Not that anybody asked, but I want to share my current personal reading list – much of which is motivated by current events. It obviously skews towards my personal interest in ancient history, particularly Roman history, but I hope that others might likewise find it useful. I welcome any suggestions, recommendations, and feedback. They are listed in the order in which I am planning to read them, though I am tackling a number of them concurrently and will undoubtedly change the order as I proceed.
- James M. McPherson (2003), Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era
- Erik Hildinger (2002), Swords Against the Senate: The Rise of the Roman Army and the Fall of the Roman Republic
- Federico Santangelo (2016), Marius
- Arthur Keaveney (2007), The Army in the Roman Revolution
- P.A. Brunt (1971), Social Conflicts in the Roman Republic
- Harriet I. Flower (2009), Roman Republics
- H.H. Scullard (1982), From the Gracchi to Nero: A History of Rome from 133 BC to AD 68, 5th ed.
- Barbara Levick (2015), Catiline
- Lily Ross Taylor (1949), Party Politics in the Age of Caesar
- David Shotter (2005), The Fall of the Roman Republic, 2nd ed.
- Aaron Alston (2015), Rome’s Revolution: Death of the Republic and Birth of the Empire
- Michael Parenti (2003), The Assassination of Julius Caesar: A People’s History of Ancient Rome
- Piers Brendon (2000), The Dark Valley: A Panorama of the 1930s
- J. Patrick Coby (2009), Thomas Cromwell: Machiavellian Statecraft and the English Reformation
- Howard Zinn (2003), A People’s History of the United States
- Chris Harman (2008), A People’s History of the World
- Barbara W. Tuchman (1962), The Guns of August
- Tom Holland (2003), Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic
Additionally, the following books are on a sort of “extended list” either because they are only indirectly related to the others or because I have already read them and may only revisit portions.
- Arthur Keaveney (2005), Rome and the Unification of Italy, 2nd ed.
- —— (2005), Sulla: The last republican, 2nd ed.
- Kurt A. Raaflaub and Mark Toher, ed. (1990), Between Republic and Empire: Interpretations of Augustus and His Principate
- Ronald Syme (1939), The Roman Revolution
- Erich S. Gruen (1974), The Last Generation of the Roman Republic
- David Stevenson (2005), Cataclysm: The First World War as Political Tragedy
- Barry Coward (1991), Oliver Cromwell
- Karl-J. Hölkeskamp (2010), Reconstructing the Roman Republic: An Ancient Political Culture and Modern Research, revised ed. (trans. Henry Heitmann-Gordon)
- Charles Esdaile (2007), Napoleon’s Wars: An International History, 1803-1815
- Francis Galassi (2014), Catiline, the Monster of Rome: An Ancient Case of Political Assassination
