It's mostly European history this month, plus a couple of grand narratives with collapse and microbial doom as a theme...
Click the book covers to see a zoomed in image and links to Amazon if you like to buy your books there.
This month I will be mostly reading:1
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Amongst the Ruins: Why Civilizations Collapse and Communities Disappear, by John Darlington - I was (am) a big fan of Jared Diamond's efforts on this front so am keen to see how JD#2's work compares.
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Beyond the Wall: A History of East Germany 1949-1990, Katja Hoyer - aside from the film Goodbye Lenin I have very little knowledge of East Berlin and this book looks likes a great place to start.
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Women of Ancient Rome: To Survive Under the Patriarchy, Lynda Telford - because how do you survive?
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Revolutionary Spring: Fighting for a New World 1848-1849, Christopher Clark - looks like a fascinating blow by blow account of this transitory revolutionary moment, plus I love how the cover makes it feel like it could have happened just yesterday.
On the assumption of unlimited time. ↩︎