What are we reading?

[TacticalWargames]

BARBAROSSA UNLEASHED by CRAIG W.H. LUTHER (Author)

A fantastic book. With lots of fold out maps aswell!!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0764343769?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00

[Gusington]

Empires and Barbarians by Peter Heather is quite disapponting :(...it reads very clinically, like a 600 page long term paper. I'll skim through it...sucks because I have been looking forward to reading it for a long time. I guess I am a romantic at heart and need a heroic narrative to my history and not a clinical breakdown on why Goths may have gone here or the Vandals went there. Oh well.

Next up is The Inheritance of Rome: Illuminating the Dark Ages by Chris Wickham. Hopefully that will be different.

I am reading these while playing Attila: Total War...anyone got any suggestions (fiction or history) for some good Dark Age reading?

[Staggerwing]

I have this on my 'To Read' shelf: The Roman Empire and Its Germanic Peoples, though probably not the kind of flowing Heroic Narrative you are looking for.  :-\

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

Empires and Barbarians by Peter Heather is quite disapponting :(...it reads very clinically, like a 600 page long term paper. I'll skim through it...sucks because I have been looking forward to reading it for a long time. I guess I am a romantic at heart and need a heroic narrative to my history and not a clinical breakdown on why Goths may have gone here or the Vandals went there. Oh well.

Next up is The Inheritance of Rome: Illuminating the Dark Ages by Chris Wickham. Hopefully that will be different.

I am reading these while playing Attila: Total War...anyone got any suggestions (fiction or history) for some good Dark Age reading?

Have you read Bernard Cornwell's Arthur series?  It's the Arthurian legend set in England and sees the Welsh trying to stem the Saxon invasions.

His Saxon series is also good and deals with the Saxons trying to deal with those pesky Vikings.

[Gusington]

I've read some Cornwell, just one or two. And thanks 'Wing...that also looks textbookesque, though...

[Toonces]

As always, I'm working through multiple books at the same time.

I'm about halfway through A Blaze of Glory by Shaara, and I just downloaded a book called, The Long Ships on my Kindle, about Viking stuff.  The Long Ships is supposed to be pretty classic.

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

I've read some Cornwell, just one or two. And thanks 'Wing...that also looks textbookesque, though...

Check out the Arthur series then.  There are only 3 books in it so you don't have to make a huge commitment if you find you don't like it.  Great series in my opinion.  There's no real magic or fantasy involved.  It's presented as straight historical fiction.

http://www.amazon.ca/Winter-King-Arthur-Warlord-Chronicles-ebook/dp/B002ZJSU6A/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1425800228&sr=8-2&keywords=bernard+cornwell+warlord

[Gusington]

Thanks Toonces and SDR, will check out The Long Ships and the Arthur series :)

[JasonPratt]

Gus, be sure to check back in with how you thought Inheritance of Rome went; I haven't read it yet.

I have some classic Dark Age studies I haven't read yet, generally as part of larger medieval history collections I haven't gotten around to.

I can recommend four good histories told using the spread of Christianity as the backbone for examining cultural and political developments, though.

Jenkins' The Jesus Wars and The Lost History of Christianity duology: from the 300s to around the 700s, focuses more than the other books on how doctrinal struggles shaped history (and vice versa) around the Mediterranean. Despite the colorful publishing titles, and the warts-and-all approach, it's respectful to all the parties involved and he tries to do justice to everyone's concerns at the time.

Holland's The Forge of Christendom: from around the 600s up to the early 1000s, reintegrating Mediterranean culture into the areas overrun by the barbarian tribes, and how they contributed their own cultures into the new mix.

The Barbarian Conversions: pretty much the whole period from pre-Constantine to the beginning of war between Christian states -- naturally it's the largest book, too, with the widest topical and geographical scope including the Middle-East, western Asia, and North Africa. A deep as well as wide political history, it can be kind of overwhelming sometimes as the author jumps around juggling topical cats!  :D I was glad I happened to have read the other books first so I could keep track of the developing narratives better. As a one-stop history of the political developments, though, I would think it's hard to beat.

[JasonPratt]

Meanwhile, thanks to recommendations from the Vietnam '65 game thread, I'm currently working through both The Ten Thousand Day War and Unheralded Victory, more-or-less in parallel.

[Martok]

Having finished the latest OOTS collection, I'm now fully back on track with the X-Wing series.  Am almost halfway through Iron Fist (Book 6); am especially enjoying the journey that Gara/Lara is making with her character. 

[bob48]

Meanwhile, thanks to recommendations from the Vietnam '65 game thread, I'm currently working through both The Ten Thousand Day War and Unheralded Victory, more-or-less in parallel.

Enjoyed the first one, but, as mentioned I think earlier in this thread(?), whilst interesting, I'm not sure if I agree with all the conclusions in 'Unheralded Victory'.

However, two books I would recommend are 'About Face' by Col.David Hackworth, and 'A Bright Shining Lie' by Neil Sheehan'

Oh, and 'The Rise and Fall of an American Army: U.S. Ground Forces in Vietnam, 1965-1973' by Shelby Stanton

[BanzaiCat]

I found my grandfather's copy of A Time For Trumpets. I cracked it open and started reading it again. I haven't read it in probably 25 years.

[Gusington]

Thanks for the above Jason, going to check them all out. They sound pricey though.

I'm holding off on Inheritance of Rome for when I start a good CKII Charlemagne campaign.

Next up is some sci fi to read while playing Sid Meier's Starships and the newly remastered Homeworld...mostly The Dragon Never Sleeps and Terms of Enlistment.

That is, if I can pull myself away from Attila: TW. I think I can for a few weeks.

[Gusington]

Just started Glen Cook's The Dragon Never Sleeps. Like other Cook it's all over the place with complex canon...it should come with a map or guide. But it's not badly written.