Hello! I saw this a while ago on r/suggestmeabook and then again a couple of hours ago on r/books and I thought this may be super cool in this subreddit. (I suggest you check both threads! Awesome suggestions)
Historians, what is your speciality and which books would you recommend for an overall understanding? Can be any topic (Nazi Germany, History of Islam, anything and everything) Any expert that isn't necessarily a historian is also welcome to contribute suggestions :)
Particularly, I'd love to hear some books on African, Russian and Asian (mostly South) history!
Edit to add: thanks a lot for the contribution people. So many interesting threads and subjects. I want to add that some have replied to this thread with topics they're interested on hoping some expert can appear and share some insight. Please check the new comments! Maybe you can find something you can contribute to. I've seen people ask about the history of games, to more insight into the Enlightenment, to the history of education itself. Every knowledge is awesome so please, help if you can!
Edit #2: I'm going to start adding the specific topics people are asking for, hoping it can help visibility! Let me know if you want me to add the name of the user, if it helps, too. I can try linking the actual comment but later today as it's difficult in Mobile. I will update as they come, and as they're resolved as well!
(Topics without hyperlinks are still only requests. Will put a link on the actual question so it can be answered easily tomorrow maybe, for now this is a lists of the topics on this thread so far and the links for the ones that have been answered already)
INDEX:
12th – 13th century England/France
1950's Americana and lifestyle/day-to-day technology of that time
American Civil War (similar: 'Lost Cause' interpretation of Civil War
American Deaf History
American Religious history (pop culture and evangelicals)
American revolution
Archaeology
Balkans
British Civil War
British royalty
[British Women’s History (modern)] (//www.reddit.com/r/history/comments/84dqir/historians_pick_three_books_from_your/dvpgxqh/)
Canadian history
Celts, Heretical movements in Europe, Early European adoption of Christianity, relationship of local customs/beliefs and Christianity (may have similarities with the Germanic paganism topic and the Witchcraft/Hoodoo/Pagan religion topic)
Civil aviation in North America
Cold War
Colonial America (assuming North America?)
Contemporary Chinese diplomacy
Counterinsurgent warfare
Crusades
Dueling and Euro-American Honor Culture
Dutch/West European medieval history
East Asian history (Korean Peninsula) (similar: history of North Korea )
Egyptian history
Elizabethan England
Enlightenment (can be expanded!)
European Communist history
Former Yugoslavia (Bosnia/Serbia/Croatia)
French resistance
General African history (similar: by /u/burnergeek)
Germanic paganism / Roman expansion after Julius Caesar
Gregorian reform
Historiography
History and evolution of fishing
History of alternative sexualities (similar request: transgender history )
History of Canada
History of China
History of CIA
History of domestic tools (alternatives, not only books)
History of Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium)
History of education
History of games
History of hinduism
History of Japan (a more detailed answer: here)
History of piracy
History of psychology
History of public executions
History of Spain
History of wallpaper
Irish history
Latin American history (requested twice) (some books in pre-colonial and colonial Latin America in Spanish)[//www.reddit.com/r/history/comments/84dqir/historians_pick_three_books_from_your/dvpk6hd/]
Medieval Europe (1066-Reinassance)
Modern pop culture
Napoleon
Native North American history (similar: Native American histories)
Neolithic civilizations (Babylon, Sumeria)
New York City history
Old west (settlers, miners, law men)
Physics
Pre-colonial Iran and Middle East
Religion
Revolutionary France
Russian history (focus on Soviet)
Russian revolution (can be expanded)
Russian space programs
Seven years war
Silk Road (Samarkhand and Khiva)
South African Apartheid
Sub-Saharan African history
The Lead Years in Italy
US labor/business/capitalism
Vietnam or the Vietnam War (similar: America's War in Vietnam
Viking/Norse history (requested twice)
West México, peoples of Jalisco
Witchcraft/Hoodoo/Pagan religious history
World War I (Anglo-American experiences) (similar )
World War II (similar: historiography of the Holocaust, also this one, as well as early modern WW2 militery history )
Edit #3: Gold! Oh my gosh, thank you so much kind anonymous. There are so many other posts and comments who deserved this yet you chose to give it to me. I'm very thankful.
That being said! I'm going to start updating the list again. So many new topic requests have been asked, so many already answered. I'm also going to do a list of the topics that have already been covered-- as someone said, this may be helpful for someone in the future! Bear with me. It's late and I have to wake up early tomorrow for class, but I'll try to do as much as I can today! Keep it coming guys, let's share knowledge!
Edit #4: I want to also take the opportunity to bring attention to the amazing people at r/AskHistorians, who not only reply to questions like this every day, they have in their sidebar a lot of books and resources in many topics. Not exactly divided in these three options, but you can look up if they're appropriate for your level of understanding, but it's a valuable resource anyway. You may find what you're looking for there. Some of the topics that people haven't answered, either, can be found there!