The History Book Club discussion

Hello everyone
My name is Jagoulis Tryfon, I live in Greece and I am an archaeologist, with MA in Prehistory. I am very much interested in reading books on prehistoric archaeology, Ancient, Europan and Balkan history, cultural theory, philosophy.
It is a pleasure joining this group!!!

Tryfon

Hello all,

My name is Michael and I am a lover of all things past. I currently am doing a PhD in Ottoman History (the empire, not the footstool) and am specifically interested in inter-religious relations.

I blog about things from time to time on history if anyone is interested: http://michaelrank.net

It is a pleasure to be in this group. Have a great weekend!

Glad to join the group. Currently focusing on South Asia & Chinese history. Just finishing India by Patrick French.

I am a professor of mathematics; my particular interests in history are European history back to the ancient Greeks, East and Southeast Asian history, World War II and the American Civil War. But I do not limit my readings in history to these
topics. As a relatively new member in Goodreads, I am still finding my way about and hoping to find a group I will find to be engaging.

My name is Dena. I am a mom, an artist, and a lover of books and history. I especially love art history and European history. I would really love to learn more about Napoleon Bonaparte, so if anyone can recommend a good book about him, I would be very appreciative!

Hello, This is my first official introduction on the History Book Group page...I go by Randy, and I look forward to some interesting discussions here!

Hello all. I'm a cop in outback Australia and have an eclectic mix of history interests ranging from military history, international affairs, US civil war, and any compelling story that is well written.

Hi everyone,

My name is Shilo. I'm a 29 year old mum of three from Brisbane, Australia. I joined this group because I love history. I don't have any particular favorite historical time period. My likes are very varied. Some eras/topics that interest me are books regarding colonialism, Australian history, convict history, ancient civilizations, Early European history... a bit of everything really. I just love learning everything I can!

Hope to talk with you all soon and swap recs. :)

Hello, my name is Yanislava (22). I am a third year student- Bachelor degree of Public Administration at Sofia University ,,St. Kliment Ohridski '', Bulgaria. I am interested in history, especially European and Ancient Egypt.I hope to learn a lot from the group and to have interesting discussions.

Hi All - another 'lurker' here - I have an extremely eclectic love of history. I can be fascinated by a day digging on an archaeological site where the only 'news' of the day is a mysterious change in the colour of earth that needs interpreting over a beer. But I can even sometimes enjoy those fanciful, overblown silly histories in the 'god-is-a-spaceman' mould if there is a kernel of fact to them about which I was previously unaware. I have particular interests in the 12th Century and World War I, and have read a great number of primary sources about the First and Third Crusades. My 'specialist' interest is historical fiction. In 1997 I set up an international society to celebrate and promote this meeting-place of history and story (still extant) - and have a wide appreciation of its many different genres.

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, I'm Stephanie. First how do I start a new email. I live in East Sussex, England and work in London. I have been interested in History all my life from taking A Level History at School. I have studied history through the University of South Africa (a country where I lived for many years). I am currently doing history courses through Coursera. I'm a book alcoholic: still preferring a real book to kindle. My main area of interest is from mid 18th century to the present day with a special interest in African and especially South African History (written and unwritten). My main questions are How and Why.

with best wishes

Hello. This Jeff and I have always had an interest in military history. My father-in- law was s history teacher and has gotten me interested. Just looking for some good read suggestions.

Hi! My name is Mario, I'm a 25 year old lawyer from Ecuador. I currently live and study in China but I'm moving to NYC. I really love and enjoy history, right now I'm reading about Asian history, specifically about the "East Companies" (Dutch VOC, British East India Company, etc.), I love WWII history and, of course, I enjoy reading about Latin-American.

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..."

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 i'm Sam from Norfolk in England. I have always been interested in History but have a particular passion for the Tudors and anything Medieval.

Hi, I am Giuseppe. I am lecturer at University of East Anglia in Norwich, UK. I am interested in ancient and medieval history mainly. Reading history books is just an hobby for me.

Best,
G

Hello, everyone my name is Payraw, My homeland is Kurdistan, I study Business and Management. What makes me love history? Ancient places, recorded wars among nations 'starting from stone age, to very era we living in'. Also great leaders, philosophers..etc their history. And some great nations their story 'Japan' for example.

Hello people! I'm a (sort of) English teacher in Japan, and occassional reader of history -- especially 20th century American history. Hope to get active on a discussion or two here soon.

My name is Alan. I am 60 and now retired from corporate finance, after 20 years heading up internal functions for half a dozen global companies. During that time I logged several million miles, and I read, listened to audiobooks, and when on the ground or out of the car, poked into bookshops and libraries, and sometimes museums.

In addition to law and business education, I can count classical beginnings in Greek, philosophy, great historians and literature and have been an officer of one State Humanities Council and founder of an interstate arts organization twenty plus years ago, that happily survives. From earliest days I was involved in history, even working at the Rochester museum as a kid, building models of the age of homespun. I had my set of Durant's Story, and Toynbee, and the family had a collection of Lincoln and Civil War books, and every American Heritage beginning with the first.

My interests cover ancient, military and naval, intellectual, economic, legal, American, southwestern, and related history as well as anthropology. I have read most of John Keegan and Victor Davis Hanson's writings. I am generally not thrilled with long biographies or ideological works. I do like the sense of the author's voice and can be swayed into a new area by CSPAN program or a good reference in another book.

Hi, I'm Sheridan Lynch, long ago from Harare, Zimbabwe, where I was an active member of the History Society of Zimbabwe; now of Brighton, East Sussex, England. I just love reading history books and rekindled this interest a few years ago when I read Norman Davies' "The Isles - A History." (I can't check the title. My daughter has probably acquired the book. She is now doing a degree in History at university.)

Hello boys and girls of the book club !


Here is a brief intro of myself. I live in the Hague Holland beautiful city of peace and justice on the nort sea and have two kids of 11 and 12. My hobbies are cooking driving motorcycle squash, dj ing and flying. My most recent historical books that I can remember at this moment sitting on a plane on my way to Marrakech are a book on the history of all popes (Julian Barnes ??) Matterhorn by Karl
Marlantes and the kindly ones by Jonathan little which made a crushing impression on me Currently i am reading HHHH by Laurent Binet. My intrest in history is broad ranging from the crusades, to early christianity to second world war. My world view is agnostic so i like to explore because I think we know just a fraction of reality.

That s about it i have bad discipline but hope to find some like minded spirits here.



Met vriendelijke groet,

Joost de Bruijne

Hello, my name is James and I am a bookaholic. A sad case with a lifelong addiction. I have many interests and many moods and read books to suit the mood. I am currently having a fling with fantasy novels.

But I always drag my sorry donkey back to history and my marriage to the military. Max Hasting, Anthony Beevor, Ian Kershaw, too many to list. I have gone to war with them all.

I do flirt with the Tudor period quite often and enjoy ancient Rome and on and on.

When I die, my biggest regret will be that there will still be so many books I haven't read. So I have decided not to go.

Sam wrote: "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 b..."

I second the mods reintroducing themselves! :o)

Hi all! My name is Rachel. I am 23 years old, from the UK and currently doing a BA Hons History degree at the University of Portsmouth. Upon completion of my degree I hope to go on and do a Masters in Curator and Museum Studies. My main interest is in the Early Modern period, particularly with regard to European Maritime exploration and empire - My dissertation is actually going to be on Afonso de Albuquerque and the establishment of the Portuguese empire in the East. I LOVE Portuguese history and feel as though it deserves more attention.

Lovely to meet you all :)

Hi, My name is Rhoda from NB Canada and live on the the Fundy coast. I'm 65 but not retired.I have been an avid reader all my life, fiction and non-fiction , lately I have developed a taste for British history, I loved history in school.I have started learning about all the monarchy and am at present reading The Royal Stuarts, A history of the Family That Shaped Britain by Allan Massie. I have found it very well written and informative,from this books info I will branch ou and read books of other persons mentioned in this book.

my name is jeff, and i am currently in Tampa, fl. after serving in the Marine Corps i received my history degree and currently teach middle school Civics and uS History.. I also served as a licensed local pastor in thevUnited Methodist Church.. in my spare time, i love to read read almost any historical non fiction or biography... i look forward to hearing from everyone and bouncing thoughts off of you all.

Hi,

I'm Leonardo Noto and I'm a practicing physician, an author, and the owner of a medical blog. I've been a history buff since I was a young child and I'm interested in most periods. I'm especially keen on learning more about the 1700s and the American Revolution. My most recent read was "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies," by Jared Diamond -- I highly recommend it. The book is an overview of the development of civilization and a treatise on Mr. Diamond's theories of why some regions/peoples of the world developed more quickly than others.

by Jared Diamond

Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies

Trenton, Lee, Minaho, Andrew, Rahul, Ray, Jagoulis, Michael, Phillip, Steve, Dana, Randy, Sonia, Ross, Shiloh, Yanislava, Richard, Stephanie, Jeff, Mario, Sam, Giuseppe, Payraw, haetmonger, Ala, Sheridan, Joost, Durangokid, Aloha, Rachel, Roda, Jeff, and Leonardo...welcome to the group, everyone! I would love to reach out to all of you individually, but this will have to do.

Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with the "add book/author" feature when you comment. It makes things much easier for people to see your book recommendations, because they can see the cover and the links to the author. It also 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 book you might mention should look:

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Jerome

Hi All,
I have always been fascinated by history although my interest may hop from one time to another. I have researched a lot about Nostradamus (1503-1566), but left him now for the times around 1-50 BC. I have been reading all Scarrow's books until now and am waiting eagerly for his newest edition to come out, about the Roman Empire fighting in the British isles.
Thank you for accepting me as a member of the group, I amvery curious how it will turn out to be part of this.
Constance

Hello, everyone. I'm a history professor at a small college outside Philadelphia - and like reading history even in my "spare time"! My research focus is in Europe, specifically - although not exclusively - France during the period 1870-1914; recently, I've been looking at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and its presence in Europe before, during, and immediately after the First World War, and so have been more involved with U.S. history during that period. My reading interests in history are pretty catholic, though, especially since my teaching responsibilities span the full chronological, topical, and regional scope of history - but mostly because it suits my inclinations. I do also enjoy reading novels - ones that can really draw me in with engaging plots and well-developed characters, anything from Dickens to Murakami - and a range of non-fiction outside of history - Stephen Jay Gould's long been a favorite, for instance, or A.C. Grayling .



The summer has just started for me, which means a lot more time to spend with my nose in a book - or sometimes, nowadays, in a Nook.
Mike Clinton

Welcome to the book club. If you don't mind me asking, what was the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and its relationship to the end of World War I?

Hi I am Carlos I am Peruvian and living in Mexico . Both places where history is very much a part of everyday life. Always been fascinated by history not just from these two places but from everywhere . Looking forward to learning and finding new interests from this group.

Hi everyone I'm Conor, a History undergraduate in the UK, looking to write a biography of Queen Katherine Howard. I have already written several articles on her short life. I love history, particularly medieval and early modern but also modern.

Hi everyone. I'm half-Japanese, half-American, 25 year old woman, born in the US and bred in a number of cities: NYC, DC, Tokyo, Budapest, Stockholm, Westchester. I work as an aide to a local politician. I'm particularly fond of presidential and NYC mayoral biographies. My favorite history books are: Siege of Leningrad, John Adams, and the Blind Spot.

Just finished reading the club's pick, House of Stone and looking forward to reading the Metaphysical Book Club, which is waiting for me at the library!

Let's see, where do I begin?

I come from generally good stock; my old man being a burly Stalin enthusiast, and his old man a boorish drunk. It's from them that I got my love of violent drinking and history.

I grew up an only child in Bennington, NE, a small rural town approximately fifteen miles northwest of Omaha.

My family is rather famous in Bennington.

You see, my maternal grandfather Frederick was a postman in Bennington during the 1950s and '60s. Bennington's population was approximately two thousand during his tenure, but has since fallen precipitously to just under one thousand due to mass urban migration and God's wrath.

Frederick was a proud postman, who drank and cursed profusely. He delivered mail primarily to small family farms, nondescript brothels, saloons, and other small businesses.

In 1967, my grandfather decided that delivering mail was a far cry from his delusional childhood dream of becoming the head of one of the five major crime families. So one day, upon delivering mail to a crooked sweet sorghum farmer, who years earlier had been implicated in a plot to sell water-diluted sorghum to the armed forces during WWII, my grandfather persuaded the farmer to resurrect the plot.

The U.S. was now entangled in a war in Vietnam, and the Defense Department was a major buyer of sweet sorghum, believing it to be a more efficient source of glucose than table sugar.

Granddad used his union connections to secure a lucrative contract with the Defense Department, whereby he and the farmer would supply DOD with sorghum at a significantly reduced price.

And so the two men manufactured heavily diluted sorghum, falsely claiming that it was one hundred percent pure. They made a lot of money over two years, until a suspicious Marine with a sensitive sweet tooth started asking questions.

The Defense Department launched an investigation and to their shock discovered that they had been defrauded. A thorough investigation unfolded, and within weeks my grandfather and his accomplice were charged with a series of federal crimes.

During the trial, my grandfather, who by 1969 was an angry and volatile alcoholic, somehow managed to convince the prosecutors that he did not know that the sorghum was diluted, and that he had also been duped. For whatever reason, the prosecutors bought my grandfather's obviously implausible account, and dropped the charges.

He was free, while the farmer was eventually convicted and sentenced to 25 years of hard labor. My grandfather returned to his old job a hero and a legend.

To this day, there is a bust of him at the only remaining Bennington post office.

But my parents weren’t intoxicated by fame. They worked hard at defrauding various convenient stores across the state by writing fake checks.

When I turned 7, my dad started taking me to Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium every Saturday morning. He left me by the reptile cage and absconded to, as he explained, "take care of grownup stuff." I survived mostly on lizard feed, and the occasional dried cashew dropped to the ground by a clumsy zoo patron.

My dad returned Sunday night, reeking of cheap booze and cheaper women. This went on until I was 14, when zoo employees started asking questions.

At around that time, I started spending more time with my uncle, who watched over me during periods when my parents fled to Jacksonville to avoid loan sharks or officers of the law.

My uncle was an obese and slothful man, whose sedentary lifestyle consisted of watching MASH reruns, and stuffing his face with bacon cheese fries. He was a man of few words, but on rare occasions when he stopped chewing, he would make an offhand remark to the effect of, "Be better than everyone." I had no idea what he meant but I took his advice to heart.

Today, I pride myself on being an exceptional individual of noble ancestry and upbringing. And I conduct myself as such at all times.

I never shine my own shoes. When my brogues are in need of a fresh coat of wax, I saunter over to the local shoe polish station and make a glorious ascent on to the elevated armchair, fit for Monarchs and tennis umpires. Once my loafers have been prepped to my satisfaction, I compliment my social inferior on a job well done and drop two quarters into his calloused hand.

I always walk away feeling proud and dignified.

My only flaw really, is that I generally don't pay attention when people are talking. Last summer at a family barbeque, my cousin was telling me about this that and the other and I just kept nodding my head not paying any attention to him, all the while thinking about a hilarious Family Guy episode. A week later, my aunt calls me all angry and frantic. It turned out my cousin had asked me to be his getaway driver for one of his liquor store robberies, and when I didn't show up, he did the job alone, got caught, and went to prison. They won't admit it, but I think my family still hasn't forgiven me for that little snafu.

I hope these humble anecdotes gave you a glimpse into my career and passions.

Hello

Sorry for this later answer. This is my second introduction, and I hope this the right place! I am a portuguese philosophy teacher and. I like History. American History, and european history. I think this is a good place to learn about the USA History, reading american authors from diferent political ideas. I would like to learn about the beginings, the civil war, the great depression, and also about the help american people gave to europe in II world war.
Thank you for accepting me as a member.
Ana

Sheridan wrote: "Hi, I'm Sheridan Lynch, long ago from Harare, Zimbabwe, where I was an active member of the History Society of Zimbabwe; now of Brighton, East Sussex, England. I just love reading history books an..."

Hi Sheridan, I live along the coast from you at Bexhill. I am English but spend 25 years in South Africa returning to England 6 years ago.

Hello all. My name is Ron and I'm a 38 year old father of two boys. I'm an architect in Memphis, TN and new to reading as a past time. I've jumped in to reading as a new years resolution and am glad I did. I love history in general, but military history is my favorite. I have been reading civil war, world war two, Iraq, and Afghanistan so far. The book With the old breed by E.B. Sledge is my favorite to date.
My older son introduced me
to Goodreads and I have enjoyed keeping track of my reading. The website has gone a long way in keeping me on track with my goals.

Can't remember if I've introduced myself or not. We've been busy moving and I've had to ignore GR and other links for a while.

I've always enjoyed history, but my primary interest is the American Revolution in the south. I started reading about it years ago and am now working on a novel set in that period.

Hi: I'm Ken from Norfolk, Virginia. I prefer Books to TV and read just about anything. Got interesting in your History Club while taking an on line History Course, and am continuing with Wilson in your Presidents Series even though I am falling behind.

Hello,
My name is Patrick, and I am currently living in Ontario, Canada. While I enjoy reading various types of books, historical fiction is my favourite. I have also graduated from university, where I studied History and Philosophy.

Hello everyone! My name is Jackie and I am new to the History Book Club. I am 29 years old, mother of two, and a history major in my junior year at Indiana University-Purdue University of Indianapolis (IUPUI). I am also working towards a minor in Art History at Herron School of Art and Design. I love reading non-fiction of all kinds, as well as great historic literature. I love the outdoors, gardening, camping and hiking. I am also interested in world cultures, religion, and the environment. I look forward to connecting with you all, thanks for having me!

Hi, my name is Douglas Brough and my love of history centres on the conflicts of the 20th century and how the civilians survived it. My particular interests lie with the hidden stories of the wars such as the post-war expulsions, rape as a war crime etc. I do read about much earlier events but I always seem to roll back to the 20th century and the role of the civilian

Welcome Lonnie, Lewis, Fotis and Tom. We are glad to see your introduction and your interest in history.

Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with the "add book/author" feature when you comment. It makes things much easier for people to see your book recommendations, because they can see the cover and the links to the author. It also 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 book you might mention should look:

by

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Greetings! My name is Alex and I am fascinated by the mysteries of the past.

Hey how's it goin, I thought I did an intro message I guess not. Anyway to make a long story short I'm Josh, and I reside in the Detroit area. I'm insanely crazy about various different aspects of American, and world history. I've got WAY too many books I'm reading, not only on history, but other topics I'm into. At the moment I'm reading the Kindle version of by Mario Puzo

Welcome Cheryl, Ken, Patrick and Jackie. We are glad to see you here on the Introduction thread with all of the other history lovers!

Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with the "add book/author" feature when you comment. It makes things much easier for people to see your book recommendations, because they can see the cover and the links to the author. It also 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 book you might mention should look:

by Anthony Shadid


Please take a moment to skim over the information available below

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

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

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

If you have any questions, that's what us moderators are here for. We look forward to your contributions.

Welcome Alex and Josh, 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

Good job on the citation Josh. Don't forget to add the author photo when it is available as well as the link. Like this:

by Mario Puzo

Denise, Nita, Doug, and Joyce......glad to see you here on the Introduction thread with all of us history lovers.

Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with the "add book/author" feature when you comment. It makes things much easier for people to see your book recommendations, because they can see the cover and the links to the author. It also 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 book you might mention should look:

by Anthony Shadid


Please take a moment to skim over the information available below

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

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If you have any questions, that's what us moderators are here for. We look forward to your contributions.

Hello everyone. My name is Kyle. I am a former history major and current law student who loves to read. I am a bit of a history geek with a very wide range of interests in the field. I tend to gravitate toward biography but I'm very open-minded when it comes to my history love. I'm very happy to be here.