History Books

Started by midcan5, February 08, 2019, 06:32:31 AM

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midcan5

Thought I'd share a few history books I think are worth your time.  Other recommendations welcome.

'The Glory and the Dream: A Narrative History of America 1932-72'  by William Manchester
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19807.The_Glory_and_the_Dream

'Memoirs of the Second World War'  by Winston S. Churchill
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25589.Memoirs_of_the_Second_World_War

'That's Not What They Meant!: Reclaiming the Founding Fathers from America's Right Wing'  by Michael Austin
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15897043-that-s-not-what-they-meant

Five Books is a good source of information on all topics.  Five on American history below.

https://fivebooks.com/best-books/american-history-brent-glass/


"Only someone miraculously innocent of history could believe that competition among ideas could result in the triumph of truth"  John Gray

"History is the queen of the humanities. It teaches wisdom and humility, and it tells us how things change through time." Gordon S. Wood

"A book is proof that humans are capable of working magic, it's a flat object made from a tree with flexible parts on which are imprinted lots of funny dark squiggles. But one glance at it and you're inside the mind of another person, maybe somebody dead for thousands of years."  Carl Sagan
Wanna make America great, buy American owned, made in the USA, we do. AF Veteran, P-type: Advocate INFJ-A, liberal - conservative.

anothercw

Modern Times by Paul Johnson is excellent.

Dawn to Decadance by Jacques Barzun is another really good read.

I read a lot. But those are two of my favorites that I recommend for those new to the study of history.


midcan5

Barzun's book looks interesting, I have to check it out.  Two excellent reads in the same category are:

'The Modern Mind: An Intellectual History of the 20th Century'  by Peter Watson

'Ideas: A History of Thought and Invention, from Fire to Freud' by Peter Watson

Wanna make America great, buy American owned, made in the USA, we do. AF Veteran, P-type: Advocate INFJ-A, liberal - conservative.

patentlymn

Ethnic America by Thomas Sowell was excellent. A brief history of the different immigrant groups that populated America, how and when.

Albion's Seed is very long but I loved it. It explains how America was populated by 4 different immigrant groups/waves from Britain and how they differently affected the US in ways you can still see today.

lecarrjan

"The best advice I ever got was that knowledge is power and to keep reading."  David Bailey

Interesting books above I've read two. So then how about a topic that is often considered hard going and depressing? Evil. Many years ago I read a book on sanctions for evil, I'll link it below. It helped clarify my thinking about evil. Waller's book is well thought out too. Religious people used to think it was temptation, the devil's work, but the modern world looks at evil differently and often simple ascribes it to another, be it for religious or secular reasons. A few recommendations below, enter with care.

'Becoming Evil: How Ordinary People Commit Genocide and Mass Killing'  by James Waller
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/106372.Becoming_Evil

'Evil in Modern Thought: An Alternative History of Philosophy'
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/161812.Evil_in_Modern_Thought

'Sanctions For Evil'
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4649945-sanctions-for-evil

Other suggestions:

https://fivebooks.com/best-books/cruelty-and-evil-paul-bloom/

'The Meaning of Hitler'
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54338.The_Meaning_of_Hitler

Talk:

http://www.ted.com/talks/philip_zimbardo_on_the_psychology_of_evil.html


"The trouble with Eichmann was precisely that so many were like him, and that the many were neither perverted nor sadistic, that they were, and still are, terribly and terrifyingly normal. From the viewpoint of our legal institutions and of our moral standards of judgment, this normality was much more terrifying than all the atrocities put together."   Hannah Arendt

https://aeon.co/ideas/what-did-hannah-arendt-really-mean-by-the-banality-of-evil

https://aeon.co/essays/is-neuroscience-getting-closer-to-explaining-evil-behaviour

"We first kill people with our minds, before we kill them with weapons. Whatever the conflict, the enemy is always the destroyer. We're on God's side; they're barbaric. We're good, they're evil. War gives us a feeling of moral clarity that we lack at other times." Sam Keen



Solar

Quote from: lecarrjan on June 13, 2019, 05:54:36 AM
"The best advice I ever got was that knowledge is power and to keep reading."  David Bailey

Interesting books above I've read two. So then how about a topic that is often considered hard going and depressing? Evil. Many years ago I read a book on sanctions for evil, I'll link it below. It helped clarify my thinking about evil. Waller's book is well thought out too. Religious people used to think it was temptation, the devil's work, but the modern world looks at evil differently and often simple ascribes it to another, be it for religious or secular reasons. A few recommendations below, enter with care.

'Becoming Evil: How Ordinary People Commit Genocide and Mass Killing'  by James Waller
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/106372.Becoming_Evil

'Evil in Modern Thought: An Alternative History of Philosophy'
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/161812.Evil_in_Modern_Thought

'Sanctions For Evil'
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4649945-sanctions-for-evil

Other suggestions:

https://fivebooks.com/best-books/cruelty-and-evil-paul-bloom/

'The Meaning of Hitler'
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54338.The_Meaning_of_Hitler

Talk:

http://www.ted.com/talks/philip_zimbardo_on_the_psychology_of_evil.html


"The trouble with Eichmann was precisely that so many were like him, and that the many were neither perverted nor sadistic, that they were, and still are, terribly and terrifyingly normal. From the viewpoint of our legal institutions and of our moral standards of judgment, this normality was much more terrifying than all the atrocities put together."   Hannah Arendt

https://aeon.co/ideas/what-did-hannah-arendt-really-mean-by-the-banality-of-evil

https://aeon.co/essays/is-neuroscience-getting-closer-to-explaining-evil-behaviour

"We first kill people with our minds, before we kill them with weapons. Whatever the conflict, the enemy is always the destroyer. We're on God's side; they're barbaric. We're good, they're evil. War gives us a feeling of moral clarity that we lack at other times." Sam Keen
I've always found this subject of good vs evil to be a bit subjective, but fascinating.
Take Dims, they believe in their hearts that bigger govt is the answer, while the right sees this as rightly suppressing freedom and liberty.
Both believe they are right, both could justify fighting for what they believe in.

So who is correct? Does one group have the right to dictate what another group does? Nope. And most would see oppression as evil, but in the minds of the left, it's not oppression, they believe they are standing up for the little guy being overlooked by those fighting for freedom, individuality and liberty.
The left believes in their own crusade of protecting those without a voice, the right thinks everyone should be allowed to choose their own path. Who do you think is Right?
Both could very easily find consensus, but both sides have extremists not willing to budge.
Again, quite a fascinating debate.
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patentlymn

I read a few good history books in the past couple years.

Hitlerland - What were the impressions of Americans who went to Germany and even met Hitler in the 1930s, as they wrote it down at the time. No 20/20 hindsight. Lots of journalists and foreign service people. The women said Hitler was effeminate.

Bankrupting the Enemy - How the US financially squeezed Japan prior to Pearl Harbor through import and export bans and through denying them use of international finance channels. Very detailed. From the Naval Institute Press.

Seeing Like a State - Not exactly a history book but how the state sees people over history. The state wants to see, control, tax, and conscript and that explains their actions. Maps, roads, last names, and more.

Solar

Quote from: patentlymn on June 17, 2019, 04:05:55 PM
I read a few good history books in the past couple years.

Hitlerland - What were the impressions of Americans who went to Germany and even met Hitler in the 1930s, as they wrote it down at the time. No 20/20 hindsight. Lots of journalists and foreign service people. The women said Hitler was effeminate.

Bankrupting the Enemy - How the US financially squeezed Japan prior to Pearl Harbor through import and export bans and through denying them use of international finance channels. Very detailed. From the Naval Institute Press.

Seeing Like a State - Not exactly a history book but how the state sees people over history. The state wants to see, control, tax, and conscript and that explains their actions. Maps, roads, last names, and more.
Thanks, all sound rather interesting. I love history.
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lecarrjan

For all you American wanderers and travelers, the mid-west is such a fascinating place.  I love the openness and the long empty roads, the small towns, even as they change and often close. I have photos in the south too where so much is boarded up and abandoned homes dot the landscape. Sad really. So seeing the book by Greg Grandlin sparked my interest as we often live or is that believe in a mythical place now past.

'The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America'  Greg Grandin

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36743029-the-end-of-the-myth

A great read is 'Deep South: Four Seasons on Back Roads' by Paul Theroux  We've traveled many of these same roads.

Saw this too, maybe another time. 'The Absent Hand: Reimagining Our American Landscape'  by Suzannah Lessard


Footnote on Evil and books mentioned above.  An interesting read - not for everyone is 'One of Us: The Story of Anders Breivik and the Massacre in Norway' by Åsne Seierstad,  Sarah Death (Translator)

midcan5

I am reading 'The Rise and Fall of Communism' by Archie Brown, a very detailed account that is worth your time if you are a history buff or have an interest in Communism. Brown's book covered the historical underpinnings of communist thought and its concept of social revolution. Today many still believe that drastic social change is inevitable should we do such and such. Introduce one policy and the entire system collapses and we all live happily or not so happily onward. Our founders got one thing right, they recognized that government and its people required checks and balance. That is why we are still a democracy and not an autocracy. Let's keep it that way.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6004393-the-rise-and-fall-of-communism

"To understand is to perceive patterns." Isaiah Berlin
Wanna make America great, buy American owned, made in the USA, we do. AF Veteran, P-type: Advocate INFJ-A, liberal - conservative.

Solar

Quote from: midcan5 on July 15, 2019, 05:53:39 AM
I am reading 'The Rise and Fall of Communism' by Archie Brown, a very detailed account that is worth your time if you are a history buff or have an interest in Communism. Brown's book covered the historical underpinnings of communist thought and its concept of social revolution. Today many still believe that drastic social change is inevitable should we do such and such. Introduce one policy and the entire system collapses and we all live happily or not so happily onward. Our founders got one thing right, they recognized that government and its people required checks and balance. That is why we are still a democracy and not an autocracy. Let's keep it that way.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6004393-the-rise-and-fall-of-communism

"To understand is to perceive patterns." Isaiah Berlin
Two things. Obviously you have studied history, so how is it you can't see the direction the Dim party has taken, how much the party is continuing to push, and far far we've fallen since? I include the GOP in this collapse after being taken over by leftists.
And second, we're not a fuckin Democracy!
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midcan5

LOL  I should have wrote republic, but the book is excellent.  Read it read it read it. You will be enlightened.

"History is the queen of the humanities. It teaches wisdom and humility, and it tells us how things change through time." Gordon S. Wood

Wanna make America great, buy American owned, made in the USA, we do. AF Veteran, P-type: Advocate INFJ-A, liberal - conservative.

Solar

Quote from: midcan5 on July 17, 2019, 05:47:14 AM
LOL  I should have wrote republic, but the book is excellent.  Read it read it read it. You will be enlightened.

"History is the queen of the humanities. It teaches wisdom and humility, and it tells us how things change through time." Gordon S. Wood
Still, you avoid my question...
I know history, I know how things change through time, cause and effect, I understand human nature, I also know our Founders understood this better than anyone living today, which is why they created a Republic, Our Republic.
They understood power and corruption but they also understood Gods Law and the law of Nature and found the perfect balance between the two which is why they created a system not only slow to change, but one where stagnation in govt growth was considered a good thing.
For all the reading you do, why has it never clicked in your head, that change, though inevitable, should take place very slowly, yet I see you advocating for radical change in a single generation, when it should take several, so as not to disrupt society, but leftists don't give a shit, consequences be damned! Why is that?
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Possum

Quote from: midcan5 on October 11, 2019, 05:52:44 AM
If you want a real challenge I have an author - I should have listed above not sure how I had missed him - for you all. William T. Vollmann. I have been re-reading 'Rising up, Rising Down'. The abridged edition. Vollmann will challenge you in a way you have never been challenged before. I've read several of his other books, but I'll leave it there for now.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/45637.Rising_Up_and_Rising_Down

"Just for the hell of it, try to love someone as unlike you as possible." William T. Vollmann


Since so many people mention Rand, I thought I'd add this review. I am not a fan.

"Out of a lifetime of reading, I can recall no other book in which a tone of overriding arrogance was so implacably sustained. Its shrillness is without reprieve. Its dogmatism is without appeal. In addition, the mind which finds this tone natural to it shares other characteristics of its type. 1) It consistently mistakes raw force for strength, and the rawer the force, the more reverent the posture of the mind before it. 2) It supposes itself to be the bringer of a final revelation. Therefore, resistance to the Message cannot be tolerated because disagreement can never be merely honest, prudent, or just humanly fallible." Whittaker Chambers

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/2705853/posts
I guess "leaving it there" is easier than responding to questions. Too bad.

Solar

Quote from: s3779m on October 11, 2019, 06:02:57 AM
I guess "leaving it there" is easier than responding to questions. Too bad.
Thanks for making note of this. I will start deleting every post he makes until he responds to all the old replies/queries.
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