Those are broad subjects. I'm a history major myself. What periods of history are you most interested in? I've focused mostly on early American studies, and some on the corresponding periods in Britain from around 1600 onward, but I still have university textbooks that cite all the authorities from various other fields. Even if those authorities are basically propagandist shills backed by major institutions, if you at least identify who these people are, and who their critics are, you can quickly engage in the real debates that they are having and get into some real substance.
Eustace Mullins was a historian from Virginia who wrote extensively on the cultural war against the West. You can find many of his books at the Internet archives: https://archive.org/search.php?query=eustace%20mullins
He has some old video lectures and interviews on YouTube too, like this. Any historical lecture that starts by playing Dixie is bound to be alright in my book, like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2h_V-ARe_nE
Historiography and historical philosophy are good fields that combine philosophy with historical studies. There are many different schools of historiography that change with the times. Most postmodern stuff today is already beat to death in my opinion ("everything is subjective and everyone is biased"), and just waiting for another paradigm shift, while older stuff is sometimes outdated in terms of methodology. Hegel, Machiavelli, and Oswald Spengler are some examples of prominent historical philosophers.
Unfortunately, it's also a field that seems to be dominated by Jews. Marc Bloch has a relatively quick read that touches on some deep ideas: The Historian's Craft. The irony is that Bloch was a French socialist Jew, but also a soldier in the French military, and the school of French historical thought he came from (history as a class struggle) was modified by Germans (history as racial, or national, struggle), so many of the same ideas hold up well enough that they can be applied across the political spectrum when you just ignore the class struggle bullshit, something that was never as relevant in the US anyway. In The Historian's Craft, he actually doesn't even talk about class struggle that much, but mostly how historians should serve society by acting as mankind's collective memory, and how they should understand their local history first, starting with the most recent, and working back into the past, in order to get a more intuitive feel of things, rather than starting with the most ancient studies before any sense of context has been developed by the historian. The idea of "thinking locally" is also consistent with Jeffersonian Republicanism, where power is decentralized and local communities are central, so as long as you don't get turned off by the guy's personal background, the ideas themselves are pretty useful. Local history is a valuable thing for historians to pay special attention to, since most people focus on the big global highlights of history. And like I said, it's a pretty quick read. Bloch never finished the book before the Germans killed him, because he was a soldier and officer in the French resistance.
You'll want to get a list of influential philosophers and skim their works. When something catches your eye stop and dig in until you're no longer enjoying it.
I still disagree. If you want to flagellate yourself, don't do it with books. Reading isn't strictly for enjoyment, and obviously if you're reading for knowledge you're not always going to have fun. But reading just to be doing something difficult is silly. It's counterproductive. You'll be training yourself to not read.
I didn't say no one should read anything not enjoyable. I advised OP not to read anything unenjoyable for a while. And then I said to you that doing so for its own sake is folly. Don't twist my words.
Hey now, no need for accusations. I'm taking my point to its logical conclusion to make it easier to understand. I agree with your first point, and disagree on your second.
I thought it was pretty obvious that you're going to get knowledge from a difficult text. I was assuming that when you're reading something, you're also comprehending it and assimilating the knowledge.
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bb22 ago
Tell me what subjects interest you and I can give more tailor-suited recommendations.
Trippertje ago
I'm going for a philosophy and history study next year. Do you know any good books on these subjects
auchtung ago
Heidegger
DukeofAnarchy ago
Conceived in liberty, Murray Rothbard's four-volume history of the American colonial period and the Revolutionary War.
Pearl Harbor: The Seeds and Fruits of Infamy, by Percy Greaves.
jollux ago
DukeofAnarchy ago
Your point?
DukeofAnarchy ago
Some Voltaire? Candide is short and good.
bb22 ago
Those are broad subjects. I'm a history major myself. What periods of history are you most interested in? I've focused mostly on early American studies, and some on the corresponding periods in Britain from around 1600 onward, but I still have university textbooks that cite all the authorities from various other fields. Even if those authorities are basically propagandist shills backed by major institutions, if you at least identify who these people are, and who their critics are, you can quickly engage in the real debates that they are having and get into some real substance.
Eustace Mullins was a historian from Virginia who wrote extensively on the cultural war against the West. You can find many of his books at the Internet archives: https://archive.org/search.php?query=eustace%20mullins
He has some old video lectures and interviews on YouTube too, like this. Any historical lecture that starts by playing Dixie is bound to be alright in my book, like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2h_V-ARe_nE
Historiography and historical philosophy are good fields that combine philosophy with historical studies. There are many different schools of historiography that change with the times. Most postmodern stuff today is already beat to death in my opinion ("everything is subjective and everyone is biased"), and just waiting for another paradigm shift, while older stuff is sometimes outdated in terms of methodology. Hegel, Machiavelli, and Oswald Spengler are some examples of prominent historical philosophers.
Unfortunately, it's also a field that seems to be dominated by Jews. Marc Bloch has a relatively quick read that touches on some deep ideas: The Historian's Craft. The irony is that Bloch was a French socialist Jew, but also a soldier in the French military, and the school of French historical thought he came from (history as a class struggle) was modified by Germans (history as racial, or national, struggle), so many of the same ideas hold up well enough that they can be applied across the political spectrum when you just ignore the class struggle bullshit, something that was never as relevant in the US anyway. In The Historian's Craft, he actually doesn't even talk about class struggle that much, but mostly how historians should serve society by acting as mankind's collective memory, and how they should understand their local history first, starting with the most recent, and working back into the past, in order to get a more intuitive feel of things, rather than starting with the most ancient studies before any sense of context has been developed by the historian. The idea of "thinking locally" is also consistent with Jeffersonian Republicanism, where power is decentralized and local communities are central, so as long as you don't get turned off by the guy's personal background, the ideas themselves are pretty useful. Local history is a valuable thing for historians to pay special attention to, since most people focus on the big global highlights of history. And like I said, it's a pretty quick read. Bloch never finished the book before the Germans killed him, because he was a soldier and officer in the French resistance.
AmaleksHairyAss ago
You'll want to get a list of influential philosophers and skim their works. When something catches your eye stop and dig in until you're no longer enjoying it.
jollux ago
There's something to be said for pushing through that second half of a dense book.
AmaleksHairyAss ago
I still disagree. If you want to flagellate yourself, don't do it with books. Reading isn't strictly for enjoyment, and obviously if you're reading for knowledge you're not always going to have fun. But reading just to be doing something difficult is silly. It's counterproductive. You'll be training yourself to not read.
jollux ago
How do you feel about science textbooks, then? They're not exactly light reading.
AmaleksHairyAss ago
I didn't say no one should read anything not enjoyable. I advised OP not to read anything unenjoyable for a while. And then I said to you that doing so for its own sake is folly. Don't twist my words.
jollux ago
Hey now, no need for accusations. I'm taking my point to its logical conclusion to make it easier to understand. I agree with your first point, and disagree on your second.
AmaleksHairyAss ago
Reading for knowledge can be good and useful even if it's not enjoyable. Reading just to be reading something difficult is not good.
jollux ago
I thought it was pretty obvious that you're going to get knowledge from a difficult text. I was assuming that when you're reading something, you're also comprehending it and assimilating the knowledge.