I agree with you and you flake out and flame me? Doh what are you, simple?

No intention on flaming you, just merely stating my opinion of your posts. And my apologies if you construed it as insulting, just not in the mood for nit picking arguments today.

At least make up your mind. If you're going to spew some random hate unprovoked, at least man up about it. "If you construed it as insulting" and "no intention of flaming you," my ass.

Maybe you're just in the mood for being elsewhere, because here, you're a jerk.

So history books, huh.

I'm not a jerk for calling you out on how you post. You always play the devils advocate, or pick out some oddity in a post and post on it, rather than replying about the main topic discussed in a post. Of course a winner will say they're great. My point was that losers of battles and wars can be great men, but never have their story told because the victors are the ones who record history. You chose to nit pick my post to get a rise out of me, and try and make me prove some odd point that you dont necessarily even know you're trying to make, because you just try to find something to disagree about or make someone explain.

If I wanted to nit pick about every little thing posted in this forum, I would stick with talking to my wife about how the pantry needed to be organized.

My mistake. I'm dealing with someone with a mental problem who even picks fights when none exist. Even with people who agree with them! Your reading comprehension is abysmal and even when called on it you still don't bother to check and understand wtf you yourself are talking about. And now you're trying multiple times to justify your abject trolling instead of admitting you were wrong, pointlessly picking a fight, and way, way out of line.

You're seriously messed up and have a bad spirit for this forum.

I have had no problems with anyone in this forum other than you. And you're the one taking personal attacks on me.

Time to get back to the thread at hand, because this is a good topic. If you have anything else to say to me, please PM me.

You had no problems with me either except the ones you imagined. You've got hell of a lot of nerve making an unprovoked personal attack and then trying to shift the blame onto the person you took a random sh*t on. I agree that the kind of sh*t you started shouldn't be in this, or any other, thread.

Its completely my fault, I misread the original reply as a literal question rather than a rhetorical question implying he was agreeing with me. I have messaged him with an apology, and want to apologize to the thread started for taking this in a direction it shouldn't have. On with the topic at hand though please.

Apology accepted, and I admire anyone's ability to give one. Back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Kind of a odd request maybe, but does anyone know any good sailing-type history books (something between the 14th-18th century or so)? I've done a bit of browsing through amazon and the like, but figured I'd see if anyone had read anything on the subject that stood out.

This is the second time I'm quoting Splendour on this book. But I just finished rereading it and definitely is a great history book. Since the Jewish culture/civilization has been around for so long, their history is pretty much western history. So it gives a nice overview of western civilization, but with a more cohesive theme than most general world history books. It also includes several different theories on how to interpret history.

Sometimes the losers do write history. "Inside the Third Reich, Memoirs" by Albert Speer. This guy is a bit of a pompous *******, but does sort of admit that what he and his fellow nazi's did was wrong. He was deeply involved with the Hitler regime. He was an eyewitness and literally the architect of many historic events.

"The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" by William L. Shirer. This one was written by the good guys. It's a little dated, but still the best over all history of Nazi Germany I've ever read. Even though I knew how the story ended I couldn't put it down. I was late for work the whole week it took me to read it.

"The Making of the Atomic Bomb" Richard Rhodes. This is a combination of science, political science and history. Even though most of the events take place in the U.S, the scientists involved were from all over. And this obviously, affects world history. One thing that was interesting, was that the science (or theory) for the A-Bomb had been figured out by the 1930's. It was the politics, funding, obtaining the raw materials and the infrastructure to build the thing that was the hard part.

"A History of the Sciences" Ernest Nagel. It's been a while since I read this, so I don't have much to offer. But I thought I'd toss it out there if your interested in science at all.

I've seen this recommended a few times. It was in "Good Will Hunting". But I have to admit, I was thoroughly disappointed when I read it. There wasn't anything new in it. It didn't enlighten me in any way. Maybe because professors tend to be liberal any way, I'd heard it all before. The book just read like it was written by a precocious junior high student.

Maybe, I just need to reread it. Now that I'm old and conservative, maybe it'll shock me more or something. Anyway, those of you who enjoyed it, could you give a bit of a review. Convince me and OP as to why we should read it.

"In the Heart of the Sea" by Nathaniel Philbrick.

easy summer read, very informative, and very good. Its about the survivors of the Whaleship Essex after it was attacked by a sperm whale (the true story that inspired Moby Dick) and their 40-odd day journey to safety with minimal food and water.

I second the recommendation for reading Graves' Claudius books. They are brilliantly written. I also liked his fictional take on the life of Jesus, 'King Jesus'.

This was one of the most exciting books I have ever read. I think I read it three times within about the first week. A tremendous blend of ripping yarn; evocative history of Nantucket and the the colorful, hardscrabble life of its residents, and whaling in general; and a tinge of science to nail down an incredible human experience in its particulars.

You could read "In Harm's Way: The Sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis and the Extraordinary Story of Its Survivors". A bit ghoulish since its about a Navy ship going down in shark infested waters but it is historical and extremely informative about what could happen when a vessel capsizes.

As is Belisarus.

A review on some of Robert Graves work.

http://dannyreviews.com/h/Graves.html

excerpt: "King Jesus is a narrative account of the life of Jesus. While it takes the form of a novel, it is really just an excuse for Graves to indulge in mythological musings, from brief asides to extended expository passages. He has some truly wonky ideas about mythology, as those familiar with The Greek Myths and The White Goddess will know, and his first century Judaea is not exactly traditional. Among other things, he has Jesus as the son of Antipater, son of Herod, and thus literally "king of the Jews"! I enjoyed King Jesus, but I didn't take it at all seriously."-end of quote



Contrast this Graves myth story with Albert Einstein's quote on the historical Jesus: "No myth is filled with such life." (Actually the quote is a bit longer in which Einstein says the Gospels pulsate with the presence of Jesus but its a bit long to type.)(Einstein quote taken from Alice Calaprice's "The New Quotable Einstein".

Barbara Tuchman comes to mind. Both Guns of August and Stillwell are extraordinary books which fit your criteria. Guns of August covers World War I, primarily from the Western Front while Stillwell is largely set during World War II in China and Burma.

Both books are highly readable and engaging.

Barbara Tuchman's mantle of premier historical biographer has passed to Robert Caro. He's done a series on Lyndon Johnson. While all three books in the (not yet completed) series are outstanding, the best may be Master of the Senate . The first 125 pages or so are a look at American history through about 1950 as it has been shaped by the specific workings of the Senate. This section should be required reading in high schools. The book is very richly details and meticulously researched. It is not fast reading but it is fascinating. A major motif of Caro's is to examine the effects of power both on those who wield it and those who are effected by the wielding. Master of the Senate is a great starting point for anyone interested in the political history of the United States.

A second Caro option is The Power Broker, which deals with the life and times of Robert Moses. Moses was a central figure in the development of New York City (and state) for nearly fifty years. Though never elected to public office he was arguably the most powerful man in NYC during that period and developed a fiefdom complete with its own revenue and police force. At the most primary level The Power Broker is a book about public works which sounds as dry as a subject can be, but Caro pulls back the curtain on a world most readers never knew existed. The Power Broker may be my single favorite book whether fiction or non. It spans a period from the turn of the 19th century through almost 1970. Its a lot of work but I can't imagine regretting the effort.

Honorary mention goes to Roosevelt and Hopkins by Robert Sherwood. Hopkins was essentially Roosevelt's shadow Secretary of State during much of the WWII era. Sherwood was a speech writer for the president and he writes a great history of the period.

"Diplomacy" by Henry Kissinger is probably the best book ever written on the subject of diplomacy or the history of political manuvering. Incredible book.

The Source is a very good historical fiction of the Jewish people.

I picked this up in an airport when it was new, it was cool.

If you're not into reading, you can get the short version of the story here.

" Yes, a wonderful book and as well written as any history you can find. Reads like a novel at times.

A very fine book, and it shows the tremendous courage of the survivors, who, unfortunately, avoided an island that would have provided food and safety, but they feared the inhabitants were cannibals.

One of the great studies of American literature about this time period, Beneath the American Renaissance, by David Reynolds, looks at a great deal of the popular writing at the time that provides the context for these sorts of rumors. Melville's Moby Dick is the ultimate realization of the types of stories that were in the air.