I have noticed there are folks here with different historical backgrounds. Perhaps we could benefit each other by suggesting the best possible textbooks in our respective areas of specialty or interest.

For modern China, my favorite textbook is called 'The Search for Modern China' by Jonathan Spence. 'A History of Chinese Civilization' by Jacques Gernet (tr. from French) gives excellent coverage of the pre-modern era. For Japan, I haven't seen a book that surpasses 'Japan: Tradition and Transformation' by Reischauer and Craig, although Peter Duus's book 'Modern Japan' does give interesting coverage and insight especially on the last 100 years. 'The Golden Peninsula' by Charles Keyes is not a textbook, per se, but gives very balanced coverage of the various Southeast Asian cultures from an anthropological standpoint. For a more comprehensive but sometimes vague read, try 'In Search of Southeast Asia' (Steinberg, Ed.). Donald Stone Macdonald created the prototype text on modern Korea, entitled, strangely enough 'The Koreans'.

I have always enjoyed dabbling in ancient history topics. My favorite is 'Rome' by Rostovtzeff. For excellent coverage of the ancient to the modern period of Western history, Greer's 'A Brief History of the Western World' might do the trick.

Please add your favorite choices here!

Spence was the reference when I did a brief stint in Asian Art a few years ago.
One of my former profs Martin Kemp has done a blockbuster on art.

I'm sending this one back up to the top to see if it gets any bites...

ok...History of Buddhism by Buston is good...

Japan...
I like th2 volume set from the standford guy
China? Spence seems boring...why not the complete Oxford-History of ancient China. I think the Oxford volumes on the complete History from China to Greek are the best-

Germany?Maybe Bloomsby might suggest something here...but I would guess the Oxford history volume on Germany is the best as well. There are many new books out on Germany- a sudden spate, dribbling out...

India?
US?
Mexico?
Africa? I heard recently the oldest Homo ergaster was found- pretty much documenting the fact that humans did evolve from Ethiopia as one species - and not 2.

UK:? What's his name- Schama has just come out with a 2 volume-PBS docuhistory on London...a lot of junk is written on London...it all seems boring. I prefer the :History of England by David Hume- or Dafoe's writings.

Of course I'll come up with more titles on Germany. Actually, in view of the fact that it was so fragmented till conquered by Napoleon, it's not at all easy to write a general history of 'Germany' - and very few such general histories are much use, I feel. To add to the complications, Austria (but *not* the entire Austrian Empire) was in effect an integral part of Germany - till 1866. I'm also old enough to remember quite liberal Germans who spoke of Bohemia and in particular Prague as if it went without saying that, historically anyway, they were German. (Apologies to Dobrov).

What perhaps interests people most about German history is the Third Reich. Sometimes I get the impression that about as much has been written on the subject as on the Roman Empire. By far the best book on the Third Reich is Ian Kershaw, 'The Nazi Dictatorhsip' - various editions . A note of caution: it's very something of a historians' history, but it is excellent.

Spence boring? I think you had better read his 'God's Chinese Son' before you say that P...

I read about the recent skull find in Ethiopia as well...a Berkeley grad student was part of the group who made the find. I think we can safely say that this closes the case on the homo ergaster/erectus connection controversy, if I may call it that. This was one of the major missing links...

Thanks for the Kershaw suggestion Bloomsby...any suggestions for French, Italian, Eastern Europe, Middle Ages or Renaissance...anyone?

Barbara Tuchman's "A Distant Mirror," which focuses on 14th-century Europe, was excellent (though it's also been a long while since I read it.

There was one book we read in my US History class that was amazing ... I believe it was called "After the Fact" and was published in the 1970s or 80s (though I can't remember the author(s)). It was as much about teaching historical methods (specifically those dealing with documents) as about aspects of American history, and it was utterly fascinating. There was one particularly amazing portion where the authors uncovered two separate interviews of the same woman, a former slave whose life story was recovered by the Library of Congress project. She had been interviewed once by a white woman who had used the cover story of working for a sort of welfare/relief office, and once by a black man who told her truthfully about the heritage project, and the two interviews were pretty close together in time (maybe a year or two). The difference was astounding, though - she painted a completely different picture of slavery for each. A riveting read.

Ian Kershaw's book on Nazism is in many ways a 'historian's history'. Another very good and perhaps more widely readable book on the subject is: Klaus P. Fischer, 'Nazi Germany: A New History', Constable, London 1995. Also published by the Continuum Publishing Co. NY. It may not include all that much that's original, but it provides a wide-ranging and thorough summary of many aspects. Recommended!

I'm jumping back a little here and add a digression. You're right, Bloomsby, Boehmen and Maehren were generally considered to be German regions. This is possibly why the Czech Lands did not suffer the same wholesale destruction of property (people - another matter) that was the fate of other countries occupied by the Third Reich, especially Poland. I have a little book - a guide to Bohemia and Moravia for schools - published in Germany in 42 or 43 and it explains that they are German provinces that were returned to the Reich.

This general assumption was a thorn in the side of the Czech nationalists of the 19th century. When Frantisek Palacky, historian and national leader, was invited to the Frankfurt conference in 1848, he sent back a letter declining the invitation, and outlining his position. It's interesting and it's translated here:

www.ucl.ac.uk/history/courses/europe1/chron/48text/palacky.htm

This letter is one of the first clear outlines of the Austroslav position. It's worth reading.

[ 04-21-2002, 04:30 AM: Message edited by: Dobrov ]

Schama boring? Perhaps he's resting on his laurels. That would be a pity, I saw the new series in Paris, but was on my way to the States and couldn't carry it.