There’s a podcast called Real Dictators which did a series on Napoleon. Very interesting, but I had little knowledge of Napoleon before hand so it is likely a more surface level understanding of events leading up to and through his rule. Also highly recommend this series in general.

Empire of the Summer Moon was a fantastic read. As someone who was born and raised in Texas it was amazing to me how relatively recent all of that was as well.

Thanks for the New Year resolution info, really interesting. I knew that the calendar (January 1) starts the day the new Roman Consoles were sworn in, but had no idea about New Year resolutions.

That makes total sense to me. I would assume you’re right in that people who got seriously sea sick would be an annoyance at best and dangerous to have aboard at worst in a battle situation.

Watching the movie Greyhound (good movie btw) it made me think, what happened if you joined the Navy in WW2 or before and found out you were violently sea sick? I would assume most guys joining the Navy back then had probably never been on a boat as traveling wasn’t as common, and certainly not on rough seas. Would they be reassigned to something land-based or would they just have to suck it up/live with it until they hopefully got used to it?

This is really a tough question to answer because it depends what your friend is interested in. If there’s a specific time or issue that interests them more than others then I would suggest finding something regarding that. For instance, if they like Samurai movies or Medieval knights then look for a decent, not heavy, book regarding that time frame.

You could also try something more general that covers a broad expanse of time such as Dan Carlin’s book, The End is Always Near. It’s been a while since I read that but I remember him releasing many historical events to modern day so it is more relevant and interesting.

Not a book, but you should also show them the YouTube channel called, Crash Course World History. It’s done by a history teacher in an engaging way and is meant to cover historical eras in an easy and relevant way - meant for people exactly like your friend. I would recommend starting there and then if they find a historical era or civilization they want to know more about then diving into some related books. Hope that helps!

I would go with Sun Jian simply because whenever China has a war it’s always stats like 20 million dead in an indecisive battle… just throw bodies at the Spartans until they collapse

I’ve been listening to a podcast called Fall of Civilizations. It’s about large civilizations and goes into why they ultimately failed (obviously) but also gives great insight into how they became “great” too. I enjoy that they try to give a perspective on what it would be like as a citizen of the empires while it’s collapsing as well. Also, maybe not the definition of broad, but Hardcore History by Dan Carlin is probably the greatest history based podcast out there in my opinion. But, he goes very in depth into each topic (like 5+ hours a show) so it might not be what you’re looking for.

Are there any direct familial lines from any of the Roman/Byzantium emperors that later became leaders after those empires collapsed? Even if they were just puppets for others I would think the direct lineage with Rome might give them some legitimacy to rule.

I finished this a few weeks ago and loved it. As someone who knew very little about the Middle Ages I thought the author Dan Jones did a really good job of writing informatively but keeping it interesting and surprisingly relevant to the modern era. I’m definitely going to check out some of his other books, I know he did one on the Crusades that sounds interesting. Also if you’re interested you can find some interviews/podcasts with the author on YouTube which are also pretty interesting - one I liked was where he kind of overviewed all of the crusades and their importance and Dan Carlin did a podcast episode with him also which is where I learned about the book originally.

I have not read it but per Wikipedia: “Ten Days That Shook the World (1919) is a book by the American journalist and socialist John Reed. Here, Reed presented a firsthand account of the 1917 Russian October Revolution. Reed followed many of the most prominent Bolsheviks closely during his time in Russia.”

Sounds very interesting. I always find first hand accounts fascinating as they give a perspective that is untainted (for better or worse) by the following historical examination and shows what people were thinking at the time. Thank for the recommendation!

You should check out the YouTube channel called Crash Course World History. Very broad overviews of history from the beginning of agriculture to modern times. It’s done by a history teacher who tries to make it engaging and funny and relate it to why history matters. I really enjoyed the series and it made me decide which periods of history or historical events were interesting to me so that I could then do a deeper dive into those periods. Hope you find the videos as enjoyable as I did! https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBDA2E52FB1EF80C9

A tree is probably more qualified than half the “independent researchers” online honestly

They term “best” is obviously subjective and would depend what you’re interested in - art, historical artifacts from specific periods, etc. So not necessarily the “best” but the British Museum currently is the largest in the world with over 8 million pieces of art, history and cultural artifacts. If you take the Smithsonian Institution as a whole which has multiple museums in DC, then they would be the largest at around 155 million pieces. So if you think about which museums would likely have something for everybody then these two would likely be top of the list simply from sheer size and range of the collections.

My personal favorite museum is the Pergamon Museum in Berlin, but I have yet to visit the British Museum myself.

I read that prior to the beginning of WW2, Germany attempted to bring Poland into the anti-communist defense act along with Japan but Poland refused because it was attempting to keep friendly relations with both the USSR and Germany. Was it a realistic scenario at one point for Poland to join the Axis powers or was Hitler’s plan always to invade Poland and subjugate it due to Poland being controlled by the Slavic people who Germany saw as beneath them?

I’m by no means an expert in this time period, just going off some videos and books I’ve read in the past but I believe the nail in the reunification coffin was the war of 1812. Before that it slowly over time lost support but there was some hope the US would fall back under the British Empire even nominally. After 1812 it was pretty clear they would remain separate.

This was generally not a war of cultures since American and British citizenry were extremely similar. It was (very simplistically) an issue of taxation and representation. During the 7 Years War, also known as the French and Indian War, Britain spent a large sum on protecting and defending its colonies throughout America from the French. This war was a massive drain on the British economy and to help recover they decided to tax the American colonies more heavily than before since much of that expense had come specifically from defending the colonies themselves.

Even after the war there were substantial factions on both sides who assumed the two would be reunited again eventually due to the cultures and citizens being essentially one and the same. This is all of course a very simplistic explanation and of there are tons of nuances on each side.

What is the earliest known instance of what we today would consider a conspiracy theory?

Awesome I’ll check them out, thank you!

Sounds like a fascinating mix of history, anthropology and psychology, I’ll add it to my reading list! Thanks for the suggestion!

I don’t have any recommendations (sorry) but wanted to ask your opinion on the Evolution of Desire so far, that sounds very interesting and I’m thinking I’ll check it out

Any good book recommendations on the Roman expansion efforts into Germany? Specifically looking for something on the Battle of Teutoburg Forest and the aftermath of that. I am not as familiar with Roman history as I’d like to admit so I’d like something less academic if possible and more of an overview/layman’s explanation of the events leading up to and resulting from the battle.

One of the common misconceptions (largely from Hollywood) is that Medieval castles were dark and colorless when in fact they were reasonably well lit and had many colored tapestries. My question is if this was also common in the poorer homes. Were the serf’s/peasant’s homes nicer than portrayed in movies (generally dark huts) and were their clothes dyed in bright colors as well or was that generally just reserved for the wealthy?

Thank you! I’ll check that one out for sure

I have a stack of books to read but I can’t help myself getting more. Does anyone have a good book recommendation for the war of the Triple Alliance where Paraguay lost most of its male population by fighting 3 of its neighbors at once? I’d love to know the thought process of the clearly deranged leader of Paraguay as well as obviously how the war itself played out