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Historical Spain & Portugal Biographies:
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Check out Eric M. Bergerud’s book <em>Touched with Fire: The Land War in the South Pacific</em>. It does a phenomenal job at showing the reader that the environment is as much the soldiers’ enemy as the enemy himself. Malaria, dengue- and yellow fever, fungus, sword grass, snakes, and even crocodiles harassed soldiers in the Pacific as much as opposing armies.
There was lots of pre-columbian contact. In fact Columbus himself only got into the idea of the route by being on a boat with a sailor who had been on a boat blown off course and ended up in the likely caribbean and told Columbus he had been to India. There were many similar stories at the time and Columbus actually collected them from people who had been or heard the stories and used them to formulate his initial route.
The source is a really great well researched book about Columbus and all the insane things that he did. Most of what you here about him is extremely light on details and facts, he was definitely like an Albert Einstein of navigation. He knew enough even after being shipwrecked and stranded for a month to accurately determine exactly where he was in the world and the timing of an eclipse down to the hour which he used to convince the indigenous population that God was mad at them for not feeding him!
https://www.amazon.com/Columbus-Voyages-1492-1504-Laurence-Bergreen/dp/014312210X
I read this book a year ago: https://www.amazon.com/Over-Edge-World-Terrifying-Circumnavigation/dp/006093638X
About Magellan and his travels in Latin America and then in the Pacific. The dude was a literal psycho.
I’m a history teacher…. One of the most fascinating books I’ve read is “A Land So Strange” about Cabeza de Vaca.
Amazon link below. Devoured the book in a day, could not put it down.
You might like this, it will help you understand why HEMA use body armor, but FMA doesn't have the benefit of body armor technology,
https://www.amazon.com/dp/006093638X (Over The Edge of The World)
One book I cannot recommend enough to those who have not read it yet is Over the Edge of the World by Laurence Bergreen. It's about the first ever Circumnavigation of the world, and my god what a story it is. An expedition that set out from Seville with 5 ships and over 250 men returns 3 years later to the exact same spot with just 1 ship filled with only 18 of the original expedition members (plus a couple of natives picked up along the way). The journey that those men went through over the course of those 3 years is fantastic, and had me hooked throughout the whole book.
> Wasn't it more like mass murder and rape?
Not really no, in fact his primary ambition was to bring more subjects to the queen and converting them to Christianity. Even saying cool with slavery is somewhat of an overstatement as slavery in the way we see it wasn't established until a bit later. At that time Europe was still in feudalism and Columbus say himself as a subject of the queen in the same way he would see others as potentially being his subjects or the subjects of others. There was certainly some overlap into modern slavery with some caribs being taken to Europe to be sold. And he did other bad stuff too, no doubt.
BUUUUT that's not the point. None of that shit is what made him a standout. There were 1000s of people being brutal and rape'n and rob'n (that's basically what Knights did) all over Europe and where ever they could go.
Columbus is special because of the crazy navigation stuff he did. Like staying up 30+ days until he nearly died and suffered from blindness while they were stuck in the doldrums. Then giving seemingly random instructions when he woke up and was still confined to a bed that got them out of it. Or when a storm blew them hopelessly of course and he stayed in his room for 2 days while everyone freaked out then he came out, gave some directions and said told them where they would be in 3 days and went back in his room and didn't come out until they were there.
If you actually have any real interest this is a great book.
https://www.amazon.com/Columbus-Voyages-1492-1504-Laurence-Bergreen/dp/014312210X
It's true that Bonzai attacks were an and that Japanese soldiers were indoctrnated, but this book is one at least cited as containing accounts of US soldiers becoming fearful to take prisoners and executing them instead: (https://www.amazon.com/Touched-Fire-Land-South-Pacific/dp/0140246967) and then there's footage, such as what is mentioned in this article:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/jun/03/humanities.highereducation
I don't think US soldiers were generally doing this out of spite, but rather because they had been in situations where Japanese soldiers feigned surrender and then attacked.
A Land So Strange: The Epic Journey of Cabeza de Vaca changed my life. Since I was having trouble describing it succinctly, I'll just paste the Amazon description here, This is a MUST-read book, especially if you would like a glimpse into the very early days of first European contact with the indigenous peoples of the Americas. It's a journey of incredible survival, and I love a survival story.
Here's what Amazon says: "In 1528, a mission set out from Spain to colonize Florida. But the expedition went horribly wrong: Delayed by a hurricane, knocked off course by a colossal error of navigation, and ultimately doomed by a disastrous decision to separate the men from their ships, the mission quickly became a desperate journey of survival. Of the four hundred men who had embarked on the voyage, only four survived-three Spaniards and an African slave. This tiny band endured a horrific march through Florida, a harrowing raft passage across the Louisiana coast, and years of enslavement in the American Southwest. They journeyed for almost ten years in search of the Pacific Ocean that would guide them home, and they were forever changed by their experience. The men lived with a variety of nomadic Indians and learned several indigenous languages. They saw lands, peoples, plants, and animals that no outsider had ever before seen. In this enthralling tale of four castaways wandering in an unknown land, AndréResndez brings to life the vast, dynamic world of North America just a few years before European settlers would transform it forever."
Excellent WW2 book on Garbo. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007QV00LA/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Cold War Russian Spy - Also excellent. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00OEXDLPU/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Need: Lieutenant Nun: Memoir of a Basque Transvestite in the New World (1st Edition) by Catalina De Erauso
Link: https://www.amazon.com/Lieutenant-Nun-Memoir-Basque-Transvestite/dp/0807070734
for $5 or less
Seconding the Theodore Roosevelt Trilogy by Edmund Morris. I know they're long but I promise you if you pick it up you'll fly through them. He had a fascinating life and Morris is such a good writer it never really gets dull.
Edmond Morris' "The Rise Of Theodore Roosevelt" (about TR's life before the presidency) is one of the most entertaining and interesting biographies of all time.
Lieutenant Nun: Memoir of a Basque Transvestite in the New World.
It's the autobiography of a young woman (Catalina de Erauso) who fled life in a convent in Spain in AD 1600 and became a conquistador in South America. Short, easy read that gives a view of a bafflingly different world.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalina_de_Erauso
http://www.amazon.com/Lieutenant-Nun-Memoir-Basque-Transvestite/dp/0807070734
-History Education major at Utah Valley University
Theodore Roosevelt is mine as well. I disagree with a large portion of his politics but damn if I still don't idolize the man's resolve. Check out this bio if you want to find out more about him. The man was the truest of bad asses.
I recently discovered my love reading a book called, The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt. It basically covers his entire life. He is amazing. For those who are curious, http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004DEPH3E/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?ie=UTF8&btkr=1
Exactly. Once China closed it borders and started book burning his discoveries were mostly forgotten. But when Magellan visited the Asian islands he found Chinese technology and influence. I have read about Ze in this fantastic book. But I don't know everything about him:
http://www.amazon.com/Over-Edge-World-Terrifying-Circumnavigation/dp/006093638X
A Land So Strange: The Epic Journey of Cabeza de Vaca by Andre Resendez.
>In 1528, a mission set out from Spain to colonize Florida. But the expedition went horribly wrong: Delayed by a hurricane, knocked off course by a colossal error of navigation, and ultimately doomed by a disastrous decision to separate the men from their ships, the mission quickly became a desperate journey of survival.
>Of the three hundred men who had embarked on the journey, only four survived—three Spaniards and an African slave. This tiny band endured a horrific march through Florida, a harrowing raft passage across the Louisiana coast, and years of enslavement in the American Southwest. They journeyed for almost ten years in search of the Pacific Ocean that would guide them home, and they were forever changed by their experience. The men lived with a variety of nomadic Indians and learned several indigenous languages. They saw lands, peoples, plants, and animals that no outsider had ever seen before.
An amazing book covering events coinciding with Cortes' conquering of the Aztecs, things I was never taught in history class in the U.S.