History

历史

Causation and contingency viewed over long horizons.

62 books

An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations 《国富论》 Adam Smith Smith examines the sources of national wealth and argues that it comes from the division of labour and capital accumulation rather than from… Economics Classic Index 97

The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money 《就业、利息和货币通论》 John Maynard Keynes Keynes argues that output and employment are determined by effective demand rather than tending automatically toward full employment, introducing… Economics Classic Index 96

The Structure of Scientific Revolutions 《科学革命的结构》 Thomas Kuhn Kuhn argues that science does not accumulate linearly but cycles between “normal science” and revolution: a paradigm guides research until… Technology & Science Classic Index 95

History of the Peloponnesian War 《伯罗奔尼撒战争史》 Thucydides Thucydides’ account of the war between Athens and Sparta was written by a participant who aimed to record events precisely and to explain them by… World History Classic Index 95

The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire 《罗马帝国衰亡史》 Edward Gibbon Gibbon’s multivolume history runs from the height of Rome to the fall of Constantinople, famous for its scale, its prose, and its interpretive… World History Classic Index 94

The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism 《新教伦理与资本主义精神》 Max Weber Weber examines a historical coincidence: the organizational forms of modern capitalism developed systematically first in Protestant regions of the… Society & Civilization Classic Index 94

Leviathan 《利维坦》 Thomas Hobbes Starting from the thought experiment of a state of nature, Hobbes argues that without a common power, human equality and desire generate continuous… Society & Civilization Classic Index 94

Capital 《资本论》 Karl Marx Marx builds on the labour theory of value to develop concepts such as surplus value, capital accumulation, and commodity fetishism, in an attempt to… Economics Classic Index 93

Guns, Germs, and Steel 《枪炮、病菌与钢铁》 Jared Diamond Diamond sets out to answer a deceptively simple question: why did Eurasian societies conquer the rest of the world, and not the other way around?… World History Classic Index 93

On Liberty 《论自由》 John Stuart Mill Mill tries to draw a line: how far society may legitimately interfere with the individual. His harm principle holds that as long as others are not… Society & Civilization Classic Index 93

The Road to Serfdom 《通往奴役之路》 Friedrich Hayek Written during the Second World War, Hayek argues that once central planning becomes the primary means of allocating resources it progressively… Economics Classic Index 92

Sapiens 《人类简史》 Yuval Noah Harari Harari narrates the whole arc of Homo sapiens, from foraging bands to global empires, around a single claim: what lets strangers cooperate at scale… World History Classic Index 92

The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order 《文明的冲突与世界秩序的重建》 Samuel Huntington Huntington advances a predictive thesis: with the Cold War over, the main fault lines of global conflict would shift from ideology and economics to… World History Classic Index 91

The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich 《第三帝国的兴亡》 William Shirer Shirer, a journalist turned historian, narrates Nazi Germany from its origins to its collapse, drawing heavily on captured documents and on his own… World History Classic Index 91

1587, A Year of No Significance 《万历十五年》 Ray Huang Huang examines a single unremarkable year in the Ming dynasty to show how the empire’s institutional structure — its fiscal system, its bureaucracy… World History Classic Index 91

Against the Gods 《与天为敌》 Peter Bernstein Bernstein tells how humans learned to live with risk: from gambling and the mathematics of probability to insurance, statistics, and financial… Finance Classic Index 90

The Great Transformation 《大转型》 Karl Polanyi Polanyi argues that the self-regulating market was not a natural evolution but a nineteenth-century political construction: land, labour, and money… Economics Classic Index 90

The Guns of August 《八月炮火》 Barbara Tuchman Tuchman narrates the first month of World War I, tracing how mobilization timetables, alliance commitments, and mutual misreading of intentions… World History Classic Index 90

Postwar 《战后欧洲史》 Tony Judt Judt synthesizes European history from 1945 to the early 2000s: reconstruction, Cold War division, welfare states, decolonization, the memory of… World History Classic Index 90

Amusing Ourselves to Death 《娱乐至死》 Neil Postman Postman contrasts the warnings of Orwell and Huxley and argues that Huxley came closer: culture is not crushed by force but voluntarily surrenders… Society & Civilization Classic Index 90

Why Nations Fail 《国家为什么会失败》 Daron Acemoglu Acemoglu and Robinson argue that the gap between rich and poor nations lies in institutions: inclusive institutions encourage broad participation… Economics Classic Index 89

The End of History and the Last Man 《历史的终结与最后的人》 Francis Fukuyama Fukuyama argues that with the collapse of the Soviet bloc, liberal democracy had emerged as the only remaining legitimate form of government, and he… World History Classic Index 89

The Crowd 《乌合之众》 Gustave Le Bon Le Bon argues that once individuals merge into a crowd, their judgment and conduct change qualitatively: emotion becomes contagious, suggestion is… Society & Civilization Classic Index 89

Capital in the Twenty-First Century 《21 世纪资本论》 Thomas Piketty Piketty uses tax and inheritance records going back to the eighteenth century to argue that when the return on capital exceeds the growth rate over… Economics Classic Index 88

This Time Is Different 《这次不一样》 Carmen Reinhart Reinhart and Rogoff assemble eight centuries of debt and crisis data across dozens of countries to show that sovereign debt crises, banking crises… Economics Classic Index 88

The Worldly Philosophers 《世俗哲学家》 Robert Heilbroner Heilbroner combines biography and intellectual history to present the central preoccupations of economists from Smith, Malthus, and Ricardo through… Economics Classic Index 88

World Order 《世界秩序》 Henry Kissinger Kissinger traces the history of international order from the Peace of Westphalia to the present, contrasting the Westphalian system of sovereign… World History Classic Index 88

The Ascent of Money 《货币崛起》 Niall Ferguson Ferguson strings world history on a few financial innovations — bonds, equities, insurance, mortgages, and derivatives — each tied to a shift in… Finance Classic Index 87

Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds 《大癫狂》 Charles Mackay Writing in the nineteenth century, Mackay compiled a dossier of collective illusions: tulip mania, the South Sea Bubble, alchemy, the Crusades, and… Finance Classic Index 86

The Silk Roads 《丝绸之路》 Peter Frankopan Frankopan retells world history from the lands between the Mediterranean and China, arguing that for most of recorded history the center of gravity… World History Classic Index 85

Propaganda Technique in the World War 《世界大战中的宣传技巧》 Harold D. Lasswell Wartime state propaganda and the psychological manipulation of the masses. Society & Civilization AZM's list

Helen of Troy 《特洛伊的海伦》 Bettany Hughes Beauty culture, the goddess as symbol, and the making of power. World History AZM's list

The Persian Boy 《波斯少年》 Mary Renault Alexander the Great's campaigns seen through the eyes of a Persian eunuch. Literature & Fiction AZM's list

Digenis Akritas 《狄吉尼斯·阿克里特》 anonymous A Byzantine frontier epic of the clash between Christianity and Islam. Literature & Fiction AZM's list

Democratic Ideals and Reality 《陆权论》 Halford Mackinder Geopolitics and the contest between sea power and land power. World History AZM's list

共塑：西方文化精神的演变《共塑》 zhao-lin How Christian faith and humanist reason together shaped the West. World History AZM's list

古罗马帝国的辉煌《古罗马帝国的辉煌》 zhao-lin Rome's rise and fall and the expansion of an autocratic empire. World History AZM's list

Russia Under the Old Regime 《旧制度下的俄国》 Richard Pipes The history of tsarist rule and the making of totalitarian institutions. World History AZM's list

Aftermath 《狼性时代》 Harald Jähner Rebuilding everyday psychology in Germany after the war, 1945 to 1955. World History AZM's list

文明大趋势《文明大趋势》 su-san The logic of geographic diffusion and the fate of Chinese civilization. World History AZM's list

作家城堡《作家城堡》 Uwe Neumahr The Nuremberg trials as seen by journalists from every side. World History AZM's list

Rise and Kill First 《先发制人》 Ronen Bergman The history of Mossad assassinations and the Middle East they shaped. World History AZM's list

February 1933 《文学之冬》 Uwe Wittstock Artists exiled and silenced after the Nazis came to power. World History AZM's list

Why Don't We Learn from History? 《战争的底层逻辑》 B. H. Liddell Hart A strategist's last work on the folly of rulers and history's lessons. World History AZM's list

诸王的欧洲《诸王的欧洲》 Leonhard Horowski Court politics and the collapse of the old order in 17th and 18th century Europe. World History AZM's list

自由的文化：古希腊与... 《自由的文化》 Christian Meier The conditions of freedom in the Greek polis and the origins of Europe. World History AZM's list

活着回来的男人《活着回来的男人》 Eiji Oguma An ordinary Japanese soldier's life story, and how people become raw material. World History AZM's list

Culture Matters 《文化的重要作用》 Samuel Huntington How values shape the progress of nations and civilizations. World History AZM's list

The Coming of the Third Reich 《第三帝国的到来》 Richard J. Evans The collapse of the Weimar Republic and the Nazi seizure of power. World History AZM's list

有所不为的反叛者《有所不为的反叛者》 luo-xin Essays on history that question how we know the past. World History AZM's list

Memorabilia 《回忆苏格拉底》 Xenophon Recollections of Socrates' character and conversations. Philosophy AZM's list

The Story of Mankind 《人类的故事》 Hendrik Willem van Loon A humanist telling of civilization as one shared human story. Philosophy AZM's list

The Passions and the Interests 《欲望与利益》 Albert O. Hirschman How the pursuit of gain was made respectable before capitalism won. Economics AZM's list

The Politics of Social Solidarity 《福利大博弈》 Peter Baldwin The origins of Europe's welfare states and the politics of solidarity. Economics AZM's list

Coffeeland 《咖啡帝国》 Augustine Sedgewick Global plunder and the expansion of capitalism, told through coffee. Economics AZM's list

Soulstealers 《叫魂》 Philip A. Kuhn A Qianlong-era sorcery panic reveals how autocratic power and bureaucracy work. Society & Civilization XMS's list

Iliad & Odyssey 《荷马史诗（伊利亚特奥德赛）》 Homer The wrath of Achilles and Odysseus's long voyage, the source of Western literature. Literature & Fiction XMS's list

Aeneid 《埃涅阿斯纪》 Virgil An epic of duty, as Aeneas carries a divine command to found a nation. Literature & Fiction XMS's list

天才的盛会：文艺复兴艺术300年《天才的盛会》 jiang-zhulang Three centuries of the Renaissance, traced through Florence's cathedral dome. Society & Civilization XMS's list

1177 B.C. 《文明的崩塌》 Eric H. Cline The Late Bronze Age Mediterranean did not fall to a single invasion but to a systemic collapse produced by multiple simultaneous shocks World History Daily Pick

The Man Behind the Microchip 《硅谷之父》 Leslie Berlin A technical breakthrough persists as an industry only when paired with institutions that let engineers share in the rewards Technology & Science Daily Pick

The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers 《大国的兴衰》 Paul Kennedy Where national power comes from and how it drains away: the long contest between economic base and strategic commitment across five centuries World History Daily Pick

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Civilization 文明 Power & Politics 权力与政治 Macroeconomics 宏观经济学 Philosophy 哲学 Markets 市场 Literature & Narrative 文学与叙事