The History Book Club discussion

Another Programming Bug:

I tried to update the group descriptor to reflect the new books which we are beginning discussions on and for some reason the sub topic could not be filled in so I could not save the new text. Why this would occur is a mystery to me since I did not change or touch these areas. So unfortunately until this gets fixed by the goodreads staff I cannot update our group descriptor which of course we have done countless times before...every time we begin a new book.

A little disconcerting but as soon as it is fixed...I will update the group descriptor text.

UPDATE: Everything appears to be now fixed and I have updated the descriptor. Once again, thank you goodreads.

Bentley

All,

Be sure to accept the event notifications for both the Gibbon book and the Diamond one. Both of these books are group selected reads. However, we base our selections on the popularity of the selections and these are the two which were voted upon at the time.

By accepting the invitation, you will get a reminder placed on your profile page which can be changed or updated at any time. Additionally, you will subsequently receive a reminder 7 days before the event and the date that the spotlighted discussion will begin. It also is on your profile so that you remember to get ready for the discussion itself.

When we were a smaller group, we were able to send personal reminders to everyone, but those days are long gone. This is the opportunity to get the notification on your profile, secure a reminder later on and also help out the club and moderators plan in advance. We need everybody to respond so that we can plan ahead.

As books are voted upon, invitations will be sent out. Be sure to answer and queue up those that you are especially interested in; but please do not ignore the notifications..the moderator team does send them out so that a timeline is out there for all group members.

We look forward to your involvement in all of the upcoming group discussions.

All best,

Bentley

Regarding Guidelines and Mechanics of the Board:

Our group is one of the friendliest and professional on goodreads and we pride ourselves on the high standards of the group. Please read the guidelines and if you need any assistance, we are happy to give this to you. However, purposely ignoring our group rules and standards is not an option here. None of them are difficult or take a lot of time.

We ask that you do a brief intro and also when citing a book or author that you use the goodreads feature: add book/author. This populates our site and all of our threads with your citation both in our book club and throughout the goodreads site. Additionally, we ask that you always add the book cover you are citing (it stands out and is easier for our group members to see and to click on), add also the author's photo (if available) - it is nice to see what the author looks like and at the very least always add in addition the author's link (so that we can see what else the author has written).

These links make it easy for all of our group members to do research and to search whatever selections you are recommending.

It also populates our site and on each thread to the side of the comments boxes you can search a list of books mentioned on that thread and/or the list of authors.

Without your following our standards, guidelines and rules, we would not have that option. Additionally, another option we would not have would be the ability to search anywhere on The History Book Club site for other threads where a discussion of the book and/or the author is taking place. We insist on these procedures because of it.

It goes without saying that we insist on civility, respect for our rules and guidelines, adherance to the civil requests of all of our moderators who are doing a yeoman's job by volunteering their time and respect for our guidelines.

If you need assistance, we will all take as much time and put in as much effort as necessary to help you.

However, if you are intent on not helping us continue to adhere to our group standards, we are not interested in increasing our membership numbers at the expense of our other great members and standards.

Here are the guidelines:

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

Here is the introduction thread where we ask that you post a brief intro before posting on other threads:

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/9...

Here is our Mechanics thread which gives detailed information about how to add a book cover, an author's link, etc.

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

We also do not tolerate any spamming, ads, self marketing or promotion or using our membership list in any way for your own group or purposes. Please do not spam or solicit our members at any time. If you are only joining our group to use it as a springboard for a group that you would like to start or to only promote your new book without trying to get to know us and to add to our discussions and the comraderie of the group itself, maybe it is better if you look elsewhere. We are not interested in detractors.

We are interested in folks who thoroughly love books, reading, history and want a civil, friendly, unstressful atmosphere in which to discuss them. These are the members we are seeking to attract and keep and these are the ones who will continue to make our group top notch, friendly and thought provoking.

Historical Fiction: (MASTER AND COMMANDER)

The syllabus for the May, June, July discussion of Master and Commander is now posted in the Syllabi section of the group site:

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

Patrick O'Brian

NEW BUGS:

I encountered a new bug tonight in setting up the OPEN COURSEWARE POLL and the EVENT NOTIFICATION for Master and Commander.

When sending out the invites for the poll only a subset of the membership was sent the usual invite. So please make sure to check the polls and vote for your selection in the OPEN COURSEWARE one. Additionally, things became even worse when I set up as we normally do the Event Notification for the start date for Master and Commander so that all interested group members can receive their reminder, etc and have it ready in their profiles. The event notifications set up as usual but somehow no invites were sent. Please scroll down on the list of Event Notifications and make sure to look for the Historical Fiction Master and Commander one that is set up and select yes if you are interested in participating. I have written to goodreads to find out what the problem is with these two items and am awaiting a response. In the meantime, I am suggesting these work arounds.

PRESIDENTIAL SERIES:

We have finally completed setting up a special thread which is specific for each President. What will be fun is to add books and authors who have made each of these Presidents come alive, urls, resource materials, etc. There is of course a lot to be added to each thread.

The Presidents who were added: (one per thread mapping back to their respective terms)

US PRESIDENTS

1. George Washington
2. John Adams
3. Thomas Jefferson
4. James Madison
5. James Monroe
6. John Quincy Adams
7. Andrew Jackson
8. Martin Van Buren
9. William Henry Harrison
10. John Tyler
11. James K. Polk
12. Zachary Taylor
13. Millard Fillmore
14. Franklin Pierce
15. James Buchanan
16. Abraham Lincoln
17. Andrew Johnson
18. Ulysses S. Grant
19. Rutherford B. Hayes
20. James Garfield
21. Chester A. Arthur
22. Grover Cleveland
23. Benjamin Harrison
24. Grover Cleveland
25. William McKinley
26. Theodore Roosevelt
27. William Howard Taft
28. Woodrow Wilson
29. Warren G. Harding
30. Calvin Coolidge
31. Herbert Hoover
32. Franklin D. Roosevelt
33. Harry S. Truman
34. Dwight D. Eisenhower
35. John F. Kennedy
36. Lyndon B. Johnson
37. Richard M. Nixon
38. Gerald R. Ford
39. James Carter
40. Ronald Reagan
41. George H. W. Bush
42. William J. Clinton
43. George W. Bush
44. Barack Obama

Hello Everyone:

What's New!

PRESIDENTIAL SERIES

a) Finally we can state that there are threads added for each US President and non consecutive term. So every one has been added. See message 56 for the complete listing.

US SUPREME COURT

a) We have added a special thread dedicated to the US Supreme Court. As many of you are aware there are a great many posts about the Supreme Court found within the Amendments, Bill of Rights and Constitution threads. We will be moving all of these to their new home on the Supreme Court Thread. This may take some time but we will get this done eventually. In the meantime, the Supreme Court discussion thread is open for discussion.

Hello Everyone:

Announcement!

PRESIDENTIAL SERIES

We are happy to announce the addition of another new Assisting Moderator. Bryan Craig will be working with Joe to make The History Book Club's Presidential Series discussions among the best that you will find here on the web. Bryan has a deep background in presidential history so he will be a valued member of the team. Our next presidential read will be about Theodore Roosevelt (beginning June 1st and continuing through the end of August). We have not set up the poll on prospective book choices; but we will be doing that soon. Bryan will be the Assisting Moderator leading that discussion. Come October when the subsequent Presidential Series selection will kickoff, the group will find Joe back in the Assisting Moderator saddle. This will allow both Assisting Moderators to back each other up and still maintain active discussion offerings. I know that Bryan (just as Joe has done) will bring a lot of expertise and enthusiasm to the group. Welcome Bryan to the team!

The work of all the moderators in this group is first rate. Thanks for making this online community such a great experience. Bryan, I know you will do a great job on the moderator team.

Thank you Alisa for your comments. We are happy to have Bryan.

Thanks Alisa for your support and kind words. I look forward to the TR experience.

Hello Everyone:

Announcement!

(SCOTUS) Supreme Court of the United States

We are happy to announce the addition of another new Assisting Moderator. Alisa Tazioli will be working to develop the thread which deals with the Supreme Court. In time, we may have some discussions about books dealing with the Supreme Court, its justices and/or the workings of the court itself in relation to the other branches of government.

Alisa has stated, "that she has worked with lawyers for a long time and is crazy enough to enjoy it." It sounds to me like she is perfect for this thread (smile).

In Alisa's profiles she describes herself with the following short biography:

"I am a lifelong resident of Seattle, WA in the lovely Pacific Northwest. It is an area surrounded by stunning natural beauty, and considered one of the most well-read cities in the US due to the high number of bookstores per capita.

Lucky for me I enjoy reading, coffee, the company of friends and family, and the comfort of being surrounded by mountains and water.

I’m a bit of an internet junkie. Rabble rousers who challenge the status quo capture my imagination. And anyone who makes me laugh is an instant friend."

We are happy to have Alisa join the moderation team and I hope you will give her all of your support.

The link to the Supreme Court thread is below:

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/3...

Awesome, welcome Alisa. I hope to discuss a book sometime.

Thanks Bentley for the lovely introduction. Thanks Bryan for the welcome. It's nice to be on the team!

We are glad to have you.

Hi Alisa, my warms regards and welcome too.

Thank you thank you! I'm thrilled.

ALL,

SPAM: We do not allow any bookcover spam on our site; if you are an author please do not join our group if your avatar is a book you are trying to self promote. We do not allow self promotion of any kind, links to blogs, websites, avatars of your books; in other words no ads, no marketing, no self promotion of any kind. Once you are member in good standing we would be happy to post your book and your author's link...but no bookcover spam. It is annoying to our membership and it violates our group rules and guidelines.

Also we do not allow links to personal book reviews; you can post a segment of the text of your book review; but we are not here to promote any person or links to their writing in any form. We allow poetry on one thread.

All,

Just a reminder..The History Book Club has rules and guidelines which are not optional. We do ask that you post a brief intro on the Introduction thread so that our moderator team knows who you are before responding. It need not be long or personal; just a hello is even fine. But just in case folks have not looked at our guidelines - here they are:

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

All,

Joe will be on sabbatical until October (personal commitments)

Bryan will be the moderator for the Presidential Series discussion beginning May 30th on Theodore Roosevelt (Mornings on Horseback). Please be sure to join Bryan on this discussion.

Thanks, Bentely. Hope people can join us.

And I hope so too. I have sent out the event notification for those of you who like to plan ahead...so make sure to accept it and you will then get a reminder 7 days before the book discussion begins.

UPCOMING DISCUSSION:

Just as a reminder: Historical Fiction discussion on Master and Commander begins Monday, May 3rd, 2010.

Patrick O'Brian

UPCOMING DISCUSSION:

Just as a reminder: Spotlighted discussion on The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Volume I begins Monday, May 10th, 2010.

Edward Gibbon

UPCOMING DISCUSSION:

Just as a reminder: Presidential Series discussion is kicked off on Mornings on Horseback. Begins on May 30th with the discussion being led by Bryan. Hope to see you there.

David McCullough

JUST AS AN FYI:

Regarding The Federalist Papers

Just as a reminder: I am in the process of separating out the previous discussion that we had concerning the first sixteen Federalist Papers and Intro. There will be a separate thread per Federalist paper versus having all of the discussion in one thread.

This way folks can study, read, participate, discuss each one of these papers as they have time to go through them.

Once I have separated out and moved all of the previous discussion posts; I will then prepare a syllabus for the next 15 which will take us through Federalist. No. 31.

For anyone who is interested, we are finishing Master and Commander this week. For those who have read it before and want to discuss the book as a whole, Bentley has opened a Final Thoughts thread where we can talk about issues that cover the entire book:

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/3...

Or if you want to talk about just the last chapter, here's the thread for it:

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/3...

Even if you haven't been with us earlier in the read, feel free to let us know what you think about the book as a whole, or jump in on any of the chapter discussions.

Thanks to everyone who has been reading and discussing with us. It has been fun and informative for me.

by Patrick O'Brian

Hello Everyone,

WHAT'S NEW!

THE FEDERALIST PAPERS

For those of you who have been with us for awhile, you probably remember when all of the Federalist Paper discussions were all on one thread. How messy that became and it became impossible for folks who were trying to keep up, catch up and/or participate to do so.

How could they find where we were and what the discussions had been on the paper they were on.

So we have repackaged that section and divided all of the previous postings into their respective separate threads.

I hope this makes it easier moving along. I have added a thread also for each of the papers in the next batch and soon I will add that calendar to the syllabus folder.

Additionally, I moved the location of the Federalist Paper discussion out of the Charter documents area and into its own folder following that one. Look for the new folder in its new location:

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/group_...

Previously, we covered 1 - 16 and we will be moving on to 17 through 31. Watch for the event notification for the start date. In the meantime, feel free to get caught up and post to the existing threads related to each Federalist Paper.


by Alexander Hamilton

A good resource for your reading and study to accompany The Federalist Papers is the following book which we cite often:

by Michael Meyerson

Tomorrow I will be traveling and Elizabeth will be the go to person while I am away. While traveling there will be some times when I will not be on line.

But our group of moderators will be on line making sure that they are available to answer questions, guide newbies and make sure that everyone understands the rules and guidelines.

Mornings on Horseback and Gibbon are still discussions that are on going as well as many, many other threads, etc.

David McCullough

Edward Gibbon

CLARIFICATION: WHAT IS A SPOILER THREAD AND WHAT IS A NON SPOILER THREAD?

Folks, the majority of threads on The History Book Club are spoiler threads meaning that discussion on any aspect of the thread's topic can take place.

For our book discussions we combine both spoiler and non spoiler threads. On our weekly non spoiler threads, one can only discuss the pages for that week's reading and any pages that came before. However, for those folks who want to skip ahead and do not want to wait for others and want to read at their own pace; we have tons of topical threads where you can do just that. In addition to the above, we always have a glossary thread where any discussion about the book can take place. This has always been the case for each and every book. Just select view all so that you can see all of the topics.

I always give this advice: if you do not want the ending of the book spoiled and just want to read along at your own pace; stick to the non spoiler threads that are clearly marked. I would steer clear of the spoiler threads.

However, if you like to generally talk about the subject of the book etc. and have read ahead; you may place your comments either in the glossary thread, any of the topical spoiler threads or any thread which deals with the book as a whole.

We bend over backwards here to have something for everybody. We also have a suggestion box.

Additionally, we keep the threads open so that folks can catch up at their leisure. Please also remember that all of us are volunteers and give of our time because we love history. We are not paid goodreads employees; but are busy professionals; with many other personal and professional obligations. We all try to be as responsive as we can be; but we all go on vacations, have family and business commitments - so please be patient with all of the assisting moderators and give them every bit of cooperation that you can.

Bentley

EVENT NOTIFICATIONS:

We send out "one" upcoming event notification per upcoming book for the year. If you select yes or maybe, at the very least you will receive a reminder seven days before the start of the book discussion; if you select no - you will receive no reminders and no reminder will be placed at the bottom of your profile to remind you of the start date. We only send one because we do not want to trouble our membership with unwanted spam. These event notifications are also published on goodreads so that the general goodreads membership knows what books our group is going to read. Please respond to the event notifications no matter what your response is; it helps the group with its planning. All books are selected by the membership in our polls.

This week we sent out an event notification for Carson McCullough's book: The First Man in Rome. There will be no other reminders sent regarding this book to members. This book discussion will begin September 6th and will be led by Alisa Tazioli (one of our assisting moderators).

This is an Historical Fiction Series selection.

Colleen McCullough

POLLS:

All,

There is a new poll that is up regarding the upcoming Ulysses S. Grant selection.

Please vote for your favorite; but take the time to make sure that it is a book that you feel would be interesting to you and/or to others or has specific merits that the group would especially benefit from. All of our books are group selected for our reads and have been voted on in polls like this one. All nominations for selections in all of our polls come from the group membership.

We send out "one" invite for upcoming book discussions (which are in the form of event notifications). These just show the start date for the upcoming book discussions. We frequently put these up a year in advance (this is important for folks to plan their reading, acquire copies of the books if they desire, read ahead and/or prepare in some way).

Additionally, we also send one invite for our polls; so that members will be alerted to the fact that there is a new poll for them to give input on. There are no reminders sent for any of these. And both of the above are only sent to our membership.

We keep all contact to a minimum in this group (you will only be notified once about upcoming group book discussions and/or polls).

Here is the link to the current poll which is the one to select the upcoming Presidential Series selection which will be led by Bryan.

http://www.goodreads.com/poll/list/81...

Bentley

EVENT NOTIFICATIONS: THE FEDERALIST PAPERS - 17 - 31

We send out "one" upcoming event notification per upcoming book discussion for the year.

If you select yes or maybe, you will receive only one reminder seven days before the start of the book discussion and the event will be added to the bottom of your profile as a date reminder; if you select no - you will receive no reminders and no reminder will be placed at the bottom of your profile to remind you of the start date. However, we would prefer that you not select ignore because this does not help the group with its planning.

We only send one event notification per upcoming book discussion because we do not want to trouble our membership with unwanted spam. These event notifications are also published on goodreads so that the general goodreads membership knows what books our group is going to discuss. When we were a private group, we were able to send more reminders; but as the group has become so much larger and we are a publc group right now; we have decided that one notification should suffice.

Please respond to the event notifications no matter what your response is; it helps the group with its planning. All books are selected by the membership in our polls.

Today we sent out an event notification for The Federalist Papers - 17 - 31. These discussions will begin January 24th, 2011 and this batch will be completed by May 8th, 2011. Upcoming announcements will occur as our schedule permits regarding additional readings.

As is always the case, we hope that you can join us.

Bentley

Alexander Hamilton

Hello Everyone:

What's New!

ROMAN EMPIRE -THE HISTORY...

There is now a new folder called - ROMAN EMPIRE -THE HISTORY...

This folder will include all of the threads which were part of The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - Volume I by Edward Gibbon discussion. So if you would like to complete reading this volume and/or discuss any topic related to the Romans or Roman Empire, please feel free to post on these threads.

These are the threads which were moved from the Spotlighted folder to make way for the new Spotlighted discussion coming up.

Edward Gibbon

Hello Everyone:

What's New!

ARCHIVE - THE AGONY...

There is now a new folder called - ARCHIVE - THE AGONY...

This folder will include all of the threads which were part of The Agony and the Ecstasy: A Biographical Novel of Michelangelo by Irving Stone discussion.

So if you would like to complete reading this book and/or discuss any topic related to Michelangelo, please feel free to post on these threads.

These are the threads which were moved from the Historical Fiction folder to make way for the new Historical Fiction discussions coming up.

Irving Stone

Hello Everyone:

What's New!

NAPOLEONIC WARS

There is now a new folder called - NAPOLEONIC WARS

This folder will include all of the threads which were part of The Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian discussion

So if you would like to complete reading this book and/or discuss any topic related to the Napoleonic Wars, the book Master and Commander or any other related topic, please feel free to post on these threads.

These are the threads which were moved from the Historical Fiction folder dedicated to the discussion of Master and Commander as well as the Napoleonic War thread found in the Military History folder in order to make way for the new Historical Fiction discussions coming up as well as to expand the space dedicated to Napoleon and the Napoleonic Wars.

Patrick O'Brian

UPCOMING BOOK DISCUSSION: THE FIRST MAN IN ROME (HISTORICAL FICTION FOLDER): Start Date - TOMORROW SEPTEMBER 6, 2010 (Discussion to last three months)

Discussion led by Assisting Moderator - Alisa

Colleen McCullough

Syllabus:

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/3...

Kickoff Thread:

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/3...

Event Notification Link (check out which group members may be joining you):

http://www.goodreads.com/event/show/9...

NEW POLL - JAMES K. POLK SELECTIONS

Please vote in this new poll which will determine the line up for James K. Polk selections as we move forward.

This poll opened today September 8, 2010 and will go to September 24, 2010.

Here is the link:

http://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/38...

UPCOMING BOOK DISCUSSION: GUNS, GERMS AND STEEL (SPOTLIGHTED READ): Start Date - TODAY SEPTEMBER 12, 2010 (Discussion to last until December 5, 2010)

Discussion led by Group Leader - Bentley

Jared Diamond

Syllabus:

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/3...

Kickoff Thread:

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/4...

Event Notification Link (check out which group members may be joining you):

http://www.goodreads.com/event/show/7...

UPCOMING BOOK DISCUSSION: GRANT (PRESIDENTIAL SERIES READ): Start Date - OCTOBER 4, 2010 (Discussion to last until December 31, 2010)

Discussion led by Assisting Moderator - Presidential Series - Bryan

by Jean Edward Smith

Syllabus:

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/3...

Kickoff Thread:

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/4...

Event Notification Link (check out which group members may be joining you):

http://www.goodreads.com/event/show/9...

EVENT NOTIFICATIONS:

We send out "one" upcoming event notification per upcoming book for the year. If you select yes or maybe, at the very least you will receive a reminder seven days before the start of the book discussion; if you select no - you will receive no reminders and no reminder will be placed at the bottom of your profile to remind you of the start date. We only send one because we do not want to trouble our membership with unwanted spam. These event notifications are also published on goodreads so that the general goodreads membership knows what books our group is going to read. Please respond to the event notifications no matter what your response is; it helps the group with its planning. All books are selected by the membership in our polls.

This week we have sent out event notifications for Polk: The Man Who Transformed the Presidency and America by Walter R. Borneman and Mr. Midshipman Hornblower (Hornblower Saga: Chronological Order #1) by C.S. Forester.

There will be no other reminders sent regarding these two books to members. These book discussions will begin on January 17th and February 7th, 2011; they will both last for three months and will be led by Elizabeth S (Mr. Midshipman) and Bryan Craig (Polk).

C.S. Forester

and

Walter R. Borneman

Folks,

Thanksgiving is next week for those of us in the United States. We have in the group - four on-going book discussions.

I have opened up all of the new threads so that all of the moderators can open up the threads early if they would like because of the holiday next week which will most certainly cut into the reading schedule for those of us in America.

Bentley

Thanks, Bentley.

You are welcome Bryan.

Folks, we have been sending out a series of event notifications for next year. You will only receive one notification per any selection and this is it. We try to give as much advance notification as possible. So just bear with us while we are setting things up for 2011.

Just as an FYI: The First Man of Rome has been moved with its discussion folders to the Archival section. I know there are folks still reading this book and you can still post on these threads; but we have to move things around to be ready for the January reads and the official discussion period ended. However, feel free to post in the archival area.

Colleen McCullough

Here is a link to the archival area:

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/group_...

Just as an FYI: The discussion on Guns, Germs and Steel has been moved with its discussion folders to the Archival section. I know there are folks still reading this book and you can still post on thse threads; but we have to move things around to be ready for the January reads and the official discussion period ended. However, feel free to post in the archival area. We keep the threads open so catch up as you can.

Jared Diamond

Here is a link to the archival area:

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/group_...

UPCOMING BOOK DISCUSSION: LEGACY OF ASHES (SPOTLIGHTED READ): Start Date - TODAY JANUARY 3, 2010

Discussion led by Group Leader - Bentley

Tim Weiner

Syllabus:

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/4...

Kickoff Thread:

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/4...

Event Notification Link (check out which group members may be joining you):

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

Please join us and everybody is welcome. The threads are now open.

Bentley

UPCOMING BOOK DISCUSSION:MR. MIDSHIPMAN HORNBLOWER (HISTORICAL FICTION): Start Date - JANUARY 17, 2010

Discussion led by Group Leader - Elizabeth S.

C.S. Forester

Syllabus:

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/4...

Kickoff Thread:

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/4...

Event Notification Link (check out which group members may be joining you):

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

Please join us and everybody is welcome. The threads are now open aside from the Week One - non spoiler thread which will be open tomorrow - January 17, 2011.

Bentley

Folks, Mr. Midshipman Hornblower has kicked off today. See you there.

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/4...

C.S. Forester