The 50 Greatest History Books of All Time - Reaction

[@theburningarchive]

You can support the Burning Archive by contributing at: Patreon: patreon.com/BurningArchive Buy Me A Coffee www.buymeacoffee.com/burningarchive Join my online history reading club and school, World History Explorers at courses.jeffrichwriter.com/ Subscribe to my free weekly email to receive insights from world history in a weekly essay on Saturday at jeffrich.substack.com As well as the 50+ books from the Listmuse list I recommend some better alternative reads because this list reflects interest in topic as much as quality recent histories. My alternatives (short titles) in order of reference in the video are: 1. Inga Clendinnen, Reading the Holocaust 2. Paul Ricouer, Memory, History, Forgetting 3. Serhi Plokhy, Nuclear Folly 4. John Darwin, The Empire Project 5. John Darwin, Unfinished Empire 6. Barry Cunliffe, By Steppe, Desert and Ocean: the Birth of Eurasia 7. Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, Millenium, Civilisations and Our America (3 books) 8. Fernando Cervantes, Conqustadores 9. John Hale, The Civilisation of Europe in the Renaiassance 10. Halik Kochanski, Resistance: the Underground War in Europe 1939-45 11. Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism 12. Marc David Baer, The Ottomans: Khans, Caesars and Caliphs 13.Odd Arne Westad, The Cold War 14. Ian Kershaw, Rollercoaster: Europe 1950-2017 15. Clare Jackson, Devil-land: England Under Siege 1588-1688 16. Winston Churchill, The World Crisis 1911-1918 17. John Darwin, Unlocking the World: Port Cities and Steam Globalisation 1830-1930 18. Phillip Ther, How the West Lost the Peace 19. Chris Bayly, The Birth of the Modern World 20. Sudhar Hazareesingh, Black Spartacus: the epic life of Toussaint Louverture 21. Richard Overy, Blood and Ruins: the Great Imperial War 1931-1945 22.James Belich, The World the Plague Made: the Black Death and the Rise of Europe 23. Christopher Clark, Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914 24. Fernand Braudel, The Structures of Everyday Life, The Wheels of Commerce (2 books) 25. David Abalufia, The Boundless Sea: A Human History of the Oceans I have read and recommend these 25 alternatives, if you want a better starting point to explore those topics. Let me know if you have other suggestions for books and topics, and I may do a video on my personal favourites. Check out my website and links in bio for more of my writing and talks and upcoming courses on history and our changing multipolar world. #booktube #besthistorybooks #history #geopolitics

[@khuft01]

Very interesting video! And can only second the recommendation for Felipe Fernandez-Armesto’s “Civilizations” - one of my favourite books overall!

[@theburningarchive]

Thank you. Have you checked out or shared my interview with Felipe kzbin.info/www/bejne/bqvOlWN4lt1sjtEsi=e1BzikVzqJcQtgXZ?

[@NicholasOfAutrecourt]

The real question is: where are the books on AFRICA in this list? Aside from one book about the Mau Mau Revolution (which seems like it might be just as much about the British Empire as it is the Mau Mau), Africa appears to be totally invisible. Highly unfortunate. Thanks for pointing out the clear Anglo-American bias inherent here. I think a lot of people casually take in these lists like they're some objective measure of what "good history" really is without considering the people (or, increasingly, algorithms) who have compiled it. Fantastic video!

[@theburningarchive]

Thank you, and that is such a good point about Africa.

[@tonyhill4235]

History is His Story.

[@carbiv]

@@NicholasOfAutrecourt Because the unfortunate truth is african history is literally nonexistent. They didnt even have chairs in the 1800s and u think they were writing things down?

[@alexwallachian7720]

I'm sorry but hold on a second. Why is it the anglos fault there are not many African history books?

[@NicholasOfAutrecourt]

​@@alexwallachian7720 I noticed a bias, but didn't attribute any specific cause or set of causes to it. Nowhere in my comment did I say "X is responsible for (or caused) Y."

[@adamk5937]

Basically the introduction to this video, where "algorithm" of lists of lists is mentioned multiple times, is a great argument against the proliferation of AI to further human knowledge, without the contribution and discussion of that knowledge by living people.

[@theburningarchive]

Goodnpoint. I hope my alternatives show the benefit of human judgement over AI

[@StephenSkinner-y1c]

As my interest is ancient history the number 1 greatest history book is in my opinion is The Peloponnesian War by Thucydides. Everyone who wants to learn history should read it. There is an insufferable arrogance by modern historians that is dismissive of their ancient counterparts, or even historians who wrote before their birth. Incredible that they do not appear to know how likely it is that they themselves will appear very dubious to future historians. Mentioned in this presentation is the belief that the Dark Ages were not so dark. This myth began in the mid 20th century with works such as The World of Late Antiquity by Peter Brown. Brown himself realized later that he over emphasized the concept of the Dark Ages being a transformation of civilization rather than a collapse and difficult rebuilding. So his recent book Through the Eye of a Needle is a more accurate account of the period. If anyone doubts that the Dark Ages were chaotic and awful they only need to read the accounts of people who were there, such as The Venerable Bede, or talk to an archeologist. Archeology has shown it to be a time of collapsing trade, burnt villages, poor nutrition and a massacre.

[@jessesewell7922]

Let’s be honest. The great Historians are well known and appreciated because they put in the work and the effort in terms of research, style, argumentation. These are giants like Barbara Tuchman (Guns of August), Dr Robert Gellately (Lenin, Stalin & Hitler; The Age of Social Catastrophe). Another is Dr Thomas Madden’s Empires of Trust. Anything by Roger Crowley is worthy of the finest library. Great Historians do the hard work of piecing together the evidence which eluded previous generations of scholars for meaningful reasons (denied access to archives, etc). A great example is the work of Dr Gellately after many years of examining the Russian and German archives. The winners do not write the histories. That is something morons say. Historians write the histories because they are the only ones who care to do the work, the research that is vital to the craft.

[@billusher2265]

What is your opinion on dawn of everything by David Graeber?

[@guharup]

Ewe

[@jacquelinemeziani4422]

Yes, an interesting list, but hardly anything on China (which you noted), Japan, Mexico, South America, India, Africa (other than one on Kenya), and I dare say Australia?? Perhaps you can create and share your own lists? Your erudition is comforting to listen to. Thank you.

[@Warkurus]

I would also add Serbia to the list, because it was at the center of many European wars. WW1 started over Serbs, in WW2 Serbs had the highest losses relative to the population and then the destruction of Yugoslavia and the Kosovo conflict. Other interesting countries would be Kuwait, UAE, Quatar and the like, because it seems as if nationalism coincidentally appeared there after the Brits wanted a harbor. Africa is interesting, because there are many open questions. For example: what was the effect of the American outlaw of slavery to the African economies?

[@Calcprof]

I incredibly disagree with you about Gibbon. He is definitely worth reading, even though much more is known now, and he got a lot wrong, but his writing is just incredible. One of the finest prose stylist ever in English. My absolute favorite (relatively) recent history book: Framing the Middle Ages by Chris Wickham (and yes, his other books are awesome). Another interesting recent history book is Stripping the Altars by Eamon Duffy .. And Eric Foner's book on Reconstruction. (With a nod, of course to the pioneering work of W. E. B. DuBois)

[@austinquick6285]

It’s funny. Literature is what got me into history. They both compliment each other so well. The two combined is essentially time travel.. 19th century literature was the greatest.

[@theburningarchive]

true... though i admit to preferring literature of early 20th century

[@williamearle6281]

Also, Culture of Critique by Dr Kevin MacD0nald, and the J'wish Revolutionary Spirit by Dr E Michael J0nes.

[@theburningarchive]

Thanks for these suggestions.

[@Eternalplay]

Braudel is a favorite

[@theburningarchive]

me too, thanks

[@b0bb0btheb0b]

I was surprised by the Neema Parvini book you mentioned towards the end there. I looked it up on Goodreads as I'd never heard of the guy. As I scroll down to see the reviews, it goes past the "Readers also enjoyed" section with a list of related books. Nearly all of it was political works ranging from far-right to full-on fascist. Now, there's Spengler and Evola amongst others on the cover there so perhaps it's just far-right folks wanting to read anything about guys like that. So I try to see who Parvini is or where he's coming from and check his wikipedia page which mentions his views being described as "extreme" and "aligned with the scientific racist community" by a mainstream UK anti-racism group. Plus his writing and other collaborations are largely a list of right wing and "intellectual dark web" groups - von Mises Institute, Quillette, Traditional Britain etc. I look up his youtube channel and his profile pic is General Franco and he's calling the Mayor of London a bolshevik. Really hard to take this recommendation seriously!

[@theburningarchive]

You are right, and it was not an endorsement of his political views, from memory. I try to read books I disagree with. I think Parvini's book on elite theory, the Populist Delusion is quite good, but I have not read his Prophets of Doom, whcih goes down some of the rabbit holes you mention. Like us all he gets somethings right, but by no means all. He is a good literary scholar, but no historian. However never judge a book by the company it keeps?... Thanks for commenting,

[@soumyadiptamajumder8795]

Leopold Von Ranke & Gibbon???

[@oriolreguesendros8444]

Great effort, but some of the commentary seemed a bit supreficial and improvised. - Tony Judt was a historian by training and profession. He considered himself a historian all his life. - Eric Foner's book does not deal primarly with the working class. It's mostly about the origins of the Republican Party around the concept of "free labor ideology" as opposed to slavery (although not anti-racist or pro-black). Also, he's still somewhat active. - I agree: Gibbon's work is more of a literary work rather than a history book. - Comparing Cronon's masterpiece (field defining book) to Darwin's superficial account is a bit insulting. - Same: comparing Pommeranz's detailed book (controversial) to Darwin's sweeping overview is not great. - It would have been great to mention J. G. A. Pocock when talking about Skinner's work. - Why does dealing with the Haitian Revolution is part of the American tradition? C. L. R. James was Trinidadnian and belong to the British (Marxist) tradition. The book is outdated but its topic is very European and belonging to the European tradition. - I did not understand your comments on Chris Whickham. He is a beast. - Mary Beard's book is great. I don't think John Darwin, Felipe Fernández-Armesto, or David Abulafia are masterpieces. You rate them too high in my opinion. Great books though. Weird list: great books, awful books.

[@theburningarchive]

Great comments thank you. I set myself the aim to improvise a little, since some of the books on the top 50 I really don't want to read, and so there were a few slips. I think I confused Foner in my head with shooting with another, maybe Sean Wilentz. Hazards of a history content-creator. I guess these ranking lists are most fun for the discussion and differing judgments they create. Much appreciated for your scholarly feedback.

[@parmenides2576]

All marxist work is always outdated, how can a falsehood ever be up to date

[@LaurentCourtines]

No Robert Caro books? Interesting.

[@theburningarchive]

The biographer of LBJ. Good suggestion. He was not on the list. Maybe I should do another video on the 50 greatest biographies?

[@vividsunn8459]

And where is Thucydides? A BS list if ever there was one.

[@theburningarchive]

or Sima Qian or Anna Comnena, indeed? Booksellers' list, did you mean?

[@davidbraun6209]

The expression "different to" is wrong. The proper expression is 'different from." Yes, I am an American, but the Latin expression "ab [aliqua re] differt" is on my side.

[@theburningarchive]

You are right, and I am sorry. It is a verbal habit I fall into when improvising. I will try to correct. 👃Thanks for the feedback

[@Moruya23]

You cannot recommend a modern reader to read Edward Gibbon? Dear oh dear. There is a case to read the foundation texts of all disciplines. I know time is short and books are many but if anyone aspiring to know history hasn’t read Gibbon then they are not well read are they? You are suffering from the cult on the new here, my man.

[@Moruya23]

EH Carr is very much a man of his time! Oh dear. Who isn’t? Too much Rome, too much UK centric history. What else can we dismiss? History?

[@Moruya23]

And we go on… Hobsbawm is now “dated”. Dear me. Too much Anglo Bias…

[@Moruya23]

“Kooks”! Christ.

[@theburningarchive]

I agree on the foundation texts but think there are better choices than Gibbon. But a good point to discuss

[@alexbaker9578]

​@@theburningarchive Gibbon's prose is excellent. I would recommend him as a stylist, not as an authority on Rome.

[@anmolsingh9025]

99% european writers and either US or european history. Portuguese traders came with tributes into court of Akbar the great asking for trading favours. Along brought a claimed Portuguese princess as a consort for emperor. Akbar responded which roughly translates into english that he doesnt have time for these underdeveloped & poor people and sent them away to a ranked mughal official. The world was not a eurocentric place only just 500 years ago. If you want to talk about history books of all human kind and serious history books then this list is a joke.

[@TesterBoy]

How about the Bible?

[@theburningarchive]

I would not describe that as history, but fair enough

[@Moruya23]

Your throwaway comments about the algorithm lead to some pretty trite comments about certain books. Howard Zinn’s “People’s History of the United States” is an extremely important book that,as you say, is a bestseller. Over 10m copies I think. The reason for that is that is was the first popular book that did not cover up the history of US Capitalism’s crimes. Please read before you dismiss these important works. Probably a negative comment on a 50 minute video on a list of a 100 books produced by a computer, A questionable exercise, at best. Not one of your more attractive efforts.

[@theburningarchive]

I understand. I did cover nearly 80 books in an hour and might have given some too little air time. But a list like this will prompt debate

[@TesterBoy]

Quite odd, Moruya that you never mentioned “The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression”. Leftists typically denounce the US and American system and yet completely ignore the horrors of Communism.

[@parmenides2576]

Zinn is a fraud

[@neilcomley7854]

It may sound like nit picking but when discussing Caroline Elkins book on British colonisation and the Mau Mau revolt you stated that you think 'from memory' it took place in the 1960s. Wrong! It happened in the 1950s and was over by 1960. I haven't watched the whole of this video because I thought both that the list on which it was based was a flimsy, unserious basis for such an exercise, and that your comments were too often superficial and uninformed about many of the books and the subjects they covered. Best, and most interesting unsurprisingly was when you actually did know something about the topic or actually had read the book you were discussing. I've watched a few videos which were interesting and stimulating, but videos like this one and the one attacking Mearsheimer and the Realist school of IR I think are not very well researched or intellectually substantiated. I think doing less and sticking to what one knows well might be more effective.