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Have you read a book on something historical recently?
Posted by penandspindle • 2/07/08 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: history
What have you read?
User Comments
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Ataturk: Biography of the founder of Modern Turkey by Andrew Mango -
The last history-related book I read was one attempting to determine the probability of the guilt of King Richard III in the murder of his nephews, one of whom was the heir to the throne.
This particular book was Bertram Fields' "The Princes in the Tower." But I've read a number of other more academic books on the subject too.
Why I keep trying to solve a 600 year old murder/disappearance, though, is beyond me!
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Is that the one by Alison Wier? I read that one and thought she offered a pretty good examination.
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No, it's by Bertram Fields, who actually does a good job at demonstrating the biases in Weir's book-- how she strategically excerpted from text to prove her point where the next sentence didn't back up her claim of proof at all, etc.
Good stuff. -
Oh, will have to check that out, thanks.
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That sounds really good, I think ill get that. -
It's the mystery and the intrigue. There is a lot of room for speculation. I find myself doing the same thing all the time.
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You're quite right. And it's one of those situations where today's technology would probably wrap up a few critical questions. But because of the time period, there are more unknowns than we'd have today.
Same with the Jack the Ripper case. Today, with DNA evidence, we'd be a lot closer to the answer to the crimes.
If anyone ends up reading the Bertram Fields book, please let me know what you think; I'd like to hear your opinions.
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I just finished reading - Dueling: the cult of honor is fin-de-siecle Germany by kevin Mcaleer.
Makes me want blood. Anybody? - Just teasing: about the blood, that is.... -
I most recently completed "Tragedy and Triumph: The Journals of Captain R.F. Scott's Last Polar Expedition."
Currently, I am reading "The Medieval Reader" and "Amazon Task Force." -
That's roughly all I read:
"Last chance for victory: Robert E. Lee and the Gettysburg Campaign" - which bsically makes the case that day 2 at Gettysburg was the most important day.
"How Can Man Die Better" - the battle of Isandlwana. Fascinating book that dispells many common myths about the final moments of the 24th regiment (at least the 1st battalion, and G. company of the 2nd battalion).-
Zulus sarge!! Thousands of em!!!
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I am half way through Gore Vidal's Julian. someone on here said it was good so I bought it and would definitely recommend it to lovers of historical fiction.
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"Under His Very Window: The Vatican and the Holocaust in Italy" by Susan Zuccotti.
Looking back on the Vatican during the Nazi era, most people have either taken the view that 1.) Pius XI was a vocal opponent of antisemitism and Pius XII saved as many Jews as he could from the Holocaust, or 2.) that Pius XI was a virulent anti-semite and that Pius XII was "Hitler's Pope".
Zuccotti looks very closely at all the facts and pieces together a very complex story, that assigns praise to those who acted virtuously and blame on those who one way or another, enabled the Holocaust to occur. I certainly had to adjust my understanding of the era. -
Blood and Thunder
About Kit Carson and the Navajo's Long Walk. very interesting.
Also, The Devil in the White City - about a serial killer in Chicago during hte world's fair. good reads, both of them
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