I've got to say, as someone who lurks and never comments, you though deserve the knowledge that you have helped me understand the world, history, and society much more effectively. I have been watching your videos for years. Yet although every model of analyzing the world may be partly flawed somehow, mine has improved due to your consistent show of eclectic yet effective knowledge! Thank you for stimulating interest, enjoyment, curiosity and intellectual growth, and I am happy to see some of your own teachers on display here as well, perhaps I shall check these out! Finally, again, thank you Whatifalthist!
Ye at first I literally thought of him as just another alternate history youtuber. But after watching a lot of his videos I realized there goes much more research and understanding of civilisation into his videos. I now click everytime on his videos not because of the alternate scenarios but because fo the real world history and sociology I learn while at it. And finally the one big thing I love is how he literally does not give opinions during his analysis. He randomly jumps off and starts saying "I hate communism it's bullshit" and then goes back to explaining this very communism from a neutral standpoint
2 Whatifalthist videos in a day. A miracle! My top five 5. Iron Kingdom: the Rise and Fall of Prussia 4. The Rise of the West 3. The Tulmotous Election of 1800: America's First Presidential Election 2. Will Durant's History of Civilization 1. Summer in the Heavenly Kingdom
oh my god, i love iron kingdom!! the author, christopher clark, is definitely my one of my favourite historians. you should check out his documentary: ''frederick the great: the enigma of prussia'', if you like his book.
@@makhdias6907 Shut up you toddler. OP can say/suggest a possible future video idea. He doesnt need a manchild telling him to shut up. Especially one as triggered as you.
My favourite history books: 1. Guns, Germs and Steel (Jared Diamond) 2. Centuries of Change: Which Century Saw The Most Change? (Ian Mortimer) 3. A Study of History (Arnold Toynbee) 4. Jerusalem (Simon Sebag Montefiore) 5. The Rise and Fall of Great Powers (Paul Kennedy)
Cesare Ciccanti Really cool to imagine but very difficult to put into action. Irene was unpopular only being in power for less than 10 years and the title of Holy Roman Emperor dying out by the time of Charlemagne’s death. Not to mention the opposing systems of electing the leaders of both empires.
The biggest obstacle to a political union as big as this is that to solidify it, the individuals that advocated for it would have to put in a lot of effort for an extended period of time to show future figures that the union is something worth continuing. Otherwise it would phase out within a couple of years.
You REALLY need to read William L Shirer's "Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" and his other works regarding Germany and World War II. His "The Collapse of the Third Republic: An Inquiry into the Fall of France in 1940" is another excellent book. These books are foundational to any modern historian who wants to understand exactly what happened during that time.
re: Durant - My town library had a first edition of Our Oriental Heritage with a fold out map of the "descent of man." One of the "descendants," amusingly enough, was Piltdown Man. The late edition I later bought did NOT have this, sadly. They withdrew the books from circulation and probably sold them because they were going unread. The Age of Faith is probably the best book in the series, FWIW.
Perhaps you should make videos on popular historical misconceptions that should be corrected, along with other historical ideas of yours that you'd wish to share with us. Here are some basic topics to start with that I've heard you rant about before: - Does empire/colonialism/imperialism correlate with wealth? Why or why not? - The miscalculations of Marx. - Politics of the world in 2100AD. A historian's predictions. - New religions that might develop within the next few centuries(new axial age religons).
here's my what if scenarios : 1st what if The USSR joined the axis instead of the allies and what would a cold war between nazi-germany and the USSR would look like 2nd what if at the 1st or 2nd time suleiman the magnificent besieged Vienna he took it 3rd what if the ottomans had industrializes at the same time with Europe the same way as japan 4th what if the 1st successful communist revolution was in the USA instead of Russia 5th what if the Scandinavians in the Scandinavian peninsula at the beginning of the viking ages were all united and start a conquest in Europe like the mongols and the Arabs 6th what if the kamikaze never happened when the mongols invaded 7th what if the irish were the ones that united all the British isles under Irish rule first 8th what if portugal won the battle of the 3 kings in Morocco 9th what if morocco industrializes like japan
VERY MUCH INTERESTED TO KNEW ABOUT SUCH BRITISH HISTORY BOOKS. I HAVE MET WITH IT LATE BUT STILL EAGERLY WAITING FOR SUCH VIDEOS . YOUR VIDEOS ARE REALLY GOOD AND WELL SAID . THANKYOU BROTHER.
Thank you Whatifalthist and all the commenters for books to add to my reading list. I have an interest in the Age of Discovery. Here’s a few books I recommend: New Worlds by Ronald H. Fritze, The Age of Reconnaissance by J. H. Parry The Genesis of Science by James Hannam The Wealth and Poverty of Nations by David S. Landes Guns, Sails, and Empires by Carlo M. Cipolla Under the Black Flag by David Cordingly The Invisible Hook by Peter T. Leeson Before Columbus by Felipe Fernández-Armesto Carnage and Culture by Victor Davis Hanson
I'm not sure I'm a big fan of the list format type videos, but I think I would enjoy an entire video breaking down the concepts of one book or one portion of a book. This all being said im sure people would criticize because they would see it as you "stealing" these authors content
Oh wow! Will Durant also wrote a very good introduction into philosophy called "The story of philosophy". Really crazy that he also wrote good books about history. However thanks for the list, it is great!
I to have read many history books. My favorite one is: A Distant Mirror: "The Calamitous 14th Century" by Barbara Tuchman. I think you even have heard about it.
My top 6: From Dawn to Decadence, by Jaques Barzun The Thirty Years War, by C.V. Wedgewood The Crusades, by Zoe Oldenbourg Civilization and Capitalism, by Fernand Braudel The Rise of the Roman Empire, by Polybius The History of the Art of War, by Hans Delbruck The New Penguin Atlases of Ancient and Medieval History, by Colin McEvedy These are unranked, apart from Barzun's, which I would single out as a transcendent masterpiece. And McEvedy's Atlases, which I appreciate in a different way than the others. They're not particularly exhaustive or insightful, but as someone who is very geographically-minded, their flipbook/animation-like presentation carried me as a kid from having a scattershot understanding of history, to having a very clear spacio-temporal landscape in which to place things. Unfortunately they don't cover most of the world beyond Europe and the Mideast, and McEvedy's Atlases covering modern history are not as good. There are atlases of world history which can fill those gaps, but their coarser grain will not provide as clear a vision of history as a moving map. I highly recommend the two I've listed as an introduction to history for teenagers or children, particularly in the West. They're not a good ending place, but they're a fantastic starting place.
McNeil’s Plagues and People’s was influential enough most books on the subject written later spend a fair amount of time pointing out what McNeil got wrong.
My family is one of those mentioned in the last chapter of “Albion’s Seed”. They settled in puritan New England in the 1620s but were not puritans themselves. The house my ancestor built in the 17th century still stands in Beverley, MA.
Thanks for giving us a varied and interesting list. An aside: I actually waded through Braudel's Mediterranean history thinking at the time what an estimate of the available horsepower from windmills in the Netherlands and elsewhere was fascinating stuff, One criticism of your narration: you use "climactic" instead of "climatic". Admittedly, some of the effects of climate changes led to climactic falls, but....
3 I foud really interesting: -Muqqadimah, by Ibn Khaldun: The last great islamic work of science, the foundation of sociology. -The decadence of West, by Oswald Spegler: Very interesting his paralelisms of societys. His predictions about the fall of europeans are being fulfilled. -The Myth of the Machine: How technique and societal institutions influx each other, for resume it any way, its hard to find a central idea. Mmmm, interesting his explanation of why modern empires has the same 5 points star. Hehehe, curiously, I find the second in an islamist newspaper, and the third in bloguer of a far right sionist.
Hey thank you for this if you have more books you want to share please don't hesitate to make another video to share this was great very much well worth the watch now iv got a list of books I need to buy thanks
My top 5: George’s Lefebvre: The French Revolution The Making of the English Working Class Hill: Century of Revolution Osman’s Dream Redeeming the Prince: Viroli
Howard Zinn can best be described using the phrase : "Assassin of Joy." If you replaced every historical event from his book with its opposite, Zinn would look upon it just as unfavorably. A people's History of the United States was a supplementary text used in AP US history. Hated every reading assignment in it!
I found the same with Howard zinns people history. A teacher i once held in high regard recommended it to complement textbooks, soon realised it was a load of rubbish
From Goodreads, guess who wrote it. Much more background on the one book on this list that I simply cannot find: The Story of the Americas. Thank you R for this amazing review which greatly fleshes out what you said in the video. "Rudyard L. rated it it was amazing Shelves: history-books It's not impossible I'm the only person in the world to have read this book since 1950 at least. I bought this book at a used bookstore in a middle of no-where town in Pennsylvania (the author's home state). I had to create the Goodreads entry for it and it is barely even on Amazon. This book was written in the midst of World War 2, during paper rationing. This results in pages so thin that when I took this book through airport security, it set off the alarm systems for being so dense. Also, this book was written in a style about 40 years out of date at the time and would be considered borderline heretical in a few decades. This slated this book to be endlessly forgotten. Thus, as the only person recorded to have ever read this, I feel a sense of duty to write the book review. That being said, this book is a masterpiece. It is easily one of my favorite history books of all time. I'm a pretty hard core history buff, so that title does not come easily. This book summarized in a single sentence is "Why is America rich and Mexico poor?" Baldwin studies the history of the Americas from Christopher Columbus to the Second World War. The main focus is "What impact did European settlement and civilization have on separate parts of the Americas". Each nation is viewed as a separate attempt by a European country to impart its society, often emphasizing completely different characteristics and taking in different levels of native culture. Paraguay and Mexico were both colonized by Spain, but Paraguay became a communist Catholic theocracy while Mexico was a feudal caste slave economy. This shows why the nations in the Americas are so different and explains their complex relationships today. The main focus of this book is the colonization and settlement itself. This will result in strange choices. For example, the American Civil War will receive almost no page time, but the 18th century Canada-Santa Fe trade route receives 10 pages. Leland Dewitt Baldwin is a fabulous writer. He really should have been a novelist rather than a historian. It feels as if Errol Flynn is reading these lines to inspire his pirate crew in some Swashbuckling film of the age. Stories of incredible adventure and drama are told and will have you on the edge of your seat for hundreds of pages. However, my favorite part of the book is Baldwin's bizarre knowledge and deep erudition. I learned an insane amount from this book. I feel cheated by the history I learned in school that they missed out on all this incredible material. For Example: 1. It's quite possible that the English and Portuguese knew about America before Columbus and were just keeping it secret. 2.The Pacific North-West was settled by Scottish fur trappers who created a feudal society that peacefully surrendered power to the American pioneers. 3. Paraguay was a once a communist theocracy that successfully fought a war of independence against Spain while it was the main world power. 4.The state of South Carolina once fought a personal war against the nations of Spain and France---AND WON. 5. There were bands of Brazilian roving thugs called the Paulistas that roved across almost the entire South American continent in the 17th century, enslaving entire whole regions. This book hasn't aged well in all the right ways. It has a classic style that is really out of fashion and the deep historical knowledge that went with it. Histories of today tend to focus on small, nearly insignificant regions of the past. They also tend to forget that history was mainly done by a bunch of scared and hungry teenagers trying the best they could in insane circumstances, and occasionally succeeding brilliantly. In any histories of this era, you tend to run into things that would today be considered politically incorrect. This really isn't an issue here. Baldwin freely admits that the Europeans were often terrible scumbags and the natives many times had the moral high ground. He makes some pretty insensitive comments against Africans, but he actually makes a very stirring argument for the equality of the races, an end to segregation and for racial integration multiple times. In summary, this book is an incredible masterpiece that deserves more attention."
Great list. I still can’t grasp people worrying about global warming given the history of earth. We are one super volcano away from an ice age even without the natural cycles. The warmer we could make it, the better
Great video, I'll definitely check those out. Here's some of my favourites: The Pursuit of Glory - Tim Blanning They Thought They Were Free - Milton Mayer The First Casualty - Phillip Knightley American Colonies - Alan Taylor Conquest of Paradise - Kirkpatrick Sale The Last Governor - Jonathan Dimbleby The Men who lost America - Andrew O'Shaughnessy Liberty's Exiles - Maya Jasanoff
Good work, I picked some up with my unused audible credits. Not sure if you're doing this now but these videos could benefit from having links to the books within the description.
My experience is any writer that seems to start with a premise, will bend history to fit it, and generate a poor historical read (Gun, Germs, and Steel).
Inglourious Empire by Tharoor..... maybe do a little historiography? Many think that this book coincides with his party's(INC) downturn, written to revive interest and faith in the INC as the party that helped end British colonial rule. He's also being investigated for murdering his wife I'm pretty sure...
I havent actually read Guns Germs and Steel, but Jared Diamond is just about the epitome of based. I forgot the exact title but one of them starts with something about natural experiments.
This may seem random for the video however I randomly thought of an alternate history that might be interesting ,what if Francis drake never existed or at least never worked for the english
It would never, in a million years, occur to me that primitive people were peaceful - what an idiotic idea. The fight between organisms for territory and food is as old as time itself.
Here’s two more for you: “A Study of History” by Arnold Toynbee and “The Decline of the West”. The latter especially completely changed my view of history entirely. Very lifechanging. Both of these books are what made me excited about history again.
What if Woodrow Wilson's New world order happened or What if Quebec gained Independence in 1995 are my suggestions. One is a nice big scenario while the other is a shorter more simpler one
What if we nuked the istmus of Panama to reopen sea water circulation through it? (mind that the Pacific ocean is 40 cm higher than the Atlantic and that the Panama canal has locks and elevators so water don't circulate as freely)
At 12:35 the map shows how Turkey caused the creation of Australia and New Zealand. Can anyone explain this? The only thing that I can think of is how Australian and Kiwi soldiers fought the Ottomans at Gallipoli in WW1, but if that's the case, how did it change the 2 island countries?
How could you have Quigley on your list but not also include Spengler and Toynbee?! I mean, “The Evolution of Civilizations” is great and all - I actually just reread it myself - but its thesis is far more streamlined, narrow, and specifically-focused, whereas the theses of “A Study of History” and “Der Untergang Das Abendlands” cover a far wider array of topics and ideas. I adore Quigley, and think that he is one of the greatest historians of the 20th century, and perhaps one of the greatest American historians to have ever lived, but, next to those of Spengler and Toynbee, his ideas & ultimate conclusions are rather dull, regardless of how empirically correct they are.
Can you suggest a book(s) other than the Bible that gives an accurate historical account of what is now known as Israel, Palestine, and the surrounding region? There is a lot of history in the Bible about how the 12 tribes of Israel were forced from their land and fought to get it back. I would like to find other accounts dating back to 2000 BC. I’d like to have a better understanding of the situations that have occurred over time. Hopefully you have some insightful information.
Put the list to amazon with a bit of a link for your page so you get little taste if anyone buys a book. I'm starting to think I need the Will Durrant volumes pretty badly.
The painting at the 3:44 mark isn't actually the fall of Rome. It's a hypothetical fall of a hypothetical civilization by Thomas Cole, in his Course of Empire series
How do you have both Sapiens and War Before Civilization on the list? Doesn't Harari subscribe to the view of hunter gatherers that War Before Civilization disagrees with? I've only read Sapiens of the two so I'd love to hear your thoughts
Not really, Harrari admits that there was War but he wants to play it down, because it does not fit in the worldview he wants to promote with this book. I'm really not a fan, the book is interesting but the way he presents the facts is really questionalbe if you compare it wiht other sources like for expample war before civillisation.
Is the stream of american history the same as the storys of the america? Because thats the only book I can find from Leland Dewitt. Baldwin, which is not out of stock everywhere.
Hi Whatty(?), quick questions: at 12:35, how did Spain cause Algeria to exist? and HOW THE HECK DID TURKEY CAUSE AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND TO EXIST? Goodness me... Really interesting video btw, preciate ya shouting out these books.
Turkey (or more accurately, the Ottoman Empire) indirectly forged Australia's and New Zeland's at Gallipoli. At the Battle of Gallipoli, the Aussies and Kiwis realized that they were more than just British Colonial subjects, but a distinct people, with a unique culture and national identity. This self-realization paved the way for total independence later. This process actually describes how a lot former-colonial nations and who they acquired their independence. Canada and Juno Beach is an excellent example. As for Algeria, yeah, IDK.
