History books

[CrONoS]

Hi,

I'm looking for good history books on antic Greece, the roman empire and maybe also the middle age.

An old friend of me, give me a name of an old books, which is called "The Ancient City " by Fustel de Coulanges. Looks old, but look like the kind of thing I want to read.

thank you

[lord of the mark]

I recently read Donald Kagan on the Pelopennesian War, very good. Takes on what he considers some biases in Thucydides.


Michael Grant is pretty good on Rome, I havent read too much of his though.


Ive read alot more on the middle ages, anything in particular?

[LordShiva]

The Agricola and the Germania

[Lonestar]

Originally posted by lord of the mark
I recently read Donald Kagan on the Pelopennesian War, very good. Takes on what he considers some biases in Thucydides.

A War like No Other by Victor Davis Hensen.

For the Middleages I recommend A Distant Mirror by Barbara Tuchman...which is about the 100 years War.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Lonestar



A War like No Other by Victor Davis Hensen.

For the Middleages I recommend A Distant Mirror by Barbara Tuchman...which is about the 100 years War.

Je suis Le Sire de Coucy

[Traianvs]

Jérôme Carcopino (1968). Daily Life in Ancient Rome: The People and the City at the Height of the Empire

Gives a very vivid picture of what life was actually like back then.

[Traianvs]

If you want something about warfare, and soldier's equipment and battle strategies you might want to check out Greece and Rome at War by Peter Conolly

[Lonestar]

Originally posted by lord of the mark


Je suis Le Sire de Coucy

I also liked the Chapter on the Black Plague.

[Imran Siddiqui]

I recently read Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic by Tom Holland. Gives a very interesting and entertaining overview of the final years of the Republic. The book reads like a novel while detailing the rise of Pompey Magnus and Julius Caesar, as well as Cicero, Cato, Brutus and the other major players. It also, in the first half of the book, goes into the nature of Rome and the underlying ethos of the Republic. Gives a view into what ordinary Romans believed and what was their greatest wish for their city.

[molly bloom]

The Roman military:

...Peddie (a retired officer in the British Army) illuminates one aspect of the Roman Army in each chapter. This ranges from the Roman equivalent of staff officers, battlefield communications, marching camp techniques, siege warfare, equipment and other points. Some of the more interesting contents are his rebuffs of what many other military historians have perceived as weaknesses or want in the Roman Army. He clearly points out how everything served a valuable purpose in the Roman Army and what many have assumed were missing were actually there in one form or another. He also draws surprising similarities between the British campaign in Burma during WWII and the Roman way of war. All in all a most satisfying and clear read, though perhaps he digresses a bit too much on some occassions.

http://www.amazon.com/Roman-Machine-Medieval-Military-Library/dp/0938289853

'The Roman War Machine' by John Peddie.

Osprey Books also have a wide range of books dealing with individual aspects of the Roman military as it evolved, from allied barbarian cavalry to siege machines and ballistas:

http://www.ospreypublishing.com/

[Julian Delphiki]

Adrian Goldsworthy has written excellent books about Rome, especially about it's military.

Adrian Goldsworthy at amazon

In the Name of Rome: The Men Who Won the Roman Empire tells about greatest Roman generals and their campaigns.

The Complete Roman Army surprisingly tells about Roman army.

Both books can be recommended if you are interested about Roman military history.

[CrONoS]

thanks to all, i've seen that many people posted books on military.

I would be also curious about "sociologic" study about them; about private property/collective property, cultural problem, religious problem, the state, criminality, slavery, how to deal with the plebs etc...

[Wernazuma III]

Originally posted by cronos_qc
thanks to all, i've seen that many people posted books on military.

I would be also curious about "sociologic" study about them; about private property/collective property, cultural problem, religious problem, the state, criminality, slavery, how to deal with the plebs etc...

If you're looking for something "readable", which is pretty reliant but not too scholarly written, I'd go for Michael Grant. His History of Rome is written rather linear, chronological and gives a good overview. However, I like better his book on the Ancient Greeks, which is structured in chapters around famous persons of the time, always giving an overview about the different topics they stand for (politics, philosophy, religion, theater, architecture, medicine, etc.)

Also for Ancient Greece I found Moses I. Finley, "Economy and society in ancient Greece" a great read, if you really want a more social-economic perspective. The man also wrote a history of Ancient slavery IIRC.

[molly bloom]

Richard N. Frye's 'The Heritage Of Persia' is definitely one that can be recommended- it covers trade, economics, religion, society, arts et cetera, from pre-Achaemenid times until the Islamic conquest of the Sassanid Empire.

'A History of Mediaeval Islam' by J. J. Saunders does an excellent job of detailing the various states that the Caliphate became, the vast migrations which affected the Middle and Near East, North Africa and Iberia.

Peter Hunter-Blair's 'An Introduction To Anglo-Saxon England' is a good overview of the various states which arose in England post-Romano-Celtic times, and the sometimes surprising links they had with Europe and the wider world.

For a broader view of post-Roman Western Europe, this offers a good insight: 'The Barbarian West: 400-1000' by J. M. Wallace-Hadrill.


I have several good introductory books on the Celts of Europe and the Viking migrations too, which I'll look out for you.


Two that are quite fascinating are by John Julius Norwich and deal with the splendour and magnificence of the Norman realms in Sicily and the Mediterranean:

'The Normans in the South' and 'Kingdom in the Sun'.

For sociological and cultural insight into the Middle Ages in Europe I recommend also Friedrich Heer's 'The Medieval World: Europe 1100-1350'.