The History Book Club discussion

Nice to have you join us, Sandy. "Avid reader" is always a good calling card. Hope you enjoy the books and the discussions!

I could have sworn I posted but looks like I didn't, so I'll rewrite what I had intended on posting:

Hello, everyone. My name is Franciszka, and I'm an eighteen year-old girl from New York City. I have a passion for history and a passion for art, (visual and literary and anything else), which is one reason I decided to join this group - also, I need to get myself to read more, and I figured joining Goodreads groups that meet my interests would be a great push to do so.

Welcome to the group, Franciszka.

Everyone here is passionate about history, so you found the right place. We are all glad that you have joined us, and feel free to chime right in.

Joe

Welcome Franciszka, we hope you enjoy your stay here. We look forward to reading your posts.

Bentley

Thanks for joining us, Franciszka. Hope you feel at home here.

Welcome to Franiciszka! I look forward to hearing your perspectives.

A belated welcome also to Doug and Sandy.

Hello and Welcome to Franiciszka!

A belated welcome also to Mark, David, Doug, Sandy, Sandra and Stephanie.

I look forward to talking & reading your comments. Please stop by for a visit!

Merry Christmas!

Reggie

Hello Anne,

I have now placed your request in the Off Topic Conversation thread.

We do have a wonderful historical fiction book which I would put on your own personal list to participate in regarding the Civil War - Killer Angels. Being so close to Gettysburg...I am sure that you have visited the area more than a few times.

Bentley

Michael Shaara

I had one my strongest reactions ever to a place ever during my trip to Gettysburg when I was 13. My mother said it was very spooky.

Great novel, Killer Angels.

You will have to tell us about it on the Off Topic thread. Sounds fascinating.

Hello
I am a LT in the USN and I love to read history.

Welcome to the group, Jack.

Thank-you for your service. I have been working in support of the US Navy's Information Technology needs since 2000.

Glad to have you aboard. We all are looking forward to reading your posts.

Joe

Welcome Jack,

Thank you for introducing yourself. I echo Joe's words.

I think you will find a lot that should interest you.

Bentley

Hi, Jack. Glad to have you join us. Hope you enjoy our discussions as well.

Elizabeth

Jack wrote: "Hello
I am a LT in the USN and I love to read history. "

Welcome Jack, hope you have a lot of fun at this site discussing good books and finding more good books to read.

Aussie Rick

Jack wrote: "Hello
I am a LT in the USN and I love to read history. "

Hi Jack, Welcome to the group. I look forward to talking to you soon on the crusade group. Drop me a line if you can . Semper Fi! Merry Christmas.

Regulo

Just to introduce myself. I am a retired Air Force member, living in the UP of Michigan. I read a lot of history and biography especially during the winter up here. My wife and I travel a lot so I am a Kindle user but still read real books.

John wrote: "Just to introduce myself. I am a retired Air Force member, living in the UP of Michigan. I read a lot of history and biography especially during the winter up here. My wife and I travel a lot so I ..."

Hi John, Welcome to the Group, I'm glad to meet other retired military members. I look forward talking to you some more, hopefully you can join me on the History crusade group. I think we need some emergency close air support (ECAS)(fire mission) about now! It must be cold now in UP of Michigan. Drop me a line if you can! Merry Christmas!

Regulo

Welcome to the group John. We are all glad to have you here.
Feel free to jump into the discussion, and I'm sure we all are looking forward to your posts.

Joe

Hi everyone! Just joined.

My key areas of interest are: celtic history; anglo-saxon history; medieval history; and biographies, especially of historical women.

Hope to participate fully - once I catch up on all the threads!

Welcome John and Melisende,

If there is anything that we can do to help you navigate the site, please do not hesitate to ask.

There are a lot of interest folders which should capture your attention. John, a kindle is an excellent product and you should be able to find all of the group selections easily.

Bentley

Melisende wrote: "Hi everyone! Just joined.

My key areas of interest are: celtic history; anglo-saxon history; medieval history; and biographies, especially of historical women.

Hope to participate fully - on..."


Hi Melisende,

It sounds like you have some very good areas of interest, hope to chat to you soon about those parts of history and good books you enjoy.

Aussie Rick

John, I lived in Detroit for a short time, but never hit the UP. Everyone says it is beautiful and cold. Does that cover it? The best thing about winter is curling up with a nice book in a warm house.

Melisende, don't wait until you've read everything to jump in. There is so much to catch up on!

Hope you both enjoy the reading and the discussions. Lots to pick from. Nice to have you both join us!

Welcome to John and Jack and Melisende. Melisende, Elizabeth S. is right. You can never really "catch up" so you might as well jump right in .
John, I am a transplant to the "Lower P" myself. Not a fan of Michigan winters, but the UP is amazing. Few people know how much wilderness is actually left there.
Jack, what areas of history are you interested in? Anything particular?

Hello
I am a Lieutenant in the Navy in the Engineering Duty Officer group. I am an avid reader of history, military, ancient, and other.

Jack wrote: "Hello
I am a Lieutenant in the Navy in the Engineering Duty Officer group. I am an avid reader of history, military, ancient, and other. "

Hi Jack,

Nice to see you here, I've got the same interest in books, from Ancients through to the current. I can't seem to stick with one period! I'm currently reading a book on the Eastern Front of WW2, do you have any one favourite area of history?

If you look on my book list there are several in this area. First, congratulations on reading about the Eastern Front. Most do not understand that this is where the German Army died. However, the Germans fought splendidly during 41,42 with their massive encircling battles at Smolensk, Kiev, and others. I am currently reading one that is excellent; it is my current reading book. I would also recommend Barbarossa--excellent book from start to finish. The Last 100 days is excellent as well, but it covers the few days the Reich had left. Lost Victories--is a memoir from Field Marshall Manstein...one of Hitler's finest commanders and possibly the most dangerous general in WWII. Finally, please read the Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William Shirer...his book is the finest book I have EVER read on Nazi Germany. Mr. Shirer was able to tap the Nazi archives plus many of the archives of other nations after WWII, splendidly researched with many original documents. One of the first and finest! I hope this helps you in your studies. Please recommend any you have found interesting. Jack

Hi Jack..how are you...and welcome.

We have some great threads devoted to all of these time periods in the military history folder. Since this is just the welcome thread...I hope you will find your way to those threads because I am sure you will find them most interesting. Aussie Rick is helping me out and is the Assisting Moderator - Military History so you can have some great conversations there with him and other members of our group.

In terms of citing books..we have a rule here in this group that we add both the book cover and the author's photo and/or link. This is a great goodreads feature which populates a huge number of fields for the group members.

I have added the books that you have mentioned:

Alan Clark

John Willard Toland

Jack wrote: "If you look on my book list there are several in this area. First, congratulations on reading about the Eastern Front. Most do not understand that this is where the German Army died. However, th..."

Hi Jack,

There is a great Second World War thread in the Military History section of the History Book Club. You will find most of the books you have mentioned there plus a few others that may take your fancy. One of my all time favourite books covering the Eastern Front is:

by Gottlob Herbert Bidermann

I'd love to chat with you more about the Eastern Front but it may be best in the right area so other readers/people get the benefit of the discussion.

As for ancient history...I guess I am not sure if this is "ancient history", but I love the Byzantine Empire and the Crusades. Of course, the Byzantines were the remnants of the Roman Empire which is also dear to my heart. Got it on tagging books.

Jack wrote: "As for ancient history...I guess I am not sure if this is "ancient history", but I love the Byzantine Empire and the Crusades. Of course, the Byzantines were the remnants of the Roman Empire which..."

Hi Jack,

Love the same period, Bentley has set up some great discussion threads for the Ancient period and there is an ongoing discussion for the Crusades under the Military History thread. My favourite author is John Julius Norwich and his trilogy covering the Byzantium Empire

John Julius Norwich

Those are mine as well. Sipping a bit of bourbon with those is priceless. They are on the top shelf of my personal library!
Byzantium The Early CenturiesByzantium The ApogeeByzantium The Decline and Fall

Hello Jack,

Please click on the following link and this will take you to the Second World War thread on our site:

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

Here is the Crusades link:

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

I have to insist that we move the discussion over to these two links...we also have an Off Topic Conversation thread (here is that link):

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

Thanks,

Bentley

Hello All;

My name is Jim R. and I live in the Baltimore Washington Corridor in Maryland. My interest in history dates back to my parents dragging us kicking and screaming to all the National Parks in the area and eventually evolved into a general focus of mine later in life.

My reading up to this point has been scattered without much direction with the exception of an interest in the Civil War. I’ve been looking for a way to focus my interest and reading and have even thought about going back to get an American History degree. This is just as good and (with the exception of the cost of the book which is a whole lot cheaper than text books) is free.

I’m really looking forward to the discussions and wish everyone well.

Jim R.

Welcome to the group, Jim.

And Merry Christmas. We are glad to have you.

I also have been contemplating pursuing a degree in American History. So far, I have been disappointed with the textbooks I have come across and therefore have relied on books instead. I'm sure there must be good text somewhere, but I have yet to find anything worth my while.

Thanks again for your interest, and I hope we can continue our conversation in history.

Joe

Jim wrote: "Hello All;

My name is Jim R. and I live in the Baltimore Washington Corridor in Maryland. My interest in history dates back to my parents dragging us kicking and screaming to all the National P..."

Welcome Jim to the History Book Club. It sounds like your parents plans worked out in the long run (smile).

I think an American History degree is of course a great degree; but you can get out of this book group as much as you put into it. All you have to do is keep up with the reading (whatever book you select) and make sure you post and somebody will respond.

We look forward to your posts and hope you have a Happy Holiday coming up.

Bentley

Hi,

My name is Joey and I love history. I joined so that I will have interesting conversations about new and familiar history books. I look forward to being a part of the group!

Hello Joey...what part of the US or country are you from? We look forward to hearing from you and reading your posts.

If you love history, you are in the right spot.

Bentley

Joey wrote: "Hi,

My name is Joey and I love history. I joined so that I will have interesting conversations about new and familiar history books. I look forward to being a part of the group! "

Hi Joey,

Welcome, what period of history do you enjoy reading about?

Aussie Rick

Hello to Jim and Joey. Lots of J's right now, glad to have you both! There is always lots to discuss, whether American History or otherwise. Bentley is right, if you put effort into the group you'll come out a winner. There is always someone who thinks about and responds to what you say. So read, comment, and enjoy!

Hello All ~

I just discovered all the groups on Goodreads and found my way here. When I made my bookshelves, I realized that I have as many history books as I do favorites. I earned a minor in history in college, so that might explain the affection for all things historical.

My "bent" in terms of history is really anything, as long as it's well written. I am very interested in feminist and religious history, but as I said, will read just about anything written well and academically sound.

Looking forward to reading some of the excellent selections here!

Best,

Amy

Welcome to the group, Amy and Joey!

This group is growing by leaps and bounds! We are all glad to have you and look forward to reading your posts.

Joe

Amy, glad to have you! I agree with you as far as "bent"s in history. It is all interesting as long as it is written well and accurately researched. Hope you enjoy reading with us!

Glad to have you Amy and welcome to the History Book Club. We look forward to reading your posts.

Bentley

Welcome all new members - skipped a few days because there were other things to do - and Merry Christmas to all!

Merry Christmas to you too Andre.

I just found this website and it looks interesting. I joined the history group because I like non-fiction history, biographies and historical novels. I live in MA outside of Boston. I have an hour commute to/from work and have really gotten into listening to audio books over the last two years. I listen much more than I read as my wife wants me to spend quality time with her when I'm home so finding time to read is difficult. I'm currently listening to The Last Lion by William Manchester which I'm really enjoying.

Mfarrar wrote: "I just found this website and it looks interesting. I joined the history group because I like non-fiction history, biographies and historical novels. I live in MA outside of Boston. I have an ho..."

Hi Mfarrar, welcome to the History Book Club, I'm sure you'll have a good time discussing great books and interesting people. I have a copy of "The Last Lion" by William Manchester in my library un-read so I'd be interested to hear your views on the book when your finished. I found Manchester's "Goodbye Darkness" to be a great first-hand account of the Pacific War, an excellent read.

& by William Raymond Manchester

by William Raymond Manchester

Welcome Mfarrar...we are happy to have you join us. We should become more active once again next week after the holidays.

Bentley

Welcome to new members, Jim, Joey, Amy and Mfarrar or is it Marlowe? I'm interested in Churchill, but have come to him by way of his involvement in colonialism, so have not read any specific biographies yet. Will look at your suggestions.