A guide to the guide: PHG Reading List
- Tony Boccia
- 3 hours ago
- 3 min read
Hey everyone, back again this week with another guide to the guide. This time, we'll be looking at the PHG reading list. I recently saw a post on r/AskHistorians from a user asking for some reading recommendations that would help build context for current events. I took this to mean, as of this writing, the economic and military stresses in Europe, the ongoing Russo-Ukraine conflict and Israeli-Hamas War, the tension surrounding Taiwan and the Korean Peninsula, and finally, the civil unrest in the United States.
I came up with this list of books, all of which are on the PHG reading list. I'll provide a short summary with each title.
The Silk Roads: A New History of the World
Peter Frankopan
One of the real pleasures of historical reading is when you find an author who writes like some of your favorite fiction and fantasy authors. Peter has the rare ability to take what could be a dry subject, that of the history of international markets and trade, and turn it into something that feels like Tolkien. If it's true that there is nothing new under the sun, then be prepared to feel the full effect of this as you travel across trade routes and their effect on culture and history.
Paris 1919: Six Months that Changed the World
Margaret Macmillan
At the end of the Great War, four empires lay in ruins: the German, Austro-Hungarian, Russian, and Ottoman. The victorious allies in Europe were broke, their countries shattered. America had decided the outcome of the war, and now intended to decide the peace as well. Colonies that had helped fight the war or been recently liberated desired freedom and independence, such as India and Poland. In six months, leaders from almost every nation met in Paris to decide the peace. To call this a failed settlement would be to say too little. It shaped the 20th century, leading to the Second World War broke out not 20 years later, then the Cold War. Its bitter end lives on today, in the Balkans and the Middle east.
A Peace to End All Peace:
The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East
David Fromkin
One of the first books I picked up after reading Herman Wouk's The Hope and The Glory was this one, and I have gone back to it time and again. Understanding the world created by the First World War cannot start at the Paris Peace Conference; it must begin during the conflict. Here's the history of the Middle East during and after the Great War.
Asia’s Reckoning: China, Japan, and the Fate of U.S. Power in the Pacific Century
Richard McGregor
and
The Wars for Asia 1911-1949
S.C.M. Paine
The history of East Asia in the 20th century is not easily tackled, and the best histories that I've found are these two. McGregor writes in the context of current events, where tensions in the East China Sea, on the Korean Peninsula and in the Taiwan Strait have been in various degrees of low-intensity conflict for nearly 80 years. Paine is a historian, writing about the internal conflict in China between communist and nationalist, as well as the external conflict with Japan, and its clear from both texts that the complexities of geo-politics here will not easily be solved. I don't recommend a particular order, although McGregor's book is more readable for the layman.
American Nations: The History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America
Colin Woodard
This is the first of a three book series that esteemed and prolific writer Colin Woodard wrote, and is the only book that I lend out without expecting it to be returned. By my rough math and cloudy memory, I've purchased 25 copies of it. This is the most important book on American history I have ever read, and so essential to understanding how the United States was formed and operates that I will not water it down by attempting to summarize it here. Read this book.
Please take a look at the PHG reading list, and let me know what you think! See you next time.

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