History books that FS should publish

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History books that FS should publish

1ultrarightist
heinäkuu 14, 2021, 1:21 am

Which history books (or books on historiography) do you think warrant the FS treatment? This thread is for standard editions, as LEs are its own category.

2ultrarightist
Muokkaaja: heinäkuu 14, 2021, 10:52 am

I'll start:

The Decline of the West by Oswald Spengler

Opera omnia, or anything related to history or historiography by Giambattista Vico

Opera Omnia of Tacitus (if we cannot get an LE)

Land and Lordship, by Otto Brunner

The Stripping of the Altars, by Eamon Duffy

3NLNils
Muokkaaja: heinäkuu 14, 2021, 2:21 am

The Battle Cry Of Freedom by James McPherson

Hitler by Ian Kershaw

Radical Enlightenment by Jonathan Israel

Personal Narrative of a Journey to the Equinoctial Regions of the New Continent by Alexander von Humboldt.

4AmsterdamTaff
Muokkaaja: heinäkuu 14, 2021, 4:05 am

The Making of the English Working Class by EP Thompson
Postwar by Tony Judt
Gulag by Anne Applebaum
Lords of Finance by Liaquat Ahamed
Hiroshima by John Hersey
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown
The Sword and the Shield by Christopher Andrew
Into Thin Air by John Krakauer

5English-bookseller
heinäkuu 14, 2021, 4:05 am

The recent Churchill biography by Andrew Roberts has time and time again new and interesting things to say about the great man. It is a fascinating read.

6behemoththecat
heinäkuu 14, 2021, 4:17 am

>4 AmsterdamTaff: they have done Brown, I think

7behemoththecat
heinäkuu 14, 2021, 4:24 am

The Silk Roads - Peter Frankopan

Natasha’s Dance - Orlando Figés

Adrian Goldsworthy. Anything.

God’s War - Christopher Tyerman

The First Crusade and the Idea of Crusading - Johnathan Riley Smith

Jerusalem - Simon Sebag Montefiore

More Tom Holland. Please.

The Northumbrians - Dan Jackson

I’d like to see a few national histories posted in a series too.

8Willoyd
Muokkaaja: heinäkuu 14, 2021, 5:10 am

Loads, a number mentioned above, but would love to see more Fernand Braudel - any of:

Civilization and Capitalism
The Identity of France
History of Civilizations

(I'd certainly second Postwar, Making of the English Working Class, Battle Cry of Freedom)

The Strange Death of Liberal England - George Dangerfield
The Sea and Civilisation - Lincoln Paine (or David Abulafiah's The Boundless Sea)

Almost anything by Lisa Jardine, but especially Ingenious Pursuits or Worldly Goods

EH Gombrich's Story of Art

>3 NLNils: Hitler by Ian Kershaw
And then there's an even longer list of biographies! I'd certainly include this one. In addition, I particularly enjoy those by Claire Tomalin, Jenny Uglow and Lisa Jardine (again!).
Team of Rivals - Doris Kearns Goodwin

Could go on for ever....!

9abysswalker
Muokkaaja: heinäkuu 14, 2021, 9:17 am

The Idea of History (Collingwood): a classic. What it says on the tin. Readable.

History in Three Keys (Cohen): simultaneously a history of the Boxer Rebellion in China as well as a discussion of more general historiographical principles.

>2 ultrarightist: second Vico, either primary works or a good study. Isaiah Berlin’s is probably a good bet, though I confess I haven’t read it yet.

10abysswalker
Muokkaaja: heinäkuu 14, 2021, 9:17 am

The Great Chain of Being (Lovejoy): the history of an influential idea and good introduction to the history of ideas, as a domain of inquiry.

Jeffrey Burton Russell has a four volume history of the devil that is also a serious work on the history of ideas. It would probably sell well. I particularly like the first volume on the devil in antiquity, but any of the four stand alone.

11RogerBlake
heinäkuu 14, 2021, 5:49 am

History of England - Trevelyan
History of the Twentieth Century - Martin Gilbert
Civilization and Capitalism - Braudel

Maybe ?
Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy -Barrington-Moore

12adriano77
heinäkuu 14, 2021, 6:14 am

More Max Hastings stuff.

13vmb443
heinäkuu 14, 2021, 6:33 am

>12 adriano77: Agreed. I’d love to see a matching set of “Armageddon” and “Retribution” chronicling the last year of the war in both Europe and the Pacific.

14InVitrio
heinäkuu 14, 2021, 6:57 am

I'd focus on things from the past because the recent stuff has already had hardback treatment, some of them rather nice. Thompson is a good shout.

I'd also go way further back. Diodorus Siculus and the Oxyrhynchos historian. An annotated Strabo or Pausanias would be brilliant. And the Chinese historians, Sima Qian for instance. There must be a market for a source-based history of China.

15AHub
heinäkuu 14, 2021, 7:16 am

The Warmth of Other Suns, by Isabel Wilkerson

16Willoyd
heinäkuu 14, 2021, 7:25 am

>12 adriano77:
His history of WW2, All Hell Let Loose is the best single volume version I've read so far.

17bacchus.
Muokkaaja: heinäkuu 14, 2021, 7:37 am

I'll add one which I believe our group would appreciate: "The Coming of the Book: The Impact of Printing"

18witkin
heinäkuu 14, 2021, 8:07 am

Vincent Cronin: The View from Planet Earth - Man looks at the Cosmos

19abysswalker
Muokkaaja: heinäkuu 14, 2021, 9:18 am

The Passions and the Interests (Hirschman): tightly written and tightly argued essay on how "the pursuit of material interests — so long condemned as the deadly sin of avarice — was assigned the role of containing the unruly and destructive passions of man" (quote from the publisher; this one is excellent but somewhat hard to summarize without going off on extensive tangents). Focuses on the intellectual climate of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

20sdolton
heinäkuu 14, 2021, 11:39 am

Richard J. Evan's trilogy on the Third Reich;
Andrew Robert's biographies of Napoleon and Lord Salisbury;
Grey Eminence, Aldous Huxley's biography of Father Joseph, Cardinal Richelieu's aide during the Thirty Year's War.
Carl J. Burckhardt's 3 Vol biography of Cardinal Richelieu

21DCBlack
heinäkuu 14, 2021, 12:50 pm

>3 NLNils: As an amateur American Civil War buff, I would second McPherson's Battle Cry Of Freedom as the best single volume history of the war.

If FS were so ambitious as to publish a set, I would vote for Bruce Catton's Army of the Potomac trilogy.

22NLNils
heinäkuu 14, 2021, 1:04 pm

>21 DCBlack: How do you feel about Shelby Foote as a set?

23ultrarightist
heinäkuu 14, 2021, 1:10 pm

>22 NLNils: I know your question was not directed at me, but I think it is a very good candidate for an FS edition. I have the signed leather-bound EP edition, and thus I doubt I personally would purchase it, however much FS is generally superior to EP.

24Hanno
heinäkuu 14, 2021, 1:18 pm

The Landmark Herodotus and Thucydides would be nice. They already exist in hardback but not Folio quality.

25LolaWalser
heinäkuu 14, 2021, 2:29 pm

26sdolton
Muokkaaja: heinäkuu 14, 2021, 2:36 pm

>21 DCBlack: https://loa.org/news-and-views/1860-forthcoming-spring-2022

Not Folio, but the Library of America is publishing Catton's Army of the Potomac next May.

27DCBlack
heinäkuu 14, 2021, 3:28 pm

>22 NLNils: I have only read portions of the Shelby Foote trilogy, not the complete set (It is just so massive!). What I have read is outstanding narrative history, and it is considered one of the classics. Certainly worthy of FS treatment.

28DCBlack
heinäkuu 14, 2021, 3:34 pm

>26 sdolton: That's great! May have to get that one to replace my paperback set.

29Stephan68
heinäkuu 14, 2021, 4:51 pm

Republics Ancient & Modern, Paul A. Rahe
The History of the Franks, Gregory of Tours
Discourses on Livy, Machiavelli
Civil War, Lucan
Life of Constantin, Eusebius

30sdolton
heinäkuu 14, 2021, 5:23 pm

>29 Stephan68: Good Lord yes to all of those.

31ultrarightist
heinäkuu 14, 2021, 5:25 pm

>29 Stephan68: and >30 sdolton: Yes, definitely

32coynedj
heinäkuu 14, 2021, 5:40 pm

I agree that the Shelby Foote trilogy is excellent narrative history. But, as a northerner myself, I must say that Foote showed a very slight southern/Confederate leaning - not blatant by any means, but it's there if you look for it. I recall thinking, as I read it, that Confederate generals got three times as much background and characterization as Union generals. But maybe that observation shows my own Union leanings!

33Charon49
heinäkuu 14, 2021, 7:08 pm



Pathfinders -Fernandez Armesto

Power and Plenty - Ronald Findlay

The Transformation of the world - Osterhammel

34distantriver
heinäkuu 14, 2021, 7:18 pm

Literally anything by Stephen Ambrose. A Folio edition of Band of Brothers full of maps and photographs would probably do very well.

35Charon49
heinäkuu 14, 2021, 7:39 pm

>34 distantriver:

Great idea I’m surprised this hasn’t happened already.

36jroger1
heinäkuu 14, 2021, 8:01 pm

“A History of Reading,” Alberto Manguel.

“A History of Knowledge,” Charles Van Doren.

37dlphcoracl
Muokkaaja: heinäkuu 14, 2021, 9:19 pm

1. The now classic trilogy on the history of the Third Reich by British historian Richard J. Evans:

- The Coming of the Third Reich (2003)
- The Third Reich in Power (2005)
- The Third Reich at War (2009

2. Second-Hand Time by Svetlana Alexievich (2016)

38ultrarightist
heinäkuu 14, 2021, 11:29 pm

>32 coynedj: Yes, indeed, something which makes me like the books even more. Foote is a pleasure to listen to in Ken Burns' Civil War documentary.

39ultrarightist
heinäkuu 15, 2021, 1:22 am

By Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn:

Gulag Archipelago (unabridged)

The Red Wheel (all volumes)

Two Hundred Years Together, commissioning the first English translation of this work

40behemoththecat
heinäkuu 15, 2021, 2:53 am

I’d like to see them continue current ‘series’ like the British and Russian rulers too.

41Willoyd
heinäkuu 15, 2021, 4:50 am

>26 sdolton: Not Folio, but the Library of America is publishing Catton's Army of the Potomac next May.
Oh, wow. Superb news.

>34 distantriver:
Literally anything by Stephen Ambrose.
Rather the opposite for me! Too many issues over plagiarism, unreliability, and bias. Band of Brothers made excellent television though.

42sdolton
heinäkuu 15, 2021, 11:07 am

>39 ultrarightist: Now through August 15th, save 40% on all print and ebooks available on our site and receive free shipping on orders over $50. To redeem these special sale prices, enter the promotional code 14SUM21 at checkout.

https://undpress.nd.edu/books/?series=the-center-for-ethics-and-culture-solzheni...

Not the Folio treatment, but Notre Dame Press is publishing the Red Wheel cycle and they're having a nice sale right now.

43sdolton
heinäkuu 15, 2021, 11:09 am

https://press.princeton.edu/

50% sitewide sale at Princeton University Press until July 21

44RRCBS
heinäkuu 15, 2021, 11:19 am

>42 sdolton: Do you know if the hardcovers have sewn binding?

45abysswalker
heinäkuu 15, 2021, 11:28 am

>43 sdolton: this should be considered non-comprehensive info, but I have yet to see garbage POD printing come from Princeton University Press, unlike some other university publishers (Cambridge Univeristy Press, I’m looking at you).

My most recent experience was McDowell’s 2020 biography of Milton, Poet of Revolution, which was nicely constructed and bound. (For those interested, this volume only covers the first part of Milton’s life.)

So, Princeton University Press is probably a better bet than many university publishers, though as an academic publisher it doesn’t have the same aesthetic priorities as a company such as Folio Society.

46abysswalker
heinäkuu 15, 2021, 11:30 am

>44 RRCBS: the copy of the Milton biography I mentioned above has a sewn grinding, though I can’t speak to their practices generally.

47RRCBS
heinäkuu 15, 2021, 11:44 am

>46 abysswalker: Thanks, I was wondering about the university of Notre dame actually. Hoping someone has feedback on them, even better on the binding of the red wheel cycle specifically.

48sdolton
heinäkuu 15, 2021, 1:02 pm

>44 RRCBS: I don't know, but I have a couple of other HB titles from a previous sale and just can't remember. I'll check them and report back.

49ultrarightist
heinäkuu 15, 2021, 1:29 pm

>42 sdolton: Thank you!

50Joshbooks1
heinäkuu 15, 2021, 1:31 pm

>39 ultrarightist: University of Notre Dame have published Node 3 and Between Two Milestones which are fabulous. Last time I checked they plan to publish Node 4. Solzhenitsyn is amazing and vastly underrated.

51ultrarightist
heinäkuu 15, 2021, 1:58 pm

>50 Joshbooks1: Thank you for the note, and I completely agree with your assessment about Solzhenitsyn. Do you happen to know whether the University of Notre Dame Solzhenitsyn hardcovers have sewn bindings?

52sdolton
heinäkuu 15, 2021, 7:15 pm

>44 RRCBS: the two hardbacks I have were glued, with no proper dust jackets, but the design instead printed directly on the book. Not sure if that's considered a type of library binding?

53RRCBS
heinäkuu 15, 2021, 7:24 pm

>52 sdolton: Thanks, looks like I’ll be going for the snooks!

54Joshbooks1
heinäkuu 15, 2021, 9:35 pm

>51 ultrarightist: Just took a quick peek and they appear sewn with no glue. They're quite lovely for the $25ish price tag. If you want I can take a few pictures and send them your way in a few days. I've read the first node last year but needed to take a break. It's an amazing 4000 page series but my biggest problem thus far is having a mediocre knowledge of Russian history and at times more is required.

I really hope after The Red Wheel they publish The First Circle, and, one of my favorites, The Cancer Ward. I've never come across Two Hundred Years Together, but it looks wonderful. Highly doubt Folio would publish any of his works other than Gulag (3-6 volume edition would be amazing and I would pay pretty much anything) and One Day in the Life (I'm surprised they haven't), but one can hope! I've been tempted with Folio's Gulag in the past when it was selling for $50-60 but for such an incredible book I don't see how anyone can make an abridged version - quite a shame. Also, and sorry for the rant, if you haven't read Varlam Shalamov, he's a must. Solzhenitsyn wanted him to co-author Gulag (I think Shalamov spent 15+ years in the gulag,) but Shalamov declined. Penguin published an abridged version years ago and NYRB just published two volumes of his Kolyma Stories and it's up there with the best of Russian literature.

https://undpress.nd.edu/books/?series=the-center-for-ethics-and-culture-solzheni...

https://www.nyrb.com/products/kolyma-stories?variant=52465024263

55ultrarightist
heinäkuu 15, 2021, 11:20 pm

>54 Joshbooks1: Thank you very much for the information for your offer to take some photos. It's not necessary as I decided to purchase the books regardless, although I am glad to learn that the books have sewn bindings. I too am surprised that FS has not at least published One Day in the Life. A strange omission. Thanks for the heads up about Shalamov. I have not read any of his works.

I noticed that UND Press only has Node III (all three volumes) of the Red Wheel for sale. Did they previously publish Nodes I and II?

FYI: Easton Press published editions of One Day in the Life, First Circle, and the Cancer Ward.

56Willoyd
heinäkuu 16, 2021, 7:26 am

>43 sdolton:
50% sitewide sale at Princeton University Press until July 21

Thank you for this! I've managed to pick up several books that I've wanted for some time, and a couple of others that were too good to resist. I'd never have known otherwise.

57Joshbooks1
heinäkuu 16, 2021, 9:15 am

>55 ultrarightist: I purchased the four so far on alibris. Not sure if you've used them before but I usually wait until they have a $20 off coupon. Haha as for Easton Press, I already have a book buying problem and don't want to start another collection. Although I'm thinking of joining LOA again and get some of their nice sets and the complete Roth, Vonnegut, etc.

58ultrarightist
heinäkuu 17, 2021, 1:27 pm

Anything by Christopher Dawson

59sdolton
heinäkuu 17, 2021, 2:23 pm

>58 ultrarightist: that would be fantasic

60jhicks62
heinäkuu 17, 2021, 5:54 pm

>36 jroger1: I'd buy A History of Reading in a second! I second that one. I stopped in a bookstore when my wife and I were visiting Puerto Rico a few years ago, and bought a version in Spanish -- and I can't even read Spanish!

61InVitrio
heinäkuu 18, 2021, 5:16 am

To be fair, I'm not sure that there is that huge a market for an in-depth exegesis of a town in Berkshire.

62sdolton
heinäkuu 18, 2021, 9:45 am

>56 Willoyd: very welcome

63simbae
heinäkuu 18, 2021, 10:40 am

Do we know if anyone at FS browses here, like David in the LOA group? FS is engaging on social media, but wondered if they participate here.

64Pellias
heinäkuu 18, 2021, 3:21 pm

Only active persons linked to the Folio Society that has participated before, to my knowledge are :

David Hillier - illustrator . (Steppenwolf/Lovecraft) which participated for a short span during the release of the limited ed.

Other than that it is spoken about a mole from the FS, but nothing concrete. If this person or persons have been active, it would at least be under many layers of covers

I would like to think they drop in from time to time on librarything, but maybe more so in the past. They also drop in on youtube from time to time, around announcement only mostly, and with certain Folio Society influencer/booktubers, but now with facebook they get a lot more feedback there, which is natural. Not always quality, but natural.

This is a small pond, that is a very large pond.

65wcarter
heinäkuu 18, 2021, 4:47 pm

>63 simbae:
The FS certainly monitors FSD, but does not post here.

66simbae
heinäkuu 18, 2021, 7:07 pm

Didn’t mean to veer off topic, love this thread, and it made me think whether FS at least sees these recommendations instead of on Twitter/Facebook/Instagram. Not to say we’re better or anything, but a wider range it seems.

67cpg
heinäkuu 21, 2021, 3:46 pm

Until recently, I would have agreed with those who put Princeton University Press a notch above Oxford and Cambridge for the physical quality of their books. I checked several of my hardbacks from Princeton, and they all very clearly had signatures. But I just bought (a hardcover version of) Philosophy of Physics: Quantum Theory, and it doesn't. In the same order, I got a softcover version of Philosophy of Physics: Space and Time, and it is clearly print-on-demand (though done fairly well). And there is an Amazon review up for the new release Visual Differential Geometry and Forms that claims that the hardcover copy the reviewer purchased is of "very poor" quality and is Print on Demand. (An especially egregious charge for that particular title.)

68MonsieurLePrince
Muokkaaja: heinäkuu 22, 2021, 12:34 pm

Lord Blake's Disraeli
Jonathan Sumption's 5 volume history of the Hundred Years War (whenever he finishes)
Lucy Norton's 3-volume translation of Saint-Simon's memoirs.

69ian_curtin
heinäkuu 22, 2021, 1:23 pm

CV Wedgewood - The Thirty Years War
Donald Morris - The Washing of the Spears
Svan Lindqvist - Exterminate All the Brutes
Brian Dillon - The Great Explosion
Philip Caputo - A Rumor of War

70CarltonC
heinäkuu 22, 2021, 3:45 pm

>69 ian_curtin: The Thirty Years War was published by FS in 1999 with an introduction by Roy Strong. Possibly available on secondary market?

71abysswalker
heinäkuu 22, 2021, 4:29 pm

>70 CarltonC: yes, many copies of the Wedgwood are available on the secondary market at quite reasonable prices. It is a nice edition. In series with The Spanish Armada and a few other books that share a similar cover design.

72DMulvee
heinäkuu 22, 2021, 4:30 pm

The Fractal Geometry of Nature - Mandelbrot

73coynedj
heinäkuu 22, 2021, 6:12 pm

>72 DMulvee: - I've read it and it's terrific, but is it a book of history?

74DMulvee
heinäkuu 22, 2021, 6:39 pm

>73 coynedj: I’m sorry! Not at all appropriate for this thread

75ian_curtin
heinäkuu 23, 2021, 3:32 am

>70 CarltonC: >71 abysswalker: Yes, I remembered that just after posting. I may poke around and see if it's worth replacing my NYRB edition.

76CarltonC
heinäkuu 23, 2021, 10:21 am

>75 ian_curtin: Just looked at my FS edition and, should it influence your decision, would note that the majority of the footnote references to sources have been omitted, and this edition otherwise follows the minor emendations made in the 1964 version.

77sdolton
heinäkuu 23, 2021, 12:49 pm

Books by Alistair Horne: A Savage War of Peace: Algeria 1954-1962
To Lose a Battle: France 1940
The Price of Glory: Verdun 1916
The Fall of Paris: The Siege and the Commune 1870-71
The Terrible Year : The Paris Commune, 1871

78LesMiserables
heinäkuu 24, 2021, 5:16 pm

The Drove Roads of Scotland by A.R.B. Haldane

79wcarter
heinäkuu 25, 2021, 3:04 am

A new FS brochure covering History, Science, Exploration and Mythology (seen last half of brochure) has been added to the FS wiki here.

80Stephan68
heinäkuu 25, 2021, 5:24 am

Tacitus, Ronald Syme
Spirit of the Laws, Montesquieu
The Federalist Papers, Hamilton, Madison, Jay
The Later Roman Empire, Ammianus Marcellinus

81mad_yosemite
heinäkuu 25, 2021, 6:03 pm

I was looking for a book that I can never find anywhere when I remembered this thread. The book I am looking for is Sir Walter Raleigh‘s History of the World. I would greatly appreciate a Folio Society Edition. If anyone knows of a college press that is currently publishing the work please let me know.

82icewindraider
heinäkuu 25, 2021, 9:14 pm

Band of Brothers by Stephen Ambrose.

83Betelgeuse
heinäkuu 26, 2021, 7:31 am

>81 mad_yosemite: I would welcome that as well! I suggested it some time ago.

84ultrarightist
heinäkuu 27, 2021, 12:44 am

>80 Stephan68: Good choices

85Stephan68
heinäkuu 27, 2021, 8:25 am

>84 ultrarightist: Thanks! It seems we appreciate the same type of history books. I’ve just started to read the FS edition of Syme’s “The Roman Revolution”. It is a slow read due to the density of information, but this is what attracted me to the book in the first place. Syme’s two volume work on Tacitus (originally from OUP) seems to be out of print in the moment. I would strongly applaud it if the FS would find the courage again to publish more academic history books like this.

86LondonLawyer
elokuu 1, 2021, 6:57 pm

Jonathan Sumption - History of the Hundred Years War.
Robert A. Caro - The Years of Lyndon Johnson.

Hoping they both make it to the end...

87coynedj
elokuu 9, 2021, 6:39 pm

I recently (through another book) found out about this one - The Life And Adventures Of William Buckley. Buckley spent 30 years living with an aboriginal tribe in Australia in the early 1800s, having escaped from prison and being mistaken by the tribe as being the resurrection of a deceased tribe member. It sounds like the kind of book Folio used to publish in the 1970s and 1980s, and it sounds fascinating. Maybe not history - more like a personal narrative or even anthropology, but it seems it would give a glance into a historical time and culture.

88English-bookseller
elokuu 18, 2021, 7:01 am

I thought I knew my Anglo-French history but Robert & Isabelle Tombs have written a wonderful book in 'The Sweet Enemy: The French and the British from the Sun King to the Present' which was a revelation. A number of professional historians have praised it to the skies. It is in my opinion worthy of being given the full works by The Folio Society.

89Willoyd
elokuu 19, 2021, 2:38 am

Amongst many others, I'd like to see FS publish Christopher Clark's book 'The Sleepwalkers', as a companion piece perhaps to their edition on 'The Iron Kingdom'.

90boldface
elokuu 20, 2021, 12:33 pm

I would like to see a FS edition of Arnold Toynbee's 'A Study of History' (1934-1961). In its original format (10 volumes plus Atlas plus a volume of reappraisal/answering critics), A Study of History analyses the pattern and philosophy of the rise and fall of human civilisations as Frazer analysed myth and legend in 'The Golden Bough'. Of course, there's no way the Folio Society, past or present, would ever publish the full version, but there have been two abridgements which get at the essentials:

1. By D. C. Somervell, 2 vols (OUP) - 1: vols. I-VI (1946); and 2: vols VII-X (1957)

2. By Arnold Toynbee with the assistance of Jane Caplan, single volume, illustrated (OUP/Thames & Hudson, 1972)

I would favour the second alternative, because Toynbee himself was involved and the material is rearranged to make the arguments clearer and to reflect his later thinking. The 1972 edition has illustrations which were agreed on with the author's approval.

91trentsteel
elokuu 20, 2021, 3:46 pm

Just finished 1776. Are there any other folio revolutionary war books that have been published?

92gmacaree
elokuu 20, 2021, 4:39 pm

>91 trentsteel: Redcoats and Rebels, by Christopher Hibbert

93bookfair_e
elokuu 20, 2021, 5:36 pm

>91 trentsteel: The Fire of Liberty, Esmond Wright. Folio Society 1983 – The Presentation volume for 1984.

94LondonLawyer
syyskuu 16, 2021, 3:55 am

Frank Dikotter's trilogy: (i) Mao's Great Famine; (ii) The Tragedy of Liberation; and (iii) The Cultural Revolution.

95Quicksilver66
syyskuu 16, 2021, 8:38 am

>94 LondonLawyer: I second Dikotter’s Mao trilogy.

I would also add -

Roll Jordan, Roll - Eugene Genovese
Hamilton - Ron Chernow
Disraeli - Robert Blake
Reformation Europe - GR Elton
The Pursuit of the Millennium- Norman Cohn
The English and their History - Robert Tombs
Agents of Empire - Noel Malcolm
The Last Days of Hitler - Hugh Trevor Roper
William The Conqueror - David C Douglas
Imperial Spain - JH Elliott
The Great Terror - Robert Conquest
Britain’s War Machine - David Eggerton
The Secret World - Christopher Andrew
The Silent Deep - Peter Hennessy and James Jinks

96ultrarightist
syyskuu 16, 2021, 3:03 pm

>95 Quicksilver66: I strongly second The Great Terror by Robert Conquest

97gmacaree
syyskuu 17, 2021, 5:10 am

>95 Quicksilver66: "Hamilton - Ron Chernow" -- I suspect you probably know this, but for those who don't, Chernow's Hamilton has already been done by Folio, although it's very difficult to find as I think there was some contretemps over rights post-publication and the unsold copies quickly vanished.

It's an excellent book.

98behemoththecat
syyskuu 17, 2021, 5:34 am

>97 gmacaree: I have only seen Folio’s Alexander Hamilton pop up a few times on eBay, but it always seems to go for a reasonable price (£15-£30). My local Waterstones wanted over a tenner for the paperback!

99Betelgeuse
Muokkaaja: syyskuu 17, 2021, 6:20 am

>95 Quicksilver66:
>97 gmacaree:
>98 behemoththecat:
You can also find a leather-bound version of Chernow's Hamilton published by Gryphon Editions.

https://www.gryphoneditions.com/leather-books-for-sale/alexander-hamilton-cherno...

100ambyrglow
syyskuu 17, 2021, 9:07 am

Embracing Defeat by John W. Dower. (In my dreams, as a two-volume set; I find my one-volume paperback unwieldy.)

The Railway Journey: Trains and Travel in the 19th Century, by Wolfgang Schivelbusch. (From the original English-language Urizen Books edition, please! The University of California Press edition currently in print is a travesty that's missing about 3/4ths of the illustrations; UoC also inexplicably chose to retranslate the book, and their translation is IMO much less readable than the original.)

And seconding (thirding?) The Warmth of Other Suns.

101elladan0891
syyskuu 17, 2021, 1:46 pm

The Alexiad - Anna Komnene
Chronographia - Michael Psellos
Hellenica - Xenophon
The Emperor: Downfall of an Autocrat - Ryszard Kapuscinski
The Face of War - Martha Gellhorn

102ultrarightist
syyskuu 17, 2021, 2:27 pm

>101 elladan0891:

The Alexiad - Anna Komnene
Chronographia - Michael Psellos
Hellenica - Xenophon

Strongly seconded

103behemoththecat
syyskuu 17, 2021, 2:48 pm

>101 elladan0891: The Alexiad, and a nice bit of Peter Frankopan to accompany it!

104AnnieMod
syyskuu 17, 2021, 3:20 pm

>102 ultrarightist: >101 elladan0891:

Can Folio really do better than Landmark on Hellenica? :)

105Hanno
syyskuu 17, 2021, 3:21 pm

Dreadnought by Robert K. Massie will be nice. A bit on the large side though.

106elladan0891
syyskuu 17, 2021, 4:05 pm

>104 AnnieMod: Absolutely! Better binding, better paper - I think we can all agree on that. Also, and here I understand our opinions probably differ - there are too many notes and annotations in the Landmark for my taste. Checked on amazon and I found them and the resulting layout rather distracting, to the point of deciding against buying it.

107AnnieMod
Muokkaaja: syyskuu 17, 2021, 5:03 pm

>106 elladan0891: To each their own. While nicer paper will be nice, I quite like the Landmarks. :) They are wide enough for the notes not to get in the way. But tastes vary - and people’s preferences are people’s preferences. :)

108Willoyd
syyskuu 17, 2021, 5:40 pm

>105 Hanno:
Castles of Steel makes a good companion.

109elladan0891
syyskuu 17, 2021, 11:01 pm

>107 AnnieMod: people’s preferences are people’s preferences. :)

Yep. I'm glad - and even slightly envious - that you found an edition you like!

110LondonLawyer
syyskuu 19, 2021, 3:59 am

Gosh, you lot are responsible for some serious (non-Folio) enabling. I've added a good number to the TBR pile just from reading through this thread.

Allow me to offer another recommendation to this group: Christoph Baumer's four volume History of Central Asia. A magnificent work. I don't think they'd be suitable as Folio productions, but I highly recommend them in their currently-published format. You can pick all four volumes up new for £100-120.

111SyllicSpell
syyskuu 19, 2021, 10:37 am

Another vote for the works of Tacitus, and a few yet to be mentioned:

Heimskringla - Snorri Sturluson
Deeds of the Danes - Saxo Grammaticus
The History and Topography of Ireland - Gerald of Wales

112ultrarightist
syyskuu 19, 2021, 12:55 pm

>111 SyllicSpell: Excellent choices

113Andrew.B
syyskuu 24, 2021, 5:18 am

Some more Robert K. Massie books please. Such as Peter the Great. Think Folio has only printed one, Nicholas & Alexandra - which I have.

114LBShoreBook
syyskuu 24, 2021, 12:15 pm

The River War 2 volume set, Winston Churchill

115boldface
syyskuu 24, 2021, 12:20 pm

>114 LBShoreBook:

I agree, but the definitive edition (indeed the only edition since it was replaced with a single-volume abridgement in 1902) has only just been published by St Augustine's Press and is already flying off the shelves as fast as the publishers can reprint. Whether there's room for a Folio-style reading edition, I'm not so sure.

116Akes
syyskuu 24, 2021, 2:42 pm

>113 Andrew.B: I second this notion, especially Peter the Great. Phenomenal biography

117LBShoreBook
syyskuu 24, 2021, 3:03 pm

>115 boldface: Thanks, you just nudged me off the fence to purchase this edition. I was not aware it was selling this quickly, don't want to miss it. Fair point on FS edition.

118RRCBS
syyskuu 24, 2021, 4:18 pm

>115 boldface: do you know if their clothbound books have sewn bindings?

119DCBlack
syyskuu 24, 2021, 4:45 pm

More Nathaniel Philbrick: either In the Heart of the Sea or Sea of Glory

121vmb443
syyskuu 25, 2021, 4:08 am

I’d love to see a two volume matching set of Max Hastings’ two books on the end of the war in the Pacific and Europe: “Retribution” and “Armageddon”

122sdolton
syyskuu 25, 2021, 5:14 pm

>121 vmb443: that's a fantastic idea.

123boldface
syyskuu 26, 2021, 2:34 pm

>118 RRCBS:

I think so, but I don't yet have the trade edition.

124Willoyd
syyskuu 26, 2021, 2:43 pm

>121 vmb443:
>122 sdolton:

Agreed. I thoroughly enjoy Max Hastings' works, but have to admit that Bomber is probably the only one that I wasn't bothered for!

125bacchus.
syyskuu 26, 2021, 7:40 pm

I believe The Riddle of the Labyrinth by Margalit Fox would make for an excellent FS edition.

126English-bookseller
Muokkaaja: syyskuu 27, 2021, 7:33 am

This may be the wrong thread to post this recommendation for The Folio Society to publish the historical fiction bestsellers of Robert Harris, but it is about an important event of 20th century history.

There is an enduring and a serious debate as to how the UK might better have dealt with Germany in the years 1933 to 1939. I am not going to rehearse the timetable here but the 1930s had a number of really crucial turning points. For some, the key event - after Germany had started to rearm, to 'expand' its national borders and to prepare for a major European war - was the Munich Conference of 1938.

If you want to understand what happened in the immediate run up to Munich and the motivations of the key political figures taking part I recommend the Robert Harris thriller 'Munich'.

It just so happens that Netflix are going to make a feature film based on the Robert Harris novel. It is due to go on General Release in early 2022 (to stand a chance for the Oscars) and will then be placed on Netflix for subscribers to watch.

Assuming it's a good film, then we can expect to see much media discussion of the film and of 'Munich' the actual historical event.

I wonder whether the Folio Society could seek to buy the rights to publish their own edition of the 'Munich' and failing that a really good non-fiction history book about it.

The Munich Conference raises some very challenging questions that are still pertinent for governments around the world.

For example, how should the US, the UK, India, Japan, Australia or Vietnam respond to the varied challenges raised by China's rise and confrontational policies: Appease? Compete? Combine? Talk?

127cronshaw
syyskuu 27, 2021, 8:19 am

>126 English-bookseller: Ironically, it could also be useful reading for Germans and those in other European Union member states in responding to the various challenges raised by the confrontational policies and gratuitous pledge-breaking by Boris Johnson. That the pendulum of history since the 1930s now sees Germany as politically moderate while Britain is ruled by incompetent far-right nationalists is instructive in itself.

128Betelgeuse
syyskuu 27, 2021, 9:22 am

I would like a FS treatment of The Rise and Fall of Alexandria: Birthplace of the Modern Mind by Justin Pollard and Howard Reid.

I would also like to see Walter Raleigh's History of the World.

129English-bookseller
syyskuu 28, 2021, 7:00 am

>127 cronshaw: What an interesting and provocative post you make!

With the German election results not producing an obvious winner, this week's Spectator has an excellent article about the EU. I show here just two paragraphs:

Next, a power vacuum in Berlin will be filled by a hyper-active, ambitious Commission, encouraged by President Macron in France, and Prime Minister Draghi in Italy, both of whom are enthusiastic federalists. Although no one has bothered to consult any electorates or tried changing any of the treaties, the EU has quietly been increasing its powers at a rate that has not been witnessed since it launched the single currency.

The Commission has already used the pandemic to hijack health policy, which, as we now know, can be incredibly powerful in controlling the whole of society. The Coronavirus Rescue Fund is steadily allowing the Commission to take control of fiscal and industrial policy, monitoring budgets and deciding on how money is spent in each country. And ‘rule of law’ disputes with Hungary and Poland are paving the way for the EU to have oversight of constitutions. In the absence of national politicians to stand up to it, the bureaucracy is steadily increasing its power — as bureaucracies inevitably always will. Paris and Rome are not likely to block any of that and the new German chancellor won’t have the authority to stand in its way even if he wants to.

Looks to me as though democracy in parts of Europe (but note not in the UK) is under dire threat ... from the EU!

130InVitrio
syyskuu 28, 2021, 7:32 am

>127 cronshaw: To be fair, the German results include 10% who voted for the Nazis' spiritual successors, 5% who voted for the party which founded the Stasi, and 15% who voted for a party that would abolish Germany in favour of an EU state.

I doubt anyone in Britain would find those views "moderate".

131Quicksilver66
Muokkaaja: syyskuu 28, 2021, 7:48 am

>127 cronshaw: “far right nationalists” ????

I usually refrain from political comments here but if you think the current Conservative government is “far right”, you need to get out a bit more. I agree with English-bookseller and InVitrio.

132cronshaw
syyskuu 28, 2021, 8:04 am

>129 English-bookseller: As much as it could be fun to engage in a game of cut-and-paste from various magazines or papers, biased one way or the other, I honestly don't see the point :)

I consider that UK democracy is as under threat as any elsewhere in Europe. We have a Prime Minister (a Conservative one, perish the thought!) who chose to lie to the Queen in order to illegally prorogue Parliament with the sole purpose of derailing democratic process, and who benefits from a system clearly not fit for purpose where a party that wins only 40% of the popular vote gains a Parliamentary majority of 80.

>130 InVitrio: To be fair, it's a bit rich to try and classify those who'd like greater integration and federalism as politically extreme. Winston Churchill must have been politically extreme by your definition then, since he repeatedly advocated a federal union of European states, to resemble the U.S.A..

>131 Quicksilver66: I get out plenty (but thank you for your kind advice) and have spoken with plenty of people who perceive the current British government the same way as I do, including numerous small 'c' conservatives who have told me they could never vote for the current Conservative party precisely because of its present extremism.

133Quicksilver66
Muokkaaja: syyskuu 28, 2021, 8:07 am

>132 cronshaw: More likely to do with its drift to the left than to the right.

Churchill did advocate an EU. But he didn’t want the UK to have anything to do with it. We should have heeded his advice - and De Gaulle’s.

134InVitrio
syyskuu 28, 2021, 10:33 am

Also it is quite an extreme view that the EU members should dissolve into a brand-new country. You won't get many Italians for instance thinking that they should not bother with the World Cup and get behind an EU side, which is the logical consequence.

135cronshaw
syyskuu 28, 2021, 11:38 am

>134 InVitrio: ergo you say Churchill held extreme views.

I don't follow your logic that federation, or political union necessitates the loss of national football teams. Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and England all have their own teams yet are part of a political union, admittedly increasingly shaky thanks to Brexit.

136jswift81
syyskuu 28, 2021, 12:19 pm

I don't know much about European politics, but I live in the US, and both of our parties are clearly far right. We just went from an orange clown to a man with dementia. I'll take almost anything else.

137abysswalker
syyskuu 28, 2021, 12:20 pm

I am aware that attempting to curtail tangents is probably futile, but this used to be a useful conversation on the topic of history book recommendations. Maybe those who feel compelled to argue about UK politics and EU federalism could at least put a fig leaf on it by making arguments through recommending books to publish that take a particular position?

I would rather not have to click the ignore button for this topic, as the first roughly 75% of it was one of the more interesting recent topics.

138English-bookseller
syyskuu 28, 2021, 12:32 pm

>137 abysswalker: I inadvertently started the discussion and agree that a political argy-bargy is not wanted on this forum. We are bibliophiles not political activists when here.

I find the Munich Conference of 1938 is a topic of extraordinary interest - there is nothing really comparable in UK, and perhaps, World History - and was hoping to jog the The Folio Society to decide to publish an excellent book about it.

139adriano77
syyskuu 28, 2021, 4:19 pm

Good grief, the groups being considered "far-right" nowadays is baffling.

140InVitrio
syyskuu 29, 2021, 3:58 am

>135 cronshaw: The thing with Churchill though is you have to place him in history, and perhaps Richard Evans would be the best vade mecum for Folio to deal with in the 1930s. Remember that, at at 1945, there would be people living who were older than the Republic of Ireland, Germany, and Italy as countries. Would someone in 1860 have thought the idea of Prussia merging with Bavaria as extreme? Or splitting the south Slavs from Austria-Hungary or expelling the Turks from nearly all of Europe?

The idea of a pan-European state to stop the sort of shenanigans that happened in 1870, 1914, and 1939 was not as extreme as such views would be considered today, because it was coming off the sort of extremes that are unthinkable in modern Europe.

141InVitrio
syyskuu 29, 2021, 4:00 am

>138 English-bookseller: A failing of English historians is nobody has done a decent biog of Neville Chamberlain. Castigated in Guilty Men for not stopping Hitler by the same people who opposed his moves to re-arm. (And in one case who refused to fight against Hitler, but instead took on a job that paid him more than the Prime Minister.) Work THAT one out.

142English-bookseller
syyskuu 29, 2021, 5:11 am

Fair point.

I think Robert Harris gave a fair judgement and shrewd portrait of him in 'Munich'.

Just add that Oxfam UK has a copy of Robert Self's 'Neville Chamberlain. A Biography'. You may get a better copy cheaper elsewhere.

Recently published: Neville Chamberlain: The Passionate Radical by Walter Reid.

143Quicksilver66
Muokkaaja: syyskuu 29, 2021, 7:01 am

>142 English-bookseller: If we are on the topic of fictionalised history (an agreeable of-shoot of history) then I support Harris’s “Munich” being Folioised, together with his excellent novels about Cicero.

I would also love to see Gore Vidal’s Burr, Lincoln, Julian and Creation.

144English-bookseller
Muokkaaja: syyskuu 29, 2021, 9:00 am

I agree with your suggestions.

Might add Pompeii and Enigma for Robert Harris. His novels tend to have the same formula: a similar basic structure; set in an interesting historical period which the author has studied carefully; male hero without a love interest (she is soon located in the same organisation...); the hero becomes a clever know-all in his work; hero has to deal with over-bearing and dumb superiors in the organisation; hero has to take dangerous, independent and unauthorised action etc. Conclusion: mission accomplished and there is a suggestion that the hero will get the girl.

Gore Vidal had a high reputation in the UK some years back, but I never see any references to his novels nowadays. I suppose the media focus on the greats (Austen etc) and those still writing new work.

145Quicksilver66
syyskuu 29, 2021, 12:45 pm

>144 English-bookseller: Vidal is strangely overlooked these days. I always found him to be a wonderful writer with an entertainingly acerbic take on history. I have most of his historical fiction in signed editions from Franklin Library. Very nice editions.

146antinous_in_london
Muokkaaja: syyskuu 29, 2021, 7:23 pm

>145 Quicksilver66: Vidal seems to have fallen out of fashion since his death. I met him a few times when he was visiting London & if you think he was entertainingly acerbic in print you can imagine what he was like in private conversation!
His old nemesis Norman Mailer seems also to have fallen out of fashion somewhat, though his other great nemesis Capote is still hanging in there! ( I love his quote about his first meeting with Capote “I first met Truman at Anaïs Nin’s apartment. My first impression—as I wasn’t wearing my glasses—was that it was a colourful ottoman. When I sat down on it, it squealed. It was Truman.” )

147Quicksilver66
Muokkaaja: syyskuu 30, 2021, 4:41 am

>146 antinous_in_london: What a terrific privilege to meet Vidal? What’s out of fashion often comes back into fashion, so there is hope yet.

I liked Mailer. The Fight is a great book of reportage. I think he’s out of favour because his books, like his life, were so testosterone driven. He was also a huge egomaniac. Great writer though.

148Willoyd
Muokkaaja: syyskuu 30, 2021, 4:56 am

I've never read Vidal or Mailer - thank you for the reminders! Any suggestions as to any to read first? I can't say I'm a major fan of Harris's. I've enjoyed a fair number of his books, not least because he's featured as a book choice with a couple of my reading groups, but whilst his novels all start off and seem to build up really well, they all too often, to me at least, seem to end in a bit of a damp squib and me feeling a tad dissatisfied.

149Quicksilver66
Muokkaaja: syyskuu 30, 2021, 5:56 am

>148 Willoyd:

For Vidal, I would start with Burr or Lincoln. Burr is my favourite. As you may know, Burr was an 18th century US vice-president who shot and killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel. Vidal’s malicious portrayal of Thomas Jefferson as an effete slimy hypocrite is delicious in this novel.

For Mailer, of his novels I would read the Naked and the Dead, although it’s quite harrowing. His latter novels are excellent (particularly Ancient Evenings), but very bloated in comparison. Of his reportage, The Fight is a short read and thoroughly enjoyable. It’s about the legendary fight in Zaire between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman in 1974 - “the rumble in the jungle”.

150Betelgeuse
syyskuu 30, 2021, 6:23 am

>148 Willoyd:
>149 Quicksilver66:
Burr or Lincoln are great starts for newbies to Vidal. I also enjoyed Julian, which was in some ways like "I, Claudius" (Vidal acknowledges the similarity in an Introduction). In Burr and Julian, at least, Vidal seems to perversely enjoy writing historical fiction from the point of view of iconoclastic rebels.

151English-bookseller
syyskuu 30, 2021, 10:58 am

>148 Willoyd: I understand your criticism about how Robert Harris ends his novels.

It appears that he does not want a definitive happy ending (tough heros aren't seeking romance) and nor he does want to end with a tragedy (his readers commit mass suicide). So he leaves the future of our happy couple (or not) up in the air.

I look upon him as a very competent thriller writer with interesting and careful reconstruction of both a particular time and place, but he is far from trying to write a 'great novel'. Whether he could if he gave it the time and effort I do not know. He seems to me to date to be one of those writers who writes for the money and I assume he must be rather successful at that.

152Willoyd
Muokkaaja: syyskuu 30, 2021, 11:13 am

>149 Quicksilver66: >150 Betelgeuse:
Thank you both. Burr or Lincoln sound good - an American on Americans. The Fight sounds promising too. I originally had taken a deep breath given the size and put The Executioner's Song down as my book for Utah in a Tour of the US in literature I'm doing, but later decided that I was going to keep the list fiction only.

>151 English-bookseller:
Fair comment!

153LondonLawyer
huhtikuu 19, 2022, 3:00 am

One more for this list: The Arms of Krupp by William Manchester.

154Hamwick
huhtikuu 19, 2022, 4:26 pm

>152 Willoyd: I like that idea, doing a literary tour of a country by county or state! I think I will give that a try, first choice, which country…

155Silver-Books
Muokkaaja: huhtikuu 19, 2022, 4:34 pm

Gonna add my vote for Folio quality editions of the entire Landmark series.

156Willoyd
huhtikuu 20, 2022, 11:12 am

>154 Hamwick:
I've done English counties, am currently doing USA states, and have also just started a Round the World tour of countries (UN recognised plus a couple of others to make 200!). The latter two have certainly opened my eyes to a much broader range of reading than I was used to!

Departments of France would appeal!