Wholesome History Reads Group discussion

Sounds like a wonderful trip! Love hearing about it. Welcome back!

Hi Ethan, welcome back, glad you had a great trip! I'm currently in Turkey slowly making my way back home to Australia from Rome. I get back mid October.

@Rick Wow, that sounds awesome! Hope you're having a great time. ;-)

I've been having a lot of fun since I have a fascination for the Roman Empire and also the Byzantine Empire.

Ethan wrote: "Hey everyone! I am finally back from my trip. It was awesome! We went to Belize, Central America, then to Playa del Carmen, Mexico, then on to different places in Florida, and then back home. It w..."

Pleased you had such a good time Ethan, welcome back.

@Geevee Thanks a bunch! It's great to be back. ;-)

Happy New Year everyone! Hopefully 2016 is a great year for you all, life-wise and book-wise. Hopefully you all find some great reads this year. Have fun, and happy reading!

Happy New Year Ethan, I also hope its a great year for everyone.

Belated New Year wishes to you Ethan.

Hello group members! As you might have noticed I've been absent lately, and that's because I was on holidays. I'm back now, so I hope to be more active. Sorry if I've missed anything. Hope everyone's been doing great!

P.S. I also want to give BIG welcome to all our new group members. It's great to have you!

Good to see you back Ethan, hope you had a great holiday :)

Welcome back traveller!

@Rick I did have a great trip, thanks! At first it was really busy but the latter half was really fun. It feels good to be back though. ;-)

@Geevee Haha thanks!

Welcome back Ethan!!!

@happy Thank you!!

Here is a guest blog I wrote on what we can learn from history. Several historical books are mentioned.
http://seriousreading.com/blog/12581-...

Hi all you wholesome history people. One of the things I've discovered in reading and writing about history, is there is a lot we can learn from the past.
Here is a recent blog post on that: http://seriousreading.com/blog/12581-...

Just managed to grab a second or two in all the madness to wish you all a happy and healthy Christmas. Have a good one guys! And to all you lot in North America.. your tax dollars are appreciated....
https://www.noradsanta.org/#section-v...

Merry Christmas from Australia, I'm heading down to the Christmas tree now to see what Santa left.

Hope you had a great holiday, AR and a happy new year to all of us history buffs!!!

New Years Eve (morning) over here in Australia so I will take the opportunity to wish you all a very happy New Year and may 2018 be a great year for us all!

Here's wishing a happy, healthy and peaceful 2018 to one and all. Have a good one, stay safe and here's too some great posts for next year.

Likewise to you all. Thanks for being good reading companions here and in other groups in 2017, and onto 2018 we go, where I guess we'll be reading and chatting about World War One a bit as we enter the centenary year of big battles, new tactics, huge losses and the armistice.

Cheers one and all.

I hope we can get some more participants in 2018 as this is a good little book club,


Here is wishing every one a happy new year.

Just a short note to let you all know that I will be away overseas till July but hopefully I will have internet access and will try and check in on a regular basis.

Start of a bit of a book splurge, thanks to a wee surprise cash injection:
Viking Britain: A History
Zulu: The Heroism and Tragedy of the Zulu War of 1879
Spitfire: A Very British Love Story

Always nice to get a few extra bucks to spend on books Jonny :)

I've picked up a copy of
Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland
to pile up for a read after Hitler's Willing Executioners: Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust. And in keeping with my aim to shift (a bit) away from military history, I also branched out with
The Tragedy of Liberation: A History of the Chinese Revolution 1945-1957 which has the added bonus (!) of giving me a lovely multi-hued portrait of Chairman Mao on my shelf when I finish the trilogy!

Some excellent books there Jonny, should make for very interesting reading!

I just finished a newish look at Martin Luther and the years between his posting his 95 thesee? on the door of the Wittenburg church and his return to Wittenburg after the Diet of Worms



I really liked it, not too heavy on the theology and a good look at the politics of both the Roman Catholic Church and the Holy Roman Empire at that time.

A bit breezy (the author always refers to Luthor by his title (Brother, Frier or Dr) and first name - take a bit of getting used to.

There is just enough theology to explain where Luther was coming from and the Church's objections

Overall a 4 star read.

Sounds like a good book Happy, glad you enjoyed it.

happy wrote: "I just finished a newish look at Martin Luther and the years between his posting his 95 thesee? on the door of the Wittenburg church and his return to Wittenburg after the Diet of Worms

[bookcover..."

Is it a good introduction to the prod Happy? I've
[bookcover:Europe's Tragedy: A New History of the Thirty Years War|8510157]Europe's Tragedy: A New History of the Thirty Years War
on the TBR list but I've not been able to make a start for lack of background knowledge.

Just about prepped, just about all that remains is to send best wishes for Christmas... Have a good one folks!

Merry Christmas to all from sunny Australia.

Merry Christmas.

I always love when one book leads to another - today my birthday cash diminished, but I picked up
God's Wolf: The Life of the Most Notorious of All Crusaders: Reynald de Chatillon
Although this afternoon's most pressing question at work - does he look like Brendan Gleeson? - will probably remain unanswered...

Jonny wrote: "I always love when one book leads to another - today my birthday cash diminished, but I picked up
[bookcover:God's Wolf: The Life of the Most Notorious of All Crusaders: Reynald de Chatillon|298490..."

I'm yet to read my copy, but I am sure it will be a great account :)

English Heritage are cashing in on a certain TV series, since the author admitted our Wall provided inspiration:
https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/whats...

Just taking tbe opportunity before the madness starts to wish you all a very Merry Christmas. Have a good one folks.

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas from Australia. I hope everyone has a great day and a lovely festive season.

Merry Christmas!

Has anyone here read either of these books on General Petraeus? I have copies of both and wondering which would be the best one to read first.


The Insurgents: David Petraeus and the Plot to Change the American Way of War by Fred Kaplan

All In: The Education of General David Petraeus by Paula Broadwell

This should be good.

Bob Hope
https://www.heraldtribune.com/story/e...

Martha Bolton
Dear Bob . . .: Bob Hope's Wartime Correspondence with the G.I.s of World War II

Hi folks, for those who may not know, this was never my group, Ethan set it up and started it a few years ago but then decided to leave and left it with me to run. My main groups are the WW2 Group and the Napoleonic Wars group. I am going to start adding a few new subject/topics to the group and try and get more involved. Some of the subject/theme pages I am going to open up are; Civil Wars, Revolutionary Wars, Crusades, Colonial Wars. Any other suggestions that I may consider?

How about bios Rick? Maybe also historical fiction? And maybe some more socialmy oriented ones, a herbal catchup thread and maybe music/movies?

Jonny wrote: "How about bios Rick? Maybe also historical fiction? And maybe some more socialmy oriented ones, a herbal catchup thread and maybe music/movies?"

I will put a few of those ideas up as threads as well, thanks Jonny.

Maybe Food / Trade Routes, e.g.,

Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky

And, with caveat that I have not read as yet,
Tea: A History of the Drink That Changed the World by John Griffiths

Liz V. wrote: "Maybe Food / Trade Routes, e.g.,

Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky

And, with caveat that I have not read as yet,
[book:Tea: A History of the Drink That Changed t..."

Loved Salt.

I've set up two new threads; one on Revolutionary Wars and one on Civil Wars. Join in if the subjects interest you.

Rev. Wars:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Civil Wars:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Hi All, I've happily returned to this group:) I left awhile back because I felt like I wasn't contributing enough, but now I know that doesn't matter:) I've missed the group and it's good to be back! :)

Aussie Rick, good ideas and I'm looking forward to visiting the new threads! Also, I especially like Jonny's idea of Historical Fiction and Liz V.'s idea of Food.

Here's some of my thoughts on the Food idea because these are things I love to read about... how food was cooked and prepared in different times and places, such as in typical everyday Colonial Times or the Cowboy Trail Days or in Ancient Greece, and what was cooked and what their challenges were, etc. And how explorers ate, such as Lewis and Clark and others during their Great Expeditions, or what sailors at sea ate on ships during peacetime and wartime. And how cooking itself evolved over time. I love reading about food history topics such as these. Just some thoughts:)