Cernenko, E. V. The Scythians, 700-300 BC.

London: Osprey Publishing Co, 1983.

The Scythians were early Iron Age nomads whose range was the Pontic steppes, just north of the Black Sea. Since that’s part of Russia, it was Soviet archaeologists who first excavated the royal tombs and warriors’ barrows where most of the Scythian artifacts in existence were discovered. Because, besides horses and alcohol, they loved decorative gold work, and they were very accomplished artists.

Fryer, Jonathan.The Great Wall of China.

South Brunswick, NJ: A. S. Barnes, 1975.

I have a longstanding interest in military history, but since it focuses on Europe, or at least the Western world, I’ve never paid much attention to China. In rereading Keegan’s A History of Warfare, however, I came across his discussion of the military reasons behind the piecemeal construction, over a period of a thousand years or so, of the Great Wall, the most massive construction in the history of Man — roughly 4,000 miles, total.

Nicolle, David. Medieval Warfare Source Book. Vol. 1: Warfare in Western Christendom.

London: Arms and Armour Press, 1995.

I’ve worked my way through several volumes in this publisher’s “Source Book” series — disappeared into them for days at a time, actually — and this one is well up to the superior quality I’ve found in the others. Each book takes an “everything you want to know” approach and is largely successful for any reader without a Ph.D. in the subject under discussion.

Healy, Mark. New Kingdom Egypt.

(Elite series, 40) London: Osprey Publishing Co, 1992.

Over the past couple of decades, I’ve worked my way slowly through perhaps one-third of Osprey’s long, long list of small, nicely illustrated volumes of military history. Even though I’m widely read in this field, I always learn something new, and (I admit it) I enjoy studying the full-color plates of uniforms and weapons. The quality of the writing, however, does vary somewhat, and this is one of the less successful efforts.

Crombie, Deborah. Where Memories Lie.

NY: Bantam, 2008.

The entry before this one I thought was rather weak and overwritten, but the author has bounced right back in what I think is one of the best in the series about Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James, two London homicide cops who work very well together professionally but who also have a so-far-successful blended family together.

Adkins, Leslie. Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome.

NY: Facts on File, 1994.

Reference librarians are very familiar with this publisher, which has put out a long, long string of useful ready-reference volumes on an impressive array of topics. Because of my long-term interest in classical history, this one has a prominent spot on my own shelf, and it’s been heavily thumbed over the past fifteen years.

Howarth, David. 1066: The Year of the Conquest.

NY: Viking, 1977.

Like Waterloo and Gettysburg, the Battle of Hastings has been the subject of hundreds of volumes of history over the centuries. The date “1066” is one of the first things a young British student learns (or used to), like “1492” or “1776” in the U.S.

Gerster, Georg. The Past from Above; Aerial Photographs of Archaeological Sites.

Los Angeles: The J. Paul Getty Museum, 2005. [orig. publ. in Munich, 2003]

Aerial photographs began being taken in the mid-19th century, from tethered hot-air balloons, but it was a very iffy business. Among other things, the balloon gondola had to include a darkroom because the glass plates of the time couldn’t wait the photographer to return to earth. The invention of the airplane in the early 20th century made things much simpler in a technical sense, but also more complicated when it came to politics and borders.

Ireland, Bernard. Naval Warfare in the Age of Sail.

NY: Norton, 2000.

The sudden popularity in the 1990s of Patrick O’Brian’s sea stories set in the Napoleonic wars quickly spawned a whole cottage industry of nonfiction books to provide context and technical explanation for readers who were a little shaky on the difference between a marlinspike and a dolphin-striker. And if the book was heavily illustrated, all the better. Ireland has been writing in this field for a long time, including a lengthy relationship with Jane’s (the publisher), and this is one of the better entries in the post-O’Brian competition that I’ve seen.

Haythornthwaite, Philip J. Gallipoli 1915.

(Modern Campaigns series, 5). London: Osprey Publishing Co, 1991.

What used to be called the Great War (before we knew enough to start numbering them) hasn’t gotten a lot of play since perhaps the mid-1930s. Not nearly as much as the American Civil War, the Napoleonic Wars, or World War II. And when the subject does arise, it’s usually with regard to the Somme, or Ypres, or Verdun, all on the Western Front. But the year the Allies spent gnawing away at the Turks on the Gallipoli Peninsula had the potential to change the entire war. The concept for the campaign was, in fact, well thought out. It was the execution that was disastrous.