I'm trying to get a thorough understanding of developments in Russia and Russian intellectual life in particular. Very much hoping that the board will have some good suggestions for overviews/analysis/commentary on the topics listed below. I'm also working my through stuff written by the philosophers/essayists/political theorists of the time, so feel free to recommend those as well.

18th century Russia
19th century Russia
French philosophy and essayists from Rousseau through the end of the 19th century
Continental philosophy in the 19th century, emphasis on Schopenhauer
French politics from 1789 to 1848
Napoleonic Wars, especially the French invasion of Russia
Crimean War
European revolutions of 1848
Russian intellectuals of the latter half of the century
Russian leadership from Catherine the Great through Alexander II
The connection between Russia and the continent, especially France, during the period
Russia's transition away from serfdom
The revolution of 1917, and especially the causes going back decades

So far I have/am ordering:
The Age of Napoleon - Durant
Napoleon: A Life - Roberts
The Age of... series - Hobsbawm
Bismarck - Crankshaw
Arakcheev - Jenkins
Russian Thinkers - Isaiah Berlin (anthology)

I picked up a bio of Bismarck at Half Price, but the reviews are not so good (Crankshaw), so I will probably go looking for another one of those.

I'd like to help you. I've read a lot in those areas, but in areas outside of my prime interest, I usually just grab the first thing I find in Half Price Books. I get more discriminatory on my favorite areas. But these are all good periods to learn about. I think you can't truly understand Europe unless you know the French Revolution and Napoleonic War thoroughly. For a German, the legacy of Napoleon was similar to what a Chinese person thinks of the centuries of humiliation when Western countries carved it up.

aalan94 said:

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I would say about Will Durant, he was one of the most comprehensive of writers, very steeped in History and Philosophy and a few other fields. For really big picture stuff, he is awesome. But because he has so many varied interests, I'm not sure I'd take him as the last word on details. A guy carrying around the entire Roman, Greek, Christian, and 10 other areas histories in his brain is looking from 30,000 feet if not higher on any one of them individually.

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I'm about a third of the way through The Age of Napoleon and that is definitely the sense I'm getting. Fun read though, and it's helping me fix a lot of events in their proper place. Most of my knowledge of the French revolution/Napoleon comes from reading about the American and Industrial revolutions or philosophy/economics. There's nothing happening that surprises me, but my command of the detail and relationships between things is very poor.

I've got a bad or good tendency to skip around between subjects... lots of philosophy, economics, history, science, psychology, and fiction, but i only have time to read about 80 books per year (and usually only finish about 60). Consequently, I'm great at trivia and have a fuzzy idea of almost everything, but there's no area that I feel like I have down cold. That's really what this is about.

What do you think about Hobsbawm? The reviews of his books have something of the scent of a referendum on Marxist historical principles, which makes it harder to tell whether he's a quality historian.

"Heart of Europe: A History of the Holy Roman Empire" by Wilson is excellent.

Norman Davies works on Poland are the standard ones.

Ulrich said:

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What do you think about Hobsbawm? The reviews of his books have something of the scent of a referendum on Marxist historical principles, which makes it harder to tell whether he's a quality historian.

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Hobsbawm was a serious Marxist. Just know that as you read anything by him.

You might also like Tim Blanning's "The Pursuit of Glory: Europe 1648-1815"...it's part of the Penguin History of Europe series.

Thanks, Sid, I appreciate the recommendations.

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I've got a bad or good tendency to skip around between subjects... lots of philosophy, economics, history, science, psychology, and fiction, but i only have time to read about 80 books per year (and usually only finish about 60).

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You sound a lot like me. Both in the variety of subjects - except psychology and (except on rare occasions) fiction - and in the numbers of books. I didn't really get serious as a book reader until after college. I was a slow reader and have gradually increased my speed. I keep a log of books I read, which I highly recommend. It helps to peruse it to remind myself of things I've read, but also it's a way of collecting trophies. I like to think of myself as the Predator and the books I collect are like the skulls he collects. That spurs a desire to read more and ultimately has helped push me from a poor, slow reader, into a deep fast reader. I just hit my 999th book last week, and I'm currently reading the book that will put me over 1,000. I rarely read fiction, but for this honor, I chose Tom Sawyer, which I am ashamed to admit, I have never actually read before.

I read mostly non-fiction. I'd say 80 percent is history, 10-15 percent is current events or politics and then the rest falls in the scraps. I also do audiobooks a lot because I have an hour long commute each way to work and am not interested in the inanity that you get on the radio during rush hour. I had a long debate with myself as to whether I should count my audiobooks on my list, but then I decided the debate by asking myself: "Did you learn the same material that you would have learned in the print book?" If so, who cares if it's print, audiobook, or e-book (of which I have never read a single one).

If you want to read a great book about reading, and inspire yourself to read more, try this:


Education of a Wandering Man, by Louis L'Amour

aalan94 said:

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If you want to read a great book about reading, and inspire yourself to read more, try this:


Education of a Wandering Man, by Louis L'Amour

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It's on my shelf right now; according to my spreadsheet I read it in 2012. L'Amour is one of my favorites, I have read pretty much everything he wrote several times over.

Growing up I read thousands of novels (my parents made me keep track), but basically stopped reading in college. I picked reading back up after college; since 2011, I have read about 80% nonfiction.

Now I've started the unfortunate habit of writing, too. I'm not sure I'll finish anything until I retire because it's so hard to stay on target, my subjects are very involved, and my day job takes a lot of time and mental energy, but I have a lot of fun. The books from this thread are background for one of my projects... not strictly necessary, but I've decided that I want to specialize in this for a while.