History books

Hello to you all.

Well it is very hard to say since I read more history books than I can remember. Since my historical readings are bilingual (English and Arabic) I will choose the best from each language.

For Arabic language books the choice is very hard. Ibn Al-Athir�s �The complete universal History� is near to my heart since it was the first real history book that I read and I have the entire 13 volumes at hand, I started it when I was 10 years old. But the book that I really think is the best is Ibn Kahldun�s history which is very similar to Toynbee�s study since Ibn Khaldun takes on states and nations and analyses their rise, maturity and fall and also he integrates his theories into the study in order to prove them. Finally, Jawad Ali� monumental work �The detailed history of the Arabs before Islam� is one of the best modern studies although I do have some very serious reservations on the book it still very valuable.  

As For the English language books I think that no historical work ever can rival Toynbee�s masterpiece �A Study of History� which I read only part of it and I really wish to buy it when I have enough money (I am a University student and my father will lynch me if I asked him for money to buy books that have nothing to do with school). Thucydides �History of the Peloponnesian War�, the Loeb classics edition, is a close second though I only read the first volume and it captured my attention.   

Thank You

Al-Jassas ibn Murrah

I find primary sources for the Arabic period really hard to come by. That's one reason why I abandoned my article on the Abbasids.

Yes, that is a good one, although it�s a little heavy to get around initially. I like to supplement it by reading something about the Anglo-Saxons to help me make sense of it

�Also, several people have mentioned plays here, which is good because plays help discuss the cultural context in which historical events occurred. They are particularly useful in ancient history, because the mental faculties of the ancients were very different to ours and we need to know how they would have interpreted events.

I really would like to read some more Loeb to help with my understanding of Latin � I love the dual � print method that they two, but they are quite expensive.