Yeah, the funny parts of this video aren't original and the original parts aren't funny

I did like them picking at those stupid puzzle game ads.

Pierre Burton's 'The Arctic Grail' is a fantastic history of the 100-year quest to sail the Northwest Passage. He essentially positions it as a symbolic, not practical, objective, like the next century's moon landing. There are loads of tales of daring-do, cannibalism, and military arrogance, and you'll walk away with a stronger impression of the 19th century and, to some extent, the 20th.

Someone on this site recommended The Authoritarians, an exploration by a professor of social psychology into what makes the followers of authoritarian leaders tick. I thought it was insightful, although I suspect it overrreached in its conclusions. It's a free ebook: https://tinyurl.com/wckk3vbx

A few years ago I read The Secret History of the Mongol Queens by Jack Weatherford, a history of Genghis Khan's empire which focused on his use of royal women as rulers and administrators. I didn't know much of that history period, and this was a neat-o perspective to get into it. I believe he's written a few history books on Genghis Khan. Anyway, I enjoyed it quite a bit.

Civilization of the Middle Ages by Norman F Cantor is a fun escape, gives really nice perspectives on the era, especially the 9th through 12th Centuries. Falls into the common Western mistake of ignoring everywhere east of modern Germany, but otherwise good solid history

My suggestions, in no particular order:

A People's History of the United States
Lies My Teacher Told Me
Guns, Germs, and Steel
Seeing Like a State
Zen at War
The Gender Knot
Voltaire's Bastards

I've just picked up Seeing Like as State, jfcaron. Thanks for the recky.

Np, it's the latest one of the lot that I've read, it really opened up my eyes to modernism as a common element of most intentional atrocities and "accidental" ones too (e.g. holodomor).

If you liked it, I'd also highly suggest Voltaire's Bastards.

Thanks y'all!

I might just start at the top and work my way through the list.

Of all of these, I think I've only read Guns, Germs and Steel.

I also think every nonfiction reader should eventually make the time and effort for the Gulag Archipelago, but it's like working up to a marathon.

I haven't read any Jared Diamond books, but I did once write a d&d adventure centred around raiding a Hessian munitions depot and titled it Guns, Germans and Steel, so that's something.

The Norton Anthology of English Literature, volumes 1 and 2.

Seriously dude if I could keep only two books these are the ones I would pick. If I could pick three I'd probably pick the Hollow Hills. But I'm a King Arthur geek.

He asked for nonfiction... although the Nortons are usually chockablock with academic articles, which could count.

What version of Arthur do you prefer?

The Unabridged Dictionary of Farts.

You can't seriously recommend that someone just pick up the Norton Anthology and just read it like a book. It's like recommending The Complete Works of Shakespeare or something. Sure it can be crammed into one (or two) physical tomes but no one reads them *as a book*. Even if you want to recommend every entry in those collections, you still have to do the work of recommending the ones to read first.

I forgot to add "IBM and the Holocaust".