/his/ - History General

[Thricegreat]

This is a thread for history, archaeology, &c. Maybe anthropology too.

[Thricegreat]

To start with something I don't know deeply but I'm a bit interested, I'm recently somewhat interested in the Meiji Restoration considering that how many Japanese people still live in that late 19C worldview. Though Japanese modern history is a highly controversial and political matter. I usually don't write about it because of that.

Especially I'm interested in 薩長同盟 (Satchou Alliance) and how it still affects the current Japan. Choushuu people took the Imperial Army and Satsuma people took the Imperial Navy around that time. And that heritage still descends a bit. For example the former assasinated prime minister Abo Shinzou was from Yamaguchi, the current name of the region that constituted Choushuu.

Also it is interesting that the 戊辰戦争 (Boshin War) still affects the current Japanese politics. The regions that went for the Imperial side are now mostly conservative leaning. And the regions that went for the Tokugawa Shogunate are quite liberal leaning. Though maybe here is not a good place to talk about Japanese politics.



To write something about European history, I would start with this: Byzantines deserved the Battle of Manzikert.

[Amlux]

This was a wild ride. Really curious to read some more about these more obscure dictators.

[AsaFromNasa]

Any recs on modern Chinese history? I was looking at Dikotters peoples trilogy but apparently it's propaganda. I was also looking at the search for modern china by Spence, which i will probably go with but i was wondering if any of you have any other recs. I want something in between total pop history and academic nonsense. Also is it worth having more of a background on what happened pre Qing or can i dive in around the opium wars? Eventually i want to do the entire 6 book History of Imperial China series but for right now I'm mostly interested in Qing - present. As a slight side note, does the Rape of Nanking by Chang live up to the hype?

[Amlux]

Any recs on modern Chinese history? I was looking at Dikotters peoples trilogy but apparently it's propaganda. I was also looking at the search for modern china by Spence, which i will probably go with but i was wondering if any of you have any other recs. I want something in between total pop history and academic nonsense. Also is it worth having more of a background on what happened pre Qing or can i dive in around the opium wars? Eventually i want to do the entire 6 book History of Imperial China series but for right now I'm mostly interested in Qing - present. As a slight side note, does the Rape of Nanking by Chang live up to the hype?

The only one I can really recommend is Mao: A Life by Philip Short. It's exactly what you're looking for when you mention a medium between pop history and academic doggerel. It's an incredibly well-written book that often reads like a novel (and a very well-written one), but has no shortage of great details and solid scholarship. It does mostly focus on Mao, but it actually gives a very good broad view of a lot of people around him. Spence is the only other guy I know and his book looks good, though I haven't read it.

Also I can't speak about Dikötter, but it is important to realize that there are always people who want to emphasize only the evils of communist regimes, but there are also never any shortage of tankies who will call all even vaguely critical histories propaganda. So yeah, it can be hard to tell where the truth in the middle is... if a history like that can even exist.