Reddit reviews The Thirty Years War (New York Review Books Classics)

Magdeburg was the site of a particularly horrific, Berserk-style massacre.

If you're interested in knowing more about this period, The Thirty Years War by C.V. Wedgwood is a fantastic read. It's based on primary source documents, and it's both lyrical and illuminating. Here's a taste:

>Famine in Brunswick caused the Duke to notice that his table was less plentifully supplied than usual, and three bad wine harvests on the Lower Danube once prevented Ferdinand from sending his annual gift of tokay to John George of Saxony--such minute draughts blew in through palace windows from the hurricane without. Mortgaged lands, empty exchequers, noisy creditors, the discomforts of wounds and imprisonment, the loss of children in battle, these are all griefs which man can bear with comparative equanimity. The bitter mental sufferings which followed from mistaken policies, loss of prestige, the stings of conscience, and the blame of public opinion gave German rulers cause to regret the war but seldom acted as an incentive to peace. No German ruler perished homeless in the winter's cold, nor was found dead with grass in his mouth, nor saw his wife and daughters ravished; few, significantly few, caught the pest. Secure in the formalities of their lives, in the food and drink at their tables, they could afford to think in terms of politics and not of human sufferings.

What are you interested in? Do you have a time period or topic that interests you? You seem pretty keen on Christian history, so there are a few books that discuss that I could recommend you.

Or, I could recommend you books that talk more about the craft of history, the practice of the discipline. These books would (hopefully) show that history really isnt one big fixed thing, but a series of smaller, but interconnected, debates about what really happened.

Or, would are you interested in the classics, which have historical significance?

The trick with all this is to figure out what you really like. There are 10,000 history books out there that will put you to sleep, I promise you. Weve gotta figure out which ones wont. So, what interests you?

A few titles on specific topics that seem uncovered:

• The Thirty Years War by C.W. Wedgwood -- Written in the '30s, this is still probably the best single volume on the topic (in English anyway). Fantastic place to start for anyone looking to get into a hugely significant though often overlooked conflict in European History. It was recently republished in paperback so shouldn't be too hard to come by.
  
  
• The Crusades: A History by Christopher Riley-Smith -- There are endless books on the various Crusades from an endless array of perspectives and focuses. To me, Riley-Smith is the best single volume on the whole subject. Again a great starting point for those new to the area.
  
  
• The Atlantic World: Europeans, Africans, Indians and Their Shared History, 1400-1900 by Thomas Benjamin -- This is a rather hefty work but serves as a wonderful encapsulation of the subject of Atlantic History. As is often the case in this field, particular attention is paid to the complex interconnections of economic and social exchange at various edges of the Atlantic World. For something a little more focused, The British Atlantic World, 1500-1800 by David Armitage is also great.
  
  
• Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest by Matthew Restall is an awesome take on the subject. Restall basically debunks most modern misconceptions about the conquest of South America drawing on an array of creative source material. For primary reading on the conquest of Mexico specifically, by far the most important is The Conquest of New Spain by Bernal Diaz del Castillo-- basically reads as an adventure novel.

I love WFRP; I absolutely adore the setting and the system for it's flaws captures the feel of that setting pretty well.

Part of what I love about the setting; It's very historically inspired and is the first game that I encountered that really broke from the Tolkein/Anglo-French themes that are stereotypical of fantasy roleplaying games. The political system is very different and the world is very much built around that; a (usually) weak and ineffectual leader elected by squabbling antagonistic city states that are held back from open war by external existential threats really adds to the atmosphere of decay, desperation and impending doom.

Read up on the 30 Years War some. Books like the
Malleus Maleficarum, a historic witch hunters bible and
CV Wedgwood-Hale's History of the 30 years War

A lot of the WFRP vibe is summed up in the engraving series The Grand Miseries of War

There aren't a lot of good movies out there but 1971's The Last Valley could give a few session ideas and help with the overall mood.
the Hammer Horror film Witchfinder General isn't quite 30 Years War but Puritan witch trials are definitely a good place to mine for ideas
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witchfinder_General_(film)

Warlord Games make 30 years war minis that would be perfect, if you use those in your games at all.

This is supposed to be good - The Thirty Years War - CV Wedgwood

http://www.amazon.com/Thirty-Years-Review-Books-Classics/dp/1590171462/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1291898005&sr=8-1

The newest book to be released on it (which I have but have yet to read) is:

http://www.amazon.com/Thirty-Years-War-Europes-Tragedy/dp/0674036344/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1291898005&sr=8-2

There are a lot of examples of kings and monarchs who led their armies, but just having finished reading CV Wedgwood's The Thirty Years War I can't help but think of Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden. In the context of the Thirty Years War he's definitely a singular character among a wide cast of interesting characters.