Book suggestion on good lesser known history/people but action packed
Read “the last samurai” a VERY indepth book on Saigo Takemori. Read “christs samurai” on the shimbara rebellion and “Jerome”. “Yoshitsune” a combination of translated primary sources on Yoshitsune
Read “jack hindson”. “The last Viking” about Harald hardrada. “Germino” on the native American by himself “the moro war” on the very little known war in southern phillipines. “Journey of crazy horse”. All were either primary sources or actually went in depth, most had citations ions but all had action. Moro war, Harald hardrada, Jerome of Shimbara are all characters and events most people haven’t heard of this and events like yoshitsune or crazy horse most people barely know about
Essentially just a good book with action GOOD CITATIONS or DEPTH on a part of history or character hat hasn’t been talked to death like WWII, Rome, Civil War, George Washington, French/American revolution, king Henry…. Something not a lot of people have heard of yet interesting
by ShivasKratom3
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*Empires of the Sea* by Roger Crowley. It’s the story of a decades long struggle for naval supremacy in the Mediterranean between the Ottomans and much of Christian Europe. The main events (though there are many others) include the siege of Malta and the decisive Battle of Lepanto, which was the largest naval battle in the Mediterranean since Roman times (and remarkably, they were still using galleys that had to be manned by rowers in 1571 rather than sailing ships!). Lepanto was the first time that Christian Europe had managed to beat the Turks. It’s a really well-paced and action-packed book. I really enjoyed it.
Another book on related historical matters is *Agents of Empire: Knights, Corsairs, Jesuits, and Spies in the Sixteenth-Century Mediterranean World* by Noel Malcolm. It centers on a family of nobles based in what is now Albania, and how they navigated the complex interdependent worlds of the Venetian Republic (to which Albania had belonged for a while) and the ascendant Ottoman Empire. all during the Italian Renaissance and a period of great volatility. I found it thoroughly enjoyable.
*Lords of the Horizons: A History of the Ottoman Empire* by Jason Goodwin
*Faster: How a Jewish Driver, an American Heiress, and a Legendary Car Beat Hitler’s Best* by Neal Bascomb
*The Honourable Company: A History of the English East India Company* by John Keay
*Saving Italy: The Race to Rescue a Nation’s Treasures from the Nazis* by Robert M. Edsel (WWII but a lesser known part of it)