If you liked Overly Sarcastic Productions’ video on Alcibiades (“Still handsome!”), Victor Davis Hanson’s military history book Ripples of Battle has about one-third of the story devoted to the Battle of Delium (424 B.C.) and its fallout, with a significant section all about Alcibiades, his courage in that battle, and the disastrous fallout for Athens for decades later as he rode that reputation into politics and then multiple double-triple-crosses of everything and everyone. Yikes.
The same battle also affected world history in a myriad of ways, from the philosophy of Socrates (who fought in that battle and survived) to the development of military tactics beyond “line up a bunch of guys with spears and try to kill each other”. Interesting stuff.
From a purely aesthetic point of view, the book also has the first photograph I’ve ever seen of William Tecumseh Sherman. The guy looks like he could have starred in a major Hollywood action movie. A very Bruce Willis, Clint Eastwood sort of vibe. Add that to the discussion of the Battle of Shiloh, which led to Sherman’s March through Georgia, and why he did it (something that tends to be glossed over in high school history classes, plus another third of the book devoted to the Battle of Okinawa and its fallout, and there is a lot of interesting stuff in this book.
So. Worldbuilding.
As writers we try to spin a web of “little events set the protagonist on a journey whose Dramatic Outcome is surprising – but It Had To Be That Way, given the situation and people involved”. Hanson’s book takes three historical battles and shows how their effects rippled out decades, even centuries later. Any of which could be woven into thousands of stories – and has been, over the course of history. It’s the kind of deep background you want your fantastic world to have, so readers get a sense of not just what’s being fought over, but why, and how did things end up this way in the first place?
Warning, the stuff on Okinawa is realistic – meaning in places gruesome, and almost unbearably sad. But if you want to build in a clash of horribly different cultures and morals to your world, it’s worth a read.
(Review: 5 out of 5 stars, because thoughtful and awesome with lots of sprinkles of “I didn’t know that!”)
Crossover Queen's Creative Chaos 
That does sound like an interesting book to read. And I also see you’re watching a very fun youtube channel. I may not agree with everything Red or Blue conclude, but they do a very good job of describing stuff reasonably and logically (and their voices are soothing. so few youtubers actually know how to modulate their voices as anything other than “harsh and loud” if they try anything other than “natural”).
LikeLiked by 1 person
Red has a really good video on doing research, too!
LikeLike
As I said, even when I don’t agree with them, I’m still impressed by their research and reasoning. I can see the arguments they use, and recognize those arguments as good, even if I think there’s additional factors or definitional technicalities being left out. And most of the time, those disagreements come down to shades of detail, not overall.
Also, since I just happened to go to the library today, and the branch I went to just happened to be the only branch of my city’s library system that had a copy (and it was on the shelf at the time), I’ve now got Ripples of Battle and will be reading it.
LikeLiked by 2 people
🙂 Let me know what you think.
LikeLike
I love Overly Sarcastic Productions. It makes me very happy to learn that you like them too.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Red’s Halloween special on H. P. Lovecraft is fun.
LikeLiked by 3 people
The Lovecraftian Mythos is one of the best examples I can think of where instead of the literary world reacting to it by writing off the entire premise because it has a lot of bad stuff in it, the literary world decided to get rid of the bad stuff and keep the interesting parts that are Cosmic Horror and hadn’t really been done before in literature. To the point it became it’s own mini-genre. Say you’re reading a modern Lovecraftian story and everyone knows you’re reading a cosmic horror story, not a story that is about racism/classicism.
Which is probably one of the greatest literary ironies ever.
LikeLiked by 2 people
And Robert E. Howard played in it. Much fun!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh, man, I have a rant about cosmic horror and Lovecraft that’s probably super boring to anyone that isn’t a horror nerd(I like both original and new flavors, but some of the talk around it drives me nuts.)
Still, an interesting recommendation.
LikeLiked by 1 person