Reddit mentions: The best historical study reference books

I recommend cooking! I was always kinda 'meh' in regards to it, but a few months ago my mother needed some help with making dinner and I was there, so I helped her. Since then I started picking up little things and parts of recipes before she decided to actually teach me. It's a pretty cool thing to do, and once you get the hang of it and begin making food for relatives/friends, you get to see their pleased faces. Always makes my day! There are people that say it's girly, but like /u/the_earl_of_grey said, it's a great life skill. Besides, you can make your favorite dishes instead of having to eat that horrible grub in your fridge.

If you're not interested in that, I also recommend reading a book or two. Maybe you can find some videogame-related books, like Ready Player One (I recommend it btw). If you're interested in history, I recommend A History of Knowledge by Charles Van Doren. Starts around 3000 BC, covers the revolutions, it's a great way to study History (especially in my grade) and teaches you interesting facts that your history teacher may have overlooked.

Other things you can do are:

• Learn a language in Duolingo (or at least start learning? :P);
  
• Read random articles in Cracked;
  
• Create pretty images in Silk.
  
  I was going to end this comment with 'We're in the internet, there's so much to do' but then I remembered I also get bored sometimes. Oh well.

I think you make a good point. I think writers like Chris Hodapp and S. Brent Morris have really opened up to the public what Freemasonry is, through their books Freemasons for Dummies and the Complete Idiot's Guide to Freemasonry respectively.

There is a strong push to explain what Masonry is to the public but Freemasons find it difficult to explain our society. Freemasonry, as a topic, can be somewhat metaphysical. Even I find it hard to pin down what it is. I know I enjoy the meetings, I enjoy being a Freemason but at some abstract level, I can't be for sure why. So, for the most part, Freemasonry throws on autopilot and mentions the Shrine Hospitals, the scholarships we give to graduating seniors, our Masonic Homes, and other charities.

At the end of the day, most Freemasons I know feel that their membership is beneficial because of the focus on teaching, and learning, and being a better man through symbolism and mutual aid from your other brothers. Even this is not satisfactory as an answer to your question on openness but I think, by closing out the world without for just a couple hours and sitting in a room of men from different socioeconomic backgrounds, that have different political affiliations, and who define God in a different way, we find that our differences, although real, shouldn't keep us at a perpetual distance from others in our communities, especially when there are many things on which we can agree to work.

I hope that helps.

The Following list is taken from the Witches & Warlocks FB page. (This is Christian Day's group)

Witches and Warlocks Recommended Reading List
This is a collection of books recommended by our admins and participants in the group. Books must be approved by the admins so if you'd like to see one added to the last, please post it in the comments at the bottom of this list and, if it's something we think is appropriate, we'll add it! We provide links to Amazon so folks can read more about the book but we encourage you to shop at your local occult shop whenever possible! :)


BEGINNER'S WITCHCRAFT BOOKS

Buckland's Complete Book of Witchcraft
by Raymond Buckland
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0875420508

Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshippers, and Other Pagans in America
by Margot Adler
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0143038192

Grimoire of the Thorn-Blooded Witch: Mastering the Five Arts of Old World Witchery
by Raven Grimassi
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1578635500

The Inner Temple of Witchcraft: Magick, Meditation and Psychic Development
by Christopher Penczak
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0738702765

The Kybalion: The Definitive Edition
by William Walker Atkinson (Three Initiates)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1585428744

Lid Off the Cauldron: A Wicca Handbook
by Patricia Crowther
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1861630328

Mastering Witchcraft
by Paul Huson
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0595420060

Natural Magic
by Doreen Valiente
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0919345808

Natural Witchery: Intuitive, Personal & Practical Magick
by Ellen Dugan
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0738709220

Old World Witchcraft: Ancient Ways for Modern Days
by Raven Grimassi
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1578635055

The Outer Temple of Witchcraft: Circles, Spells and Rituals
by Christopher Penczak
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0738705314

Power of the Witch: The Earth, the Moon, and the Magical Path to Enlightenment
by Laurie Cabot
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0385301898

Solitary Witch: The Ultimate Book of Shadows for the New Generation
by Silver RavenWolf
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0738703192

Spirit of the Witch: Religion & Spirituality in Contemporary Witchcraft
by Raven Grimassi
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0738703389

Witch: A Magickal Journey
by Fiona Horne
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0007121326

Witchcraft for Tomorrow
by Doreen Valiente
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0709052448

Witchcraft Today
by Gerald Gardner
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0806525932
The Witches' Craft: The Roots of Witchcraft & Magical Transformation
by Raven Grimassi
http://www.amazon.com/dp/073870265X
The Witching Way of the Hollow Hill
by Robin Artisson
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982031882

WITCHCRAFT HISTORY AND RESOURCE BOOKS

Aradia or The Gospel of the Witches
by Charles Godfrey Leland
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982432356

Encyclopedia of Mystics, Saints & Sages: A Guide to Asking for Protection, Wealth, Happiness, and Everything Else!
by Judika Illes
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0062009575

The Encyclopedia of Witches, Witchcraft and Wicca
by Rosemary Ellen Guiley
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0816071047

Etruscan Roman Remains
by Charles Godfrey Leland
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1494302519

The God of the Witches
by Margaret Murray
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0195012704

The Weiser Field Guide to Witches, The: From Hexes to Hermione Granger, From Salem to the Land of Oz
by Judika Illes
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1578634792

ADVANCED BOOKS ON WITCHCRAFT AND MAGIC

Blood Sorcery Bible Volume 1: Rituals in Necromancy
by Sorceress Cagliastro
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1935150812

The Deep Heart of Witchcraft: Expanding the Core of Magickal Practice
by David Salisbury
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1780999208

Teen Spirit Wicca
by David Salisbury
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1782790594

Enchantment: The Witch's Art of Manipulation by Gesture, Gaze and Glamour
by Peter Paddon
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1936922517

Initiation into Hermetics
by Franz Bardon
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1885928122

Letters from the Devil's Forest: An Anthology of Writings on Traditional Witchcraft, Spiritual Ecology and Provenance Traditionalism
by Robin Artisson
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1500796360

Magical Use of Thought Forms: A Proven System of Mental & Spiritual Empowerment
by Dolores Ashcroft-Nowick and J.H. Brennan
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1567180841

Magick in Theory and Practice
by Aleister Crowley
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1500380679

The Plant Spirit Familiar
by Christopher Penczak
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982774311

Protection and Reversal Magick
by Jason Miller
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1564148793
Psychic Self-Defense
by Dion Fortune
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1578635098
The Ritual Magic Workbook: A Practical Course of Self-Initiation
by Dolores Ashcroft-Norwicki
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1578630452
The Roebuck in the Thicket: An Anthology of the Robert Cochrane Witchcraft Tradition
by Evan John Jones, Robert Cochrane and Michael Howard
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1861631553

The Satanic Witch
by Anton Szandor LaVey
http://www.amazon.com/Satanic-Witch-Anton-Szandor-LaVey/dp/0922915849
Shadow Magick Compendium: Exploring Darker Aspects of Magickal Spirituality
by Raven Digitalis
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003VS0N5K
The Tree of Enchantment: Ancient Wisdom and Magic Practices of the Faery Tradition
by Orion Foxwood
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1578634075
The Underworld Initiation: A journey towards psychic transformation
by R.J. Stewart
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1892137038

HERBALISM, CANDLES, INCENSE, OILS, FORMULARIES, AND STONES

A Compendium of Herbal Magic
by Paul Beyerl
http://www.amazon.com/dp/091934545X

Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs
by Scott Cunningham
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0875421229

The Enchanted Candle: Crafting and Casting Magickal Light
by Lady Rhea
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0806525789

The Enchanted Formulary: Blending Magickal Oils for Love, Prosperity, and Healing
by Lady Maeve Rhea
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0806527048

Incense: Crafting and Use of Magickal Scents
by Carl F. Neal
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0738703362

Magickal Formulary Spellbook Book 1
by Herman Slater
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0939708000

Magickal Formulary Spellbook: Book II
by Herman Slater
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0939708108


SPELLCASTING AND SPELLBOOKS
Crone's Book of Charms & Spells
by Valerie Worth
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1567188117

Crone's Book of Magical Words
by Valerie Worth
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1567188257

Encyclopedia of 5,000 Spells
by Judika Illes
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0061711233

Everyday Magic: Spells & Rituals for Modern Living
by Dorothy Morrison
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1567184693

Pure Magic: A Complete Course in Spellcasting
by Judika Illes
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1578633915
Utterly Wicked: Curses, Hexes & Other Unsavory Notions
by Dorothy Morrison
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0979453313
The Voodoo Hoodoo Spellbook
by Denise Alvarado
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1578635136

The Voodoo Doll Spellbook: A Compendium of Ancient and Contemporary Spells and Rituals
by Denise Alvarado
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1578635543


THE ANCESTORS AND WORKING WITH THE DEAD
The Cauldron of Memory: Retrieving Ancestral Knowledge & Wisdom
by Raven Grimassi
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0738715751

The Mighty Dead
by Christopher Penczak
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982774370

Speak with the Dead: Seven Methods for Spirit Communication
by Konstantinos
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0738705225
The Witches' Book of the Dead
by Christian Day
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1578635063
_____
TAROT

78 Degrees of Wisdom
by Rachel Pollack
http://www.amazon.com/dp/157863408

JM Roberts, Penguin History of the World is probably what your looking for.
https://www.amazon.com/Penguin-History-World-Sixth/dp/1846144434?ie=UTF8&*Version*=1&*entries*=0

It's Eurocentric and doesn't go into detail on events (almost impossible for a single volume history of the world). Rather, it focuses on major themes throughout history (Colonization, Christianity, Empire, etc...).

It's about as much as one could digest in a single volume (~1100 pages or so). There are much more comprehensive works, but they're multi-volume affairs, not designed for noobs.

Beyond that, if you can narrow it down to a region or time, you'll have a more choices.
I'd recommend
The Great Sea by Abulafia (Mediterranean)
The Fifth Part of the World by Lester (Exploration)
And Peter Wilson has a new history of the Holy Roman Empire out that I haven't read but looks real good. It's called The Heart of Europe. A study of the HRE will give you a good overview of European history from the post Roman Empire dark ages to Age of Napoleon.
Sorry I don't have suggestions for non-European history, I'm sure someone else does. I can tentatively recommend Born in Blood and Fire for Latin\S. American history. I haven't read it but it's highly regarded and seems to be pretty accessible. For Middle East, you might want to try Esposito's History of Islam. No recommendations for Far East.

David Wallechinsky creates these terrific books - non-fiction collections of random stuff -- Here's one: http://www.amazon.com/Peoples-Almanac-Presents-Twentieth-Century/dp/0879519444/ref=la_B001IXO37E_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1347744752&sr=1-3 - That's the best of the lot, but I have most of them, like his Book Of Lists... Great stuff, easy to digest, absolutely guaranteed to make you smarter and increase your desire to learn more about any given topic.

You knew what it meant. ;) Descriptive grammar is a bitch, ain't it?

For one, I can make sure that your reputation among this subreddit's user base is trash. But you're already doing a fine job of that. For another, I can ride every comment you make in this thread until you get positively sick of dealing with me. Neither of us seems to want that.

Let me tell you why you're a fucking moron in the terms that the academics use though, since you want so badly to be schooled. What you posit is that orthodoxy is problematic, and then you make a huge leap of logic by applying orthodoxy to all religion. However, all religion is not orthodoxic, only the dominant religions of western culture. So right off the bat, half the globe doesn't prescribe to your naive take on religion.

Let me familiarize you with orthopraxy, since your Dunning Kruger is showing. The difference between orthodoxy and orthopraxy is that orthodoxy describes a religion as "having proper belief", while orthopraxy describes a religion as "having proper practice". Furthermore, there is the additional component of whether any faith is dogmatic or non-dogmatic. There are orthodoxic and orthopraxic religions that are dogmatic, but many more orthopraxic religions are non-dogmatic.

So what does that look like? A good example of a dogmatic, orthodoxic religion is Christianity (and really any Abrahamic faith). Even Confucianism is arguably some degree of orthodoxic, however the teachings of Confucius have much more to do with how one lives, so it would fall under orthopraxy. You can be a great Buddhist without ever believing in Buddha, as well. There are Hindu sects that don't dogmatically believe in the gods, but they do place emphasis on "right practice".

Most, if not all, pagan faiths (allowing for marginal ones with which I haven't yet become acquainted; there are hundreds if not thousands of ancient world cultures and attempts to reconstruct their faiths start every day it seems) have no doctrine, and what's more, many of them de-emphasize the divine or even don't believe in them at all. What is common among most, if not all pagan faiths is do ut des, or "I give so that you may give". For some this is a direct exchange with the gods - myself, for example. For others this is a means of connecting with a higher consciousness. This forms the basis of ritual, offering, and sacrifice. Before you foolishly squall "herp derp nobody sacrifices in the modern day", yes they fucking do, it is legal to kill livestock in many parts of the world, even the US, and furthermore sacrifice has expanded to encompass giving up anything of value, not just life.

>You can't hold all pagan beliefs simultaneously, so please if you really had that much research on the topic it would show.

In point of fucking fact, yes I can. I don't personally - I primarily practice Norse heathenry. This is another piece of evidence of your perception of world religions through a Christian lens, that to worship divinities outside of one's religion is blasphemy. Very few pagan religions have any concept of blasphemy. Roman and Greek civic cultus focused primarily on "what was good for society", which is why the Jewish diaspora was possible, while Rome had a big problem with Christianity. Because, and only because, Christians were a threat to the civic cultus of the society in ways that Judaism was not.

This concept, the admittance of syncretism and the worship of many - even all - pantheons, is called "pluralism", and it is almost universal to paganism. There is no doctrine (see that word again?) or dogma (oh and that one) that demands or demanded historically that pagans only worship one pantheon. In fact, to think that pantheons existed discreetly from nation to nation in the first place is reductive and downright foolish, especially among tribal cultures. There is documented evidence that the Suebi in Germany for example worshipped Isis. Possibly interpretatio romana, but this is one of many examples. Another would be the similarities between Frigg and Freyja, between Ingvi and Freyr, and the many syncretisms between Greek and Roman gods. No one would have any reason to object to a person making cult offerings to another god, so long as that other god didn't demand exclusivity (like the Christian god).

So shut the fuck up.

Edit:

Reference Materials:

• Marcel Mauss - The Gift
  
  
• Paul C Bauschatz - The Well and the Tree
  
  
• Mircea Eliade - The Sacred and the Profane
  
  
• M. Avrum Ehrlich - Encyclopedia of the Jewish Diaspora
  
  
• Tacitus - Agricola and Germania

I've heard the same from professors. Bennett's translations are great for the more casual or less advanced reader, not so great for upper level academic work. I had a similar experience, but with a different philosopher who I cannot remember at the late moment. OP should probably check Bennett's Kant translations out.

Also, I don't know of any free comprehensive guides to the Critique, but if you go to the library you should be able to find a copy of the cambridge edition of the Critique of Pure Reason. Paul Goyer has a relatively concise introduction and it contains a pretty nice overview of the Critique and Kant's project. It helped me gain my bearings when I read the Critique. It might help.

I have always enjoyed Isaac Asimov's non-fiction. He wrote numerous history books, including the excellent
Asimov's Chronology of the World: The History of the World From the Big Bang to Modern Times.

The Near East: 10,000 Years of History

The Land of Canaan

The Egyptians

The Greeks: A Great Adventure

The Roman Republic

The Roman Empire

Constantinople: The Forgotten Empire

The Shaping of England

The Shaping of France

The Dark Ages

Christopher Columbus: Navigator to the New World

Ferdinand Magellan: Opening the Door to World Exploration

The Shaping of North America

The Birth of the United States

Asimov also wrote excellent histories of science and mathematics:

Asimov's Biographical Encyclopedia of Science and Technology

Asimov's Chronology of Science and Discovery

A Short History of Biology

A Short History of Chemistry

Most of Asimov's non-fiction was aimed at the masses (as was Sagan's Cosmos), so they tend not to go into great depth. However he was excellent at showing how an event or discovery would have direct or indirect impact on a future event or discovery (standing on the shoulders of giants and all that). Most of these were written in the 1960's and 1970's

This will probably never get seen at this point, but there is a great little book I have The Greatest War Stories Never Told. It has tons of great little known stories and facts, and each one is only a page or two long, so it is super easy to read.

Plenty of Christian apologists were convinced by Christianity. What do you think would cause a staunch atheist to convert?

>Why do we distinguish between apologetics and philosophy?

Often we don't, and oftentimes a philosopher is an apologist and vice versa.

> Why are so few philosophers theists?

This wasn't the case for most of human history, and I don't think it's fair to draw the conclusion out of the current state of secularization in academia.

>If you think you've got something good then by all means share it, but I don't expect to be surprised.

Have you read the following?

Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis - Lewis was an atheist for most of his life, but later became the most well-known Christian apologist. You might also want to read his autobiography, Surprised by Joy.

The Reason for God by Tim Keller.

The Language of God by Francis Collins -
This one is more about how science and religion relate, and it's written by one of the leading scientists of the modern day.

Summa Theologica by Thomas Aquinas This is the original apologetic. If you're alright with some more-serious reading, this would be a great book to have read, both from an intellectual and historical perspective.

Descartes' Meditations While I'm not really convinced by his arguments, Descartes is known as the "Father of Modern Philosophy" for popularizing rationalism, or the use of reason/logic as the chief source or test of knowledge.

Pascal's Pensees

The Critique of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant This is known as "one of the greatest works in the history of philosophy" Quite the opposite of Descartes, Kant actually argues against the notion that we can use reason alone to understand the universe.

Fear and Trembling by Soren Kierkegaard - This is definitely not apologetics. However, he was an incredibly Christian philosopher, and is known as the Father of Existentialism (interesting that the founder of existentialism was a devout Christian, though now it is often associated with atheists such as Sarte and Nietzsche).

Not many historians have that nice, rolling narrative style of Mr. Foote. It's so easy to read and it tells the story in a compact, but intimate way with a focus on the people and their motives.

To answer your question I would look at histories written by journalists such as Barbara Tuchman - Guns of August. I also like S.C. Gwynne's Empire of the Summer Moon, Hampton Sides Blood and Thunder, and Ghost Soldiers. Lot's of good narrative histories out there - just keep looking and share any new good ones with Reddit! Good luck!

My apologies for taking some time to get back to you. I do have a few book recommendations about the history of the Bronx (growing up in Yonkers I spent a ton of time there, and it is actually my favorite outer borough, shh)! I highly recommend Lloyd Ultan’s The Northern Borough: A History of the Bronx, which provides an excellent look at the settlement and growth of the borough. I also enjoyed used Twomey’s The Bronx in Bits and Pieces. If you’re interested in the origin of street and place names (which I most certainly am), then consider checking out John McNamara’s History in Asphalt: The Origin of Bronx Street & Place Names Encyclopedia.

If you want an account from a solid source read this:

http://www.amazon.com/Tragedy-Hope-History-World-Time/dp/094500110X

It's a tough read for sure but here and there Quigley explains how this .01% influenced major world affairs. Also he denounced the idea of the illuminate having anything to do with the Rhodes group. That idea was born out of a book called "None Dare Call it a Conspiracy." This is on record and you can listen to an interview he gave on YouTube called "the professor who knew too much" where he says as much.

Yes there are very powerful rich men whom try and often succeed at influencing if not at times controlling government, public opinion, and international affairs.

A couple good recommendations I have (aside from Tom Clancy stuff which I read for recreation) are going to be

Guide to effective military writing

and

AF Officer's guide (Incredibly useful even as enlisted)

​

I'm currently reading Ghost in the Wires, it's pretty neat. It's about this guy who hacked the FBI and then hacked their hack on him... pretty fun stuff. Talks a lot about the social engineering side of security.

​

No, any historian would not agree. I don't know where you get your info from, but "pulling shit out of my ass" does not equal "most historians agree".
Your problem is that I DID the research. I'm a research biologist holding a PhD, who was trained in critical thinking and research. I also have an avid interest in history, so guess what, I read a lot. A bit more than you do, apparently, judging by your comments... (I'm still amazed by the North Korea stuff... Please elaborate.) Here are a couple of the best books on WWI. Perhaps they would help you.

http://www.amazon.com/Sleepwalkers-How-Europe-Went-1914-ebook/dp/B008B1BL4E/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1395256616&sr=1-2


http://www.amazon.com/War-that-Ended-Peace-abandoned-ebook/dp/B00CNQ9PFK/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1395256616&sr=1-4

http://www.amazon.com/Catastrophe-1914-Europe-Goes-War-ebook/dp/B00C4BA4C2/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1395256616&sr=1-5

http://www.amazon.com/Guns-August-Classic-Bestselling-Outbreak-ebook/dp/B002TXZS8A/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1395256616&sr=1-6

http://www.amazon.com/Paris-1919-Months-Changed-World-ebook/dp/B000XUBC7C/ref=sr_1_11?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1395256616&sr=1-11

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/143980.The_Rise_and_Fall_of_the_British_Empire




Your naive, and frankly, idiotic image of the US stepping in... well that is just hilarious. All this after more than 150 years of imperialism. Ask people in Latin America or the Middle East about how benevolent your country was. And YOU want me to do research. Amazing.

I do not get all the love for the shoddy history of John Green's 'Crash Course'. Wikipedia provides more balance and nuance than does John Green. Usually in threads like these people jump all over each other in a rush to endorse Dan Carlin's 'Hardcore History' or Mike Duncan's 'History of Rome' podcasts.

For OP's purposes 'Hardcore History' is probably better since he jumps around from period to period with his various series'. Find one you like, listen to it, pay attention to who he lists as his sources and then read them.

If OP wants something a little more macro, Charles van Doren's 'A History of Knowledge' is a good place to get a broad overview of Western Civilisation. Written in a easy-to-read layman's style (the guy spent years as an Encyclopedia Brittanica editor). And for anyone wondering, yes, this is the same Charles van Doren that Ralph Feinnes played in 'Quiz Show' if you ever wondered what happened to him.

http://www.amazon.com/History-Knowledge-Past-Present-Future/dp/0345373162

Antony Beevor's Stalingrad and The Fall of Berlin 1945 were superb narrative histories of World War Two in the East. On the American end, the first two volumes of Rick Atkinson's Liberation Trilogy - An Army at Dawn and The Day of Battle are great. I think somebody else mentioned The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman. Just the first paragraph of that book is worth the price of the paperback.

If you're not into the whole military thing, The Worst Hard Time by Tim Egan covers the dustbowl era in the southern plains. Reads like an epic novel.

All of these suggestions prioritize craft of writing over intellectual rigor. I studied history, so I have a keen appreciation for the value (and the limits) of academic history. These books are not that sort of history, though I don't think any of them get any facts egregiously wrong. It's just that they're remarkable for being well-written - which should appeal to a fiction enthusiast - not for being pathbreaking academic treatments of their subject matter.

Her Guns of August is wonderful too.

It has one of the most celebrated openings in modern narrative history.


>
“So gorgeous was the spectacle on the May morning of 1910 when nine kings rode in the funeral of Edward VII of England that the crowd, waiting in hushed and black-clad awe, could not keep back gasps of admiration. In scarlet and green and blue and purple, three by three the sovereigns rode through the palace gates, with plumed helmets, gold braid, crimson sashes, and jeweled orders flashing in the sun. After them came five heirs apparent, forty more imperial or royal highnesses, seven queens – four dowager and three regnant – and a scattering of special ambassadors from uncrowned countries. Together they represented seventy nations in the greatest assemblage of royalty and rank ever gathered in one place and, of its kind, the last. The muffled tongue of Big Ben tolled nine by the clock as the cortege left the palace, but on history’s clock it was sunset, and the sun of the old world was setting in a dying blaze of splendor never to be seen again.”

First, TH Huxley was his grandfather, my bad. But TH Huxley was very close to HG Welles. They wrote books together and constantly were meeting and having discussions. Alduous Huxley was a fly on the wall for many of these discussions and recounts the influence HG Welles had on him in his book Brave New World Revisited

Both TH Huxley and HG Welles were part of a group called the Rhodes Round Table (a part of the Round Table movement at the turn of the 19th Century) which would be comparable to the CFR today. A Harvard professor named Carroll Quigley wrote an amazing book about their history, rise and fall, called Tragedy and Hope. If you weren't aware, Alduous Huxley was a teacher of Eric Blair (George Orwell) and they both worked in high society circles. Both their books were what they believed would be the logical conclusion of what they saw happening on the inside at the time and this is explicitly stated in this letter from Huxley to Blair.

Huxley's "Brave New World" title is a response/retort/satire to HG Welles' New World Order HG Welles is the originator of the term "New World Order" and that is what Huxley is referring to when he says we're head toward a Brave New World. In his book, Brave New World Revisited, A. Huxley even explicitly makes fun of HG Welles' book The Open Conspiracy for being so evil and moral-less that it is sure to work.

I do not believe the authors are the pilots and the stories are rather short, the main focus is on tactics, planes and the history of conflict, I was looking for tactics:

• Aircraft vs Aircraft: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Aircraft-Versus-Illustrated-Fighter-Combat/dp/1902304047 - this one I bought on eBay in a pristine condition.
  Fascinating and a quick read. I pretty much looked through it in few hours, which rarely happens with the books. I am planning to have a second prolonger sitting.
  
  
• Dogfight: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1849084823
  Just started reading this one. So far it looks promising but is going to be definitely a longer read.
  
  What are your favourite books from your collection? I would love to explore the subject further.

asimov's chronology of the world: the history of the big bang to modern times?

i can't claim to have read it, but my friends who have say it's pretty good.

link

Youtube is a vast resource for almost any gun these days.

Four basic rules of gun safety:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQrlDUIZ3f0

Basic range safety and ettiquette:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COvFyw-6Fqs


How to operate an AR15:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFFN_j3WD80

How to zero it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9oXGT55cV8


How to shoot it (like a boss):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ligUEAJH25E

How to maintain it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xW4DQ5QlwrA

How it works:

P1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKKQcJnMEOo

P2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VntwFqcE4-g

Development history:

Early development and current ongoing modernization
https://www.full30.com/video/9b50f8a825ab510b4c227c7b32a76bc1

A2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fX5RoaYqQ04

Army approved camouflaging methods:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KE_Ly61h10w

Things you should consider if your going to involve yourself in gun ownership and the greater gun community:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGYf9AZlSyU



Literature (for your library of badassery):

Owners guide:

http://www.amazon.com/NEW-AR-15-Complete-Owners-Guide/dp/1888722193/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1419244413&sr=1-3&keywords=ar15

Builders guide:

http://www.amazon.com/AR-15-Complete-Assembly-Guide-Kuleck/dp/1888722126/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1419244598&sr=1-4&keywords=ar15

DOD technical manual (vintage repro) A1:

http://www.amazon.com/The-M16A1-Rifle-Preventive-Maintenance/dp/1616088648/ref=pd_sim_b_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=1NXC05W604YBE436A34P

DOD technical manual A2/M4:

http://www.amazon.com/M16A2-Carbine-5-56mm-Technical-Manual/dp/1601700199/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1419244734&sr=1-3&keywords=m16+manual

Another manual:

http://www.amazon.com/M16-Weapon-Gordon-Rottman/dp/1849086907/ref=sr_1_31?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1419245604&sr=1-31&keywords=black+rifle

Collectors guide (early rifles):

http://www.amazon.com/Black-Rifle-Retrospective-Modern-Military/dp/0889351155/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1419245668&sr=1-1-catcorr&keywords=black+rifle+retrospective

Collectors guide (modernized rifles & carbines):

http://www.amazon.com/Black-Rifle-II-Into-Century/dp/0889353484/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1419245763&sr=1-5&keywords=black+rifle


Wiki page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AR-15

If you decide to get into gun ownership taking a firearms safety course and getting what you need to participate in an Appleseed marksmanship clinic are good first steps into getting some hands on experience with firearms and the history of the 2nd amendment. Safety courses are held all over the place some googling will find you one in your area pretty easily they are usually fairly inexpensive. Appleseed clinics are scheduled events that are at predetermined ranges. https://www.appleseedinfo.org/ Beyond that if you choose to get an AR15 there are a lot of schools that host "Introductory Carbine Classes" designed around the AR15. They are good ways to get some hands on training but they usually require you to bring your own rifle, mags, some basic load bearing kit, and ammo. If you can afford to get into an entry level carbine class they are usually worth it. Watching youtube videos and reading some text on the stuff can be greatly useful but there is a limit to how much you can learn without getting hands on experience.

As always, American Heritage is a good reference and starting point. I also recommend their Civil War book if you're interested in that.

Stephen Ambrose has several good books including Band of Brothers.

I like John Keegan, so I'll recommend his book.

That's all I've got to start with, maybe someone else can pick up where I left of, there are a lot of books on WWII out there. Might be easier to pick a specific battle or theatre you're interested in and find a good book about it.

Couple different reasons:

1. The "Elites" have been writing down their plans for a New World Order since HG Welles coined the term back in the day. His book with the same name explains how the Elites will evolve and then keep the beta human monkeys as their pets: http://www.voltairenet.org/IMG/pdf/Wells_New_World_Order-5.pdf
   In the 60s, Carroll Quigley wrote the plan down again in his book Tragedy and Hope More recently, Obama string pullers like Zbignew Brezenski have written down the plan for the NWO in books like the Technotronic Era
   
   
2. Hundreds of elites repeat it over and over in their speeches: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVYBDIkgxKo . Gary Hart is especially egregious: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTOCRa9lTZc
   
   
3. There have been hundreds upon hundreds of whistleblowers throughout the years that have come forward. Listen to the story of Aaron Russo. Listen to Naval Intelligence whistleblower Bill Cooper in 1991. Listen to Darrell Hamomoto (trained through the Rockefeller Foundation).
   
   
4. Look at Wikileaks. Hillary Clinton said outright to Wall St insiders that she wants "Hemispheric Government and trade". That's the definition and fear of the NWO (one world global elitist government).
   
   
5. Look at the TPP. 100% undeniable proof that Obama wanted to consolidate Mexico, America, and Canada into a single "Trans Atlantic Union". Look at the European Union. It's all about the consolidation of power. If you think about the NWO simply as the consolidation of power into globalist government hands, then what Julian Assange says in this interview makes the NWO perfectly clear: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6qlc3lStM4

Here's an interview that Soros did with "60 Minutes" twenty years ago that explains some of his motivations. This video was rumored to exist for a long time, people reported remembering seeing it. After a long hunt, it was finally discovered by a reddit user in a university library with restricted access.

Just watch the man revel in sociopathy. He knows what he is and likes it. Watch George admit he feels no shame for selling out his fellow Jews to the Nazis and pocketing their possessions. Not spelling Nazis, not soup Nazis, not feminazis, but actual Nazis. The social consequences of his actions are of no concern to him. Watch his reaction when the interviewer asks if he feels guilty.

He promotes completely open borders, devaluing the US dollar and replacing it with a singular global currency. Literally a new world order. (The term for this is "globalism")

The answer to a lot of your questions is "we don't know just yet". I know you're trying to ridicule, but super-rich elites really do exist and they really do control a frightening amount of the world we live in. Globalists care no more for human lives than a homeowner cares for the ants that live in his lawn. They will tinker and experiment and if that means starvation for us, they're willing to make that sacrifice. Fortunately we live in an unprecedented era of transparency and we are slowly assembling the answers and finding out who really rules us, and how.

If you really want to educate yourself, read the book Tragedy and Hope: A History of the World in Our Time
by Carroll Quigley. This book is not for the faint-hearted, at 1348 pages it is three inches thick. But it basically lays out the blueprint that globalists like Soros and the Rothschilds believe in. The Dodd Report to the Reece Committee is also worth reading. These are serious, sober works and not froth-at-the-mouth conspiracy theories. I found Carroll Quigley to be quite an affable and communicative writer. He's for globalism, not a raving lunatic decrying it.

There are enough keywords in my last paragraph to keep you busy searching for a while. I hope after you finish reading you can help to spread the word about the works of Quigley, and especially that 60 Minutes interview.

> (T)he powers of financial capitalism had another far-reaching aim, nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole. This system was to be controlled in a feudalist fashion by the central banks of the world acting in concert, by secret agreements arrived at in frequent private meetings and conferences.

-- Georgetown University historian Carroll Quigley, Tragedy and Hope, 1975

What a telling quote! Quigley is a NWO insider.

Other great quotes from the article:

> Banking was conceived in iniquity and was born in sin. The bankers own the earth. Take it away from them, but leave them the power to create money, and with the flick of the pen they will create enough deposits to buy it back again.

> However, take it away from them, and all the great fortunes like mine will disappear and they ought to disappear, for this would be a happier and better world to live in. But, if you wish to remain the slaves of bankers and pay the cost of your own slavery, let them continue to create money.

-- Josiah Stamp, former Director of the Bank of England

> We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office.

-- Aesop

. .

The article proposes a return to debt-free currency. I made the same proposal a few days ago at /r/NewAmerica. See "Debt-free currency!"

> If America controlled its own money, it would be interest-free, and taxing people to pay it wouldn’t be necessary.

> Early colonists did it. So did Lincoln. Why not now by returning money power to public hands where it belongs. Onerous taxes would be minimized or eliminated. Money for productive growth could be created inflation-free. Prosperity could be sustained. Full employment and social justice would be possible.

> Imagine that America. Imagine the entire world that way, instead of one plagued booms, busts, inflation, deflation, instability, crisis, and perhaps the greatest ever Depression today bankers caused for their own self-interest to achieve greater consolidation, wealth and power.

-- Stephen Lendman, "Money Power World Rule", NWO Observer, 20 Dec 2011

. .

We Americans are led to believe that wars and depressions "Just Happen". We cannot imagine anyone deliberately creating such catastrophes. But one man's catastrophe is another man's windfall opportunity -- an opportunity to buy up real estate at pennies on the dollar, for example, or an opportunity to loan billions to both sides in a war.

However great the opportunities for profit, we can't imagine ourselves inflicting so much suffering on others. But what if we belonged to a xenophobic supremacist culture? We might then view other human beings as a threat, as an enemy, or as less than human. The devastation inflicted on others by war would seem like a delicious payback. The hundreds of thousands of dead would thin the ranks of our enemies. The carnage would be of no more import than the destruction of an ant-hill. If our culture taught us to see fellow human beings in this way, we might indeed be tempted to reap huge profits from their immiseration.

source https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/094500110X/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=094500110X&linkCode=as2&tag=humarefre-20&linkId=VK7GP2KQIKF6OK6U

Bank of International Settlements

Their stated purpose is to “promote the cooperation of central banks and to provide additional facilities for international financial operations.”

and is owned by

Federal Reserve, Bank of England, Bank of Italy, Bank of Canada, Swiss National Bank, Nederlandsche Bank, Bundesbank and Bank of France.

BIS holds at least 10% of monetary reserves for at least 80 of the world’s central banks, the IMF and other multilateral institutions.

BIS serves as financial agent for international agreements, collects information on the global economy and serves as lender of last resort to prevent global financial collapse (GEE WHERE HAVE WE SEEN THIS DONE BEFORE??!!!)

BIS promotes an agenda of monopoly capitalist fascism. It gave a bridge loan to Hungary in the 1990’s to ensure privatization of that country’s economy, for example.

I'll let you gather more information from there if you are asking questions in good faith (as opposed to just being a troll). This is plenty of information to start you down the rabbit hole.

I recently read the "Penguin History of the World" and that one was fantastic. I was assigned it by one of my most respected professors and found it illuminating and easy to follow.
The Penguin History of the World: Sixth Edition https://www.amazon.com/dp/1846144434/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_K9hyzb7BJBGFV

I would get the awesome Andreas Nothinger timeline and the little book that comes with it. Now you know everything (sort of). You have a really amazing timeline of the past 3,000 years that can put it all in perspective as you read.

Globalism grew out of Cecil Rhodes Round Tables from around 1900, which sought to control the entire world for the benefit of Billionaire Oligarchs like himself.

After Cecil Rhodes death in 1902 the various Rhodes Foundations set up with his vast wealth were administered by Lord Alfred Milner and Lord Rothschild.

With the decline of the British Empire and the transfer of Hegemony and Global power from London to the U.S. between WW1 and WW2, the focus of the Globalist Groups transferred to controlling the politicians in Washington DC.

There are dozens of Globalist groups, but major ones include the Council of Foreign Relations (the CFR which was founded in the 1920's in New York), Chatham House (the CFR equivalent in London), the Trilateral Commission (founded by Rockefeller and Brzezinski in the 1970's), the Rockefeller Foundation, and George Soros "Open Society" forums and their multiple spin offs.

All of these groups seek to transfer wealth and power from the many to the few. The few being the owners and CEO's of major private banks, major Corporations and other Billionaire Oligarchs.

Since the 1980's wealth has been gradually transferred from the Middle Class to the elites in the top 0.01% by transferring well paid middle class jobs to the Third World or other low cost labor countries. This process was hugely accelerated in the 1990's with the advent of the internet, Globalist Trade deals such as NAFTA and the admission of China to the WTO.

Globalists support Open Borders for cheap labor which decreases wages for all but the top 5% of the Western population. (See the decline in well paid U.S. manufacturing jobs, U.S. illegal immigration from Mexico, South and Central America or H1B visas for software programmers from India. Or the expansion of the EU with cheap labor from former Warsaw Pact countries like Poland and Romania.)

Real median male wages in America have now declined to the levels last seen in 1972 and Home Ownership rates have declined to the levels of the early 1960's. Ordinary people from Western Europe have seen similar declines over the last 15 to 20 years.

Globalists seek to transfer power from democratically elected legislatures at State, Local and City levels, to undemocratic supranational institutions controlled by Corporate money (see the expansion of power of the U.S. Federal government in DC, or the EU in Brussels).

TPP and TTIP were both excellent examples of Globalist initiatives. Both included ISDS (Investor State Dispute Settlement) which sought to transfer power from democratically elected legislatures to a transnational arbitration panel composed of Corporate lawyers sitting as judge, jury, defense and prosecution, all paid by large Multinational Corporations.

TPP, TISA and TTIP agreements are massive Corporate power grabs dressed up as trade deals http://ian56.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/tpp-tisa-and-ttip-agreements-are.html

The scheme to replace democratic governance with one world government controlled by a small cabal of Banking and Corporate Elites was documented in the 1960's by Georgetown Professor Carroll Quigley - a mentor of Bill Clinton:-

Tragedy and Hope by Carroll Quigley https://www.amazon.com/Tragedy-Hope-History-World-Time/dp/094500110X

The other strand of Globalist Doctrine derives from the Godfather of Neoconservatism Leo Strauss who also advocated anti democratic, authoritarian and totalitarian, one world government controlled by a handful of Ruling Elites.

The Neocon Agenda and its Results http://ian56.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/the-neocon-agenda-and-its-results.html

When the politicians of a country are the best that money can buy, outside influence will take that country down what ever path they want. Think of it like a horse race where one group owns all the horses. They are guaranteed a win every time. Which is why it matters not who you vote for. The agenda never changes no matter what party is in power.

If they want a repeat of Hitler's Nazi Germany while they destroy the country's currency they do it. If they want to spy on their own people, torture those that are a threat and obliterate a countries reputation and then jump ship like a parasite to another host country, they do that (bye bye US and the $, hello China).

The problem is most people watch and listen to the news that is sent their way. They don't know any better and don't educate themselves. Knowledge like this falls on deaf ears.

One day, mankind will wake up and see this. After a bit, the cycle repeats. Most however, just keep swimming, just keep swimming with the same mind-set and all the while wondering what happened to their once great nation. Carol Quigly wrote an insiders point of view on this in his book Tragedy and Hope.

http://www.amazon.com/Tragedy-Hope-History-World-Time/dp/094500110X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1418570542&sr=1-1&keywords=carol+quigley&pebp=1418570545821

Educate and inform the whole mass of the people...
They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.
-- Thomas Jefferson

If they simply "stopped paying attention", how would you explain the CIA's orders to the Jeddah consulate to grant Al Qaeda operatives visas into the country?

How do you explain the fact that once in the country, the alleged hijackers received training at secure military installations.

It is you, sir, who needs to read some books:

Killing Hope: US Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II

Confessions of an Economic Hitman

Tragedy and Hope

Wall Street and The Bolshevik Revolution

Wall Street and The Rise of Hitler

Foundations: Their Power and Influence

Bank Control of Large Corporations in the United States

Wake up to reality my friend. These people are not, and have never been, incompetent or negligent. If they were either, they wouldn't be in the positions of power they are in today.

I've been saving Dan's podcast for a while. Great time to start.

I would also highly suggest Barbara Tuchman's "The Guns of August" for a taste of the times immediately before and after the breakout of fighting. I would also recommend the same author's "The Proud Tower" which digs into the culture leading up to The Great War.

G. Edward Griffin, the author of "The Creature from Jekyl Island"
lecturing on "The Quigley formula". A must see.

My favorite quote from Quigley (supposedly one of Bill Clinton's mentors);

"The chief problem of American political life for a long time has been how to make the two Congressional parties more national and international. The argument that the two parties should represent opposed ideals and policies, one, perhaps, of the Right and the other of the Left, is a foolish idea acceptable only to doctrinaire and academic thinkers. Instead, the two parties should be almost identical, so that the American people can “throw the rascals out” at any election without leading to any profound or extensive shifts in policy … [E]ither party in office becomes in time corrupt, tired, unenterprising, and vigorless. Then it should be possible to replace it, every four years if necessary, by the other party, which will be none of those things but will still pursue, with new vigor, approximately the same basic policies." - from "Tragedy and Hope"

Geopolitics isn't a tinfoil hat doctrine. It's studied at universities and people like Henry Kissinger write nonfiction books about it. If you'd like a primer, try Tragedy & Hope: A History of the World in Our Time by Carroll Quigley. Bill Clinton had Quigley as a professor and called him the biggest influence in his life.

Why's it so unbelievable?

John Keegan's The First World War and The Second World War may well fit the bill for you. Both books do have a slightly British/Allied slant to them Keegan was a senior lecturer at RMA Sandhurst for many years and his relationship with the British Army does come accross strongly. Having said that, they are both excellent single volume introductions to the conflicts.

Interestingly, the old school bankers like Morgan and Rothchild wanted... 'sound money'. They wanted a gold standard. If the banksters were trying to secretly create a fiat system, why did they want a gold standard?

source: http://www.amazon.com/Tragedy-Hope-History-World-Time/dp/094500110X

Use a good translation: http://www.amazon.com/Critique-Reason-Cambridge-Edition-Immanuel/dp/0521657296

Try out Allison (as well as Guyer's) commentaries.

Also check out a good Kantian dictionary: http://www.amazon.com/Kant-Dictionary-Blackwell-Philosopher-Dictionaries/dp/0631175350 (since much of his conceptual scheme consists of neologisms).

Lastly, you should check out Strawson's essay' The Bounds of Sense.' http://www.amazon.com/The-Bounds-Sense-Critique-Reason/dp/0415040302. It's sort of a modern 'take' on Kantian themes (not an exegesis of Kant, but a modernization of some of the arguments. It actually sheds some light on Kant's project).

And good luck, try not to be discouraged. I've had two graduate seminars on Kant and they've both been difficult. But, it's not just nonsense. There is some agreement about the structure (and importance) of many of the arguments in the critique and they're worth grappling with, even if you're dealing with reconstructions of the arguments from commentaries.

I recommend Lies My Teacher Told Me or Bryson's Short History of Nearly Everything. If you are looking for something a little more scholarly and drier then I suggest A History of Knowledge by Van Doren. As a world history teacher myself, I loved all of these books.

There is this really good book on this topic that I enjoyed more than any other document related to this subject by the name of The Guns of August.

Very nice book.

On the insight of China's rise? I don't know any particular source for this. Briefly, China, when ruled by the Hans, was largely isolationist. Even when they explored the known world with Zheng He's fleets, they were diplomatic and merely traded. No colonies. Today, you see the same diplomacy at work - with only limited military engagement when absolutely necessary. Their peaceful relations in the African and Latin regions support this -- regardless of what the US statement department claims. This is the nature of China. It is a trading nation. Relative to other great powers, it has been only infrequently expansionist. During its most expansive times, it was ruled by non-Hans. The idea that today's China wants to "take over the world" is the Western mindset/experience projecting itself onto China. They reason, "We colonized the entire planet when we were strong. So, of course China will do the same to us.". That fear is only part of the problem. The second problem is that America and some Western allies have never given up global conquest. From that perspective, China is a "threat" -- not to world peace, but to their ambitions.

Read this https://www.amazon.com/Tragedy-Hope-History-World-Time/dp/094500110X/

There was also a free book that summarized the main points under a similar title] Tragedy and Hope 101 I think?

Where did I say anything in my previous comments about support being official acts of government?

Many times they are, and have been, but there's more than one way to skin a cat.

Do yourself a favor. Step back from everything you think you know about recent world history and read this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Tragedy-Hope-History-World-Time/dp/094500110X/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

Again, I could give you a list of dozens of books, but you're not even going to read this one, so there's no point.

Tragedy & Hope: A History of the World in Our Time by Carroll Quigley a must read for any one looking out for truth.

Here is the full pdf of this book at Carroll Quigley's website.

Awesome, I just started reading Guns of August.

Thank you for your suggestions, I will give them a look. The Bat Ye'or book I was referring to seemed similar to the Robert Hoyland book in that they give non-Muslim accounts of the Islam. Have not read either book yet but I do like to read many sources.

It is a little known fact that Isaac Asimov wrote more science books than novels. I have read one or two of them and can tell you that the writing is clear and straightforward. He is credited with authoring around 500 books.

Here are a few examples:

Understanding Physics

Asimov's Chronoloy of the World

Atom: Journey Across the Sub-Atomic Cosmos(I Read this in the 90's and due to the speed of advances in this field it's a bit dated but it gave me a solid foundation and taught me the difference between a letpon and a baryon)

For anyone interested in seeing Asimov in a nonfiction light, I highly recommend Asimov's Chronology of the World: The History of the World From the Big Bang to Modern Times which is a spectacular history of the world. Totally readable, it gave me a much better understanding of the scope of human history than perhaps any book I read in my teens. Not often discussed in book groups, but an exceptional work of history and literature, IMO.

Barbara W. Tuchman wrote three seminal books about WWI, The Guns of August, The Zimmeman Telegram and The Proud Tower.

This is what did it for me! All of history (up to about 100 years ago) in one source.

http://www.amazon.com/Asimovs-Chronology-World-History-Modern/dp/0062700367
I found it in a library sale for 2$ a few years ago and bought it on a whim. I keep it in my kitchen and read it with my breakfast pretty much every day.

This is silly. Did you wake up this morning and decide to take up geopolitics as a pastime?

Most of the readers here are too far into this to waste time giving history lessons.

If you want to brush up on the subject here are a few books to start with:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0805075593?pc_redir=1408767114&robot_redir=1

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0985271027?pc_redir=1408686538&robot_redir=1

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0615602223?pc_redir=1408631528&robot_redir=1

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1935439618?pc_redir=1408800754&robot_redir=1

http://www.amazon.com/Shadows-Ultimate-Insiders-Story-Presidents/dp/0684834979/sr=8-1/qid=1163059092/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-8219747-6907339?ie=UTF8&s=books

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/094500110X?pc_redir=1408852909&robot_redir=1


Read these books and then do your own research and look into the claims for yourself. Most of his claims are common knowledge, and have been widely reported with frequency over the past decade. They are easily researchable with rudimentary search engine skills.

Your burden of proof logic games are misguided and add nothing to such a prima facia discussion

Tragedy and Hope by Carroll Quigley. Synopsis/analysis by Jay Dyer of Jay's Analysis. Unfortunately only half of each of eight lectures available for free, but interesting all the same.

Amazon link to book purchase

PDF available on web

perhaps you might care to check out:

https://www.amazon.com/Mohammed-Charlemagne-Revisited-History-Controversy/dp/0578094185

and:

https://www.amazon.com/Decline-Eastern-Christianity-Under-Islam/dp/1611471362

I'd recommend The Second World War and World War Two Day by Day.

My first WW2 book was Rise and Fall of the Third Reich but it just covers Germany. Good book though add it to your list.

[my favorite history book] (http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0062700367?pc_redir=1397832010&robot_redir=1)

Tragedy and Hope: A Hisotry of the World in Our Time

Full text.

I seem to recall that Asimov's Chronology of the World was in a format like this, although it reached further back than 500 B.C.

https://www.amazon.com/Asimovs-Chronology-World-History-Modern/dp/0062700367/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1537113616&sr=1-1&refinements=p_lbr_one_browse-bin%3AIsaac+Asimov

<u>The Complete Idiot's Guide to Freemasonry</u> is a good book to give you some basic information.

​

https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Idiot-Guide-Freemasonry-2nd/dp/1615642374

"Professional military writing" there are whole books on it. Basically short, to the point, and easy to read. The exact opposite of what they teach in college English classes.

http://www.dtic.mil/whs/directives/corres/writing/Writing_Style_Guide.pdf

http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/army/p600_67.pdf

http://www.apd.army.mil/pdffiles/r25_50.pdf

http://www.armywriter.com/army-writing-references.htm

http://www.amazon.com/Guide-Effective-Military-Writing-3rd/dp/0811727793/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1452548082&sr=8-1&keywords=military+writing

I would take a look at Claudy's Entered Apprentice Manual after you're initiated and as you work on your proficiency. It gives a bit of a historical perspective on what you went through along with a bit of review of what's taught in the lectures.

I'd also recommend reading /u/chodapp 's book at your leisure along with the Idiot's Guide.

SS: A number of authors, both esteemed academics, like Professor Carrol Quigley, and cranks, have argued that the owners of the franchise are not some amorphous collection of businessmen acting independently at a particular point in time because of similar or naturally aligned economic interests. Rather, some of the esteemed and the less than esteemed, authors have argued that those businessmen actively collude and conspire in secret. They have done so through organizations such as the Milner Group, Rhodes Roundtable, the Council on Foreign Relations, Skull & Bones and other secret societies.


As Quigley and others have pointed out, the World War I era provided a springboard for the owners of the franchise. We would argue that the out-sized profits earned during the World War I era for a leap in control of important industries, politicians and underlying government bureaucracies, and the non-business/non-government institutions.


Was Woodrow Wilson a Victim of Kompromat?

No, not entirely. Everyone has beliefs and opinions that may not be supported by facts, be it willful suspension of skepticism or mere ignorance. The core issue and the examples given are, in fact, facts. Check them out for yourself. Also, pick up a copy of Carrol Quigley's Tragedy And Hope for some real mindblowing action. Warning, it's fucking LONG.

All the information is available for anyone to check out...it's depressing, but at the same time, very interesting and far more thrilling than just about any work of fiction.

>The people who fly them wont starve. Now you are just starting to sound like an idiot.

Sure, they will. Most of us will, since we're turning all of our arable land into desert.

>you should start with this: http://www.amazon.com/Tragedy-Hope-History-World-Time/dp/094500110X

Alright, Alex Jones.

Asimov's Chronology of the World is one possibility. It's organized in the way you describe, it's about as comprehensive as a one-volume work could be.

Instead of making meowing ducks Amazon should get on this bug and fix it. Reported it a year ago. Scroll to 'about author'

This is not "a summary" but a chart that lays out the history of the world going back 3000 years. No centric to this at all. There is a stunning amount of detail in this. Put it on your wall and you'll be aborbing details for years.

Synchronoptical world history chart by Andreas Nothiger

There's also "The Penguin History of the World" by J.M. Roberts and Odd Arne Westad. I own it in paperback. It's an absolute brick, like 1,000 pages or so (can't remember exactly how many). It just briefly covers many of the major events in human history. In very general terms, it paints a picture showing how we got to where we are now. Link below:

https://www.amazon.com/Penguin-History-World-Sixth/dp/1846144434

About The Author, for those using find

http://www.amazon.com/Tragedy-Hope-History-World-Time/dp/094500110X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1252936827&sr=1-1

Snapshots:

1. This Post - archive.org, megalodon.jp, ceddit.com, [archive.is*](https://archive.is/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.reddit.com%2Fr%2FEnoughTrumpSpam%2Fcomments%2F644b77%2Fa_hundred_years_ago_this_week_the_united_states%2F&run=1 "could not auto-archive; click to resubmit it!")
   
   
2. history.com - archive.org, megalodon.jp, [archive.is*](https://archive.is/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.history.com%2Fthis-day-in-history%2Famerica-enters-world-war-i&run=1 "could not auto-archive; click to resubmit it!")
   
   
3. The Guns of August - archive.org, megalodon.jp, [archive.is*](https://archive.is/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsmile.amazon.com%2FGuns-August-Outbreak-Tuchmans-Nonfiction-ebook%2Fdp%2FB002TXZS8A%2Fref%3Dsr_1_1%3Fie%3DUTF8%26qid%3D1491611720%26sr%3D8-1%26keywords%3Dthe%2Bguns%2Bof%2Baugust&run=1 "could not auto-archive; click to resubmit it!")
   
   ^(I am a bot.) ^([Info](/r/SnapshillBot) ^/ ^[Contact](/message/compose?to=\/r\/SnapshillBot))

Try this

Apologies--The first critique. The Critique of Pure Reason. This one, to be exact.

The standard edition of Kant's works is the German Academy of Sciences edition of Kants gesammelte Schriften, published by Walter de Gruyter in Berlin. The second edition of the Kritik der reinen Vernunft is in volume 3. You can order a copy of your very own from the publisher here.

The standard English translation of the Critique is the one by Paul Guyer and Allen Wood, published by Cambridge University Press. The German page numbers cited by wokeupabug appear in the margins in addition to the actual page numbers.

This one is a classic in the community.

https://www.amazon.com/Tragedy-Hope-History-World-Time/dp/094500110X

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/094500110X/ref=sr_1_1_twi_har_1_olp?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1458921464&sr=1-1&keywords=tragedy+and+hope

https://www.amazon.com/Second-World-War-John-Keegan/dp/0143035738

Read this then get back to me.

I don't take the Holocaust lightly. Violence is a plague, and thousands of men did not die in vain to protect the Western world.

EDIT: http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/12/the-ghetto-the-nazis-and-one-small-boy/

The people who fly them wont starve. Now you are just starting to sound like an idiot.

you should start with this: http://www.amazon.com/Tragedy-Hope-History-World-Time/dp/094500110X

Hello, you must be new here. Welcome to planet Earth. On this world, violent power struggles for resources and control of finances happen between countries and others factions often. War is sometimes seen as necessary by some of these factions in order to do this. Order out of chaos is the means to an end.

For more insight into how and why some of these groups operate this why, try reading these publications by some of the movers and shakers of these groups.

• The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy And Its Geostrategic Imperatives – Zbigniew Brzezinski (PDF link)
  
  
• Tragedy and Hope, A History of the World in Our Time - Carroll Quigley
  
  

Korrekt, Kirken idag er ligesom public-service, det ikke for folket selvom de påstår det, det istedet blevet et kulturmarxistisk propaganda foretagende.

https://www.amazon.de/Kabbalah-Secrets-Christians-Need-Know/dp/1095680005

https://www.amazon.com/Kabbalah-Meditation-Nations-Yitzchak-Ginsburgh/dp/9657146127

https://www.amazon.com/Tragedy-Hope-History-World-Time/dp/094500110X

https://www.saxo.com/dk/the-culture-of-critique-an-evolutionary-analysis-of-jewish-involvement-in-twentieth-century-intellectual-and-political-movements_kevin-macdonald_haeftet_9780759672222

Yes. I read it on The Second World War by John Keegan.

There is no left/right. Ask Carroll Quigley, Bill Clinton's mentor. Start http://www.amazon.com/Tragedy-Hope-History-World-Time/dp/094500110X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1377829915&sr=8-1&keywords=Tragedy+and+Hope

For shits and giggles I looked up the stats for Kant's Critique of Pure Reason.

Yes, I always thought Kaiser Wilhelm was primarily to blame because Austria would never have been able to start anything without his support. However, his mistakes started twenty years earlier when he dismissed Bismark and gave power to the militarists. Bismark predicted what would happen, including the fact that the the militarists would take control from the Kaiser. Guns of August is a great treatment of the events leading up to the war.

Very good job putting globalism into the context of the ambitions of turn of the 20th century industrialist Cecil Rhodes (rhodesia/s.african mining interests), and his connection with Milner. This actually explains a lot, filling in a piece of the puzzle connecting to the early american industrialist dynasties and thereby, to the rev. war and beyond into history.

Also good job in demonstrating that financial climate of preNazi Germany as created by the establishment which was abusing them into a mass social movement based on anger, betrayal and desperation.

Hopefully the rest of you here read it like I did: that these preconditions of preNazi germany parallel the current climate in america. As a cautionary tale. Well done, sir. For this excellent piece I'm giving you gold.

BTW Tragedy and Hope has been on my reading list, ever since I found out it was written by Clinton's prof and was 'conspiracyish'. Also, refreshing to see the matrix/truther use of 'redpill' that isn't in the context of tricking women into sleeping with you.

"The Guns of August", probably the best book written on the weeks leading up to the start of the war and about the first month of the war

John Keegan's 2nd world war book?

https://www.amazon.com/Second-World-War-John-Keegan/dp/0143035738

Scott's comment sort of has thread-ender vibes to me, so I'll post one.

Tragedy and Hope: A History of the World in Our Time, by Carrol Quigley.

The Amazon blurb is overly sensational, but not by as much as one might think. For more info I'd recommend checking out Quigley's Wikipedia page.

Excerpt:

> There does exist, and has existed for a generation, an international Anglophile network which operates, to some extent, in the way the Radical right believes the Communists act. In fact, this network, which we may identify as the Round Table Groups, has no aversion to cooperating with the Communists, or any other group, and frequently does so. I know of the operation of this network because I have studied it for twenty years and was permitted for two years, in the early 1960s, to examine its papers and secret records. I have no aversion to it or to most of its aims and have, for much of my life, been close to it and to many of its instruments. I have objected, both in the past and recently, to a few of its policies... but in general my chief difference of opinion is that it wishes to remain unknown, and I believe its role in history is significant enough to be known.

(This was written in 1966.)

Not at all... I abhor the idea of the "conspiracy theory" because that phrase was seeded into the culture by the CIA as propaganda to ensure that anyone who deviates from the official narrative (even with evidence) is to be treated as crazy.


Here is an example. Everything that the bald guy says is true, yet he is treated as a "conspiracy theorist." This is an example of seeding the public consciousness with disinformation.


https://youtu.be/6IqrA4j7g54

​

If you doubt that it is true, read Bill Clinton's mentor's work.
https://www.amazon.com/Tragedy-Hope-History-World-Time/dp/094500110X

Or, more recently this book:

https://www.amazon.com/Killing-Uncle-Sam-Demise-America/dp/1640070974/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1549068305&sr=1-1&keywords=the+killing+of+uncle+sam+by+rodney+howard-browne

from Carroll Quigley's book Tragedy & Hope (1966)

"The argument that the two parties should represent opposed ideals and policies, one, perhaps, of the Right and the other of the Left, is a foolish idea acceptable only to doctrinaire and academic thinkers," he wrote. "Instead, the two parties should be almost identical, so that the American people can 'throw the rascals out' at any election without leading to any profound or extensive shifts in policy."

Stop voting for the "practical" lesser of two evils - you're rewarding the evil establishment by saying no matter how bad a major party's candidate is, he's got your vote b/c at least he's not as bad as the other guy. Well guess what - over, and over, and over again the establishment will give you evil b/c they know you will vote for it.

archonemis: ^^original ^^reddit ^^link

Kaczynski made a lot of sense until he started talking about a violent uprising.

I would add to the list "Tragedy and Hope" by Carroll Quigley.

And anything / everything by Philip K. Dick.

Kaczynski made a lot of sense until he started talking about a violent uprising.

I would add to the list "Tragedy and Hope" by Carroll Quigley.

And anything / everything by Philip K. Dick.

also see tragedy and hope

Written in 1975:
"Tragedy & Hope: A History of the World in Our Time by Carroll Quigley is the ultimate insider admission of a secret global elite that has impacted nearly every modern historical event. Learn how the Anglo-American banking elite were able to secretly establish and maintain their global power. This massive hardcover book of 1348 pages provides a detailed world history beginning with the industrial revolution and imperialism through two world wars, a global depression and the rise of communism."

Actually, I would argue that our Judicial system is the only ethically operating branch of the government left. It's the laws created by the legislative branch that cause harm and aid private prisons. Yes there have been cases of judges (especially Texas) throwing people away for $$, but those are relatively rare (although Clarence Thomas scares this shit out of me). If you look closely though, judges have thrown out all sorts of legislative bullshit and have upheld the law in the face of opposition (big industry, lobbies) on many occasions.

We know we're fucked up. Most of us however are not retarded and you don't need to be a smug shitbag about it. I don't know what it is about European analysis of America but your language sure comes of a being a douchie bitch.

edit: Good read: http://www.amazon.com/Tragedy-Hope-History-World-Time/dp/094500110X