r/HistoryBooks

Finally started reading English Medieval Graffiti by Violet Pritchard — a book I’d been meaning to buy and read for quite some time. And imagine, it was written back in 1967.

Already finding it fascinating, even where I don’t entirely agree with some of the conclusions. One thing she mentions is that a lot of the graffiti was likely made by “trained and practiced hands”, possibly the most educated people in a medieval community, such as priests or clerics. I can see the reasoning behind that, especially with more sophisticated carvings or inscriptions, but personally I suspect ordinary people probably left far more marks than we tend to assume.

Another interesting point is how difficult medieval graffiti can be to date because churches were rebuilt, altered, and reused over centuries, meaning carved stones were often moved from their original positions. That definitely makes sense, though I also think stylistic details — clothing, hairstyles, weapons, even the way figures are drawn — can sometimes help narrow down a period.

Has anyone else here read it?

I’m looking for a book exploring the day to day lifestyles of Spaniards during the long nineteenth century. Nobility is ok, but I am also interested in middle class and below, not royalty. Fortunata and Jacinta by Benito Galdez gave me a sense of a lost world. My stepfather, growing up in Franco’s Spain, still held onto some remnants of it through his grandparents. English or Spanish is fine.

The author himself acknowledged that US History is so diverse and complex that many, if not most, American historians or students of history focus on a specific time frame or social movement (Civil War, Reconstruction, Civil Rights, Cold War, etc etc). So tackling US History in a one volume book is a three way balancing act with covering events on an international level with how the US fits in, a domestic national level, and finally a local level.

I think a third party perspective can be pretty interesting.

>"Dear Wolff (In German: Liebes Wolffchen)

>In reference to your telegram of 12 May, our sanitary inspector reports to me that the altitude experiments carried out by the SS and Air Force at Dachau have been finished. Any continuation of these experiments seems not to be necessary.

>However, the carrying out of experiments of some other kind, in regard to perils on the high seas, would be important. These have been prepared in immediate agreement with the proper offices; Major Weltz (Medical Corps) will be charged with the execution and Captain Rascher (Medical Corps) will be made available until further orders, in addition to his duties within the Medical Corps of the Air Corps.

>A change of these measures does not appear necessary, and an enlargement of the task is not considered pressing at this time. The low-pressure chamber would not be needed for these low-temperature experiments. It is urgently needed at another place and therefore can no longer remain in Dachau.

>I convey the special thanks from the Supreme Commander of the Air Corps to the SS for their extensive cooperation. I remain with best wishes for you in good comradeship and with Heil Hitler!

>Always yours, E. Milch."

Generalfieldmarschall Erhard Milch sent this secret letter (Nuremberg Document PS-343) to SS-Obergruppenführer Karl Wolff, the chief of Heinrich Himmler’s personal staff. In this correspondence, Milch confirmed that the high-altitude experiments at Dachau had concluded but expressed a critical need to begin freezing (hypothermia) experiments to aid the Luftwaffe.

Milch noted that high-altitude research at Dachau, conducted by Sigmund Rascher, was finished and saw no further reason to continue that specific work. He emphasized the importance of starting new experiments concerning "perils on the high seas"—specifically how pilots might survive immersion in cold water after being shot down.

Milch requested that Dr. Rascher remain available for these tasks under the command of Oberstabsarzt Weltz, though Rascher would technically remain attached to the Air Force. This letter served as a formal link between the Luftwaffe leadership and the SS, facilitating the transition from pressure chamber torture to the lethal freezing experiments that began in August 1942.

The letter was used during the Nuremberg Trials (specifically the Milch Case) to prove that high-ranking military leaders were not only aware of but actively requested these medical crimes. These experiments involved submerged victims in ice water for hours to record death rates and test "rewarming" methods, often involving forced sexual contact or boiling water.

Erhard Milch was eventually sentenced to life imprisonment at Nuremberg, largely due to his role in the slave labor program and his administrative facilitation of these experiments. Erhard Milch was the Secretary of State for Aviation and second-in-command of the Luftwaffe under Hermann Göring.

Dachau: High Altitude Experiments - https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/high-altitude-experiments

NOTE: Certain historical documents, testimony, quotes & images are presented for the record, as evidence and background pertaining to criminal activities, horrific acts, and other notable evils. The words of murderers, criminals & their lawyers should never be mistaken for fact, as they are often bold-faced lies, nor should they be misconstrued as providing a viable justification for their crimes. Don't believe any of it, beyond the fact they did write & speak this nasty stuff and did purport to believe it. As always, read with an abundant degree of cautious skepticism. -W

"During World War II, Nazi doctors conducted as many as 30 different types of experiments on concentration-camp inmates. They performed these studies without the consent of the victims, who suffered indescribable pain, mutilation, permanent disability, or in many cases death as a result. At the Nuremberg "doctor's trial," which brought 23 German doctors to trial immediately after the war, prosecutors found 15 defendants guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity; seven were hung. Here are some of the most notorious experiments-------> https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/holocaust/experiside.html

1: The Nazi Doctors: Medical Killing and the Psychology of Genocide, by Robert Jay Lifton - This is a seminal psychiatric study of how German physicians transitioned from healers to killers during the Holocaust. Based on a decade of research and interviews with former Nazi doctors and survivors, Lifton explores the "biomedical vision" that framed genocide as a necessary medical procedure to "heal" the Aryan race.

Lifton’s primary theory suggests doctors created a "second self" to function in death camps like Auschwitz while maintaining a "normal" domestic self. This dissociation allowed them to participate in atrocities without losing their sense of being "good" people.

The Nazi ideology viewed the Jewish population as a "cancer" or "infection" in the Germanic "body politic". Doctors justified mass murder as a form of "surgical" intervention required for racial purification. The belief that the state is a biological organism and the physician's role is to ensure its health by eliminating "unfit" or "poisonous" elements.

Josef Mengele was the archetypal fanatic who viewed himself as a "biological revolutionary" and internalized Nazi ideology most completely. Eduard Wirths, the chief doctor at Auschwitz, described by some as "decent" or "kind," who nonetheless organized the camp's entire death machinery

Dense and tasty - requires the full attention.

Kudos to the cover designer as well.

453 books from Henry IV thru Louis Phillippe! Emphasis on the era of Versailles!

My dad is a massive war buff and told me to help myself to any of his books as we are moving out and he’s tossing some. I can only take a few as I live overseas so can only fit a few in my bag. Any recommendations would be great!

This was my March mammoth, but ended up being my April Mammoth and most of my May Mammoth too haha. One of the best researched books I've ever read and so well done. So deserving of that Pulitzer Prize and what made Robert Caro a legend.

Took a quick detour on 17th/18th-century conflicts and read the MOAB on 'what if' scenarios. Forget Netflix's 'House of Dynamite'... read Annie Jacobsen's 'Nuclear War - A Scenario.'

This book only ends in one way, but it ensconces the fail-safe defense turned rapidly to offense in response to a suborbital launch. In the 24-minute timeline, this book covers launch on warning, bolt out of the blue, interceptor and counterstrike, doomsday planes, MAD policies, and of course the dreaded SLBM (ELE) lurking in underwater worldwide locations.

Operation Proud Prophet rings true.

In the dawn of the nuclear age, Albert Einstein was asked what he thought about nuclear war, to which he responded, 'I know not with what weapons WWIII will be fought, but WWIV will be fought with sticks and stones.'

Jacobsen has written several greats - 'First Platoon,' 'Area 51,' 'Operation Paperclip.' 'Biological War - A Scenario' is set to release soon.

If you want a book that slumbers in the brain like Cormac McCarthy's 'The Road,' then this is a must-read.

I finished it under three days.

More civil war books because I have a problem and civil war books are cheap.