/lit/ - Literature

Is there a book like pic related for other countries (specifically france/UK/Germany ?) like covering recent social/cultural/political history in a coherent way and incorporating pop culture? Most histories of other countries in English are either covering old as fuck topic or dry textbook ass shit. Also how does Invisible Bridge compare?

>>18592756
In my experience only a few history books have really "stood out" as more than the sum of their parts. Perlstein's history of modern conservatism is an incredibly readable and enjoyable set of books (pic related, #2 in a four-part series and my favorite of the bunch). There's also a couple of gems in that Oxford series of History (although I've never read Battle Cry); What Hath God Wrought and Reconstruction come to mind as particularly solid ones.

>Before the Storm
>Nixonland
>Reagonland

pure kino trilogy.

A couple years back I read Nixon's memoirs. This was, in my opinion, a nice companion peace. I didn't live through the sixties, and the book presents a really nice chronology of topics which loomed large in the public consciousness. That said, it kind of collapses under the weight of the details. It's so packed with anecdotes and diversions that it often feels like the through-line, ostensibly the polarization of America, is discarded. In particular Nixon feels

Would it be a good idea to read a general history of Nixon's presidency to better understand Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 and some of his collected stories or could I dive right in? I'd be fine reading all 800 if necessary and if the book is interesting by itself, but I'm not 100% sure.

i like this presidency if only for the fact that we're gonna get a pretty sick trump era version of this in ~40 years

I'm reading Nixonland right now. It's quite good. I'd call it part biography, part examination of the political culture at the time.

Recommended.

>>9490083