Entry Level Books for Non-Western History?

[Jacob]

I know you want non-Western canon. But for something that would interest  a boy - especially with your background - have you considered loads of Viking stuff?

Yup, I'll absolutely get into that. The challenge there is to meet my preferences which is less pop-culture VIKINGS!!! and more Scandinavian-down-to-earth in style.

Less of the "the savage but honourable warriors from the mighty fjords of the brutal bleak North" that often dominates the easy entry level stuff on vikings.

... but right now my wife is putting an effort into remedying her lacklustre PRC based history (and philosophy and arts and literature) education and pulling the boy with her, so I'm going to wait a bit on the viking stuff

[Jacob]

Is Japanese history of any interest?

Everything is, to be honest (even viking stuff, in spite of what I just said - so hitting me up with good recommendations are good) as long as it's accessible.

[The Brain]

Is Japanese history of any interest?

Everything is, to be honest (even viking stuff, in spite of what I just said - so hitting me up with good recommendations are good) as long as it's accessible.

Then I quote myself from the books thread.

The Japanese Myths: A Guide to Gods, Heroes and Spirits, by Frydman. From the mythical origins of Japan through the melting pot of local and continental religions and stories, to modern Japanese popular culture. A nice little introduction to the subject.

Folk Tales of Japan: 28 Japanese folk tales with cultural commentary, by Kyota Ko. Does what it says on the tin.  Every story has a cute little illustration. A charming little book.

[Jacob]

Thanks 

[Gups]

John Keay has written decent one volume histories of India and of China. There are plenty of good books in the Ottomans. Christopher Harding has a number of well reviewed books on Japan though I've not read them myself.

Wild Swans by Jung Chang tells the history of modern China through the lives of three generations of women and is excellent. I enjoyed her biog of Mao too but it's controversial.

Ryszard Kapuscinski wrote some great books on modern African history including The Emperor on the overthrow of Haile Selassie and the Shadow of the Sun.

[Barrister]

Jacob, I can't remember how old your kid is, but at a certain point can't you just bring him to the history section of your local library and let him loose?

Maybe I'm just dating myself, but I checked out TONS of history books as a kid.  I have to admit it wasn't super-diverse, almost all western, I think a little about China, but then again it was the 80s.

[Sophie Scholl]

Not book(s), but The China History Podcast is incredibly good, accessible, and covers basically everything you can imagine in terms of topics related to China. The host is well spoken, fun, and easy to listen to. He also does pods on Chinese sayings and on tea.
Here's their site

[Savonarola]

John A. Crow's "The Epic of Latin America" is well written and a decent survey of the region.

[grumbler]

Jared Diamond's Collapse covers that topic in a number of societies around the world and is much better written than Guns, Germs and Steel. 

Sapiens is an interesting treatment of human evolution. 

1491 is well-written but gushes a bit too much, IMO, on the highest possible population levels in the pre-Colombian new world.  With that caveat, though, it covers a lot of interesting and amazing accomplishments of a whole series of people lacking the staple crops and domesticated animals found in the rest of the world. 

[jimmy olsen]

This is a good intro to the History of Japan

https://www.amazon.com/History-Japan-R-H-Mason/dp/080482097X