The history thread

[Stu]

Originally Posted by azlawstudent

Try The Lost Battalion, Joyeux Noël, Passchendaele, Gallipoli, The Lighthorsemen, and the original All Quiet on the Western Front.


Also, one of the Hemingway novels was done with Gary Cooper as the ambulance driver. Excellent movie. I just saw it on TCM the other day.

 

[jessetk313]

My favorite time period in history is the period leading up to the American Civil War.

 

[Connemara]

Originally Posted by jessetk313

My favorite time period in history is the period leading up to the American Civil War.
Antebellum period

 

[fairholme_wannabe]

Has anyone read Confederates in the Attic? What was everyone's impression? Not that it was really a treatment of history, but the few parts of history that were actually covered (how the battle of Shiloh might have actually transpired, for example) were extremely fascinating.

Any suggestions on literature that explore how Civil War battles might have actually occured vs. the popular historical recanting?

 

[unexpected]

really, WWI? I mean, what would a good WWI movie entail? How do you dramaticize trench warfare?

It's also why there haven't been any good WWI era video games. Or actually, any other era besides WWII. Where are all the vietnam video games? or even the civil war?

 

[Flambeur]

I need more books on the British Empire in 18th/19th century. Maybe with more emphasis on India and Asia.

 

[jessetk313]

Originally Posted by Connemara

Antebellum period

Thank you good friend. Couldn't remember the name and didn't feel like searching.

 

[crazyquik]

Originally Posted by unexpected

really, WWI? I mean, what would a good WWI movie entail? How do you dramaticize trench warfare?

It's also why there haven't been any good WWI era video games. Or actually, any other era besides WWII. Where are all the vietnam video games? or even the civil war?

The scale and scope of WWI were tremendous, but the war is pretty much forgotten. It did so much to usher us into the modern era (socially, politically, and in warfare) and no one in this country remembers it. Supposedly there are still some very nice museum exhibits in London about it though.

To my knowlege, this is the only 'official' WWI memorial in the United States

Not to mention McArthur cut them to ribbons when the veterans marched for their bonuses in Washington.

Tactically you can see many similarities between the last three battles of the American Civil War (Wilderness, Spottsvylvania, and one other ?) and the early stages of WWI.

The British had between 55,000-60,000 men dead or wounded in the first day at the Somme. To put that into prospective, the Vietnam war and the deaths from it still sting in the American conscience. In ~16 years in Vietnam had about that same amount killed, as the British had injured or killed in one day in one battle of WWI. The Somme was a worse battle than all the American Civil War battles added together. Verdun also had like 750,000 killed or wounded (again, one battle which compares to the losses on both sides of our Civil War). The French lost half as many men at Verdun as they lost in 6 years fighting WWII.

Sid Meier, the guy who made his name with Civilization and other turn-based PC strategy games, had two Civil War battlefield games. I only played one a little bit, but it seemed cool and there was a big online community for them at one time. There was also a Napoleanic War game in a similair vein.

The more I think about it, the more I think the American Gilded Age, Grand Epoque, and late Victorian/Edwardian England is my favorite era of history. So, 1880ish until 1914. It is so much like the era we live in today in many ways, and we're so indebted to the Victorians, in particular, for our modern lives. It's sort of the time when globalization kicked into full force, free trade became popular, gold was practically a universal currency, you could easily travel without papers or identification, and the industrial revolution was in full swing.

 

[Connemara]

Originally Posted by Flambeur

I need more books on the British Empire in 18th/19th century. Maybe with more emphasis on India and Asia.
This is generally considered one of the best surveys of the British experience in India: http://www.amazon.com/Raj-Making-Unm...3898945&sr=8-1 I have only read bits and pieces (it is VERY long). It has a great bibliography. Additionally, Denis Judd's The Lion and the Tiger is supposed to be a good treatment of the British Raj. Haven't looked at it personally though. For the origins/ideology of empire I recommend Cain & Hopkins' British Imperialism: 1688-2000. Again, a huge tome, but the parts I have read are absolutely gripping. Very well done IMO.

 

[texas_jack]

Anything in the cold war but specifically the period right after the war up to the cuban missile crisis.

 

[Flambeur]

Originally Posted by Connemara

This is generally considered one of the best surveys of the British experience in India: http://www.amazon.com/Raj-Making-Unm...3898945&sr=8-1

I have only read bits and pieces (it is VERY long). It has a great bibliography. Additionally, Denis Judd's The Lion and the Tiger is supposed to be a good treatment of the British Raj. Haven't looked at it personally though.

For the origins/ideology of empire I recommend Cain & Hopkins' British Imperialism: 1688-2000. Again, a huge tome, but the parts I have read are absolutely gripping. Very well done IMO.




Thanks, that helps a lot.

 

[NewYorkIslander]

Originally Posted by Stu

Since I was a small boy I have loved baseball history. My favorite era is the early years of the 20th Century, '00 to '18 or so. There is a great book that came out a few years ago, Crazy 08, I think. It is about the pennant race that year between the NY Giants of John McGraw and Cristy Matthewson and the Cubs of Tinkers to Evers to Chance. But the book goes beyond baseball and has a lot of social history to really set the scene. I loved one scene where the wives of the Cubs players were gathered with hundreds of other people in a big hall in Chicago while a pivotal game was going on. A guy sat at the front of the room and read a telegraph feed from the game at the Polo Grounds in NY.

That would be a cool way to follow a game. Kind of an early sports message board.

Great book...I'm a huge NY Baseball History buff...my immigrant great grandfolks all lived on Sullivan St and went to see the Giants at the Polo Grounds for years!

 

[NewYorkIslander]

Originally Posted by unexpected

really, WWI? I mean, what would a good WWI movie entail? How do you dramaticize trench warfare?

It's also why there haven't been any good WWI era video games. Or actually, any other era besides WWII. Where are all the vietnam video games? or even the civil war?

Legends of the Fall has a GREAT WW1 trench scene. Chick flick, but that scene is awe inspiring...I show it to my 8th graders to illustrate the brutality that was the First WW

 

[dfagdfsh]

there are a few movies that have good ww1 scenes, but no dedicated modern epic.

A Very Long Engagement is another good example.

 

[NewYorkIslander]

Great thread!

For me there are a few specific times and places I would have loved to live:

1. Europe during the Dark Ages (I'm by far too much of a ***** to have actually lived it though)

2. Southern Italy, specifically Lucania (now Basilicata) from 1700-1875 ,when my ancestors inhabited the place.

3. New York City from 1880-1930...the age where the city grew up...millions upon millions of immigrants came here, lived, worked, sweat and died making this great city we have today. Again, a personal connection here as my great grandfather came here in 1892, and lived at 135 Sullivan St for about 15 years before moving with his wife and first two kids to Coney Island.

4. Charleston, SC or Savannah, Ga before, during and just after the American Revolution. I'd love to see how the first settlers really treated some of the oldest Jewish communities in America's History. I'd also be curious to actually live and experience the differences between American Jewish culture 250 apart from each other (today and ~1750).

I don't think I'd have survived long in any of those environments, but I guess if I had never known the creature comforts I know now, it'd be a different story.