Empire time period books?

[Sailor]

Any one know of some good books covering war, politics, economics, and social change during the Empire: Total War time period?

Something with sort of a broad overview of the time perhaps? A book with accounts of major battles?

[damienvice]

Well for a good overview I would recommend 18th Century Warfare by Black, actually pretty in depth for a hard back with good maps and battlefield images and a good insight into the neglected conflict in China/Asia

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Warfare-Eigh...54/ref=ed_oe_h

[Sailor]

I'll pick it up at the library, thanks for the suggestion.

[HordeOfDoom]

One of my favourites for pure historical content is Tim Blanning's "The Pursuit of Glory: Europe 1648-1815". Although it lacks maps (oh how I love maps), it covers all societal, economic, political, military (etc) aspects of the period in depth.

[MKeogh]

Fred Anderson's "Crucible of War: The Seven Years' War and the Fate of Empire in British North America, 1754-1766." It's a big book, over 700 pages, but it is an extremely well-written recounting of the Seven Years' War with a particular focus on British policies and their North American empire. Although its last quarter gets a little tiresome when it starts to focus on parliamentary acts that led to the American Revolution, it is for the most part a riveting account of the political, social, economic, and military factors that drove British strategy during the Seven Years War. The military focus is heavily on the American theater, but European, Carribean, Indian, and even the Philippine military operations are covered. However, it was not written as a military narrative so if you're looking for just a tale of battles, campaigns, and generals then this is not the book for you.

Dr. Anderson also wrote a much more accessible book with lots of illustrations called "The War That Made America" which is a companion piece to a PBS documentary with the same title. Unlike "Crucible of War," this book focuses on almost entirely on the French and Indian War.

Francis Parkman's "France and England in North America." This eight volume narrative history ranks among the finest pieces of American literature. Written in the late 19th century, it is definitely dated in terms of its historical value, but Parkman wrote history with the skill of a novelist and these histories charting the rise of New France in the 17th century to its fall during the French and Indian War still make for entertaining reading.

"White Devil"- Stepen Brumwell. An excellent account on Rogers' Rangers and their infamous attack on the Abenaki village of St. Francis. Brumwell is an expert on the 18th century British Army and this book also provides a very nice overview of the entire French and Indian War.

The Osprey Campaign Series- The Osprey Campaign series has a whole bunch of books covering individual battles from the 18th Century. These books are nicely illustrated and provide decent detail about tactics, arms, commanders, and the overall strategic situation in which the battle takes place. Here are some of Osprey's 18th Century books:

Culloden 1746: The Highland Clans' Last Charge- Peter Harrington
Monongahela 1754-1755: Washington's Defeat, Braddock's Disaster- Rene Chartrand
Kolin 1757: Frederick the Great's First Defeat- Simon Millar
Zorndorf 1758- Frederick Faces Holy Mother Russia- Simon Millar

Osprey Publishing also produce a series called Essential Histories which provide a quick overview of a particular war or era for those who just want to get a general idea of how events occured. They do have a title called: "The Seven Years' War" by Daniel Marston which is decent.

[Grand Duke Vytautas]

All the Osprey's series that has to do anything with 18th century. Great reading stuff with pictures of soldiers, battles, many illustrations, amazing stuff to get you into militaristic mood for ETW

[Marcus Licinius]

Sharpe's
Hornblower
scarrow (Wellington, Napoleon)
A Close Run Thing +
these are only a few

[damienvice]

One of my favourites for pure historical content is Tim Blanning's "The Pursuit of Glory: Europe 1648-1815". Although it lacks maps (oh how I love maps), it covers all societal, economic, political, military (etc) aspects of the period in depth.

Yeah Im battling through this at the moment, not for the faint hearted but does give detail regarding each aspect of life in the period e.g problems with communications,travel,political thought etc

[Anko]

I liked this book:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Great-Battle.../dp/1842127179

Its called Trafalgar: The Nelson Touch. its purely the facts and documentations of the battle of trafalgar. its especially good if you don't know much about the battle itself and life in the navy.

[upsettingshorts]

Aubrey/Maturin > Hornblower

That is all.

[Sailor]

I liked this book:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Great-Battle.../dp/1842127179

Its called Trafalgar: The Nelson Touch. its purely the facts and documentations of the battle of trafalgar. its especially good if you don't know much about the battle itself and life in the navy.

One interesting thing I learned from reading a different book about Trafalgar (don't remember the name) is if England, for example, captured a French ship, they usually would not rename it. Also, even if the English then replaced that ship with a new one, they would still keep the old French name.

The author pointed it out, because it can get confusing reading about the battle, and mixing up which side ships are on because of that.

PS: I was basking in the sun on the bow of a 40 foot Beneteau on the Sea of Cortez, off the coast of Baja, while reading the book.

[Anko]

One interesting thing I learned from reading a different book about Trafalgar (don't remember the name) is if England, for example, captured a French ship, they usually would not rename it. Also, even if the English then replaced that ship with a new one, they would still keep the old French name.

The author pointed it out, because it can get confusing reading about the battle, and mixing up which side ships are on because of that.

PS: I was basking in the sun on the bow of a 40 foot Beneteau on the Sea of Cortez, off the coast of Baja, while reading the book.

because some ships in the battle share similar names in The Nelson Touch they just made the french ship names italic. and thats a very interesting fact i didn't know that.

Edit: i can't see a reputation button on anyone's post other that my own. is this a bug?

[Sailor]

Edit: i can't see a reputation button on anyone's post other that my own. is this a bug?

Same here. I assume it's because no one's given us rep yet, so we can't give it out. (Otherwise people could make new accounts, just to give themselves rep.) Either that, or you have to be over a certain post count.

Probably says how it works in one of the stickies on the forum.

[Eusebius86]

A Rage for Glory - a biography of Stephen Decatur

Cochrane: Britains Seawolf - a bio of Thomas Cochrane "The Seawolf." He puts Aubrey and Hornblower to shame.

Six Frigates - The founding of the US navy

[invictus1991]

because some ships in the battle share similar names in The Nelson Touch they just made the french ship names italic. and thats a very interesting fact i didn't know that.

Edit: i can't see a reputation button on anyone's post other that my own. is this a bug?

you need a certain number on posts (50 I think) b4 you can give rep

[schoenkoenig]

One of my favourites for pure historical content is Tim Blanning's "The Pursuit of Glory: Europe 1648-1815". Although it lacks maps (oh how I love maps), it covers all societal, economic, political, military (etc) aspects of the period in depth.

I recommend the recommendation of Dr. Blanning's book.

Also

Christopher Duffy's Warfare in the Age of Reason.

[Godless Pickle]

I enjoyed Ottoman Warfare 1500-1700 by Rhoads Murphey.

[Redcoat69]

Fred Anderson's "Crucible of War: The Seven Years' War and the Fate of Empire in British North America, 1754-1766." It's a big book, over 700 pages, but it is an extremely well-written recounting of the Seven Years' War with a particular focus on British policies and their North American empire. Although its last quarter gets a little tiresome when it starts to focus on parliamentary acts that led to the American Revolution, it is for the most part a riveting account of the political, social, economic, and military factors that drove British strategy during the Seven Years War. The military focus is heavily on the American theater, but European, Carribean, Indian, and even the Philippine military operations are covered. However, it was not written as a military narrative so if you're looking for just a tale of battles, campaigns, and generals then this is not the book for you.

Dr. Anderson also wrote a much more accessible book with lots of illustrations called "The War That Made America" which is a companion piece to a PBS documentary with the same title. Unlike "Crucible of War," this book focuses on almost entirely on the French and Indian War.

crucible of war is probrably the most in-deph book of war i have ever read

[zind]

Book Titled (1776) By David Maulgher Easily the best book written about this era.

[Thanatos]

- The Last of the Mohicans
- Hornblower movie series
- Master and Commander
- Warfare in the Eighteenth Century