From: lwl@graphics.cis.upenn.edu (Lydia Leong)
Date: Fri, 17 Mar 95 13:36:05 -0500
Here's a somewhat unusual request.
Due to various oddities in my academic education (namely, skipped grades and an engineering-plus-music curriculum), I have never, in my entire life, taken a world/European history course. None. At all. Everything I know about history is, quite literally, due to gaming, or to peripheral stuff for music history (which, for me, basically means 1750-1900, anyway).
So, I'm looking for a good book. Or a few good books: a reasonably easy-to-read general book on world history, and a more detailed treatment of the 1000-1600 period or so (several books, more likely), with a focus on 1200-1400.
Any recommendations?
I have here with me, in my very hands, a copy of the Van Pelt Reference Department Special Bibliography on Medieval History:
"This annotated, selective bibliography is an introduction to research in medieval history, generally, the years 500-1400 ... Basic works from both the Reference Collection and the stacks are listed."
We have two or three hundred special bibliographies on just about every subject you can think of. I'm the Man in charge of revising and stocking all of them, so if you ever need a list of accepted standard texts on a subject, do let me know.
Lydia, if you're around today, you might drop by my office and I'll give you a copy. Or you can just ask at the Reference Desk.
"It's a book store ... we've got a lot of books here."
-m.
Lydia,
Let me check my bookshelves when I get home tonight. I'm pretty sure I have one or two general histories of the sort you're interested in--after all, the Middle Ages is my *job*, right?
Rob
I missed World Civ in elementary school five times as they played around with the curriculum-- they gave me American history instead, every year. Then I got to high school, and they did the same thing. If I hadn't been taking Latin in high school, I'd never had heard of the Roman Empire! Finally, my senior year, I took some electives regarding medieval history, and have never looked in an American history book again.
Forget the dry stuff-- go for something fun. I recommend James Burke's Connections. It got me going in the right places, as well as giving me a really weird way of looking at it all. Second, I recommend Barbara Tuchman-- she's a bit racy, and has been accused of making stuff up, but her histroy reads really well. Third, I recommend you only read stuff that you are involved with right now, like 14th century stuff (Tuchman's A Distant Mirror is 14th century fun.), so that you'll have impetus to explore further. And of course, ask your friends for fun history bits.
Bill