The History Book Club discussion

Aw, you guys are so nice.

Welcome Alex. Hope you enjoy the History Club. In my brief experience so far, this is the nicest group of cyberfriends anywhere.

Welcome Richard! I play guitar too. I totally shred. Sometimes I shred with one hand while I read history books with the other. Sorry, those last two sentences were lies.

Hi Alex & Richard, welcome to the Club and I hope you both have a good time here discussing some great books.

Richard wrote: "Hello everyone, dont think ive introduced myself yet. My name's Richard and i live in the beautiful Lake District, Cumbria, England. I'm a BA degree student in Journalism and my interests range fro..."

Welcome Richard to the History Book Club. We are glad to have you. From the Lake District...a very beautiful spot for sure in England. We have a few folks from England in the group. Your interests sound like they will fit right in. Are you still studying for your degree currently and/or did you mean that you have a BA degree already?

Bentley

Well good for you Richard and we are delighted to have you with us.

Welcome, Richard. Glad to have you. You have a good range of interests. Hope you enjoy reading a discussing history with us!

Hello, I am Molly, a 65 year old grandmother and former teacher who happens to enjoy reading.

Hello, my name is Molly. I am a sixty-five year old grandmother and former teacher who happens to enjoy reading.

Welcome Molly to the History Book Club. I am sure that you will find some interesting folders and threads here.

We are glad that you are with us.

Bentley

Hey Molly! What'd you used to teach?

I was so happy to discover this group, although my life at the moment is so busy that I fear I will be lurking for a while - when things settle down, I hope to participate more, and read the group books...
I am English, living in Minnesota - I met my (American) husband in Tuscany, where I lived for 10 years - we moved to England, where we married, and he got a job which relocated us to Iowa City for 3 years then MN - we have been here for over 3 years now, and are planning to stay - we love it. I had a good job to begin with, but lost it in an economic purge at the end of 2008. I was taken on in my current job last August, and we bought a house in December (our rental lease was up), so we are currently putting up shelves and decorating... All the books are unpacked and up, at least...
I love historical writings of all kinds, including historical fiction. (I have all of Ellis Peters and Lindsey Davis, and am currently crazy about Ariana Franklin). I'm not so fond of military matters, though when they relate to ancient battles, I am fascinated.
My boss (I am an Executive Assistant, so work very closely with her) is an Iranian exile, and is very involved with what is happening out there, and in touch with many of the Diaspora - she also has family connections with the Crown Prince, so I am immersed in the action unfolding out there - it can become distressing at times, but looked at dispassionately, it is incredible to watch realtime history in the making.
The Handmaid's Tale is dystopian rather than historical, and when I first read it I thought it was a little farfetched, but I am struck now at how quickly people's rights (particularly these days females' rights)can be stripped away. One reads this in novels and memoirs of the Jews, for example, under Nazi law, but I never thought that this was still possible in a civilised society - sadly, changes can happen overnight when rigorously enforced by state brutality. Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books, while not a great book, tells of the apparently trivial dilemma of whether or not to wear the veil...
Also, still on modern Iran, I am fascinated by the demonisation of the late Shah, in just 30 years, and am interested to compare it with how Americans learn of George III, for example. If the Islamic regime in Iran lasted another 200 years, their history books might tell a different story to the way events and people are remembered today.
Anyway, I had intended to write just a quick hello and thank you for having me - apologies for all this verbiage...
Janette

Welcome to the group Richard, Molly, and Janette!

Thanks for joining the group. We have quite a bit going on right now, and we would love to have your participation. Please feel free to ask any questions you might have, and don't hesitate to partake in any discussion thread that interests you.

Thanks for all of your input, and please feel at home here.

Joe

Janette,

Welcome to the History Book Club.

I am glad that you love Minnesota and the States and are enjoying living here. And it sounds like you are also enjoying your new house.

Citations:

When we cite authors or books we always provide links.

In the second paragraph, you mention Ellis Peters and author Lindsey Davis and author Ariana Franklin.

I have added them above as you should when citing any authors. If the photo of the author is available add that first, then the author's link. If you are just mentioning the author and no photo is available then you can simply add the author's link.

Regarding Iran:

Yes, the situation in Iran is an interesting dynamic and it must be frustrating for your boss at times to say the least. We do have a thread dedicated to the discussion of Iran, so hopefully you can add to the discussion there.

Here is the link to that thread:

The thread is called Inside Iran -

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

Cite Books with Bookcover, Author's Photo when available, and always the Author's Link:

Margaret Atwood

Azar Nafisi

I have added the books you cited for you in the format we use: book cover, author's photo if available and then always the author's link.

Check out the thread Mechanics of the Board for any assistance. Here is the link:

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

Take a look around Janette and jump in where you can. We look forward to reading your posts in the future.

All best,

Bentley

Hi and welcome to our recent members! Glad you could join us.

Hi Molly & Janette, welcome to the group.

Hello Molly and Janette, welcome to the group!

Janette, I love Ellis Peters, too. Maybe I should check out the others you mentioned. Also, I was born and raised in MN, so I understand your love for it.

Ellis Peters

Glad to have you both with us here. Hope you enjoy reading, and discussing, lots of fun history stuff.

Hi Janette! Welcome! History is always in the making; of course our perceptions of it too. I am a fairly old Middle-East hand by now (British sort of cocktail). In the USA you have some very talented people in various think tanks etc. and here I am thinking of Iran as the issue of the moment. I cannot judge the present US administration on actions... bit too early although many signs are encouraging. I survived, along with my wife most importantly the Iraq invasion of Kuwait and I believe (fortunately) to have witnessed many historical occasions. viz. the speach after which, Margaret Thatcher was called the 'Iron Lady by the soviets, the Solidarity strike in Poland and a few other occasions. I hope that the USA does a lot of 'jaw jaw' rather than 'war war'. If not we can see more military history unfolding!

Hi Molly! Got carried away on the Middle-East. My apologies! Welcome!

Hello all -- just joined the group because of interest in some of the topic areas, and appreciation for the care and seriousness that come through immediately. I used to read (when reading for pleasure) almost nothing but fiction, but have spent the last 10 to 15 years gradually making up for that imbalance. Looking forward to following the discussions and participating when possible. I have professional backgrounds in finance and journalism.

Thanks for joining us, Michael.

We are happy to have you with us. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask any of us. We'd be happy to help.

Also, one of the first things our new users should notice right away is our use of the "add book/author" feature. Please try to become familiar with it when referencing books and/or authors. If you need any help, please feel free to ask. Also, you can view our how-to in the mechanics-of-the-board thread. And, below the link is an example.

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

by Joseph J. Ellis by Michael Shaara by John Keegan

Again, welcome aboard,
Joe

Hey Michael, I'm sortof in the same boat: I realized a few years ago that I knew absolutely nothing about anything, and have been trying to correct that ever since. Turns out that it's really fun to learn stuff; now when I take time out to read recent fiction, I feel sortof restless about it.

Hello Michael,

Welcome to the History Book Club,

We are glad to have you with us. I can see that Joe was kind enough to give you some helpful hints to get you started.

If there is anything that we can do to assist you, please feel free to call upon us.

Bentley

Welcome, Michael. Hope you enjoy some good history discussions with us. Always something good to read going on here. :)

Hi Michael,

Welcome to the group from 'down-under'. I look forward to discussing some good books with you soon.

Hello everyone! My name is Lena, and I am an avid history buff! I am mainly interested in the American Revolution, and what I tend to call the Founding Period, during which our system of government was created and subsequently put into action (1787-1797) I am willing to learn about all different time periods in history, and am interested to read more about the Civil War.
If there's one thing that puzzles me, it is that people find history boring. They say they're learning "about old dead guys." This could possibly be owing to the education system, maybe the teachers happen to present it in a boring format. To learn history and truly understand it, not just cast it aside as if it were merely a subject in school, is of the essence. If we are to learn anything from history, we will learn not to repeat the mistakes of the past.

Welcome, Lena.

I totally agree with you... history is far from boring. Especially the history of our founding years. That's one reason why our group has picked a book focusing on that period. We'd be delighted to have you over at the Presidential Series thread!

Also, as a new member of our group, try to become familiar with the "add book/author" feature when referencing books and/or authors in your posts. If you need any help, please feel free to ask. And if you need any additional help, view our how-to in the mechanics-of-the-board thread below. I have provided an example below as well. Welcome aboard!

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

by Joseph J. Ellis by Michael Shaara by John Keegan

Joe

Hi Lena! Great comment about boring old history. I used to be one of those people; it was a great revelation to me when I suddenly realized that no, history's actually totally awesome. All this stuff has happened! Some of it was really cool!

I do think it's partly the fault of our education system. There's just no way that teachers can present the most interesting, new reading to students; they'd have to buy too many books, and we don't have the budget for it. And teachers have too much ground to cover; they can't spend a whole year on, say, just the Civil War. That year has to go to America's entire history, which by nature means we're going to end up with the dreaded List Of Names And Dates.

Thankfully, no one cares what I know anymore, so I can geek out over Cicero indefinitely. :)

Lena wrote: "Hello everyone! My name is Lena, and I am an avid history buff! I am mainly interested in the American Revolution, and what I tend to call the Founding Period, during which our system of government..."

Welcome to this group Lena!

A teacher of mine used to introduce history by saying that we must learn about our Past to understand the Present and prepare for the Future... so History isn't about 'old dead guys' but about those who, despite having died, live on through our learning and reads.

Lena wrote: "Hello everyone! My name is Lena, and I am an avid history buff! I am mainly interested in the American Revolution, and what I tend to call the Founding Period, during which our system of government..."

Hello Lena,

Welcome to the History Book Club. I can see that Joe was kind enough to give you some helpful pointers.

We are glad to have you with us. Special thank you to Joe, Alex and Manuela for their warm welcomes. We have had oodles of snow with a pretty serious very wet foot or two of the white stuff and have tried to get out with some outside help. I have been told that help is on its way (smile).

So I guess I am one of the last to welcome you Lena; but I certainly look forward to reading your posts and there are many wonderful threads where I think you will find some exciting discussions.

All best,

Bentley

Welcome, Lena. Glad to have you with us. I think it takes a little maturity to realize the excitement of history. And a little creativity to teach that excitement to largely immature young people. :) I certainly admire teachers who do that well.

Thank you to everyone for your warm reception! I will definitely acquaint myself with the "add book/author" feature. After publishing this post, I will go check out the Presidential Series thread. Thank you for your helpful suggestions, Joe. Should it be needed, I would like to make it known that I am willing to help out. Once again, thank you for your kind welcomes!

Sincerely,
Lena Z.

P.S. A fact for Alex: Richard Henry Lee was considered the "Cicero" of Virginia.

Lena wrote: "Hello everyone! My name is Lena, and I am an avid history buff! I am mainly interested in the American Revolution, and what I tend to call the Founding Period, during which our system of government..."

Welcome Lena!

In one sense, history is about dead old guys-and gals. Of course that is a most superficial outlook as history shapes us, our cultural norms etc. etc. to what they are today, wherever we are today. The cultural norms will differ of course according to our society and how we developed it over a period of time. It is is what makes it dynamic and as fascinating as any subject. It concerns me not what where your particular interest lies; I am not American, but can understand the interest in many eras and locations, the importance is in understanding mind sets that one can argue "caused" the Civil War in America, as elsewhere.
I am editing a book on the history of Zanzibar at the moment and have many issues to raise with the author over attitudinal issues. I like the guy a lot! The differences are not personal. Nor 'right' or 'wrong'. History is, to repeat, a dynamic subject that is a looking glass for us to examine what really happened and in some cases, who 'we', our people,whoever they were. actually were. 'Right' is something we all wish or want to be, but sometimes the looking glass is a bit honest and exposes things we wish were otherwise. I speak generally here. At various times, Pericles, Timur, Gen. Grant, Franco, even my nemesis Stalin could have been 'right'. Maybe not in a moral sense, but in a historical perspective.
I will avoid rambling more after being wasted after a good day's multi-cultural booze!
Welcome!

Hi Lena, I'd also like to welcome you to the group, it seems you've got people speaking about history already :)

Hi. My name is Michele and I am a retired school psychologist. I also love history and current events, and I hope I'll have time to read at least some of the books for this year. Even if I can't, I'll follow the discussions, and who knows, maybe throw in my two cents now and then. I read history in non-fiction, but also in fictional form, and sometimes get my best insights when doing the latter. Anybody read Wolf Hall?? Loved it.

Hello Michele,

I have not read Wolf Hall.

Hilary Mantel

But we do have some rules and guidelines about citing a book and/or an author. Please check out post 886 that Joe just did for Lena and you will see the explanation of our expectations.

I am sure that you will find what you are looking for here. And we are glad to have you.

All best,

Bentley

Michele wrote: "Hi. My name is Michele and I am a retired school psychologist. I also love history and current events, and I hope I'll have time to read at least some of the books for this year. Even if I can't, I..."

Hi Michele and welcome... I will not berate you for loving fiction, I believe the group is a 'broad church' in that respect but consider, my dear, that even though history is considered in most places as an ART subject it is a science.
Truth can come from a broad view of course, but ultimately apart from a passion for the subject, what is wrong with the discipline of detective work? Is that not thrilling?

Welcome to the group, Michele.

Yes, as Harvey has alluded to, he have a wide array of tastes here, and in my view, the wider the better.

We hope to see your posts on the threads, and look forward to responding to your views on history.

Thanks for joining us.

Joe

Welcome, Michele. There's always lots to read here, often including an historical fiction. At the moment the group read is The First World War, and the historical fiction read is Killer Angels. And, of course, the presidential read and the eternal Federalist papers.

by John Keegan, by Michael Shaara, by Joseph J. Ellis, and by Alexander Hamilton

I discovered Goodreads through Maximum PC magazine ! I am an historian and a retired college teacher. My user name is a clue as to where I live.
My domains in history have been European and North American history in the XIXth century, but my preferred field is military history, particularly the period of the great wars from 1740 to 1815.
Besides history, I read all the novels I can find on time travel and uchronias. I have also a penchant for good detective stories.

Welcome Vergennes,

We are glad to have you with us. We look forward to reading your posts.

All best,

Bentley

Elizabeth S wrote: "Welcome, Michele. There's always lots to read here, often including an historical fiction. At the moment the group read is The First World War, and the historical fiction read is Killer Angels. ..."

Thank you Elizabeth for helping out Michele.

Hi Vergennes, good to see you at the History Book Club, I'm also a fan of military history so hope to chat with you more at the Military History thread.

Welcome, Vergennes. With your interests, it sounds like you'll have a lot of fun here. Glad to have you join us!

Hi all,

I'm Frank, and you may have already heard of me. I'm the husband of Elizabeth S. Like Elizabeth S, I grew up in the Midwest (US), live in Illinois, have 2 kids, and have a Computer Science degree from Brigham Young University. Unlike Elizabeth, I work for a large Swiss bank in downtown Chicago (no, I'm not one of those evil fat-cat bankers...I'm a computer engineer).

I love to read, but have difficulty finding the time. Lately, I've spent my commute listening to various informative podcasts (I highly recommend The History of Rome, for example) or audiobooks, although the commute isn't quite long enough for me to 'read' as much as I'd like. I guess that's both good & bad (the short commute is the good part :)

I'm currently "reading" The Killer Angels (trying to catch up with the group), and expect to launch into The History of The Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire afterwards in order to attempt to get ahead on the reading schedule. However, that may be difficult, since the audiobook (volume 1) is 42 hours, and the library only permits checkout for 2 weeks--that will be difficult on a train ride that only takes ~40 minutes.

Welcome Frank! My copy of the Decline and Fall is sadly lying on one of my booksheves in London-just out of reach as I am in Muscat, Oman. Pity for you, you are not a fat cat! :) Great group here!

Hello Frank,

Welcome to the History Book Club. Chicago is a great city. Elizabeth S is a great member of the group so we have great expectations for you.

You will have to get Elizabeth to show you how to add book covers, author's photos and links. That is one of our few real requirements:

Michael Shaara

I hope you are enjoying the above...it is a quick read but fairly historically accurate.

Edward Gibbon

We will be glad to have you with us during the Gibbon discussion. Well consider one round trip to be at least one hour down and in one month you are bound to have completed at least half of it and it is only March. The problem you might have though is with the library (smile).

We are glad to have you with us in any capacity and this is a great thing to be doing it with Elizabeth...you both can discuss the books together.

Thrilled to have you with us and we look forward to reading your posts.

And a shout to Harvey...as an esteemed and experienced member..what happened to the book cover, etc.

Bentley

Hi Frank, welcome to the group, I am sure you will have a lot of fun discussing great books with everyone here.

Welcome, Frank. I have to say, I think you are the cutest addition we've ever had.

Okay, I'll be serious now. I told Frank he had to join up because he and I have been having so many fun Killer Angels discussions over dinner. Our 8-year old is getting to the point where he says, "Hey, are you talking about THAT BOOK again?"

by Michael Shaara

That is so funny Elizabeth..glad to have Frank too..and suggested that you give him some helpful pointers. He seems to be really interested in quite a few books coming up so that is a great connection to have.