Recent comments in /f/history

Sventex t1_jcbaxpb wrote

Reply to comment by TheGreatOneSea in Weekly History Questions Thread. by AutoModerator

Weren't Greek Phalanx pikeman also armed with swords? A xiphos or kopis sword as backup? And was the army being made up of 10% muskets enough to make Pike formations dominant again? Why wouldn't archers of the ancient world not be able to perform the same function as a pike and shot formation?

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elmonoenano t1_jcau38d wrote

Reply to Bookclub and Sources Wednesday! by AutoModerator

I took a stab at Douglas Brinkley's Silent Spring Revolution. It's not really a topic I'm interested in. I'm not anti environmentalist or anything silly, it's just a big topic and I always felt like I could either learn a lot about 2 or 3 other topics or spend as much time and learn a little bit about environmentalism. So, this wasn't exactly the most interesting thing to me. I had to read it for a book club. I only made it about 2/3s of the way through, but it's about 700 pages before you get to the notes.

So, for something I don't really love, it drew me in for a good 400 pages. If the history of environmentalism is important to you this is a good book. Brinkley is a great writer, I loved his book on Katrina. I can't say I really learned a lot though, maybe b/c the history is so recent. It was within the common memory while I was growing up that lakes and rivers were full of pollution and human shit and would catch fire and cause outbreaks and that the air was awful. I remember whole months where it was so bad that visibility was measured less than a football field.

So I think maybe people born in the 80s or later would get more out of it. If you are interested in the history of the environmental movement in the US after WWII then I would definitely recommend this.

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Stalins_Moustachio t1_jcarv4i wrote

Reply to Bookclub and Sources Wednesday! by AutoModerator

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Just wrapped up [Armada: The Spanish Enterprise and England’s Deliverance in 1588](http://Armada: The Spanish Enterprise and England’s Deliverance in 1588 https://a.co/d/ecEjjHN) by Colin Martin and Geoffrey Parker. It provides an excellent scholarly account of the Spanish Armada's defeat in 1588. Adding to how detailed the accoint is, I especially appreciated their analysis of how the fleet came to be and why it ultimately failed (based on evidence from eyewitnesses, historical documents, and artefacts from shipwreck sites.) Highly recommend!

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