I have basically no conception of history; not long term, not of recent history.
I’ve started Hobsbawm’s Age of Revolution/Capital/Empire trilogy (listened to book 1 as an audiobook at work but I should probably read it as well), and intend to finish it.
I’ll also read Zinn’s Peoples History of the United States and some other random things, but surely this isn’t enough.
I don’t think Hobsbawm is enough for broader history, and I don’t have much in mind for histories of actual anarchist/socialist/communist movements or revolutions.
Zinn certainly isn't enough, but he very much is an excellent entry-level history writer, and I mean that in the most positive way possible. Please don't take it to mean "ha ha, entry-level means you're a babby compared to us serious people", I very much mean it in the sense of an ideal launching off point for one's journey.
A great second book to follow Zinn is Two Faces of American Freedom. It reexamines some of the same stuff, but with more scholarship and less pop history.
You could do worse than listening to the revolutions podcast start to finish. It goes into most of the relevant historical context for each revolution. If you listen to each season you should have a pretty decent working understanding of what was going on during the 19th century in particular, which is what set the stage for WW1 onwards, which you may be more familiar with.
https://thehistoryofrome.typepad.com/revolutions_podcast/
Are you interested in any period in particular? Happy to help you out :)
Well, I am definitely interested in broadly knowing about the state of the world and how it came to be (especially from an economic standpoint, which ties in imperialism and things). Ultimately o want to be able to read, say, State and Rev and be able to match up claims with historical facts; things along those lines.
I’m sure there are specific episodes in history I will be interested in (and now that I think about it, I am very interested in the history of infrastructure like electrical lines or gas pipelines, or transportation, because they have such a huge effect on how an area develops). Not much springs to mind at the moment though.
A big motivating factor for the post was seeing the plea for more posts, so I figured it wouldn’t hurt to fire one off
Ultimately o want to be able to read, say, State and Rev and be able to match up claims with historical facts; things along those lines.
The revolutions podcast will certainly equip you to do just that.
(and now that I think about it, I am very interested in the history of infrastructure like electrical lines or gas pipelines, or transportation, because they have such a huge effect on how an area develops).
Ooh that's interesting indeed, I'm afraid I don't know much about where to read on that specific thing.
Strike! By Jeremy Brecher has a recent 50th anniversary edition
Capital in the 21st century by Piketty is pretty impressive work
Hammer & Hoe, Autobiography of Malcolm X are both easy recs off the top of my head.
I made a big post over on /c/books regarding the history of socialism. Check it out
Money and Government by Robert Skidelsky is a fantastic history of political economy. It’s a good history of economics.
Debt: the first 5,000 years by Graeber is a seminal text in anthropology re money.
Two Faces of Amerian Freedom by Aziz Rana, we're doing it in the discord bookclub.
Still haven't gotten through People's History, but Founding Finaglers by Nathan Miller is a study of corruption in American history & one of my favorite books I've read
