A Concise History of Italy by Christopher Duggan – Cambridge Concise Histories is a good book which I enjoyed. It’s focused on the modern history a bit too much for my taste, hence the 4 stars instead of 5. For example, the period between 400…
The Betrayal of Anne Frank by Rosemary Sullivan – A Cold Case Investigation – is a newly published book on the research a team undertook for 6 years, to discover what happened to Anne Frank, and one of the team was a retired FBI agent.…
I find medicine, especially in a historical context, fascinating. So I was keen on reading Greco-Roman Medicine and What It Can Teach Us Today by Nick Summerton* which is a book that did not disappoint at all. I gave it a very well deserved 5…
Philip, Prince of Greece by John Carr, Constantinos Lagos* has the subtitle The Duke of Edinburgh’s Early Life and the Greek Succession. Today would have been Prince Philip’s 100th birthday and so I mark this occasion by sharing my thoughts on this book, published very…
I had high expectations from Forgotten Slave Trade by Simon Webb* – The White European Slaves of Islam – but I had no idea how amazingly interesting it is. If you read only one non-fiction book this year, make it this one. What this book…
I had the Prisoners of Geography by Tim Marshall on my to-read list for a while. I saw the review for it on Kelly’s blog, I’ve decided to reserve the book at the library. The subtitle of the book is Ten Maps That Tell You…
Modernity and Bourgeois Life by Jerrold Seigel – Society, Politics, and Culture in England, France and Germany Since 1750 is one of the books recommended for University. It was very interesting, but it is quite a long book, at over 500 pages (without notes, although…
Peaceful Conquest by Sidney Pollard – The Industrialization of Europe 1760-1970 might not be on our wish list for Christmas, but it is surely a very good book for students reading history. I’ve read it quite fast and I like the amount of data included…
Europe’s Uncertain Path 1814-1914 by R.S. Alexander – State Formation and Civil Society – is one of the books I was recommended for European History at University. It is well written and I’ve enjoyed reading it. As the subject is not exactly easy, I don’t…
The Revolutions in Europe by Robert Evans and Hartmut Pogge von Strandmann is a collection of essays about the 1848 revolutions in Europe. As it happens with this kind of books, some chapters are more intriguing that others, both due to the subject and to…
The Ascendancy of Europe by Matthew Anderson focuses on the period between 1815-1914. It is a good book and I made a lot of notes from it. While it is a great starter book for the European history of the 19th century, I wouldn’t say…
Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky… a history of salt in 400+ pages? Seem a bit too much, but it’s not. Salt is fascinating, its history and there are a lot of recipes too. I have to confess I skipped the meat-based recipes as…
Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari – A Brief History of Humankind. This is a remarkable book, I absolutely loved it. So much that while I was reading it, I stopped, went online and bought his next books, Homo Deus and 21 Lessons for the 21st…