Your favorite period of history to study?

[Airhog]

What periods of history do you most enjoy reading about?

I think my favorite is WW2.

[illinifan999]

Any acient civilization.

[bosshogg23]

Rome is good.

I do like Ancient China as well.

[Vince]

Ancient Rome and Greece.

Having a BA in History and having done my thesis on the subject, I still can't get enough of it.

[Bubba Wheels]

I also enjoy WW2, although WW1 is also very interesting and underutilized for gaming purposes.

[weinstein7]

I have to with post-WW2, but since I was a Russian Studies major, no real surprise there.

[Airhog]

I havent read hardly anything about WWI yet. But I might in the future. I think its only underutilized in gaming because its hard to design an interesting game based on a static war.

[Cringer]

Wow, good question.

As far as reading about. I love U.S. history, mainly pre-colonial up until the 20th century.This would also include Native American history. I also enjoy "ancient" times, pre- 1 A.D.

[Bubba Wheels]

I havent read hardly anything about WWI yet. But I might in the future. I think its only underutilized in gaming because its hard to design an interesting game based on a static war.

Yes, this is talked about quite a bit...however the war in the east was not static, very mobile with much cavalry...and the war in the west only became static after the Germans bogged down in their failed attempt to capture Paris. Machine guns caused this hence the tank was developed but rare in use. Now if the tank had been developed a bit sooner...

[Airhog]

I personally would not mind seeing a FPS based on WWI. Especially if it wasnt more expansive in scope.

[DaddyTorgo]

favorite period of history...that's tough. I'm on a real big ancient history kick right now, Romans and Greeks, Hittites and Assyrians, stuff like that. 17-19th centuries are also fun, particularly in Europe.

[Bubba Wheels]

Fascinating WW1 Movies:

1. Blue Max George Peppard

2. Frauline Doktor Omar Sharriff

3. How I Won The War (Musical) John Lennon

4. Fighting 69nth James Cagney

5. All Quiet On The Western Front (foreign film, remade later with John-boy Walton and Ernest Borgnine)

[Wolfpack]

US Civil War by a long way.

[Franklinnoble]

The Life and Times of Franklin N. Brown.

[sabotai]

The Mongols......surprised? :)

More generally, from the fall of the Roman Empire until the settling of the new world.

[hitmanwa]

The Dead Ball Era!

[kingfc22]

Medieval times. Knights,castles all that good stuff.

The Greeks and Romans have always intrigued me. Oh and the Egyptians and the pyramids.

[WSUCougar]

Age of Sail naval history is my true favorite.

Otherwise, I'd probably go:

1. WWII
2. American Civil War
3. Napoleonic Wars
4. Ancient Greece/Rome

[Groundhog]

Japan from the early 12th century through to the Meiji Restoration of the mid-19th Century, though admittedly my interest dies off a little after the battle of Sekigahara in 1600. Plenty of great stories and people from this period, and not just the samurai either, with great noblemen like Kitabatake Chikafusa and the rebellious Emperor Go-Daigo.

Outside of Japan, I had an interest in Egypt and Rome back in high school, but a terribly boring Ancient History teacher kinda killed that for me.

[CHEMICAL SOLDIER]

The Mongols......surprised? :)

More generally, from the fall of the Roman Empire until the settling of the new world.

Can you reccomend a book on the Mongols. I've been looking for sometime now but have yet to have found one.

[sabotai]

Most of what I've read on the Mongols was from books in my college's library (Richard Stockton College of NJ). I don't really remember any of the titles since none of them exclusively talked about the Mongols. One was a history of the Asian Steppes, one was a history of China, etc. Most of what I've read has been articles and sections of books.

One book I do have is called Genghis Khan: Conqueror of the World by Leo De Hartog. It's basically a lite version of his history and his immediate family. (I found it in the bargin bin at Barnes and Noble for like $5). I don't really recommend it.

In the book What If?, there's a pretty good essay called "The Death that Saved Europe". It's about the death of Ogadai and how Sabotai had to turn his army around and go back to be present for the elction of the new Khan. That whole book is filled with great essays. Anyone interested in history should get it (and the two "sequals" What If? 2 and What Ifs? of American History.)

There has been a recent surge in Mongol books published over the last couple of years, but I admit I have not read any of them. Just looking over at Amazon, there seems to be at least a dozen books on the Mongols when just a couple of years ago, there were practically none.

I just ordered these:
The History of the Mongol Conquests
Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World
Subotai the Valiant: Genghis Khan's Greatest General

(Subotai and Sabotai are the same, btw.)

I'll let you know how they are.

Also, the Barbarians show on the Mongols was very good (in case you didn't see it and the History Channel ever replays them). My only problem with it is that they jump from the death of Genghis Khan to the rise of Tamerlane. There was also a show on him (Genghis Khan) a week ago on Discovery, but I don't remember the name.

Anyway, I'll let you know with those books.

[sooner333]

The Dead Ball Era!

Funny, I'm reading about that right now for my Sports History class...Ty Cobb's autobiography among other things. I think it's my only class where I make sure to read everything.

[mckerney]

I enjoy studying an alternate history where there was no snow storm in 1948 and the Minnesota Gophers wound up being one of the great college basketball dynasties of all time. http://www.fof-ihof.com/phpBB2/images/smiles/icon_sigh.gif

[bigdawg2003]

i would kill for a sports history class at my school. too bad southwestern wants to be an ivy league school.

[sooner333]

i would kill for a sports history class at my school. too bad southwestern wants to be an ivy league school.

It's actually a pretty challenging class...lots of reading, pretty uninflated grade distribution...upper-level class. But, really it's awesome. We started on boxing, reading a book about Dempsey, and moved on to Baseball going from its origins to, now the Dead Ball, era, then through the 50's. Then we're going to do a bit of football and basketball. I've only enjoyed one class as much as this through school (and that was a Con Law class...good professor...good testing system).

[Fritz]

What periods of history do you most enjoy reading about?

I think my favorite is WW2.

The title says study, and the post says read about.

Not trying to nitpick, but "study" and "read about" are different things.

I love to read military history for pure fun, mostly WW2 era western stuff. From a more serious point of view I prefer post ww2 (cold war/etc) US foreign policy.

[TroyF]

1) WW2
2) Greece/Rome
3) Egypt

[ColtCrazy]

I would have to say my top 3 (in no particular order because it depends on my mood :D )

1. Napoleonic Wars
2. WWII
3. Middle Ages (usually dealing with the evolution of castles)

[Noop]

Man it is hard to pick... I like history period. But the Civil War would be a good one... Egypt, Mayan, Aztec I wonder how all of them not connected knew how to build prymiads. But seriously I like history especially something about Presidents...

[bosshogg23]

This reminded me, did anyone watch Conquest of America on the History Channel this week? Each episode appears to be about a different explorer. I forgot it was on, going to watch tonight if I get a chance though.

[Cringer]

Egypt, Mayan, Aztec I wonder how all of them not connected knew how to build prymiads.

Because they were connected......(mysterious, erie sounding music playing in background)

[Noop]

Because they were connected......(mysterious, erie sounding music playing in background)
How?

[Bubba Wheels]

How?

Paging George Noory...

[CraigSca]

Aliens flew the plans in from Alpha Centauri - duh.

[Cringer]

How?

Bubba Wheels got what I was going at with his "Paging George Noory" comment....It was a half joke because since I drive at night I hear Art Bell/George Noory a lot. They have had this topic, or related topics probably a million times.

Nothing convincing enough that I remember I guess, but I could have an open mind. I know something that is brought up is a connection with Atlantis.

[Noop]

Whatever.

[Cringer]

Whatever.

Not in the joking around mood today I guess. Lighten up man...... :rolleyes:

[KWhit]

American Revolution.

Surprised no one has said that yet.

[Bubba Wheels]

American Revolution.

Surprised no one has said that yet.

This is also a favorite of mine, if your in the New England area you can spend days looking around at stuff.

Another overlooked one is War of 1812. And lots of good stuff in and around the Great Lakes on this one.

[duckman]

European history.

[judicial clerk]

There are others I prefer, but one I like that nobody has mentioned is the old west, say 1850-1910.

[st.cronin]

I'm not a fan of 'period history.' I enjoy works like Niall Ferguson's The Cash Nexus - which explores the intersections of history and economics.

[tanglewood]

My two favourite areas are Post-Stalin USSR and 17th & 18th century Europe.

Hey, that's what I am studying. How convinient... :)

[Schmidty]

I'm really into the Maastrichtian portion of the late Cretaceous period.

[sabotai]

How?

Cringer was joking, but I think there is some (scarce) evidence that they could have been connected. Not directly, but perhaps through trading routes. I heard a rumor awhile ago (so it could be completely untrue) that they have found traces of tobacco in some of the mummies unearthed in Egypt. Tobacco only grows in the Americas. Things of that nature. Very scarce evidence, but enough to look into.

EDIT: Just did a google and it seems it is more than just a rumor. And it's not just tobacco but cocaine as well (which also only grows (natively) in the Americas).

[Fritz]

Cringer was joking, but I think there is some (scarce) evidence that they could have been connected. Not directly, but perhaps through trading routes. I heard a rumor awhile ago (so it could be completely untrue) that they have found traces of tobacco in some of the mummies unearthed in Egypt. Tobacco only grows in the Americas. Things of that nature. Very scarce evidence, but enough to look into.

EDIT: Just did a google and it seems it is more than just a rumor. And it's not just tobacco but cocaine as well (which also only grows (natively) in the Americas) and Peeps (which are made in New England).

Wow, ya learn something new every day

[sabotai]

Who knew Pharohs were fans of the Peeps. :)

[Fritz]

if you were playing CIV IV, would you trade construction for weed?

[ISiddiqui]

The Protestant Reformation.

Actually more like 1100 to 1650 European history, with the Reformation being key in that period.

[weinstein7]

There are also those theories that the Celts, or some other early people, went all over Europe, if not the world, setting up weird installations (a la Stonehenge). I believe some connect the various pyramids to this.

For example, I used to live in Krakow. The main cathedral in Krakow is built on an ancient mound, of which there are 3(?) around the city. No one knows exactly what they're for, but it's believed that they're some kind of Celtic calendar or something (like Stonehenge). Interestingly, the same spot by the cathedral is also considered to be one of seven Chakra points around the globe by Hindus.

I'm not really a conspiracy guy, and frankly I've never had the time or inclination to look into this stuff, but there's certainly reason to think that there was some global civilization - or at least contact between different civilizations - long before what we consider to be the beginning of history.

http://www.krakow-info.com/mounds.htm
http://www.chakraassociation.com/en/main.html

edit: added a pair of links since I wasn't explaining myself well.

[st.cronin]

I thought Dave Barry had shown that the Pyramids were the result of stronger than normal Egyptian Coffee.

[sabotai]

if you were playing CIV IV, would you trade construction for weed?

Hell yeah I would!

[TazFTW]

American Civil War.

[weinstein7]

Hell yeah I would!

And then you could build "mighty joint," a wonder of the ancient world.

After building it, happiness increases by 100%, but productivity decreases by 50%, each citizen eats twice as much food, and mobility is cut in half.

Plus, it's a "gateway" wonder.

[Bubba Wheels]

And then you could build "mighty joint," a wonder of the ancient world.

After building it, happiness increases by 100%, but productivity decreases by 50%, each citizen eats twice as much food, and mobility is cut in half.

Plus, it's a "gateway" wonder.

Do tropical countries get a bonus cash-flow?

[CHEMICAL SOLDIER]

I personalluy can't wait for books on CQB battles in OIF. Though most will be a dime a dozen books.

[weinstein7]

Do tropical countries get a bonus cash-flow?

They do, but it expires with the discovery of hydroponics.

[CHEMICAL SOLDIER]

The early days of College Football entices me. Too bad not too many books are published that cater to this genre.

[Thomkal]

As a graduate with a degree in Social Studies Education, I have an interest in a lot of different periods of history and other social sciences (like archaeology and anthropology). If I had to pick out the areas of history I'm more interested in that others I would rank them:

1) African-American History any time period, but especially the slavery era
2) Civil War Era History
3) African history-ancient to modern, less though on modern
4) 1800's world and political history (especially US and Africa)
5) Middle Eastern history-ancient to pre 1900.