by Richard Holmes. It gives a pretty good background for the scientific tradition that we participate in today through the lives and works of noteworthy scientists.

If you dig science fiction, this guy is really amusing. The cyberiad or The Futurological Congress by Stanislaw Lem.

Robert Massie is my favorite historian, and he has 3 amazing books on the period. Dreadnought, about the Anglo-German naval rivalry that led to WWI, Nicholas and Alexander, a biography of the last Czar and the fall of the Russian Empire, and the beautifully titled Castles of Steel, about the naval battles of WWI.

The excellent prequel by Massie is Dreadnought: Britain, Germany, and the Coming of the Great War

This is a great book for the mid to later medevil period that came out recently, that I enjoyed. It ties together a lot of history that you know with what you don't.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Plantagenets-Warrior-Queens-England/dp/0143124927

At the risk of having everyone here roll their eyes at me, Among the Thugs by Bill Buford is still one of my favorites. I know a lot of people don't really consider it a soccer book, but it was my first real exposure to the sport beyond YMCA herd soccer, so it holds a bit of a place in my heart.

It's been a while since I picked it up, but The Age of Wonder by Richard Holmes has a lot of information on both Mary Shelley and the scientific scene during the late 18th/early 19th century.

At that point in science people were making some astonishing breakthroughs: planets were being discovered, Humphrey Davies was experimenting with the power of chemicals, the first hot-air balloons were being created, etc. Basically, it was a point in English history when both Romanticism and Science were making breakthroughs and the current mood of England was one of unbridled wonder at the possibilities of science.

i've plugged it here before but i definitely recommend bill buford's "among the thugs" if youre looking for something on the sociology and culture around football fans. it is a sensational read.

https://www.amazon.com/Among-Thugs-Bill-Buford/dp/0679745351

The man on the left is Churchill's bodyguard, Walther H Thompson. After he'd retired, he wrote a memoir:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Churchills-Bodyguard-Authorised-Biography-Thompson/dp/0755314492
It's on my to-read list so I don't yet know if it's good, but if other peoples' reviews are anything to go by then it's going to be a fascinating read.

I'd reccommend reading A Medieval Life, which uses both outside research and a very fortunate abundance of local court records to piece together the life of a single villain from England. http://www.amazon.com/Medieval-Life-Penifader-Brigstock-1295-1344/dp/0072903317

The book makes it very clear several times that she isn't representative of all peasants simply because they were so diverse across Europe, but one thing I recall it pointing out is that there were indeed a substantial number of 'holidays', all based around the church calendar. Several large feasts around christmas and easter, as well as a long succession in the summer, along with a multitude of single day feasts throughout the year, plus you would have the sabbath.

It makes it clear that while she had hardships, it wasn't as bad as commonly imagined for many, if not most, in the lower class. If you made it past childhood you would likely live a fairly decent life (average lifespans are heavily skewed by the huge infant mortality rate), and the work itself wasn't for many as bad as commonly portrayed in modern fiction.

Here are a couple great Non-Arsenal specific books. All come highly recommended:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Miracle-Castel-Sangro-Passion/dp/0767905997

http://www.amazon.com/Among-Thugs-Bill-Buford/dp/0679745351/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1422638459&sr=1-1&keywords=among+the+thugs&pebp=1422638445664&peasin=679745351

http://www.amazon.com/How-Soccer-Explains-World-Globalization/dp/0061978051/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1422638489&sr=1-1&keywords=how+soccer+explains+the+world&pebp=1422638475663&peasin=61978051

Interesting stuff. There's a book I own about a very similar experience, where a guy spent 5 years living in the middle of nowhere in the Welsh hills. Definitely worth picking up if you can get it in the US: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Deep-Country-Years-Welsh-Hills/dp/0141049324

EDIT: US link: https://www.amazon.com/Deep-Country-Years-Welsh-Hills/dp/0141049324

https://www.amazon.com/Plantagenets-Warrior-Kings-Queens-England/dp/0143124927

Pretty good book about the Plantagenets who ruled England (and at times parts of Ireland, Scotland and Wales) during the time period you're talking about.

Alison Weir is a good mix of informative and readable; this book in particular would be a good start.

Yes, there's a big distinction. Here's a link that scratches the surface of dreadnought background & development to get you started.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Dreadnought_(1906)

If you get really curious, here's two books that round out the subject of how dreadnoughts fit into naval history...

http://www.amazon.com/Dreadnought-Robert-K-Massie/dp/0345375564/ref=la_B000AQ6XVE_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1406314026&sr=1-6

http://www.amazon.com/Castles-Steel-Britain-Germany-Winning/dp/0345408780

Sex with the Queen or
Sex with the King by Eleanor Herman

may not be as heavyweight as some of the others you mention, but I've been enjoying it with my coffee and toast for the last week or so.

http://www.amazon.ca/Sex-Queen-Eleanor-Herman/dp/0060846747

If you dig non-fiction and science and biographies I recommend my favorite book: The Age of Wonder

https://www.amazon.com/Age-Wonder-Romantic-Generation-Discovery/dp/1400031877

You may wish to check out this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Dreadnought-Robert-K-Massie/dp/0345375564

I highly recommend it.

If you want a book specifically about Turing the man, rather than just his mathematical work Alan Turing: the enigma by Andrew Hodges is great.

Edit: See reviews here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Alan-Turing-Enigma-Andrew-Hodges/dp/0099116413

I recommend reading The Plantegents it’s an easy to read book that isn’t that dry most of the time.

How about Alison Weir's War of the Roses. She does a great job of making a hugely complicated bit of history (the bit of history that much of A Song of Ice and Fire is modeled after) at least somewhat easy to follow.

This may seem dry, but after ASOIAF, I found myself digging into the Wars of the Roses and the conflict between the Lancasters and the Yorks. There's a TON of great books out there detailing the history between the two houses and how it shaped England. (I'd recommend this one to start with.) It fit right into my mindset following those books, and it added some historical perspective to Martin's fictional world.

The Game of Thrones books (finally!) and an autobiography of Alan Turing called The Enigma, which is taking forever to get through, but is very interesting nonetheless.

Wow. They completely missed Deep Country, which is astonishing considering that I bought it on The Guardian's recommendation only a few years ago.

Here's a link - I highly recommend it: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Deep-Country-Years-Welsh-Hills/dp/0141049324

I would recommend the book Among the Thugs by Bill Buford. It's an incredible look into the ultras culture in Europe, including the UK Firms of the 70's and 80's. One of my favorite reads of all time, and it definitely touches on the sociological aspect of hooliganism.

Among the Thugs

Great book

I really enjoyed Richard Holmes' The Age of Wonder and also Chaos and The Information by James Gleick.

Another recommendation for The Ghost Map. Excellent book that reads like a detective story.

Never read it but have heard good things about it... Sex with the Queen and Sex with the King. Should be right up your alley.

So to speak.

For Turing himself I can recommend Alan Turing: The Engima and for a wider look at the stuff he was a part of during the war The Secret Life of Bletchley Park is pretty good.

The actual book that the movie was based on is actually pretty good. There is also Enigma: Battle for the Code that goes into much more detail about all the players involved in breaking the Enigma, not just Turing.

If you enjoyed Green Street then you really should give this book a read if you haven't already.

Hey /u/Revinn, why don't you look up "Among the Thugs" by Bill Buford? I started reading it and I set it down but it seems like a fitting book to contribute to your paper.

http://www.amazon.com/Among-Thugs-Bill-Buford/dp/0679745351

I really liked the idea of a sense of place being important. Somewhere you belong. Somewhere you can be happy.

I have read quite a bit of nature writing recently and there is a trend of the writer concentrating their efforts on a very small area of land rather than writing something with a title like Trees and Woodland in the British Landscape. (still a brilliant book)

In these new books the writers spend considerable time, years even getting to know their local environment intimately and writing about their experiences. There is a real sense that they belong in that area and are happy there.

Of course this is not a new thing. Thoreau probably started it off with Walden. Some modern books I can really recommend are Claxton: Field Notes from a Small Planet by Mark Crocker, Common Ground by Rob Cowen, Deep country, five years in the welsh hills by Neil Ansell (a modern day Walden IMHO) and particularly and especially Nature Cure by Richard Mabey who covers his own breakdown, mental health and depression and how walking and the local countryside helped him explicitly in his book. All of these are British writers but I am sure there are similar writers elsewhere. One Man's Wilderness by Dick Proenneke springs to mind. You can see his films on youtube.

My family have lived in the same village in very rural Somerset for hundreds if not thousands of years if some of the explanations of my odd Latin surname is correct. I have not lived there myself for about 12 years now (moving 7 miles away when I got married was a big step) but I still know every last detail about my home. Drop me within five miles and I can find my way around, not just on the roads but on footpaths and across fields and through hedges. My father can tell me a farmer cut down a certain prominent tree and I know exactly which one he means. I do miss my home.

I now live in an area that has been immortalised in a nature study to that level of detail. I live not far from the real location of Watership Down Richard Adams spent his days walking the countryside around his home and if you know what you are looking for in the pages of the book and the countryside you can pinpoint individual trees that the rabbits pass that still stand in the fields today. Some of the events in the book took place about half a mile from our house.

That gives me an idea. Perhaps I will use the book as a guide to my new home as I continue to explore the area.

Where did all that writing come from? ;)

In addition to the other books mentioned here, Among the Thugs and Winning at All Costs are both really good.

Oh, and if you like reading you should check out Boris Johnson's book on Churchill. Supposed to be very good! I have not read it though, but I keep seeing on the local booksellers shelves.

https://www.amazon.com/Churchill-Factor-How-Made-History/dp/1594633983/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1519170983&sr=8-1&keywords=boris+johnson

My favorite: Alison Weir

> http://www.amazon.com/Dreadnought-Robert-K-Massie/dp/0345375564/ref=la_B000AQ6XVE_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1406314026&sr=1-6[2]
>
> http://www.amazon.com/Castles-Steel-Britain-Germany-Winning/dp/0345408780[3]

Cannot recommend these books highly enough! Everyone on this sub should read them :)

This is a nice, short, and informative book that is not "academic" in tone (but is academic in rigor). I assign it to my freshman/sophomore level courses.

https://www.amazon.com/Medieval-Life-Penifader-Brigstock-1295-1344/dp/0072903317

The Age of Wonder tells historical stories about scientists working in the late 1700's - interesting mix of various sciences, philosophy, and history.

You may be interested in Among the Thugs.

I highly recommend Dreadnaught by Robert K Massie. It is a fascinatingly in depth, if a bit dense, history of the events leading to World War I starting from the foundation of Germany. To be honest, I started it 5 years ago and still have not finished it (it is huge!), but I do not think there is another book on the subject that comes close to the level of detail it contains. Read it if only to understand the complex personal relationships of the Royal families of that era that had such a great impact on the coming war.

Dreadnought by Robert K. Massie. It starts well before the war (1900-ish) and is a bit of a dry read. I found it fascinating, however.

Fiction: American Gods by Neil Gaiman

Non-Fiction: Among the Thugs by Bill Buford (here it is, I want you to read it)

Here are some links for the product in the above comment for different countries:

Link: The Age of Wonder

• UK: amazon.co.uk
  
• Spain: amazon.es
  
• France: amazon.fr
  
• Germany: amazon.de
  
• Japan: amazon.co.jp
  
• Canada: amazon.ca
  
• Italy: amazon.it
  
• China: amazon.cn
  
  
  This bot is currently in testing so let me know what you think by voting (or commenting).

Dreadnought. It's a history of the naval build-up prior to WWI. And it's sequel Castles of Steel about the naval history of WWI coincidentally.

https://smile.amazon.com/Wars-Roses-Alison-Weir/dp/0345404335

https://smile.amazon.com/Princes-Tower-Alison-Weir/dp/0345391780

https://smile.amazon.com/Reluctant-Queen-Story-Queens-England-ebook/dp/B000VSW7TI

https://smile.amazon.com/Time-Travelers-Guide-Medieval-England/dp/1439112908

http://www.amazon.com/Among-Thugs-Bill-Buford/dp/0679745351

When the glass starts breaking, the ruck is on.

Apparently Aleister Crowley offered his services to the British Secret Service and was declined. And there's this book, whose veracity and quality I can't vouch for since I haven't read it, that supposedly tells a different story.

Among the Thugs by Bill Buford.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0679745351/ref=redir_mdp_mobile/191-6902564-3828909

I think that's fine as far as it goes. But I'm not sure that /u/jeffp12 really knows that that's why the folks in Ferguson are rioting. Riots happen all the time--after sporting events, for example. And while you COULD try to come up with an intellectual justification for them, it also seems to me equally possible that they're simply engaging in mob behavior. This book, for example, is a solid account of someone who went undercover as a soccer hooligan to see WHY they would behave the way they behaved. And while there is an economic component to it, the simple fact of the matter is that it was more mob mentality than anything else.

I certainly don't agree with the folks that /u/jeffp12 argues against either. But by saying "no, it's not X, it's Y", you're losing the fact that what we have going on here is a mob trying to overturn a fair process. And that's not an acceptable thing to be happening.

Among the Thugs, about someone (an American) who spent years with the football hooligans, while he worked in London as a journalist (he didn't do journalist on the hooligans, saved it all for the book).

Dreadnought by Robert K. Massie

http://www.amazon.com/Dreadnought-Robert-K-Massie/dp/0345375564

The hopelessness and the inevitability leading up to it fascinate me. I find WWI (more so than any other) to be a pointless, depressing affair; it is like watching a train wreck in slow motion, with a 2 mile lead up. If you are interested in the causes, Robert Massie's book Dreadnought is a phenomenal read, and its followup Castles of Steel regarding the navel battle is equally interesting.

OP goes first. Among the Thugs by Bill Buford about English football hooligans.

http://www.amazon.com/Among-Thugs-Bill-Buford/dp/0679745351
related soccer hooligans

https://www.amazon.com/Plantagenets-Warrior-Kings-Queens-England/dp/0143124927

https://www.amazon.com/Wars-Roses-Fall-Plantagenets-Tudors/dp/0143127888?ie=UTF8&ref_=asap_bc

Knights, kings, clashing houses, evil queens, battles, betrayals, bastards, marriage pacts, etc...

These may be non-fiction, but they positively reek of ASOIAF and are a good read besides.

It's very entertaining IMO, but I don't recommend it for being historically accurate, no. For that, check out this book.

Read Among the Thugs. Terrifying stuff.

This is absolutely right. I mentioned this briefly in my comment pitching Castles of Steel and Dreadnought. These are the two Massie books on the subject.

Dreadnought is the story of the naval arms race leading up to world war 1. It covers the development of the HMS dreadnought, and how this revolutionary ship immediately rendered the navies of the world obsolete. This effectively meant that Germany didn't need to build 500 ships to catch up to the British, they just needed to have comparable numbers of Dreadnought-calibre ships. This started a race on all sides, and caused Britain to end splendid isolation and build alliances to ensure naval supremacy, etc. Really great book on the naval aspect leading up to world war 1.

[Castles of steel] (http://www.amazon.com/Castles-Steel-Britain-Germany-Winning/dp/0345408780/ref=la_B000AQ6XVE_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1420834394&sr=1-6) is the story of how the navies conducted themselves during world war 1. It is a very different book from dreadnought, but there's so much more to ww1 naval action than u-boats and Jutland.

Both are great books. Castles of steel more closely answers the question about actual naval combat in world war 1. But if you're going to read just one, go with Dreadnought.

In 1460 at the battle of Northampton during England's War of the Roses, Edward the Earl of March, went to battle against forces led by King Henry VI. At the end of the battle Edward's forces captured King Henry VI, and in early 1461 Edward was declared Edward IV the King of England. Also interesting to note that after Henry was captured his wife, Queen Margaret of Anjou, attempted to rally and led his forces against Edward before being forced to flee to France with her son.

Eventually Henry VI was restored to the throne and Edward was forced to flee to Burgundy. In 1471 Edward again led forces against Henry VI, capturing him in London and then engaging in battle at Tewkesbury. In this battle Henry's heir, another Edward, was killed in battle along with Warwick the Kingmaker. At Edward's side were his two brothers, one of whom became King Richard III - who was killed at the Battle of Bosworth Field by the bodyguards of the future Henry VII.

Alison Weir's War of the Roses is a great text if you are interested in the other battles fought during the time, most of which were led by upper nobility. For more on Henry VII, William Penn's Winter King has great information about his early years as King (including Bosworth Field) but the test is rather lacking when it comes to the events leading up to Bosworth Field.

This is a tough question to answer with any degree of specificity because there was a plurality of experiences for peasants across Europe and the Mediterranean during the Middle Ages. However, in general, the economic life of medieval peasants was perilous. Subsistence agriculture provides little job security. A bad harvest could spell devastation for you, your family, and your community. I suggest taking a look at the online English translation of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for evidence of famine/drought/general devastation in the British Isles. Here are a few examples from just the eleventh century - a time when the Commercial Revolution (which brought substantial increases in agricultural production and peasant populations) was beginning to take hold:

A.D. 1005… This year died Archbishop Elfric; and Bishop Elfeah succeeded him in the archbishopric. This year was the great famine in England so severe that no man ere remembered such.

A.D. 1070… There was a great famine this year.

A.D. 1082. This year the king seized Bishop Odo; and this year also was a great famine.

A.D. 1087. After the birth of our Lord and Saviour Christ, one thousand and eighty-seven winters; in the one and twentieth year after William began to govern and direct England, as God granted him, was a very heavy and pestilent season in this land. Such a sickness came on men, that full nigh every other man was in the worst disorder, that is, in the diarrhoea; and that so dreadfully, that many men died in the disorder. Afterwards came, through the badness of the weather as we before mentioned, so great a famine over all England, that many hundreds of men died a miserable death through hunger. Alas! how wretched and how rueful a time was there! When the poor wretches lay full nigh driven to death prematurely, and afterwards came sharp hunger, and dispatched them withall! Who will not be penetrated with grief at such a season? or who is so hardhearted as not to weep at such misfortune? Yet such things happen for folks' sins, that they will not love God and righteousness.

We do not have census data or detailed tax records to corroborate the extent of these famines, but we nonetheless have to assume that they were disruptive to peasants living off the English land. Entries like these from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle are echoed across other Latin chronicles and in Arabic ones as well. I am most familiar with The Complete History of Ibn al-Athir, which mentions numerous famines across the Islamicate World. Take, for example, his account of a long-lasting famine in Ifriqiya (roughly modern Tunisia) in the 1140s:

It had a terrible effect on the population, who even resorted to cannibalism. Because of starvation the nomads sought out the towns and the townspeople closed the gates against them. Plague and great mortality followed. The country was emptied and from whole families not a single person survived. Many people travelled to Sicily in search of food and met with great hardship.

Since medieval sources tend to be written from the perspective of literate men based in cities or monasteries, the perspective of peasants is often only briefly mentioned. It is likewise difficult to make any concrete estimations about lifespan, infant mortality rate, and nutrition for most medieval peasant communities due to lack of sources (although the picture begins to come into focus during the Early Modern Period). When we read about a “great famine” in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle or The Complete History of Ibn al-Athir, we therefore have to imagine that a bad harvest - caused potentially by drought, an early frost, heavy rains, or conflict - brought with it immense human suffering and the displacement of communities from their ancestral homes.

This is not to say that peasant life was only defined by suffering at the hands of subsistence agriculture and overly aggressive landed elites. We know that there were robust and complex communities in rural medieval villages, many of which survived the ordeals brought by mother nature. I recommend Judith Bennett’s biography of Cecilia Penifader as a microhistory of peasant life in the English town of Brigstock during the late-thirteenth through mid-fourteenth centuries.

For those interested in environmental data related to medieval Europe and the Mediterranean, I highly recommend the Old World Drought Atlas, which uses dendrochronological (tree-ring) data to chart annual rainfall across the region. This link shows annual rainfall in Europe in 1315, the first year of The Great Famine in Europe. As the link shows, there was abnormally heavy rainfall across Western Europe. This corroborates written sources, which detail how heavy rains destroyed harvests and had profoundly negative consequences for peasants.