Best books on History?

Hey there, I've done GCSE history and currently do A level history, and history has always been quite a thing I've liked and found interesting. However, as I've started to read books more I've thought that its time to get some proper, good books on History. I've checked on amazon etc but most books are very specific (if you know what I mean) so its quite hard to find the 'best' ones. For A level history I do Nazi Germany and the Religious Reformation. I would like to read around those areas in History, and just get a better understanding of other aspects. I want to be reading for pleasure, my own will. However, I would also like good books on Nazi Germany and things such as the Holocaust :p:

So, if anyone has any good recommendations on books to do with 20th century Russia, communism, Lenin, Stalin, Mussolini, Nazi Germany in general, the Holocaust, Churchill, WW1 and WW2 I'd be very grateful! :biggrin:

Thanks

Reply 1

A-Man!

1

Russia - go for the Richard Pipes 'trilogy'.
That's "Russia Under the Old Regime" (currently reading, and it's excellent), "The Russian Revolution" (1917) and "Russia under the Communist Regime" (20th century).

As for British history, go for "The Rise and Fall of the British Empire" - very interesting.

Reply 2

moonshine_1991

12

I recently read "Auschwitz- Th Nazis and the 'final solution'" by Laurence Rees. It was really informative, some of it shocking. It is a good read.

Reply 3

giella

15

Ian Kershaw's Hitler, the Germans and the Final Solution would be a good read. You might find James Sharpe's books on early modern England a good read. He was my supervisor and I really should know his books but he's written some excellent popular books as well as one of the most relevant books on 16th century England and the history of witchcraft. It's a good branch-out subject if you're studying the reformation as it isn't just a regurgitation of facts and dates but a concentrated study of the impact of religious upheaval in the 16th century.
Richard Bessel's Political Violence and the Rise of Nazism: The Storm Troopers in Eastern Germany 1925-1934 is good. He's a fantastic lecturer as well. If you're interested in Russia then I would recommend anything by Shane O'Rourke. Unbelievably intelligent man.

Reply 4

danielharris627

OP

13

Thanks guys. Ah yeah, I've read the Nazis and the final solution book and thought it was great! I need to read some more of Rees' stuff.

Reply 5

danielharris627

OP

13

A-Man!

Russia - go for the Richard Pipes 'trilogy'.
That's "Russia Under the Old Regime" (currently reading, and it's excellent), "The Russian Revolution" (1917) and "Russia under the Communist Regime" (20th century).

As for British history, go for "The Rise and Fall of the British Empire" - very interesting.

Is the communist regime the Russia Under the Bolshevik Regime one? Because I can't see it otherwise, thanks!
And have you read the communism book by him? :cool:

Reply 6

A-Man!

1

Sorry, yes Bolshevik...
I haven't yet read it - just couldn't remember the name! Sorry!

Reply 7

danielharris627

OP

13

Thats ok

unfortunately the russian revolution one is about £25 :eek:

Reply 8

A-Man!

1

http://www.amazon.com/Russian-Revolution-Richard-Pipes/dp/0679736603 ?
And the used section is cheap.

Reply 9

XcammiX

if ur doin a level history sum books can b pretty over whelming id recommend the heinneman a level books for history their new and each book covers a diff subject. they help build on ur gcse knowledge.

Reply 10

A-Man!

1

No that's awful - if you're serious about the subject, read something engaging like Pipe's work as an example.
If you read the heinneman books, then you obviously don't want to explore history.

Reply 11

DJKL

17

For books per £1 have a browse in an Oxfam book shop (if they have one near you) The one in Stockbridge, Edinburgh, is a great place to pick up History books in general and the books are ordered by subject meaning you can visit on a regular basis and check new stock quickly.

My best acquistion to date, for my wife, was an English translation of a book from 1938, "History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union"

The book is ascribed as "Edited by A Commission of the C.C. of the C.P.S.U (B.)

My wife, the Russian History fanatic, found it interesting to read a more contemporary account of the Revolution via official Soviet control.

Other than the above, which may be difficult to find and somewhat limiting ,she suggests "A People's Tragedy" Orlando Figes, as easy to read but not superficial.

I do not really read Russian etc history, I prefer Economic History, in this regard if you have an inkling , "The Rise of the Atlantic Economies" Ralph Davies, is a very good broad history which greatly assists in placing in context most of the European wars from 1450 to 1800. I found it very readable over twenty years ago and still pick up and read odd chapters. I appreciate it is not what you asked for but given the way history now appears to be taught in schools, narrow segments, a wider ranging history is very useful to place events in context.

Reply 12

necessarily benevolent

14

What If? - collected essays :stupid:

What If? 2 - collected essays :s-smilie:

Lenin: A Biography - Robert Service :spank:
Stalin: A Biography - Robert Service :jester:

What is History? - E.H. Carr :dry:

The Practice of History - G.R. Elton :thumbdown:

Re-thinking History - Keith Jenkins :gthumb:

Studying History - Jeremy Black and Donald M. MacRaild :work:

Stalingrad - Anthony Beevor :nopity:

The History of the Peloponnesian War - Thucydides :fight:

The Lives of the Caesars - Suetonius :smartass:

Empire - Niall Ferguson :hat:

A Brief History of 1917: Russia's Year of Revolution - Bainton :happy2:

Mussolini - Denis Mack Smith :nutcase:

Mein Kampf - Adolf Hitler :fuhrer:
The Communist Manifesto - Marx and Engels :puke:

Animal Farm - Orwell :oink:

Nineteen Eighty-Four - Orwell :unsure:

Sharpe series - Bernard Cornwell :lolwut:

The Dictators - Richard Overy :ssaw:

The Cruel Sea - Nicholas Montserrat :angel:

Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar - Simon Sebag Montefiore :p:

The Historian's Craft - Marc Bloch :smile:

Reply 13

DJKL

17

Did you enjoy "The Practice of History" ? I found it quite hard going.

Reply 14

necessarily benevolent

14

DJKL

Did you enjoy "The Practice of History" ? I found it quite hard going.

Yeah, it took me some time to get through it. I need to read it again actually, freshen up a bit. It was basically a criticism of Carr wasn't it?

Reply 15

DJKL

17

To tell you the truth it is so long since it appeared on my reading list (27 years) that I could not swear I even finished it, let alone remember much of its thrust.

I think it has been relegated to a box in the attic, maybe I should give it a second chance.

The only thing I do remember is that I did not enjoy attempting to read it,maybe with age my boredom threshold has increased, however now I don't read history for exams but for pleasure I somehow doubt this is the case.

:smile:

Reply 16

A-Man!

1

About Orlando Figes's ""A People's Tragedy", can't say I'm too keen.
I find it a bit too easy to read, and I think it skips some important parts of the subject.
Annoyingly, this is what the teacher is reccomending - great for not too serious students, but go for something a lot more deep if you're serious about the subject.

Reply 17

imomo16

12

For a general history of Russia, Orlando Fige's Natasha's Dance is excellent.
Extremely well written, and looks at Russia from an interesting point of view. I study the Revolution/Stalin's USSR as well, and it makes a refreshing change from accounts of the revoultion and life under Stalin.

Reply 18

MJE

For Russian history, try any of Sheila Fitzpatrick, Christopher Read (my Russia lecturer, woo!), Robert Conquest, Edward Acton, Richard Overy, Geoffrey Hosking, Simon Sebag Montefiore, Orlando Figes, Donald Rayfield, Isaac Deutscher, Alec Nove, Richard Pipes, to name but a few.

For Nazi Germany, Richard Overy, Mark Mazower's latest book, Ian Kershaw, Michael Burleigh, Richard Evans, Jill Stephenson

For Mussolini - Denis Mack Smith, R J Bosworth, Tom Behan, Donald Sassoon, Philip Morgan

Reply 19

A-Man!

1

Russian History - Richard Pipes.

End.

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