Ok so i know these posts get made a lot but hear me out
I've been on a massive history kick lately and i keep finding books where like halfway through i have to put it down and just sit there for a minute. not because it's boring but the opposite ..because something clicked that made everything feel different.. like i just finished The Anarchy by william dalrymple and bro. a COMPANY. not a country. a company with shareholders and quarterly targets conquered india. i learned about british colonialism in school for years and somehow nobody mentioned that part??? before that it was Sapiens and the part about how farming was actually terrible for early humans broke something in my brain. we literally got tricked by wheat into working ourselves to death lmaooo anyway i want more of this. books where the real story is nothing like what you were taught, or where one tiny detail reframes literally everything. doesn't have to be popular .. honestly prefer stuff that's more under the radar
what's a history book that made you go "wait… WHAT"
by Odd_Choice9642
4 Comments
Did you try People’s History of the United States yet?
The relationship between TA Edison and George Westinghouse was pretty hairy and Nicola Tesla got chewed up and spit out. The fights over AC vs DC, patents, and the electric chair make pretty good reading.
Empires of Light by Jill Jonnes.
The Last Days of Night by Graham Moore
Here’s another that’s relevant to wheat and agriculture:
“Bread, Beer and the Seeds of Change: Agriculture’s Imprint on World History” by Thomas and Carol Sinclair
Beer is why we have civilization.
Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe absolutely boggles belief.