marycatelli: (Golden Hair)
Raiders, Rulers, and Traders: The Horse and the Rise of Empires by David Chaffetz

From the taming of horses to Russian use of cavalry in World War I.

Read more... )
marycatelli: (Golden Hair)
Migrations and Cultures: A World View by Thomas Sowell

A discussion of migration and its effects and consequences. Chain migration, where the first migrants pay for those who follow. Studying sojourners who come to make their fortune and go home, and settlers -- complicated by the way neither membership is fixed.

In depth discussions of the Germans, Japanese, Italians, Chinese, Jews, and Indians. Patterns that are common, things that vary, effects that cause variation. And more.
marycatelli: (Golden Hair)
Conquests And Cultures: An International History by Thomas Sowell

A discussion of the effects of geography, conquest, culture and much more. Goes in depth on four regions that have suffered conquest: Britain, Africa, the Slavonic regions, and the Americans. It is very impressive when you can convey the tragedy inherent in the geography of Africa. All the complications and difficulties of history.
marycatelli: (Golden Hair)
Queens of the Wild: Pagan Goddesses in Christian Europe: An Investigation by Ronald Hutton

After an opening discussing the difference between the survival of paganism and a pagan survival, he dices up five images held to be pagan survivals. Only four of them female, actually.

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marycatelli: (Golden Hair)
Dressing the Past edited by Margarita Gleba, Cherine Munkholt, and Marie-Louise Nosch

Not so much a discussion of what people wore as how people reconstruct, as best they can, what people wore.  Observations on everything from Scythian women wearing elaborate headdresses because most of the gold ornaments in their graves had to have been on it, to tracing the history of Hollywood's use of historical accuracy.

marycatelli: (Golden Hair)
Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism by Benedict Anderson

A complex and rather scholarly study of nationalism -- as opposed to religious unity, or unity under a dynasty.
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marycatelli: (Golden Hair)
The Book of Yokai: Mysterious Creatures of Japanese Folklore by Michael Dylan Foster

An intriguing discussion of the multitude of yokai in Japanese folklore -- and pop culture.

Covering such things as their liminal natures, myths and legends of heroes (even gods) fighting them, folklorists who collected and theorized abou them, spooky tales, the various terms that have been used to describe the basic concept, and a lengthy discussion of some types. Includes the big ones -- kitsune, oni,etc -- and some odd and lesser known ones.  I found it particularly fun that two of the tales were "The Wolf and the Seven Young Kids" -- recognizable despite the variations -- and "Hop O'My Thumb" -- the summary of the Japanese tale would serve for the French one, too.
marycatelli: (Golden Hair)
Religions of Tibet in Practice by Donald S. Lopez Jr.

A collection of primary sources. Heavy on commentary. Includes epics and lives, instructions for pilgrimages including notes on what offers would secure what (flowers, a human birth; incense, pure moral discipline; the three sweets of honey, sugar, and molasses, the food of the gods); consecration rituals, and ones for non-attachment at meals, and also for fasting; an account of a visit to hell; rites against hail and against a malicious gossip spirit; and more
marycatelli: (Golden Hair)
Religions of China in Practice by Donald S. Lopez Jr.

Primary source from China. Includes discussion of whether the Buddha is eternal or has ceased, a long discussion of where haunts come from and how to deal with them (for an unburied child, it's not bury the child), an autobiographical account of an emperor's sacrifice, a list of exactly how you can count up your merits, a discussion of how to save ghosts in the hells, and more.
marycatelli: (Golden Hair)
Religions of Japan in Practice by George J. Tanabe Jr.

An overview of many texts written in Japan. Heavily Buddhist and on the intellectual side. A variety, including a marriage ceremony, a pamphlet guide to the Yasukuni Shrine (featuring Poppo the Wise Pigeon to answer questions), history about the adoption of Buddhism and arguments about whether disasters were caused by worshipping the Buddha or failure to worship him, and hagiography.
marycatelli: (Golden Hair)
Buddhism in Practice by Donald S. Lopez Jr.

A collection of texts from all over Asia. All written by the practitioners, except for annals written by a historian.

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marycatelli: (Golden Hair)
Religions of India in Practice by Donald S. Lopez Jr.

A survey of texts about practices. From documents and also recorded oral information. Buddhism gets brushed on, because the series has another volume about it, but there is a wide diversity of the other religions -- Hinduism, Jainism, Islam, a few Christian.

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marycatelli: (Golden Hair)
The Secret Lives of Colour by Kassia St. Clair

A collection of pieces on various colors in human history.  Most on the pigments -- the chemistry of it has vast history.  Of which Prussian blue being discovered because a man making a batch of red lake was given adulterated potash is merely the weirdest.  Brushes on symbolism, gems, flowers, and other things.  Lots of interesting bits, and only a couple bobbles I picked out.

The Witch

Oct. 23rd, 2018 10:39 pm
marycatelli: (Golden Hair)
The Witch: A History of Fear, from Ancient Times to the Present by Ronald Hutton

A vast topic, on the world-wide figure of a person in a community who works harmful magic against its members, and is part of a tradition of magic, and rouses fear and hatred, and can be fought against.
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marycatelli: (Golden Hair)
Murder Most Foul: The Killer and the American Gothic Imagination by Karen Halttunen

A study of the change in literature from the Puritan execution sermons -- which treated it as extreme sin, but nevertheless the logical outgrowth of habitual sins that just about everyone has, and downplayed both the crime itself and the immediate motive -- to the Gothic treatment, which went far more into individual motives, the gory and morbid details of the crime, and the treatment of murderers as alien monsters.  Various themes, such as murder within familes.
marycatelli: (Golden Hair)
Russia Under the Old Regime by Richard Pipes

An intensive but fascinating look at the political and social structure of Russia.

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marycatelli: (Golden Hair)
The Great Chain of Being: A Study of the History of an Idea by Arthur O. Lovejoy

Tracing across eras from the age of the Platonists the notion of plenitude in a (rather!) academic study.

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Tower

Apr. 8th, 2017 04:12 pm
marycatelli: (Golden Hair)
Tower: An Epic History of the Tower of London by Nigel Jones

An interesting account of things about the Tower of London.

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marycatelli: (Golden Hair)
By Steppe, Desert, and Ocean: The Birth of Eurasia by Barry W. Cunliffe

A rather technical book about the civilizations in Europe and Asia and their technological and cultural changes and exchanges.

Full of bits like the first evidence of wheels existing (on a pot found in Poland), the way Bactria had an unusual amount of Hellenistic influence, and other such details.
marycatelli: (Golden Hair)
Jellies & Their Moulds by Peter Brears

An exhaustive look at jellies in England, starting in the medieval era, to the present day.

Read more... )

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