/lit/ - Literature

>>16615272
By reading the chief thinkers throughout history.

If you want to understand modern history there's 0 reason to read any of the greeks or romans. Anyways you're thinking about history wrong. Pick a people, place, and time and then focus on that in a book. Thinking about history as all encompassing and a common, set path all peoples follow is how you end up with pseud garbage and marxist/hegelian dogma holding theory more important than reality and when reality doesn't fit the theory its conveniently ignored. So give a topic that you want to learn about. Stone age hunter gatherers? Cortes' conquest of the Aztecs? American Revolution? Medici Italy? Meiji Japan? The 3 kingdom's period of China? There's a lot of periods you can learn about. You just need to know what you want to learn.

>>16615272
If your goal is understanding the modern world, early modern europe is a good starting point. Start with some overviews, would recommend Pursuit of Glory by Tim Blanning and Hobsbawm's Histories of the 19th Century.
You will find periods/events that interest you more than others, eg. the French Revolution. Read books on these and primary sources to gain more depth.

>>16615304
WRONG
History is a process. It grows from itself.
Unless you start from the beginning and work your way METICULOUSLY back to the present day you're not going to understand WHY things are happening.
Sure you can remember dates Peace of Augsbern and treaty of Paris but unless you understand WHY these things are happening you're never going to make it.
Don't feel like you need to read the whole thing at an academic level though. I would start with reading the Wikipedia page on History of mankind, then reading more specifically about the Cradle of Civilization, Egypt, Persia, India, Greece, Jews, Romans, China, Dark Ages, Middle Ages, Pre-contact indiginees, Age of Sail and colonialism, industrial revolution, and the modern age.
After you read through it all on a surface level go back and read The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire then come back here and ask us to recommend you books on your next favorite topic (ask /pol/ about ww2 nazi bullshit though)
>But anon that's not a book
Read Shakespeare's Henriad all 6 plays

>>16615277
He wants Cliff notes, anon.
Reading up to 3 millennia of primary sources is not a good way to get an overview of history.

>>16615329
t. hegelian retard I just talked about
There is no goal with history. Only transcribing things as they happened by people who were there or spoke to those who were there. OP, Stay away from retards like this, they don't have any interest in telling the truth. They merely wish to advance their crackpot beliefs.

>>16615330
google
high school world history textbook

>>16615339
>history is just random actions bro
>you don't need context just jump right in bro
brainlet

>>16615344
You stupid fucking neanderthal. If I want to study the history of the atomic bomb, why the fuck would I read about Ancient Egypt?

>>16615304 is right, OP.

>>16615358
>post count stays the same
based ngl

>>16615394
Your next line will be "I was only pretending to be retarded"

>>16615402
baby's first day in the computer lab

>>16615402
>>16615405
(You) is capitalized

>>16615402
Don't mind me, just schizo posting as usual

>>16615405
>>16615409
>>16615416
Holy schizoid, imagine getting this assblasted instead of just admitting you're wrong.

>>16615426
anon...

>>16615272
Pick a subject that interests you and read the wiki page. That should lead you to other, related topics and you can dig deeper from there.

>>16615272
History doesn’t work that way.