News:

And we're back!

Main Menu

Grand unified books thread

Started by Syt, March 16, 2009, 01:52:42 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

jimmy olsen

Quote from: HisMajestyBOB on August 11, 2009, 05:40:59 PM
Anyone have a good book on Chinese history, particularly the Yuan, Ming, and/or Qing Dynasties? I'm looking for something of a general history, though with a focus on the political and military aspects (i.e., struggles within and without), and cultural/economic aspects (trade, how people made their living). And nothing dry or academic - I don't want to be put to sleep.

Naturally, any recommendations that don't fit all of the above are welcome. I don't expect to find something that fits exactly what I'm looking for.
Bob, I pmed you 4 times last week, where you been?

It is far better for the truth to tear my flesh to pieces, then for my soul to wander through darkness in eternal damnation.

Jet: So what kind of woman is she? What's Julia like?
Faye: Ordinary. The kind of beautiful, dangerous ordinary that you just can't leave alone.
Jet: I see.
Faye: Like an angel from the underworld. Or a devil from Paradise.
--------------------------------------------
1 Karma Chameleon point

Ed Anger

Quote from: HisMajestyBOB on August 11, 2009, 05:40:59 PM
Anyone have a good book on Chinese history, particularly the Yuan, Ming, and/or Qing Dynasties? I'm looking for something of a general history, though with a focus on the political and military aspects (i.e., struggles within and without), and cultural/economic aspects (trade, how people made their living). And nothing dry or academic - I don't want to be put to sleep.

Naturally, any recommendations that don't fit all of the above are welcome. I don't expect to find something that fits exactly what I'm looking for.

Chariot by Cotterell has some bits on the battles in the Spring and Autumn periods of Chinese history. I wouldn't pay more than the penny used you can get it for however. Plus there isn't a whole lot on China as it covers China, India, Egypt and the Hittites. And Greece.
Stay Alive...Let the Man Drive

HisMajestyBOB

#317
Quote from: jimmy olsen on August 11, 2009, 05:42:54 PM
Quote from: HisMajestyBOB on August 11, 2009, 05:40:59 PM
Anyone have a good book on Chinese history, particularly the Yuan, Ming, and/or Qing Dynasties? I'm looking for something of a general history, though with a focus on the political and military aspects (i.e., struggles within and without), and cultural/economic aspects (trade, how people made their living). And nothing dry or academic - I don't want to be put to sleep.

Naturally, any recommendations that don't fit all of the above are welcome. I don't expect to find something that fits exactly what I'm looking for.
Bob, I pmed you 4 times last week, where you been?

Dude, I told you I was going on vacation.  :P I was off in Mongolia, blissfully far from any internet service.
Three lovely Prada points for HoI2 help

Queequeg

Quote from: Sheilbh on August 11, 2009, 01:48:13 PM
I don't love the Ottomans I think their degenerate too.  In that region I love the Turkish Republic, Israel, the Arabs, the Persia of Nader Shah and 20th century Iran.  The rest are degenerate dead weight <_<
The Arabs had two centuries of genius run by half-Berber and half and fully Persian science, and by the time the Ottomans established their empire the Arab world was spent intellectually and enviormentally. No rationale behind this, especially as the architectual, spiritual and cultural accomplishments of the Arabs and post-Saffavid Iran pale in comparison to their Sassanid and Byzantine antecedents. 
Quote from: PDH on April 25, 2009, 05:58:55 PM
"Dysthymia?  Did they get some student from the University of Chicago with a hard-on for ancient Bactrian cities to name this?  I feel cheated."

Sheilbh

Quote from: garbon on August 11, 2009, 04:13:00 PM
:yes:

Sheilbh prefers the overthrow of legitimate regimes by delusional people of ill repute (re: Cromwell, Nadir Shah, Ataturk...Obama). :x
Don't forget Robespierre :contract:

I'm a big fan of the American founders too.
Let's bomb Russia!

garbon

Quote from: Sheilbh on August 11, 2009, 08:14:39 PM
I'm a big fan of the American founders too.

AKA The Whiny Bitches
"I've never been quite sure what the point of a eunuch is, if truth be told. It seems to me they're only men with the useful bits cut off."

I drank because I wanted to drown my sorrows, but now the damned things have learned to swim.

jimmy olsen

Quote from: garbon on August 11, 2009, 09:33:11 PM
Quote from: Sheilbh on August 11, 2009, 08:14:39 PM
I'm a big fan of the American founders too.

AKA The Whiny Bitches
Why don't you move to Canada then, Loyalist scum!
It is far better for the truth to tear my flesh to pieces, then for my soul to wander through darkness in eternal damnation.

Jet: So what kind of woman is she? What's Julia like?
Faye: Ordinary. The kind of beautiful, dangerous ordinary that you just can't leave alone.
Jet: I see.
Faye: Like an angel from the underworld. Or a devil from Paradise.
--------------------------------------------
1 Karma Chameleon point

garbon

"I've never been quite sure what the point of a eunuch is, if truth be told. It seems to me they're only men with the useful bits cut off."

I drank because I wanted to drown my sorrows, but now the damned things have learned to swim.

jimmy olsen

It is far better for the truth to tear my flesh to pieces, then for my soul to wander through darkness in eternal damnation.

Jet: So what kind of woman is she? What's Julia like?
Faye: Ordinary. The kind of beautiful, dangerous ordinary that you just can't leave alone.
Jet: I see.
Faye: Like an angel from the underworld. Or a devil from Paradise.
--------------------------------------------
1 Karma Chameleon point

garbon

"I've never been quite sure what the point of a eunuch is, if truth be told. It seems to me they're only men with the useful bits cut off."

I drank because I wanted to drown my sorrows, but now the damned things have learned to swim.

Camerus

Quote from: HisMajestyBOB on August 11, 2009, 05:40:59 PM
Anyone have a good book on Chinese history, particularly the Yuan, Ming, and/or Qing Dynasties? I'm looking for something of a general history, though with a focus on the political and military aspects (i.e., struggles within and without), and cultural/economic aspects (trade, how people made their living). And nothing dry or academic - I don't want to be put to sleep.

Naturally, any recommendations that don't fit all of the above are welcome. I don't expect to find something that fits exactly what I'm looking for.

Immaneul CY HSU wrote an excellent book, the Rise of Modern China, that deals with the Qing and subsequent periods in Chinese history.  The late John King Fairbank, one of the most respected scholars on Chinese history, also wrote an excellent survey book, China: A New History, that deals with the period you're interested in. 

Sheilbh

Quote from: garbon on August 11, 2009, 09:33:11 PM
Quote from: Sheilbh on August 11, 2009, 08:14:39 PM
I'm a big fan of the American founders too.

AKA The Whiny Bitches
<_< You're the Stuart fan.

Better than Psellus's love for corrupt and degenerate but aesthetically pleasing empires: Russian, Persian, Byzantine, Ottoman and the rest.
Let's bomb Russia!

garbon

Quote from: Sheilbh on August 12, 2009, 11:34:54 AM
<_< You're the Stuart fan.
And what did they have to put up with? A bunch of whiners!
"I've never been quite sure what the point of a eunuch is, if truth be told. It seems to me they're only men with the useful bits cut off."

I drank because I wanted to drown my sorrows, but now the damned things have learned to swim.

Queequeg

#328
Quote from: Sheilbh on August 12, 2009, 11:34:54 AM
Better than Psellus's love for corrupt and degenerate but aesthetically pleasing empires: Russian, Persian, Byzantine, Ottoman and the rest.
Of these, the Persian and Ottoman are the only "corrupt/degenerate" ones I really like.  If anything, the Russians and Byzantines were far, far tougher than the people they were fighting against.  The Byzantine economy was a fraction of the Ummayad and Abbasid economy, and were far, far poorer.  Same with the Russians against the Germans, French and Swedes.   Byzantine society from the time of Heraclitus to Basil II (by far my favorite period) was almost wholly army-run, obsessed only with their national survival while the Arabs went from utterly fanatical, nearly naked warriors to being too decedent to fight within two centuries. 
Quote from: PDH on April 25, 2009, 05:58:55 PM
"Dysthymia?  Did they get some student from the University of Chicago with a hard-on for ancient Bactrian cities to name this?  I feel cheated."

Admiral Yi

Just picked up Generation Kill and From Beirut to Jerusalem.