[Edisesyethisp]

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?

[Allorneadesee]

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.

[Allbrunette]

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.

[Cvo1iRT0]

Originally posted by lord of the mark


Je suis Le Sire de Coucy I also liked the Chapter on the Black Plague.

[RozzyLiu]

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-.../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/

[lollypopz]

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...

[BrianGoldsmith]

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'.