The History Book Club discussion

Hi everyone.

My name's Jess, I'm 24 and I live in Cheltenham, England. I work in marketing after spending 3 years at Cardiff University getting a history degree. I suppose that gives away why I've joined the group! I specialised in Victorian British history.

I'm mainly interested in modern social history, although I also have a keen interest in revolutionary history too. I'm currently reading up on the Spanish Civil War and am always happy to have some book recommendations fired my way.

I don't just read history books; I love novels set in the late 19th/early 20th century too. Personally, I think it's a fascinating period in which the world changed dramatically in just a few short decades.

I'll leave you with a book recommendation; 'Guernica' by Dave Boling. It's one of my favourite books and I'd definitely recommend it!

Welcome, Jessica. I hope you find the group rewarding.

Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with the "add book/author" feature when you comment. (There is a link on the top right of the reply box.) It makes things so much easier for people to see your book recommendations, because they can see the cover and the links to the author. And it helps the Goodreads software connect books with groups that talk about them. When citing a book and/or author, please put the book cover, author's photo and author's link at the very bottom of the post after your text. Because it is on the bottom, it calls the reader's attention to the book/author and increases the readability of your posts.

This is how the book you've mentioned should look:

by Dave Boling

More information:
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/2...

Take a few moments to read the orientation:
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1...

And our guidelines:
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/5...

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask us moderators. I look forward to your postings.

Hi Bryan and welcome Jess - we are primarily a non fiction book so when a recommendation is made that is not non fiction we like to spell that out to our readership.

You should always note if a book is not non fiction but a novel (Guernica) or historical fiction.

Thanks and welcome from jolly England - we have many UK members and one UK admin.

Bentley

Welcome Hugues and Jess. Glad to have you aboard. Look through the different folders and threads; I am sure you will find something that interests you.

Welcome Hugues and Jess. This is a great place for history lovers.

Hi All, My name is Stefanie and I just joined Goodreads. I'm going to check this out and try to keep up with recording the books I've read and start some of your recommendations! I taught English at an International school last year and now we are back in the U.S. I have time to read as I'm looking for jobs this summer!

Welcome Shahi, Hugues, and Jess to our truly international book club. We hope you find much here to add to your knowledge of history. Questions?.....ask any of the moderators.

Welcome, Stefanie. You came to the right place.

Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with the "add book/author" feature when you are ready to cite a book. (There is a link on the top right of the reply box.) It makes things so much easier for people to see your book recommendations, because they can see the cover and the links to the author. And it helps the Goodreads software connect books with groups that talk about them. When citing a book and/or author, please put the book cover, author's photo and author's link at the very bottom of the post after your text. Because it is on the bottom, it calls the reader's attention to the book/author and increases the readability of your posts.

This is how a book should look:

by Robert A. Caro

More information:
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/2...

Take a few moments to read the orientation:
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1...

And our guidelines:
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/5...

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask us moderators. I look forward to your postings.

Welcome Huges, Jessica, Jodi, and Stephanie! Glad you found the group and hope you enjoy browsing the threads and finding great books to add to your to-read list. Lots here to explore!

Hi! My name is Yoni. I really enjoy reading and discussing history. Specificall, American History, Civil War History, and Biographies of great Americans. I recently picked up Roosevelt's Centurions from the library because I saw the group was reading it and instantly fell in love with the book. I am looking forward to getting further reading reccomendations from this impressive group, and being able to discuss and debate with other history enthusiasts.

Welcome, Yoni and Eugenia. Glad you could join us.

Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with the "add book/author" feature when you comment. (There is a link on the top right of the reply box.) It makes things so much easier for people to see your book recommendations, because they can see the cover and the links to the author. And it helps the Goodreads software connect books with groups that talk about them. When citing a book and/or author, please put the book cover, author's photo and author's link at the very bottom of the post after your text. Because it is on the bottom, it calls the reader's attention to the book/author and increases the readability of your posts.

This is how the book you've mentioned should look:

by Joseph E. Persico

More information:
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/2...

Take a few moments to read the orientation:
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1...

And our guidelines:
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/5...

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask us moderators. I look forward to your postings.

Welcome Yoni and Eugenia, we are glad ot have you both in the group. Please join in the discussions that interest you and add to the book recommendations. The more participation the better!

A warm welcome to Stefanie, Yoni, & Eugenia. So nice to have you all here. Look through the different folders, so many interesting books and topics to explore.

I am excited to join this group. I am a nurse/attorney semi-retired. I also teach children's yoga. Have always loved history especially World War Two history. I look forward to reading and learning.

Great Carol. Glad you could join us.

Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with the "add book/author" feature when you are ready to cite a book. (There is a link on the top right of the reply box.) It makes things so much easier for people to see your book recommendations, because they can see the cover and the links to the author. And it helps the Goodreads software connect books with groups that talk about them. When citing a book and/or author, please put the book cover, author's photo and author's link at the very bottom of the post after your text. Because it is on the bottom, it calls the reader's attention to the book/author and increases the readability of your posts.

This is how a book should look:

by Robert A. Caro

More information:
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/2...

Take a few moments to read the orientation:
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1...

And our guidelines:
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/5...

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask us moderators. I look forward to your postings.

Welcome, Carol. Glad to have you with us!

Hi, I'm Heidi, a lawyer from New Zealand.

I'm mostly interested in historical fiction but read some non-fiction. I tend to read English/European books. I would be interested in reading more books set in Asia.

At the moment I have been reading about WWII, in particular the holocaust (rather than the battles/army). My interest was sparked after a visit to Auschwitz.

Welcome Heidi, we are glad to have you as a member.

As you get started please take a moment to familiarize yourself with the "add book/author" feature when you comment. It makes things so much easier for people to see your book recommendations, because they can see the cover and the links to the author. And it helps the goodreads software connect books with groups that talk about them. When citing a book and/or author, please put the book cover, author's photo and author's link after all of the text of your post at the bottom of the post . Placement at the bottom of the post calls the reader's attention to the book and/or author and increases the readability of your post. This is how books you mention should look:

by Jeffrey Toobin

More information:
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/2...

Take a moment to read our guidelines:
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/5...

and the orientation to get you started:
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1...

Thanks and glad you joined us.

We are glad you could join us Carol, Heidi, Yoni, and Eugenia. There is much here for the history buff. Please browse the threads and join right in.

Welcome Carol, Heidi, and Raluca! So glad to have you join us here at the History Book Club (HBC). Browse through the different folders, I am sure you will find something that interests you.

Hello;
My name is Kat, and I am a History Masters Student at Queen's University (Canada), moving on to a M.A in History of Art at UCL in the fall. I favour the late-eighteenth century and the nineteenth century, with particular mention to the history of India, and the East India Company. I love historical monographs, but I also love primary sources, particularly literature of the (aforementioned) period(s).
I am keenly attentive to how women forged and shaped history, as well as their role in writing history. I love to read and to hear various perspectives on issues, events, discourses, and on history itself, because that is the only way to learn to understand.

One, because there are so many, of my favourite Churchill quotations is, "History will be kind to me for I intend to write it.”


Thank you & have a lovely day,
KM

Hello all *waves*

My name is Giselle :) I'm originally from Buenos Aires Argentina, but I have lived in Australia, Okinawa - Japan and now the US. I have always adored reading and studying the History and background on as many countries as possible. I would say my main interest is focused on periodic/timeline History and Word History. My husband is in the US Air Force and I have now developed an interest in Military History (from my country and his). It amazes me the amount of information we can find on all these wonderful countries (good and bad) that makes them be what they are today. With my own country there's so much History to be found from Evita, to the Dirty War etc which is what lead me to research and read up about other countries.

Thank you for adding me to the group :) I welcome all messages and input and being a Latina a pre warning, I do like to talk a lot hehe.

Gracias :)

Giselle aka Gissy

Bentley wrote: "This is a thread where you can introduce yourself to the group. This is one of our rules and guidelines.

Please introduce yourself here so we can welcome you. Tell us a little bit about yoursel..."
Hi! My name is Brian, and I live in the Boston, MA area in the United States. I'm a history teacher in a public high school, where I currently teach American History, and Econ. My special interests are intellectual and economic history. Looking forward to learning from the group.

Hello everyone, I am Heba ,from Egypt , I am a 20 years old student at the Faculty of Dentistry. I love reading biographies of effective people, history of nations and world's events. Well, I should say I am still a beginner but I know exactly what fields I am interested in and want to get through... I searched the groups and found yours an attractive dynamic one. I really appreciate your time reading this comment and thank you.

Hi my name is Rebecca. I am interested in many parts of history but some of the books I've read more recently have been about early America, and Ancient times. I live in the United States and my dad was a big history buff, so I want to carry on that tradition.

Hey everybody,

I'm Shane. Canadian. History teacher by trade. History geek in general. Obsession with the Middle East started when I returned from living there. Currently reading just about anything I can get my hands on. Question I posed to myself was why extremists are extreme. It has spiralled from there, looking into the paradox of Saudi, the policy that has led to the growth of groups, fundamentalism in general, etc. Mostly, I've been focusing on bin Laden and al Qaeda. Also looking into Saudi history, tossing in some post-Soviet Afghanistan and Pakistan (I just lump them in with the Middle East). Currently I've gone backwards to get some essential information via Michael Korda's "Hero." On deck is some reading material on Palestine, Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas, etc. I find it quite fascinating on how it all connects in one way or another. Just to toss out a couple of recommendations if you're interested:

by Steve Coll
by Robert Lacey
by Lawrence Wright
by Michael Korda


Out of everything I've been reading, I found those to be the three that were the hardest to put down. Very, very captivating.

Also have a background in 20th century, Ancient (Greece/Rome), Soviet, and general European if it seems interesting. It's been put on the back burner for a while, but I'll occasionally toss something in just for a bit of a break.

Great being here. Looking forward to seeing what everybody is reading and adding it to my never ending shelf. Feel free to give me a follow. I'll add anybody. Once in a while I'll post a full review, but I'll definitely rank /5 everything that I'm reading.

Cheers,

Shane

Greetings fellow fans of history.
I look forward to learning from all of you and to participating.
Best regards,
James (Gormley)

Hi, everyone,
My name is Jamie Feheley and I an pretty much an omnivore when it comes to reading; I love history (recent and remote), biography, as well as current events, political tomes, mysteries, psychology, philosophy, and period pieces. I'm new to Goodreads and hope you veterans will coach me as necessary.
My best regards to you all,
Jamie

Welcome Brian, Heba and Rebecca. We are so glad you joined us here at history central!

As you get started please take a moment to familiarize yourself with the "add book/author" feature when you comment. It makes things so much easier for people to see your book recommendations, because they can see the cover and the links to the author. And it helps the goodreads software connect books with groups that talk about them. When citing a book and/or author, please put the book cover, author's photo and author's link after all of the text of your post at the bottom of the post . Placement at the bottom of the post calls the reader's attention to the book and/or author and increases the readability of your post. This is how books you mention should look:

by William L. Shirer

More information:
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/2......

Take a moment to read our guidelines:
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/5......

and the orientation to get you started:
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1......

Thanks and glad you joined us. If you have any questions, ask any of the moderators......and enjoy!!

Welcome Shane.....you came to the right place for the "history geek" We are glad you found us.

As you get started please take a moment to familiarize yourself with the "add book/author" feature when you comment. It makes things so much easier for people to see your book recommendations, because they can see the cover and the links to the author. And it helps the Goodreads software connect books with groups that talk about them. When citing a book and/or author, please put the book cover, author's photo and author's link after all of the text of your post at the bottom of the post . Placement at the bottom of the post calls the reader's attention to the book and/or author and increases the readability of your post. This is how the books you mentioned should look:

by Steve Coll
by Robert Lacey
by Lawrence Wright
by Michael Korda (no photo)

More information:
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/2.........

Take a moment to read our guidelines:
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/5.........

and the orientation to get you started:
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1.........

Thanks and glad you joined us. If you have any questions, ask any of the moderators......and enjoy!!

Thank you Jill.

Hello Ciaran,

You wrote a lovely intro - I reposted minus the segment that is not allowed according to our rules and guidelines - it was a minor mention but still all the same we must be consistent.

Here is your intro:

Hi,
My name is Ciaran MacAirt and I am an Irish member from Belfast.
As well as other genres, I am an avid reader of history, if only because I believe it informs the present and we ignore its echoes at our peril!
I have a great interest in classical histories, as well as modern Irish and British (especially when they collide). Military history drags me away from all other forms of literature far too much and my specialist reading regards war's underbelly - which history can bury.
--------------
I am a newbie to Goodreads and will enjoy learning the ropes in this group when Time is not hunkered on my shoulders.
Kind regards,
Ciarán
=============================================

As you get started please take a moment to familiarize yourself with the "add book/author" feature when you comment. It makes things so much easier for people to see your book recommendations, because they can see the cover and the links to the author. And it helps the Goodreads software connect books with groups that talk about them. When citing a book and/or author, please put the book cover, author's photo and author's link after all of the text of your post at the bottom of the post . Placement at the bottom of the post calls the reader's attention to the book and/or author and increases the readability of your post. This is how a sample book should look:

by Winston Churchill

If you need help with citations and most folks do, please go to the thread called the Mechanics of the Board thread in the Help Desk folder and there you can practice your citations and we will help you.

Here is the link:

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/2...

Take a few moments to read the orientation:

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1...

And our guidelines:

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/5...

Hope all of the above helps,

Bentley

Hello James, Jamie, Shane, Heba, Jaimie, Rebecca - welcome.

@James - glad you are a fan of history

@Heba - glad you found the intro thread - welcome from all of us fellow history readers.

@Shane - Welcome from Canada and you seem to have a huge interest in the Middle East - we are doing a challenge on the Middle East right now.

@Jamie - you should love our Current Events and Politics folder and we do have a current spotlighted read which is focused on philosophy which you might enjoy.

@Rebecca - welcome and we have a wonderful Ancient History folder where you should find many books of interest.

If you need help with citations and most folks do, please go to the thread called the Mechanics of the Board thread in the Help Desk folder and there you can practice your citations and we will help you.

Here is the link:

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/2...

Take a few moments to read the orientation:

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1...

And our guidelines:

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/5...

As you get started please take a moment to familiarize yourself with the "add book/author" feature when you comment. It makes things so much easier for people to see your book recommendations, because they can see the cover and the links to the author. And it helps the Goodreads software connect books with groups that talk about them. When citing a book and/or author, please put the book cover, author's photo and author's link after all of the text of your post at the bottom of the post . Placement at the bottom of the post calls the reader's attention to the book and/or author and increases the readability of your post. This is how a sample book should look:

by Winston Churchill

Regards and welcome,

Bentley

Hi everyone!
I am Minthang Hawkip, from India. I am currently preparing for civil services. I've recently started reading history books and I am still exploring the literature. Besides history, I love to read books on Philosophy, Political Economy, Sociology and English Literature. I would appreciate if any one of the group members be generous enough to suggest me some very good books on world history in general and modern world history in particular. I look forward to learning, understanding and appreciating the past with this homely group. Thank you all!

Minthang

Many thanks, Bentley.

So glad you joined us Minthang. You may wish to visit the link noted below where you can ask for book recommendation from members.
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1...

As you get started please take a moment to familiarize yourself with the "add book/author" feature when you comment. It makes things so much easier for people to see your book recommendations, because they can see the cover and the links to the author. And it helps the Goodreads software connect books with groups that talk about them. When citing a book and/or author, please put the book cover, author's photo and author's link after all of the text of your post at the bottom of the post . Placement at the bottom of the post calls the reader's attention to the book and/or author and increases the readability of your post. This is how books you mention should look:

by William L. Shirer


More information:
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/2.........

Take a moment to read our guidelines:
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/5.........

and the orientation to get you started:
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1.........

Thanks and glad you joined us. If you have any questions, ask any of the moderators.

Thank you Jill!

You are more than welcome. I think you will find some very good book recommendations here and good discussions as well. Please join right in.

Welcome Raluca, Kat, Giselle, James, Jamie, Shane, Heba, Jaimie, Rebecca, Ciaran, Minthang, all our latest members. Great to have you all with us! Gosh there is so much to explore here it's hard to know where to start. THe best way is to browse the threads from the home page and jump into whatever piques your interest.

André wrote: "Hi Jacek, Connie, welcome to the group.

Apart from all the fascinating discussions on history we also have quite a few fine threads on music - all kinds from all places.
Come and take a look/liste..."

Greetings, happy to find you guys I'm mostly into US history and any memoir, sports, music, non-fiction and biography that had an historical bent ... Thanks

Welcome Pmacke, we are glad to have you as a member. There is bound to be a lot here that appeals to your interests, and our music threads have music and books.

As you get started please take a moment to familiarize yourself with the "add book/author" feature when you comment. It makes things so much easier for people to see your book recommendations, because they can see the cover and the links to the author. And it helps the goodreads software connect books with groups that talk about them. When citing a book and/or author, please put the book cover, author's photo and author's link after all of the text of your post at the bottom of the post . Placement at the bottom of the post calls the reader's attention to the book and/or author and increases the readability of your post. This is how books you mention should look:

by Jeffrey Toobin

More information:
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/2...

Take a moment to read our guidelines:
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/5...

and the orientation to get you started:
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1...

Thanks and glad you joined us.

Thanks so much Alisa!

Glad you joined us,Pmacke. You have varied tastes in history and that fits right into this group of history buffs. If you have any questions, ask any of the moderators.

Hi everyone,
I'm Carol from Florida, and I'm a 17 year old high school student (applying to colleges over the summer... pretty daunted by the whole process). I'm a huge geek about ... well, basically everything. I'm looking at science as a profession but on the side I write, listen to classical music and read all about history. In particular I'm fascinated by the history of ancient civilizations, the Napoleonic era, and the world wars. I'm looking forward to participating with you all!

Hello, my name is Eefje, I'm 22 years old and I live in Belgium. I absolutely adore history and have a particular interest in Medieval European history. I'm mostly interested in British history, especially the Tudors, but I don't mind to browse up some other interesting historical facts. I'm looking forward to be a part of this group and to discover some new books.

Welcome Eefje, we are glad to have you as a member. You might enjoy the British history threads, and hope that you enjoy the discussions and book recommendations.

As you get started please take a moment to familiarize yourself with the "add book/author" feature when you comment. It makes things so much easier for people to see your book recommendations, because they can see the cover and the links to the author. And it helps the goodreads software connect books with groups that talk about them. When citing a book and/or author, please put the book cover, author's photo and author's link after all of the text of your post at the bottom of the post . Placement at the bottom of the post calls the reader's attention to the book and/or author and increases the readability of your post. This is how books you mention should look:

by Jeffrey Toobin

More information:
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/2...

Take a moment to read our guidelines:
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/5...

and the orientation to get you started:
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1...

Thanks and glad you joined us.

Welcome Brian, Raluca, Kat, Giselle, James, Jamie, Shane, Heba, Rebecca, Ciaran, Minthang, Pmacke, Carol and Eefje to the History Club. It's great to have so many new members.

Welcome Carol to the place for history geeks!: and Eefje, we have several British history topics.
I hope you both look around the threads and join in the book discussions/recommendations.

Hello!

Well, I'm Lisette and I'm from the US, very glad to be part of this group! I'm a bit embarrassed, I guess because for the longest time I've actually disliked history with a passion! Dx In elementary school, this was my worst subject and somehow I managed to pass those classes (though barely). I can even recall one time when I actually fell asleep in class. When I was going to start college I thought I had rid myself of history but no, not yet. After prolonging the inevitable, I took my first history class and at this point, I found that history wasn't so bad. The teacher showed me something that I had always been missing with their enthusiasm and I began to just take history classes whenever I could.

Now, I've even decided to major in History. I'm rather interested in European history, specifically about Britain/England/UK and Spain. I've read a few books recently with some historical background but they're fiction books, so that's not much.

And yeah...that's me

Welcome, Lisette . Glad you could join us.

Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with the "add book/author" feature when you comment. (There is a link on the top right of the comment box.) It makes things so much easier for people to see your book recommendations, because they can see the cover and the links to the author. And it helps the Goodreads software connect books with groups that talk about them. When citing a book and/or author, please put the book cover, author's photo and author's link at the very bottom of the post after your text. Because it is on the bottom, it calls the reader's attention to the book/author and increases the readability of your posts.

This is how books that you mention should look:

by Karl Shaw


More information:
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/2...

Take a few moments to read the orientation:
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1...

And our guidelines:
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/5...

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask us moderators. I look forward to your postings