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I want to learn history

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hivedragon

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(I hope this is the correct place to post this)

Basically I want to learn history and based on previous interactions with objectovists I figured this would be a good place to start. Though I do want to learn as much as I can, I'm not really that interested in prehistory (though I do love artwork of extinct animals). In particular I want to learn about the Industrial Revolutions (the early evolution of real technology) as well as what made some civilizations successes and others not so much (recipes for distopias).

Based on what you have read can you point me to free PDFs available online or books available at a library.

Unless of corse there is a book of exceptional quality for which I may splurge.

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Another writer on the British Industrial revolution is T.S.Ashton. (That Wiki entry has links to some online books.) The one Ashton book I've read is heavy on data and light on drawing out principles, so whether it suits you depends on your purposes.

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There's lots of good stuff if you search Mises.org, a lot of free pdfs and mp3s can be found

The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History, Woods

The Politically Incorrect Guide to Capitalism, Murphy

How Capitalism Saved America, DiLorenzo

The Myth of the Robber Barons, Folsom and McDonald

Capitalism and the Historians, Hayek (Also contains "Factories and the Factory System")

And I also recommend The Capitalist Manifesto, Bernstein mentioned above

Also highly recommend The Story of Civilization by Durant mentioned above

If you want to understand what makes civilizations prosperous, you might find this lecture series (which you can download for free) helpful, as it includes Mises' economics on capital accumulation and savings:

Economy, Society, and History, Hoppe

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvo2dUMnh_k, Hoppe

From the Malthusian Trap to the Industrial Revolution, Hoppe

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I've read a few of the books noted above, and they're great from a modern historical perspective. If you're looking for a more anthropological review, Guns, Germs and Steel was a very entertaining and informative read. Takes a 15,000 year perspective, proposing a comprehensive theory about the factors that, in the author's opinion, contributed to the rise of modern civilization in some places, and not in others.

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  • 2 weeks later...

(I hope this is the correct place to post this)

Basically I want to learn history and based on previous interactions with objectovists I figured this would be a good place to start. Though I do want to learn as much as I can, I'm not really that interested in prehistory (though I do love artwork of extinct animals). In particular I want to learn about the Industrial Revolutions (the early evolution of real technology) as well as what made some civilizations successes and others not so much (recipes for distopias).

Based on what you have read can you point me to free PDFs available online or books available at a library.

Unless of corse there is a book of exceptional quality for which I may splurge.

Good for you!

From an Objectivist standpoint a good place to start is a concise history of Western Civilization such as Isabel Paterson's God of the Machine http://mises.org/resources/3363

Ayn Rand learnt personally from Isabel Paterson while that book was being written.

The book explains very well why some civilizations triumphed over others, how the most abstract "continent" ,Europe, came into existence, why the industrial revolution took place when and where it did (why the technical part was not enough and already existed), why America was discovered when it was and what it represented, and finally the United States and the closing of the frontier.

I also liked Edward McNall Burns' "Western Civilizations..."

For a more contemporary viewpoint and also incredibly concise clarity "The Human Web, A Bird's Eye view of history" by William McNeill

Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza's Genes, Peoples, and Languages, is also very recommendable.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I was a history buff back in the 1990s and lost interest; mostly because of all the conflicting alleged facts and theories about just about every topic that I studied, from just about every place I looked.

I found that it's not so much the conflicting theories and viewpoints that make history such a struggle, but it's more at the things that historians don't talk about at all which causes all the conflict for me.

My case in point; I read a book by John Daniel (a three volume series) entitled: "Scarlet and the Beast". In this book is enormous discussion on points in history and facts about the people involved that I have heard no historian ever talk about. The facts within his series can all be verified. The work is stunning.

I traveled to meet John Daniel a few years ago and discussed his work in great detail with him, his bodyguard only a few feet away at all times during our meetings. Some people don't like what Mr. Daniel has to say and would like to see him shut up forever.

History must be rewritten if all the facts and the truth about it is ever to be known.

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"I read a book by John Daniel (a three volume series) entitled: "Scarlet and the Beast"."

Looks like paranoid freemasonry conspiracy theory mongering from a simple Google.

No surprise there. Of course, we will condemn it here, because we're sponsored by the Illuminati ;)
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  • 2 weeks later...

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