How to find good history books | The Diatribe
Vložit
- čas přidán 16. 10. 2019
- Thanks to CuriosityStream for sponsoring this episode. Go to this link for a free 30-day trial: curiositystream.com/cynicalhi...
Check out Peter's channel, Stacks & Facts, which is all about the library sciences: / @stacksfacts
People ask me for book recommendations all the time. Here is a brief guide on how to find those books on your own.
------------------------------------------------------------
Connected videos:
12 Annoyances for Historians: • 12 Annoyances for Hist...
Historical Orthodoxy, Revisionism, and Post-Revisionism: • Historical Orthodoxy, ...
Wikipedia: • Wikipedia | The Diatribe
What is Historiography? • How to research history
Why New Mexico Hates Texas: • Why New Mexico Hates T...
------------------------------------------------------------
SUBSCRIBE FOR MORE VIDEOS:
czcams.com/users/subscription_c...
Support the channel through PATREON:
/ cynicalhistorian
LET'S CONNECT:
Subreddit: / cynicalhistory
Facebook: / cynicalcypher88
Discord: / discord
Twitter: / cynical_history
history, documentary, books, recommendations, recommend, find, guide, JSTOR, libraries, library, review, scholarly, peer, book, google scholar, wikipedia, thesaurus
I think general/national histories are still very useful as introductions or for the general public. If I don't know anything about Japanese history, I'm not going to start with a book on a specific period of Japanese history, like say the Portuguese time in Japan in early modern times. I need a lot of background first, and will start with a general survey book then work my way to books on specific events/periods.
Yea I use them as surveys basically to find a more specific topic to look into
>"They ask me, what's a good book on American history? That is way, way too broad!"
>Has a book titled "UNITED STATES HISTORY" right behind him
that's basically a glossary
HaHa, I couldn't help but notice that as well...
@@Hermanubis1 Where TF did that homophobia come from? Either way, bigots get banned. Buh bye
as an academic librarian and history professor...awesome job !
Here are a few history books on a variety of topics that I enjoyed back when I got my degree. I would consider most of them to be entertaining reads (this is subjective) rather than a textbook style. Most are about very specific events, and for context my degree focused a lot on microhistory and studying historiography. Enjoy!!
The Return of Martin Guerre - Natalie Zemon Davis
The Armada - Garrett Mattingly
A Tale of Two Murders - James R. Farr
The Making of the English Working Class - E.P. Thompson
The Great Cat Massacre (And Other Episodes in French Cultural History) - Robert Darnton
Witch Craze - Lyndal Roper
Trent 1475 - R. Po-chia Hsia
Skyscrapers Hide the Heavens (A History of Indian-White Relations in Canada) - J.R. Miller
Europe in a Wider World, 1350-1650 - Winks & Wandel
Love & Death in Renaissance Italy - Thomas V. Cohen (Bias warning, this was one of my profs. Really smart and entertaining historian.)
Read some of those; they’re pretty solid, although not QUITE as definitive or epic as the works of Toynbee and Spengler (which have somehow managed, for whatever fucking reason, to age incredibly well...like, scarily well, unlike, say, Gibbon) :P
Finding history good books... huh
3 most useful sources for me: my university’s library catalogue, google scholar, and the Wikipedia references section
A thing I learned recently is to take a good look at the book and maybe read the introduction before buying. I recently bought a book I thought I could use for my thesis, and only after buying did I notice that A). The guy who wrote it is not a historian, just some retiree with a passion for local history and B). He took the images for the book from wikipedia.
The book itself is well-written, depicts the events accurately enough and is clearly based on a lot of research. A shame it's also completely unusable beyond the source list at the end.
Thanks to CuriosityStream for sponsoring this episode. Go to this link for a free 30-day trial: curiositystream.com/cynicalhistorian
See replies to this comment for errata and additional info
Check out Peter's channel, Stacks & Facts, which is all about the library sciences: czcams.com/channels/37J30wHpQOtc1vzuN6OdDA.html
Thanks for watching, and please consider supporting the channel by buying merch: teespring.com/stores/the-cynical-historian
Or by donating to my Patreon: www.patreon.com/CynicalHistorian
See following replies for corrections and additional info, but first, here are some related videos to check out:
12 Annoyances for Historians: czcams.com/video/4J6IPhEkYmo/video.html
Historical Orthodoxy, Revisionism, and Post-Revisionism: czcams.com/video/xQGs3eYxGRw/video.html
Wikipedia: czcams.com/video/RYBD3VV3eao/video.html
What is Historiography? czcams.com/play/PLjnwpaclU4wU5T64ixCALFUC6c6cQJjL-.html
Why New Mexico Hates Texas: czcams.com/video/CTA10aruS6Y/video.html
*errata*
8:02 Foner not Fonder (thx
Norman M. Stewart)
I found this video very helpful. Thank you sir.
Well there are a lot of wars to choose from in America’s history.
Lol, you should make a dartboard with American conflicts on them. . .
“A lot” in what regard? If you are referring to an amount that is literally more than zero then this may be correct. If, however, you are referring to in comparison to other countries then this is completely incorrect. There has never been a great power even close to as peaceful as the United States. This is something that is pretty obvious, so it always stuns me whenever people refer to the United States in warmongering ways
@@michaelb9386 you're fucking hilarious you probably think war is peace. Oh no we aren't sanctioning more countries I'd like to count right now. And selling weapons that help genocide in other countries. Also don't look the fact that we have more nukes than the rest of the world except Russia.
@@crmesson22k I'm assuming he meant that the U.S hasn't taken part in as many conflicts as European or Asian countries have.
@@mariosmatzoros3553 alright but he wasn't referring to others all he said was "their are many wars to choose from in America history" which pale in comparison to other countries but their are still lots of wars and countless deaths
Thank you for this, I've felt a little lost when trying to find good history books in the past.
A good one is History of all Nations by S.C Goodrich, published 1852 A.D. The older books are gold.
A few I recommend:
Anything by David Hackett Fischer: Albion's Seed, Champlain's Dream, Paul Revere's Ride, Washington's Crossing, etc. He's a top historian and a fine writer who lays out the facts and makes you care about the subject matter. If you want to know why America is the way that it is read Albion's Seed, which describes four great waves of immigration from England to America and how those immigrations shaped the nation we now have. If you want to know why Canada is different from the US read about Samuel de Champlain who led the initial exploration and colonization of that land. Read about how the French viewed the Americas differently than the Spanish or English did. If you think Paul Revere only rode a horse on one night... well, that was a tiny fraction of what he did.
Nathaniel Philbrick: Mayflower, Bunker Hill, etc. Another excellent historian who can write well.
David McCollough: 1776, John Adams, etc.
Howard Zinn: A People's History of the US. Yes, I dare to say it. It's a good book which describes history from a different point of view. Any author can delve into the common wars and events (the Revolution, the Civil War, World Wars 1 & 2.) Zinn goes where others fear to tread. He goes in depth with the poor, the union organizers, the US-Phillipeano war, Vietnam protests and why these things matter to the nation.
And don't forget that biographies double as history books. This year I read Goodwin's Team of Rivals about Lincoln and his cabinet. Soon I may read her Bully Pulpit, about Theodore Roosevelt. I've read rave reviews about the Grant biography from Ron Chernow. A few years ago I read the Champlain book, it's one of the best I've read in 20 years.
There's plenty of good history books out there.
The librarian insert was pretty clever. Good stuff!
For me, the hard part isn't finding the book; it's settling on a specific topic!
The funny thing is, when you mentioned someone asking about a good overall American history book, my first thought was "the most recent college edition of McGraw-Hill's American History. . . "
Which, as far as text books go, at least they try to make it interesting. . .
"Narrow the subject down ... national histories tend to be pretty bad" .... on the day that Amazon delivered Jill Lepore's "These Truths" to my door. :D
Tbf, I like national histories as jumping off points for more narrowly focused books.
In the spanish speaking world, we have very good books about the general history of some countries (USA, Russia, etc), civilizations (Egypt, Greece, Rome, the entire Medieval Age, etc) or even the Second World War. What we don't have are many specialized books of history in our language, like for example "The Roman art of war under the Republic" or "The Ottoman army from 1500 to 1700 aD".
Hail, King Richard the Furst! May his reign be purrfect and filled with treats!
Long live the king!!
Have you ever read Durant? His stuff is a bit dated by 21st century standards, mostly due to his dating being slightly off, but otherwise his “Story of Civilization” (I think that’s what it’s called) is one of the best, most readable, and comprehensive popular histories I have ever read.
Any advice on how to write a general book on the Philosophy of History? As in, a broad dialectic that weaves various subjects together?
Another great and informative video man. I've emailed it to a bunch of my peers and freshmen as a kickstart to their researches, until they take a historiography course.
Onwards to 100K Subs!
The Jstor for real is the best. Use it constantly especially when there is anything from an outside subject related to the history in question (e.g. economics of Antebellum South or social consciousness in Communist Hungary etc.)
Your College/Uni will have access to it and community colleges will give access to residents
Ahh libraries. God bless Andrew Carnegie and his guilty conscience
@Teucer Russell tell me where I'm wrong
It's not what his biographer says.
www.mprnews.org/story/2016/12/22/why-did-andrew-carnegie-give-it-all-away
@@peterhaag5225 He was a good man who made some bad decisions based on the attitudes of his times and he planned on giving it all away before he did anything wrong.
Yes well done Carnegie, libraries are always good to research where he went wrong in the Gilded Age
🤣✊
4:10 - Ooo, Dissent! That's a fabulous book!
Other than primary sources, historiographical essays are essential ! And article databases too
I think it is important to narrow down your area of inquiry. That’s the starting point. Then just read up the synopsis of critically acclaimed books 📚 n that area of inquiry. Also, make sure to read different points of views and analyses on the topic of your interest. This helps you form a broader understanding of the topic you are in to.
Me: *watching The Walking Dead* "Don't Dead Open Inside"?
Me: *watching Cynical Historian* "Finding History Good Books"?
Most Universe Press books usually make a pretty damn good set to own. Especially when they're a part of a universe press series, like the Yale Anchor Bible series.
Well done sir.
One thing my professor said that I found helpful: If you are questioning whether you are reading a popular history book or a scholarly history book, look at the publisher. Anything published by a Universtiy Press (Oxford University Press, etc.) is scholarly. But, that does not necessarily that all popular history is bad, you just should be aware of that.
Hey cypher have you ever checked out what would jello do? Any thoughts?
a great book i read for a class once was 'The Wretched of the Earth' by Frantz Fanon
I got a Bud light commercial with a medieval king right after we met the new cat.
That had to be purposeful on CZcams's part
4:20- Jenkins and Beard? This man has taste!
A recent read of mine was of Shelby Foote’s The Civil War. It was a trilogy about the American Civil War, I’d recommend it.
Ummmmmm not sure about that. The man, while a great orator... was a hardcore Lost Causer.
Tyler Bioshock Rodriguez that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a enjoyable book to read.
@@cbowser3 Perhaps enjoyable, but historically dubious.
Tyler Bioshock Rodriguez yeah I can agree with that
Tyler Bioshock Rodriguez what would you recommend then?
What's your take on Rick Perlstein's books? Is that more pop-history? I'm reading them right now, and they seem to cover much of what you're talking about in your video series on political polarization
I've used them. They're quite detailed, perhaps a bit too much. But the nice thing about books is that you can just skip the parts you don't need
Could you make a video about 'Immortal Beloved'?
Peruse: read (something), typically in a thorough or careful way.
Maybe it can be quick.
8:02 Fonder? It's Foner!
I once read a book about politics in the Tudor period I was having trouble with insomnia at the time so I was breezing through books at a alarming rate this book slowed that down and put me right to sleep 😴💤
I'd say if you're not willing to read material that was written in the period you're interested in, you shouldn't bother reading history books at all. Well, maybe that's too extreme, but I think the tendency is to confirm unconscious, historically parochial biases. Old books tend to break us out of that. And they force us to ask different questions. Those questions will then help you find modern history books that are worth the effort.
Another thing I do is I will sometimes start with "minor" works or authors. Some works are so weighed down but their reputations that they become too intimidating to "risk" an independent judgment.
So, if you're going to read Shakespeare for example, skip Hamlet and read King John. Crush that and then you're ready to take on the Canon.
Yea he never mentioned primary sources even once very sad. I always say the only difference between reading primary sources and modern history books is the amount of liars you have to contend with goes from one to two.
I wonder if we can start a book club of recommended books? Since reading Les Miserable and the Temeraire series (historical fiction + dragonic air force), I was interested in Waterloo. I ended up liking this: www.amazon.com/Waterloo-History-Three-Armies-Battles-ebook/dp/B00MMFCEDC/
I'm still looking for a good book on Giuseppe Garibaldi. The books that best match your criteria are only in Italian! I do have his memoirs, but autobiographies are only half the story it seems, from author bias to what happened after the book was published. Oh, and hi cat!
I am patting myself on the back as I do all of this as a history lover though I am not a professional and have any degrees
Happy to see a NM based channel!
If a country is small, is it already narrowed down?
Close to 100,000 😀
Woot woot!
As a truck driver for 18 years, I get to hear book reviews. Ive never missed on a history book,but once. A great book was written about a major figure in aviation history. But the guy who was narrating the audiobook was *BORING* ! If it wasn't for the fact that the book was well written and I was interested in the topic,I would have thrown it the window.
Finding History Good Books
v.
Finding Good History Books
Who will win?
You forgot libgen and zlibrary, they're incredible
I can neither confirm nor deny that I use these resources
The war on history by Jarrett Stepman is one of the best American history books.
The best US history book is "Our Dumb Century"
The Onion has some great insights.
Answer: Gary Jennings and Wilbur Smith
Notoriety is a bit misleading. Many lousy histories are well known and discussed because they are bad, or grabbed the general public's attention enough to force other historians to correct them. Pay attention to why they have notoriety. Also while considering age is useful, just because a book is older doesn't mean that it is outdated or wrong. As cypher noted, broader narrative histories are less common so your starting points may be a bit older. Just be sure to always read any analytical texts with a critical but open mind and find a mix of books on the subject. Also keep in mind that some of the best scholars are terrible writers. If you are not focused on a specialist viewpoint, go for the general and narrow down from there. Always consult the bibliography of any book you consider. You'll find new material there, plus if a book doesn't use any primary sources, you may want to proceed with caution or at least know to read more afterward.
Harvard has it's history course's reading list available online iirc
This is for anyone. Does anyone know a good book or books that discuss the slave ports and slave trade into Virginia?
Show us your library please!
Most of my books are digital, but I did a tour a couple years ago: czcams.com/video/m7WzBso_CYM/video.html
I've managed to add an entire extra bookcase since then, but at least it's only one
1:50 yea, american roman war
sounds cool.
2:15 wtf dude superlatives are the equivalent of curse words, smh.
*rarely
Are you from Illinois?
California and Nevada
@@CynicalHistorian oh nice, yeah i just watched your san luis obispo video
as long as the wiki got good source use it
Been looking for War is a Racket
What about sapiens a brief history of human kind?
Your cat is awesome, so is his 'tude.
Don'r forget H-net!
War is a racket 👀
I think the problem with historians now is they don't see the broad picture and bias their opinions.
Or if you're in doubt, go for some Eric Hobsbawm. Not always up to date and current methods, but it's always a good read and some good history.
"𝕎ℍ𝔸𝕋 𝕄𝔸𝔻𝔼 𝕐𝕆𝕌 𝕊𝕄𝕀𝕃𝔼 𝕋𝕆𝔻𝔸𝕐?"
Howard Zinn lol
Richard I is so cute!!!
Cambridge Companions? Penguin Histories?
Our first Prime minister was a historian
Don't dead open inside
Bro you need to find a history book That's called history of Serbs i have it and it have 1200 pages
Finding history
Good books
How to find a identify a good history book: see if the names “Toynbee” or “Spengler” are written on the cover. 🤣🤣
I like textbooks
can you do a top ten jobs for history majors if you wouldn't mind.
I have been planning a "what is a historian" kind of diatribe
You should also take in other disciplines as well for a more complete perspective on your subject. Recently on the role of slavery in the American economy the New History of American Capitalism historians have taken a lot of flak from economists for bad methodological practices and getting basic econometric measures wrong.
I took a class last semester from Jason Scott Smith, and he complains that economists aren't willing to work with them on the subject. So that might be from their rigidity, rather than genuine criticism
@@CynicalHistorian Maybe, Alan L. Olmstead and Paul W. Rhode put together their criticisms in a pretty good article, in particular they cite Edward Baptist's "The Half Has Never Been Told" for really poor econometric work, like double and even triple counting inputs, which you can't do as the price of the final good already has the price of the intermediate goods priced into. His double counting greatly inflates the role of cotton's contribution to GDP which is where the idea that in 1860 slavery was responsible for 50% of national GDP comes from.
www.law.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/microsites/law-economics-studies/olmstead_-_cotton_slavery_and_history_of_new_capitalism_131_nhc_28_sept_2016.pdf
Never recommends generalized history books while standing in front of the complete series on world history by Will and Ariel Durant. Just sayin.
SoC is without a doubt the best popular history I’ve ever read. I love generalist history books, so long as they are well-written and analytically non-reductive (although that mostly pertains to the philosophy of history, which may or may not be considered generalist). Because of Durant, I discovered Toynbee, Spengler, and Quigley, Voltaire, Hegel, and Kant (the last three of whom I never knew wrote history).
I'm orthodox christian 👌
10:21
"Nobody wants to read a textbook"?
Am I a joke to you, sir?
Note to all, don't be me and buy Legacy of Ashes. I wanted a good CIA book and the NYT recommended it. It says a lot of unverifiable things and its sources are sketchy at best.
Best book on native Americans?
which tribe?
Am I the only one who enjoys reading textbooks? 😅
Probably
Revisionist history, bleh. Go for post-revisionism if you can.
unfortunately, post-revisionism is a moving target
Zzzzzzzzz
Can you recommend a terrible book on U.S. history, full of inaccuracies and lies? One that has lead countless people astray from the truth of what happened?
Quite a few. Just about anything saying it has the truth that the authorities don't want you to hear, as in conspiracy theorists
Avoid Howard Zinn.
And Nancy MacClean (other than her book on the KKK, that was pretty good)
What's wrong with Zinn? Is there any other better alternatives?
@@WesternMan-th1ow he's a communist who rewrites history to suit his narrative.
@@Ken19700 He's more of a libertarian socialist than a traditional Communist.
"A Peoples History of the United States" for US history.
"The Origins of the Second World War" for WWII history
If i dont feel patriotic when i read an history book i will consider it not only bad but also anti american.
*Remember The Alamo!*
shouldn't you view reading itself already "anti american"?
So you don't want History. You want a feel good story.
I am joking my emperor
@@KonEl-BlackZero
I am very happy to hear that. I sensed sarcasm but CZcams comments make that difficult.
A "good" "modern" historian finds books on wikipedia and does not care about textbooks.... ok.... that is why I gave a thumbs down