The Historical Nonfiction Thread

[Kaveh]

Some things you guys should read since you no longer believe in your civilization:

Donald Kagan’s The Peloponnesian War. This guy is the principal scholar of this period in Greek history, and Thucydides’ account of that war, where democracy and oligarchy came into conflict, characterized James Madison’s belief that factionalism could fragment the nascent United States.

It’s a good book in its own right and covers a fascinating period that, shockingly, you guys aren’t really educated about in school anymore, and 400 of the 500 pages are very entertaining. It somewhat drags at the end, but it’s very important. Honestly, so is Thucydides’ eyewitness account, but I don’t think any of you would get through that

Adrian Goldworthy’s Philip and Alexander. All of you know Alexander, but most of you aren’t familiar with the genius of Philip. This chronicle will take you through some of the most important moments in the “Great man of history theory,” but you might find that Philip was the truly innovative and important person in creating the Hellenistic world

I’m gonna go with another Adrian Goldworthy title. The Fall of Carthage addresses all three Punic wars, to the minutiae. A+

As an aside, all of you should teach your children Latin, piano, and chess. Thanks and God bless