Victoria 3 Reading Club

[Lapoleon]

Since the Dev Diaries are ever so short and quick to read I would like to start a list with books on the subject of the Victorian period. The more everybody knows about the period, the better the ideas coming from the forum will be.

I've read quite a bit myself, so I'll start with the books I've read on the subject. Feel free to recommend more and add to the list.


General:
The Pursuit of Power: Europe 1815-1914 by Richard J. Evans. My main recommendation for this list. It is long, but goes over a lot of very important parts of the 19th century. Covering the revolutions, the end of serfdom, the Concert of Europe, the industrialisation, the birth of nationalism etc.. A must read for anyone who wants to understand the period.

The Flashman Papers- By George McDonald Frasier. A series of novels about a complete anti-hero serving in the British Army as an officer. Flashman is present in almost all major events of the century, from the Opium War to the retreat from Kabul, from anti-piracy campaigns in the far east to the Sepoy Rebellion. I would recommend pairing each book with a non-fiction book on the same subject. I will mention specific novels that I read after some of the non-fiction works.

The Scramble for Africa - By Thomas Pakenham. A very extensive work detailing the history of European colonies in Africa, ranging from Morocco to South Africa. Very long, but very much worth the read.

Nation/Region Specific:
The Pursuit of Italy by David Gilmour. An interesting book on the formation of Italy, also covering a lot of interesting cultural stuff like the role of opera in the risorgimento. Also talks a lot about how unified Italy actually is as a country.

The Russian Revolution: A New History - By Sean McMeekin. It's been a while since I read it, but I think I enjoyed it.

Return of a King: The Battle for Afghanistan - William Dalrymple. I really enjoy Dalrymple's writing. Pair with the first Flashman novel.

The Last Mughal: The fall of a Dynasty: Delhi 1857. - William Dalrymple. Great writing style, very enjoyable to read. Also discusses the Sepoy Rebellion quite a bit. Combine with Flashman in the Great Game which is surprisingly mostly about the Sepoy Rebellion.


The Great Game: The Struggle for Empire in Central Asia. - Peter Hopkirk. Reads almost as a Boy's own adventure book. Filled with interesting stories, but also covers the reasons for the diplomatic/espionage struggle. Really shows the limits to what the great empires knew about the geography at their own borders.

Wars:
The Boer War - Marin Bossenbroek. A good primer on the subject, I enjoyed reading it.

Crimea - Orlando Figes. A fun read, if rather long. Also goes into things like the Crimean war being the first war with journalist and photographers. Can be read before Flashman at the Charge.

Imperium Twilight: the Opium War and the End of China's Last Golden Age - Stephen Pratt. Very interesting, also a very good primer for Chinese history in the period. Combine with Flashman and the Dragon.

The American Civil War- a Military History - By John Keegan. I seem to remember it being rather short, but it gives a decent overview of the reasons for the war and the diplomatic side of things. According to reviews there are probably better works on the subject.

War on the Waters: The Union and Confederate Navies 1861-1865 - James McPherson. The title alone will probably tell you whether you'd enjoy the book or not.

1914-1918 - David Stevenson. A history and analysis of the first world war. It really opened my eyes about the reasons the battles were so costly. It showed the generals as not the incompetent squanderers of human life, but as people struggling with adapting to a new reality of warfare. Very interesting.

Technology:
The Victorian Internet - Tom Standage. This books covers the development of the telegraph and all the societal implications it had.

Railways and the Raj: How the Age of Steam Transformed India - Christian Wolmar. Great work on the way railways were created in India, but also about how it shaped Indian society. Discusses how the railways employing local Laborer POPs, but British Engineering POPs and putting all the locomotive factories in Britain really stymied Indian industrialisation.

 

[gking.rat]

Cannibals All! Or Slaves Without Masters- George Fitzhugh. Written in the 1850's Fitzhugh uses a Marxist critique of capital to defend the institution of chattel slavery. (Yes you read that right). Fitzhugh makes specious arguments but it is worth reading to see how the shift to industrialized production affected the arguments made by the plantation class in the US. It is also a stark reminder that to see that Actual Literal Slavery was a real political force even when Marx was writing.

This chart:

This chart is from Private Property and the Modern Corporation by Berle and Means. The book was written in the 1930s and is one of the founding texts of modern corporate governance. While a fascinating read it isn't a particularly Victorian piece of work. This chart however, is quite Victorian. It shows how the Van Sweringen Brothers were able to control an enormous range of companies by pyramiding ownership of holding companies. As an aside, the Van Sweringen Brothers lost everything in the depression and died as paupers.

Edited to add: I think the reading club is a good idea. While historical games always grapple with what is historical and what is gamified abstraction, having a better understanding of the history can help appreciate and craft more nuanced games.

 

[Poppis]

If you enjoyed The Great Game, I would definitely recommend Hopkirks other books as well:

Foreign Devils on the Silk Road (1980)
-Western archaeological raids in Central Asia.

Trespassers on the Roof of the World (1982)
-The forcible opening up of the Buddhist Kingdom of Tibet.

Setting the East Ablaze (1984)
-Lenins dream to liberate the whole of Asia

On Secret Service East of Constantinople (1994)
-"Sequel" to The Great Game. Covers spy stuff during World War 1 (British vs Germans).

Other books I've read and enjoyed:

Iron Kingdom: The Rise and Downfall of Prussia 1600-1947 by Christopher Clark (2006)
-A great overview of Prussia.

The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914 by Christopher Clark (2012)
-An interesting look into how the first world war started.

Blood, Iron & Gold: How the Railways Transformed the World by Christian Wolmar (2009)
Engines of War: How Wars Were Won and Lost on the Railways by Christian Wolmar (2010)
-Great look into the birth of railways and how they affected the world. Engines of War covers some post vic3 periods as well.

War in the Nineteenth Century 1800- 1914 by Jeremy Black (2009)
-An introduction to warfare.

Naval Warfare 1815-1914 by Lawrence Sondhaus (2001)
-A great overview of the rapid change of naval technology during the 19th century.

The one book that always appears on these lists:
Dreadnought by Robert K. Massie (1991)
and its "sequel":
Castles of Steel by Robert K. Massie (2004)
-Dreadnought covers the evolution of naval warfare in 19th century and the construction of HMS Dreadnought leading up to World War 1 while Castles of Steel covers Naval Warfare during World War 1.

And if you liked reading about dinosaurs in the vic 2 newspaper:
The Dinosaur Hunters by Deborah Cadbury (2000)
-The story of two 19th century scientists who were digging fossilized bones out of the ground and trying to figure out what the hell they were.

 

[joeski27]

Thanks for the list, I'm excited to have a read through some of these.

I've been reading :

Dan P. Silverman. Reluctant Union: Alsace-Lorraine and Imperial Germany, 1871–1918​

Whilst I'm sceptical at times on potential bias, it does provide some very very interesting accounts of how war and occupation played a role in market conflicts and new industries causing further conflict within countries- a new territory in your market with different industries, some better than your own some worse, and how the established industrialists react to new competition, with the effect this has on the nation and regions peoples.

G. R. Searle. Morality and the Market in Victorian Britain ​

Examines how christian and Victorian era values were a challenge to overcome for rampant capitalism; the differences between slavery and paid-labour needing to be shown; Citizenship and public virtue. Apects often overlooked.

 

[Grzegorz Grzybek]

I waited for a thread like this.

A leftist view of the period: Eric Hobsbawm's "trilogy" with emphasis on social (including culture and science) and political matters and less about war and military:
– The Age of Revolution: 1789-1848
– The Age of Capital: 1848-1875
– The Age of Empire: 1875-1914

Polish book (cooperative writing): Japonia okresu Meiji Od tradycji ku nowoczesności (Meiji period in Japan - from tradition to modernity) - covers different aspects including politics, emperor's court, theater and sumo.

Jürgen Osterhammel - The Transformation of the World: A Global History of the Nineteenth Century - didn't read it yet - leaving the 1200 pages of pleasure for summer holidays

 

[Grave461]

General:
The Pursuit of Power: Europe 1815-1914 by Richard J. Evans. My main recommendation for this list. It is long, but goes over a lot of very important parts of the 19th century. Covering the revolutions, the end of serfdom, the Concert of Europe, the industrialisation, the birth of nationalism etc.. A must read for anyone who wants to understand the period.

Just ordered on Amazon, thanks!

While I don't know any books to recommend, I can recommend the documentary series, "The Civil War", by Ken Burns.

Many people here may have seen it already, but for those who haven't, I thoroughly enjoyed it and highly recommend it.

 

[Herrebrugh]

I've only been reading a book dealing with the entire history of the Netherlands, so it's not just focused on the 19th century: Een beknopte geschiedenis van Nederland by James C. Kennedy. Pretty sure it's actually a translation from English.

I intend to read more about specifically the Netherlands during the 19th century, maybe also the Netherlands Indies.

 

[ImperatorLJ]

I know this thread has been books only so far, but I'd also recommend a listen to Mike Duncan's "Revolutions" podcast. It covers many of the revolutions, such as 1848 and the Russian Revolution, that color this period, and he also gives a ton of background to the 19th and early 20th century in general.

 

[Seelmeister]

Some great suggestions here, I would have recommended the Eric Hobsbawm trilogy, but @Grzegorz Grzybek has beaten me to it!

I'll add The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers by Paul Kennedy and The Pity of War by Niall Ferguson which are very good economic history of the period/ WW1 respectively.

Fergusons Empire: How Britain Made the Modern World is also good for a UK focused account.

 

[CorneliusBottomly]

AJP Taylor's The Struggle for Mastery: 1848 - 1918

 

[cursorhiker]

Something a bit lighter - The Defence of Duffer's Drift, by British general Ernest Swinton, discusses a young infantry lieutenant named Backsight Forethought's Groundhog Day-esque defense of a key position during the Boer War, and has some interesting insights on warfare and guerilla war around the turn of the century.

 

[JBolt]

Since the Dev Diaries are ever so short and quick to read I would like to start a list with books on the subject of the Victorian period. The more everybody knows about the period, the better the ideas coming from the forum will be.

I've read quite a bit myself, so I'll start with the books I've read on the subject. Feel free to recommend more and add to the list.


General:
The Pursuit of Power: Europe 1815-1914 by Richard J. Evans. My main recommendation for this list. It is long, but goes over a lot of very important parts of the 19th century. Covering the revolutions, the end of serfdom, the Concert of Europe, the industrialisation, the birth of nationalism etc.. A must read for anyone who wants to understand the period.

The Flashman Papers- By George McDonald Frasier. A series of novels about a complete anti-hero serving in the British Army as an officer. Flashman is present in almost all major events of the century, from the Opium War to the retreat from Kabul, from anti-piracy campaigns in the far east to the Sepoy Rebellion. I would recommend pairing each book with a non-fiction book on the same subject. I will mention specific novels that I read after some of the non-fiction works.

The Scramble for Africa - By Thomas Pakenham. A very extensive work detailing the history of European colonies in Africa, ranging from Morocco to South Africa. Very long, but very much worth the read.

Nation/Region Specific:
The Pursuit of Italy by David Gilmour. An interesting book on the formation of Italy, also covering a lot of interesting cultural stuff like the role of opera in the risorgimento. Also talks a lot about how unified Italy actually is as a country.

The Russian Revolution: A New History - By Sean McMeekin. It's been a while since I read it, but I think I enjoyed it.

Return of a King: The Battle for Afghanistan - William Dalrymple. I really enjoy Dalrymple's writing. Pair with the first Flashman novel.

The Last Mughal: The fall of a Dynasty: Delhi 1857. - William Dalrymple. Great writing style, very enjoyable to read. Also discusses the Sepoy Rebellion quite a bit. Combine with Flashman in the Great Game which is surprisingly mostly about the Sepoy Rebellion.


The Great Game: The Struggle for Empire in Central Asia. - Peter Hopkirk. Reads almost as a Boy's own adventure book. Filled with interesting stories, but also covers the reasons for the diplomatic/espionage struggle. Really shows the limits to what the great empires knew about the geography at their own borders.

Wars:
The Boer War - Marin Bossenbroek. A good primer on the subject, I enjoyed reading it.

Crimea - Orlando Figes. A fun read, if rather long. Also goes into things like the Crimean war being the first war with journalist and photographers. Can be read before Flashman at the Charge.

Imperium Twilight: the Opium War and the End of China's Last Golden Age - Stephen Pratt. Very interesting, also a very good primer for Chinese history in the period. Combine with Flashman and the Dragon.

The American Civil War- a Military History - By John Keegan. I seem to remember it being rather short, but it gives a decent overview of the reasons for the war and the diplomatic side of things. According to reviews there are probably better works on the subject.

War on the Waters: The Union and Confederate Navies 1861-1865 - James McPherson. The title alone will probably tell you whether you'd enjoy the book or not.

1914-1918 - David Stevenson. A history and analysis of the first world war. It really opened my eyes about the reasons the battles were so costly. It showed the generals as not the incompetent squanderers of human life, but as people struggling with adapting to a new reality of warfare. Very interesting.

Technology:
The Victorian Internet - Tom Standage. This books covers the development of the telegraph and all the societal implications it had.

Railways and the Raj: How the Age of Steam Transformed India - Christian Wolmar. Great work on the way railways were created in India, but also about how it shaped Indian society. Discusses how the railways employing local Laborer POPs, but British Engineering POPs and putting all the locomotive factories in Britain really stymied Indian industrialisation.

I knew Pursuit of Power was going to be on the list before I even looked! Picked it up at Barnes and Noble awhile ago and in general it’s one of my favorite history books, so definitely seconded. Another great one is 1848 by Michael Rapport, especially since it gives you a better idea of life right around what is Victoria’s game start. I’m going to have to look at all these other book recommendations as well

 

[Belph]

I don't know how no one has mentioned Marx, but people should really read his works both generally and specifically for this period. If I had to pick just one to recommend it would be the 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte, which is an excellent retrospective on 1848(and more specifically the coup which ended it) by one who was intimately involved with events. Additionally, The Civil War in France, and The Civil War in the United States(which I could not find an easy free copy of) are good views of then current events from an early socialist perspective. Finally, Capital(I,II,III) is a definitive text of socialism and Marxist economics for a reason, though I would not recommend picking it up lightly, it's a heavy read, especially if you intend to go for all three volumes.

Finally, I would not recommend the Communist Manifesto. It is a manifesto, and not a serious analytical work, and contains (in my opinion) nothing that isn't said better and in more detail elsewhere. Read it if you like, but don't expect anything profound.

 

[DarthJF]

For East Asian flavour I would recommend Emperor of Japan: Meiji and His World, 1852-1912 by Donald Keene.

It's a long read but incredibly detailed and the absolutely best book about Meiji era Japan that I know of.

 

[Nirmara]

The German Empire: A Short History: A relatively quick read giving a general overview of the 2nd Reich.

Diplomatie européenne: Nations et impérialismes 1871-1914: A decent French book about the diplomatic history of the XIX century. Covers the major events of the era while providing the necessary backgrounds.

I recently ordered Italy in the Nineteenth Century: 1796-1900, but haven't received it so I can't comment on it yet.

This thread also made me order The Pursuit of Power.

 

[orc4hire]

Pretty much anything by Bryon Farwell.

 

[J.V Stalin]

Dialectical and Historical Materialism
By J.V Stalin

The Foundations of Leninism
By J.V Stalin

Marxism and the national and colonial question
By J.V Stalin

Anarchism or socialism?
By J.V Stalin

Economic Problems of Socialism in the U.S.S.R
By J.V Stalin

Problems of Leninism
By J.V Stalin

Marxism and the National question
By J.V Stalin

Trotskyism or Leninism?
By J.V Stalin

On Chinese Revolution
By J.V Stalin

Lenin
By J.V Stalin

On the Opposition
By J.V Stalin

The Road to Power
By J.V Stalin

The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Eric Carle

Mastering Bolshevism
By J.V Stalin

History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
By J.V Stalin

Concerning the Question of the Strategy and Tactics of the Russian Communists
By J.V Stalin

The Tasks of the Youth
By J.V Stalin

The Theory and Practice of Leninism
By J.V Stalin

 

[alanschu]

I'm not super well read on the timeline but I really loved the following two books:

Battle Cry of Freedom - James McPhereson
About the lead up and events of the American Civil War

A World Undone - G. J. Meyer
About the events leading up to and during the First World War, including back histories of major powers and factors.

That second book was one of the more eye opening books I have ever read and probably one that made me the most angry/sad about such wanton waste of life.


One I've been meaning to read for a long time and haven't yet is Marx's Capital.

 

[Victor Cortez]

Can this thread be pinned?

 

[freeaxle]

Great thread and some really great book suggestions!

Here are some more recommendations:

- How to Read Industrial Britain by Time Cooper (2011): A neat little book (~150 pages) that looks at the physical side of the industrial revolution (A guide to the machines, sites & artefacts that shaped Britain).

- How the Industrial Revolution Changed the World by Thomas Crump (2010): A more general history of the industrial revolution and its impacts. Does a great job of tracing the development and implementation of technology and the knock-on effects it had.

- Crimea: The Great Crimean War 1854-1856 by Trevor Royal (2000): A history of the Crimean War, its context and impact.

- The Opium War: Drugs, Dreams and the Making of China by Julia Lovell (2011): A history of the Opium War, its context and impact.

- The Origins of the Modern World by Robert B. Marks (2007): Not specifically about the Victorian period as it starts with the 15th century, but a great overview of global history that helps place the Victorian era in context. Especially good for its examination of why the Industrial revolution happened, and why it happened where and when it did.