History References: Tips for Finding Reputable Sources

In summary: 1994). I found this book while looking for information on the fall of the Roman empire. It's a book about the end of the Roman empire and the beginning of the middle ages. The book seems to be well-written and provides a good overview of the fall of the Roman empire and the beginning of the middle ages. However, I'm not sure how reliable or reputable it is.
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https://www.physicsforums.com/search.php? [Broken]

There's also this place

And, of course, wiki is your friend.
 
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  • #5
For literature, I love this. Medieval Sourcebook

From there you can also link to the Ancient source book. This site has a wealth of knowledge, enjoy!

I have many bookmarks that were on my old computer, I saved some bookmarks to cd, I will try to locate them.
 
  • #6
In addition to websites, there are good books if one can find them.

For a relative comprehensive history of Central Europe and a good supplement to other references,

by Paul Robert Magocsi.

The book covers history of the region between 10°E and 30°E, as compared to 10°W (Ireland and Portugal) to 60°E (Ural Mountains).

Central Europe is generally thought to comprise Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosna-Herzegovina, Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro), Macedonia, Albania, Bulgaria and Greece.

Magocsi expanded the discussion to include eastern Germany (Mecklenburg, Brandenburg, Prussian, Saxony and Lusatia), Bavaria, Austria, and northeastern Italy (historic Venetia) in the west, and Lithuania, Belorus, Ukraine, Moldova, and western Anatolia (Turkey) in the east.

Central Europe bore the brunt of invasion and migrations from Central Asia and the Russian Steps. Many ethnic groups originated far to the East. In addition, there were periods of warfare among groups and nationalities, and invasions from the north and south.

Many detailed maps are included.
 
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  • #7
A History of Hobbits?

Although still mostly in the realm of speculation, it is looking more and more as if there is an entire history yet to be written.

Hobbits
Hobbit" Discovered: Tiny Human Ancestor Found in Asia
Scientists have found fossil skeletons of a hobbit-like species of human that grew no larger than a three-year-old modern child (See pictures). The tiny humans, who had skulls about the size of grapefruits, lived with pygmy elephants and Komodo dragons on a remote island in Indonesia as recently as 13,000 years ago. [continued]
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/10/1027_041027_homo_floresiensis.html
PF Thread https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=50063&highlight=Hobbit
For a little wild speculation, see also PF thread: https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=50855

It appears that modern humans and hobbits co-existed for many tens of thousands of years; maybe even up until very recently. In the most extreme, National Geographic now openly questions whether or not hobbits could still exist.
 
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  • #11
A wonderful resource for Medieval studies http://labyrinth.georgetown.edu/

http://www.netserf.org/

Texts concerning Becket's murder. http://www.loyno.edu/~letchie/becket/texts.htm [Broken]
 
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  • #12
History Channel (UK)

http://www.thehistorychannel.co.uk/site/home/ [Broken]

Ancient History - http://www.thehistorychannel.co.uk/site/ancient_history/ [Broken]

British History - http://www.thehistorychannel.co.uk/site/british_history/ [Broken]

World History - http://www.thehistorychannel.co.uk/site/world_history/ [Broken]

Technology - http://www.thehistorychannel.co.uk/site/technology/ [Broken]
 
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  • #13
Seems interesting, but I don't know how reliable or reputable it is.
http://infohistory.com/creative.shtml

Interesting summary list of ancient civilizations, but it's not complete. The list focuses primarily on the Mediterranean, Central Asian, and Middle Eastern Civilizations. Missing is China and East Asia, the Americas and Australia/Pacific


http://infohistory.com/rome.shtml
 
  • #14
I stumbled across this source while looking for Ferdinand Lot and his book "The End of the Ancient World and the Beginning of the Middle Ages".

Essays in Medieval Studies - http://www.illinoismedieval.org/ems/

Illinois Medieval Association - http://www.illinoismedieval.org/default.htm

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0415156009/?tag=pfamazon01-20 is a latter book written by Ferdinand Lot and C.K.Ogden - although I think Ogden simply rewrote or revised or republished Lot's original book.

In his earlier book, Ferdinand Lot wrote "The year 476 [CE] really marks the end of the Roman Empire in the west, . . . it fell without a sound . . . ." - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000ICRDWS/?tag=pfamazon01-20


For later Middle Ages, one may wish to consider:
Pirenne's thesis - which is stated most fully in Henri Pirenne, Mohammed and Charlemagne (Meridian Booka: New York, 1957).

Bryce Lyon, The Origins of the Middle Ages: Pirenne's Challenge to Gibbon (New York, 1972) gives an account of the debate.

For a recent analysis from an archeological point of view, see Richard Hodges & David Whitehouse, Mohammed, Charlemagne & the Origins of Europe (Ithaca, New York, 1983).
 
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  • #16
I don't know how reputable this site is, but it is devoted to Procopius of Caesarea

Procopius was born in Caesarea in Palestine late in the fifth century and died not earlier than AD 562. He is known as one of the greatest later Greek historians. He became a lawyer, and in AD 527 he was made legal adviser and secretary of Belisarius, commander against the Persians , and went with Belisarius again in AD 533 against the Vandals, and in AD 535 against the Ostrogoths. After AD 541, or AD 540, Procopius returned to Constantinople. He might have attended Belisarius again when Belisarius and then Narses campaigned against Tutila in Italy.

His History Of The Wars in 8 books recounts the Persian Wars of emperors Justinus and Justinian down to AD 550 (2 books); the Vandalic War and after events in Africa AD532-546 (2 books); the Gothic War against the Ostrogoths in Sicily and Italy AD 536-552 (3 books); and a sketch of events to AD 554 (1book). The whole consists mostly of military history, with a lot of information about people and places also, and about special events.

Procopius was a diligent, careful, judicious narrator of the facts and developments and shows good powers of description. He is just to the Empire's enemies and boldly criticizes Justinian. Procopius's education included all the greatest of the Greek historians and geographers, as well as the poets and the orators. An interesting aspect of Procopius is his personal as well as his official familiarity with the people, the places, and the events of which he writes. His account of "Justinian's Buildings" (peri ktismaton) was completed in A.D. 558 or 559. He is thought to have written it either by Imperial command or to deflect suspicions of disaffection.

The third of his books, the "Anecdota", which Suidas characterizes as "a satirical attack on Justinian", but which is most commonly known by the title of "Arcana histora" (The Secret History). It is a supplement to the other history, tracing events to AD 558-9. In this book Procopius reveals his hatred of Justinian, Theodora, and even Belisarius and his wife. It is a bitter attack against all the powers of the Byzantine Church and State.
This information seems consistent with other authoratitive sources.

One major work is the "History of The Wars" which is summarized in the sections on this page - http://procopius.net/historyofthewars.html

The works of Procopius are available from Harvard University Press
http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog/L290.html
 
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Links to history sites through the History Department, Vassar College.

http://history.vassar.edu/hislinks.html#ancient [Broken]


Here's one at UPenn.

http://www.museum.upenn.edu/Greek_World/index.html

http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/jod/wola.html [Broken]
 
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  • #19
Thanks Astronuc, I found this gem!

Natural Magick

(Magiae naturalis)

A NEAPOLITANE:
IN TWENTY BOOKS
(1584 A.D.)

Wherein are set forth
All the Riches and Delights
Of the
NATURAL SCIENCES

http://homepages.tscnet.com/omard1/jportat4.html [Broken]
 
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  • #20
Evo said:
Thanks Astronuc, I found this gem!

Natural Magick

(Magiae naturalis)

A NEAPOLITANE:
IN TWENTY BOOKS
(1584 A.D.)

Wherein are set forth
All the Riches and Delights
Of the
NATURAL SCIENCES

http://homepages.tscnet.com/omard1/jportat4.html [Broken]

Evo, can you turn me into a white rabbit? :biggrin:
 
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  • #21
radou said:
Evo, can you turn me into a white rabbit? :biggrin:
There seem to be enough recipes in here that I think I could manage. Of course it will require coating you with lead, mercury, silver and some other rather unsavory items.
 
  • #22
Evo said:
There seem to be enough recipes in here that I think I could manage. Of course it will require coating you with lead, mercury, silver and some other rather unsavory items.

Oh...and I thought it would be in an elegant manner, like with a magic wand or so. Nevermind then, I'll stay the way I am, at least for now. :tongue:
 
  • #23
radou said:
Oh...and I thought it would be in an elegant manner, like with a magic wand or so. Nevermind then, I'll stay the way I am, at least for now. :tongue:
:frown: Spoil sport.

I'll bet Wolram would let me experiment on him. Afterall, it's in the name of Medieval Science. :smile:
 
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Or Medievo Science as the case may be. :rofl:
 
  • #26
Some biographies (and biographical memoirs) of mathematicians and scientists from National Academies Press.

http://books.nap.edu/html/biomems/

There are apparently more, but which are not listed on that page.

Norman Earl Steenrod - http://books.nap.edu/html/biomems/nsteenrod.pdf
 
  • #27
http://www.fsmitha.com/index.html" [Broken]
 
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An interesting history of a company with which I've been involved over the past 2 decades or so. (I haven't seen the video - so no endorsement expressed or implied).
http://www.inecom.com/products/consumer/westinghousefilm/

Westinghouse is a feature-length documentary about the life and times of George Westinghouse, his companies, legacy, personality, partnership with Nikola Tesla and conflict with Thomas Edison.

George Westinghouse is considered America’s greatest industrialist and the only man who would go up against Thomas Edison, and win.
. . . .
If anyone has seen it, I'd appreciate comments/thoughts.
 
  • #34
History Magazine The official website of BBC History Magazine
http://www.historyextra.com/

I was reading an issue this morning. I found the articles informative and insightful. It seems to be an excellent resource on British history and European history, and possibly World history.
 
  • #35
Internet Classics Archive - Livy, Plutarch, etc (thanks MIT!)

UNESCO Institute for Statistics - Lots of Statistics and Data

Linguistic Maps - Very Useful

SEDAC - Useful maps you can put to good use (NASA resource) - Semi Related

NationMaster - Compare any two countries on several topics - Semi Related

History of Nations - See a detailed history of any nation

The History Page - History Resources by Period

http://www3.canisius.edu/~emeryg/time.html - Condensed timeline of many historical or recent events

Archive of Primary Sources - Exactly what it sounds like, I don't get much use out of it, but it comes highly recommended

Old Time Radio - Radio shows from the 20th century, Winston Churchill is supposed to be in there somewhere, etc

Wikipedia - Heads of State by Year - Some people don't like Wiki but it goes back millennia

The Internet Archive - Lots of good stuff, a tad disorganized

Map Room - Good source of Historic Maps

The United Nations - Not everybody would assume this is a good resources but it has plenty of useful materials

Library of Resources on Medieval Spain - Exactly what it sounds like

Internet History Sourcebooks Project - More historical texts

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/refsites/ - Looks good, haven't looked too closely

UK Treaties Online - List of treaties the UK has been involved with and plenty of material on them

Historical Statistics - Population and other stats over time, including in ancient times
 
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Likes Astronuc

1. How do I know if a source is reputable?

One way to determine if a source is reputable is to check the author's credentials and expertise in the specific area of history. Another way is to look at the publisher or organization behind the source and their reputation in the historical community.

2. What are some reliable sources for historical information?

Some reliable sources for historical information include academic journals, books published by reputable publishers, government websites, and museums or historical archives.

3. Why is it important to use reputable sources in historical research?

Using reputable sources ensures that the information you are using is accurate and reliable. It also adds credibility to your research and strengthens your arguments and conclusions.

4. How can I evaluate the credibility of a website as a historical source?

You can evaluate the credibility of a website by looking at the domain name, the author or organization behind the website, the sources cited, and any bias or agenda that may be present. It is also important to cross-check information with other reputable sources.

5. What are some red flags to watch out for when evaluating historical sources?

Some red flags to watch out for when evaluating historical sources include lack of citations or sources, bias or propaganda, lack of expertise or credentials from the author, and outdated information. It is also important to be cautious of sources that are not well-known or from unreliable publishers or organizations.

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