The History Book Club discussion

Hello all,
I am John Jackson a history teacher at Sunbury Christian Academy in Northumberland,PA.

I have my BA in European History from Eastern University, near Philadelphia. This is where I fell in love with reading European historical books. Let me know, what your favorite books are.

John

Hello John,

Welcome to the History Book Club. We are glad to have you with us of course. This is the welcome thread but let me point you in the right direction for some conversation:

Here is the British History folder:

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

If you have any ideas on expanding it; please send me a note.

Here is the Off Topic - open discussion thread if you would like to discuss books and or anything else:

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

There is also a thread where you can discuss what you are reading now:

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

I noticed you are reading From Dawn to Decadence and we had a great discussion on that very dense book and I did keep the threads open so you may want to post there if you like:

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

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...


John KeeganJohn Keegan

Michael Shaara

Joseph J. Ellis

Jacques Barzun

You only have to just ask and all of us would be willing to give you as much help as you need.

Also, this thread is only for introductions and welcomes so discussion on favorite books can take place on some of the other threads where I have given you already some quick links.

Just jump right in, we are thrilled to have you with us.

Bentley

Welcome, John. Bentley really gave you a great overview of what is going on right now in the group. I hope you have fun joining us in some of the reads, the discussions, and other conversations.

Hi John, also welcome to the group, look forward to discussing some good books with you.

Welcome, Edith! Nice to have you join us. You've lived through a lot of history yourself (although not the ancient history, of course!), so I'm sure you'll have some great perspectives to share.

As our leader, Bentley, mentioned a few messages back:

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...

For the book you mentioned, "A History of the American People" by Howard Zinn, it will look like this:
by Howard Zinn

However, the title I found is a little different from what you stated. Perhaps you meant this book:

by Paul Bede Johnson

The reason we ask everyone to use the "add book/author" feature is so goodreads will link the page for the given book with our discussions. Also to avoid confusion as to which book you meant!

Let us know if you have any questions. Enjoy the group.

I just want to pass a warm welcome to all our new members.

Frank, I'm sure your feeling right at home with Elizabeth by your side. Welcome to the group.

John, as always, we are privileged to have a history teacher amongst us, and I look forward to reading your posts.

And Edith, your an inspiration to all of us. And it looks like Bentley has done a great job laying out some of our standards, but if you need any additional assistance, please feel free to ask.

We are all looking forward to discussing history with all of you.

Joe

Edith we are delighted to have you with us. Elizabeth has done a terrific job in laying out our standards and we are very willing to help you understand what they are and how to use them successfully. You only need to ask.

But I do want to emphasize that we are very serious about them and we are consistent about them across the board..there are no exceptions to following our guidelines.

The good news Edith is once you get the hang of it...you will wonder why you ever thought they were that difficult in the first place.

It really is terrific having someone like you in the group..I can't tell you how many times we would love to have someone in the group who experienced the Great Depression and/or was around when FDR and possibly others were president. We love to have primary sources whenever possible to hear from those who have experienced everything first hand.

Welcome aboard.

Bentley

Hi everyone! I'm 46 years old and live in Norfolk, in the not so sunny (at the moment) UK, with my partner Charlie and my dog Luke. As we have just had a record freezing winter, I've had lots of time to read lately. I read lots of fiction (sci-fi, horror, fantasy) and also non-fiction, mainly history. I just managed to get through Steven Runcimans trilogy on the crusades, which was very interesting, also John Julius Norwich' "A short history of Byzantium", damn, they were sneaky, grisly folks back then!

I did an english studies degree, and the history part was almost all 17th century, lots on Cromwell and the English Civil War. Some 19th Century too. I wish I had read more U.S history, and am really interested in some of the books that you mention. I also like historical novels and narrative histories. I recently read "A Pirate of Exquisite Mind: The Life of William Dampier" by Diana Preston, which I would recommend.

I'm looking forward to discussing some good history books with you all!

Welcome, Kolinski. Glad to have you, especially with such great book recommendations! 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. This is how the books you've mentioned should look:

by Steven Runciman

by John Julius Norwich

by Diana Preston

I'm sure Aussie Rick, our military history guru, will love to have you join the discussion on the crusades:

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

And we've got an historical fiction read going on now, and others upcoming. And lots of other books and topics to discuss. Enjoy!

Hi Kolinski, Welcome to the group, I am sure you'll have a fun time here discussing great books with everyone.

Hello Kolinski...I am not sure if it is just Kolinski and what you would prefer us to call you. Is Kolinski OK. The UK...a great place.

Since I am a fellow dog lover...say hello to Luke for me.

Also, before you get yourself in hot water (smile)...be sure to read our guidelines and then you will realize that what Elizabeth said in message 914 was spot on. We have a requirement that no author and/or book can be cited without the links. We give the reasons why in the Moderator's corner and our guidelines and orientation.

For those folks who are new and are just being welcomed...we always try to have them read the guidelines first and then go directly to the Mechanics of the Board thread to get pointers. Then if you still are having problems, contact one of the moderators right away to explain your situation and that you need help learning how to use the add book/author feature of goodreads.

Let me repeat that the standards are followed by all members and we have no exceptions as you will surely discover. All of the moderators are vigilant as they should be. Without the links added properly there is no way for the goodreads software to cross pollinate and populate our site correctly...so we have to insist.

It sounds like you have many reading interests.

First let me show you how the citation concerning Steven Runcimans should look and be posted:

Steven Runciman

The above shows all of the bookcovers for the trilogy, the author's photo because it is available is linked next followed by the regular author's link with his name. And that is the way that trilogy should be cited.

Second, let us look at your Norwich citation.

This looks like another great book and this should be cited and posted as follows:

John Julius Norwich

The above shows the book cover, but there was no author's photo available so the only thing additional that you have to add is the author's link which shows Norwich's name.

I really do think Kolinski that you will love the Crusades threads and also possibly the Ancient History and/or maybe the British History ones too.

From your interest in Cromwell and the English Civil War...I would seek out our Assisting Moderator - Aussie Rick...he would LOVE discussing both Cromwell and the English Civil War with you and you will find a lot to look at on the Military History threads as well as the British History ones. If there are threads that you think you would like to see; just send me a PM and I will see that we add these additional interest areas. We put them into the queue but we get to them eventually.

If you wish that you had read more US History...then you should find the Charters/Docs folders interesting because there are threads on the Constitution, Bill of Rights, Amendments, etc.

And of course if you like historical novels then you should seek out our Assisting Moderator - Elizabeth S who can steer you in the right direction there. Currently there is a discussion on right now regarding a book about the Gettysburg battle which occurred during the American Civil War (I am sure you knew that).

Here is the book that the group is discussing in the HF segment:

Michael Shaara

Also, if you are interested in learning a bit more about some of the US Presidents...then you should get to know our Assisting Moderator -Joe who now has an ongoing discussion on The American Sphinx by Ellis:

Joseph J. Ellis

Now with the above citation you can see that we always add the book cover when available and it is available most of the time; if no cover is available there will be a rectangular place holder and right beside that icon just put (no cover available); then we are fortunate enough to have a photo of Ellis so we include that next and finally the author's link with Ellis's name.

We always have a spotlighted read which a long slow read that everyone can keep up with. I am leading that one and right now we are reading and discussing The First World War by John Keegan.

Since I mentioned a book and an author; of course I have to add the book cover, the author's photo if available and always the author's link. This is what it would look like for this book.

John Keegan

As you can see there was no photo available so we only have the book cover and the author's link.

You mentioned a book by Preston and if you were not new, we would be sending you back to the drawing board to fix that (smile). The citation should be added as follows:

Diana Preston

This is how the citation should look for the book. The author's photo was not available; so we were only able to add the book cover as we always do and the author's link.

Now the good stuff...it has taken so long for me to write this note that it must now be getting warmer in the the UK and the sun must be out.

We are glad to have you but please read the guidelines, the orientation thread and the thread called Mechanics of the Board.

All best,

Bentley

Goodness Elizabeth while I was putting together my mammoth response to Kolinski both you and Aussie beat me to it.
I see we have different editions for some of the titles (lol). Kolinski must be overcome with all of our help (smile).

Don't worry K...you will get the hang of it.

Bentley

Hi, thanks for the replies, and appologies for missing the whole thing about covers & authors; the pitfalls of over excitiement at all those interesting threads.

Just to test it out, here is a good book I read in January; The Middle East by Bernard Lewis.

Bernard Lewis

This is an interesting introduction/general history of the Middle East, running from Pre Islam to the 1990's.

Hopefully I now understand the add book/author system, and will follow rules in future. Oh, and you can call me Kol for short to save typing :D.

Many thanks. K.

Welcome to the group, Kolinski and Jarad.

Thanks for joining our group! We are excited to have both of you with us and we look forward to reading your posts.

And Jared, we at the History Book Club have a strict policy which forbids any type of advertisement. You have a nice looking site there, but please use your time here to discuss history. Your interest area is very interesting, and we look forward talking to you about it.

If you need any assistance, please feel free to ask.

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 of how book covers and author links are shown below as well.

My examples are in the order of our group start date. We start The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire on May 10th and Master and Commander on May 2nd. And my name is Joe btw, and I moderate the Presidential Series here at the HBC. We are currently finishing up Chapter 2 of American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson by Joseph J. Ellis, and we start Chapter 3 on Monday. We hope to see you both out on the threads!

Mechanics of the Board link:
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/2...

Book cover and author link examples:
by Edward Gibbon

by Patrick O'Brian

by John Keegan

by Michael Shaara

by Joseph J. Ellis

It's not visible as one of our featured selections, but we are currently discussing the Federalist Papers, one paper a week, and we would love to have you with us. Please join in on the discussion here:
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1...

by Alexander Hamilton

Welcome aboard!
Joe

Welcome Joe.... do add the book, author.. Bentley is a great moderator and even if one has hit the sauce is a stickler for the links! No problem though! :)

I'm sending a big welcome back to you, Harvey. And thanks for helping out with welcoming our new members. They feel at home with a friendly group, and we appreciate it.

Oh Harvey....I am almost falling out of my seat laughing. Thank you for helping out with the new members...we appreciate it very much. And thank you for your kind words.

Kolinski wrote: "Hi, thanks for the replies, and appologies for missing the whole thing about covers & authors; the pitfalls of over excitiement at all those interesting threads.

Just to test it out, here is a go..."


Kol thanks and we are glad you are here...You are a quick learner and we like that.

Hello Everyone. I'm Jared and I'm from Denver, CO. I'm very excited to get started in this group. My main interest in history is military history. A copy of the John Keegan book is on its way to me now.

I look forward to discussing with the group.

We are delighted to have you and thank you Jared for your immediate cooperation. We appreciate it tremendously.

You will like Keegan and we have an active discussion underway.

Colorado is a great state to live in. And if your main interest is military history...you should get to know my Assisting Moderator - Military History (Aussie Rick).

Welcome, Jared. Hope your Keegan gets there asap so you can join in all the sooner. It's good stuff! If you don't mind doing more than one at once, there are lots of other great discussions going on too. Enjoy!

Hi Jared, Welcome to the History Book Club, I hope you have a good time discussing great books with everyone here. I will look forward to seeing you over at the Military History thread later on.

'Aussie Rick' wrote: "Hi Jared, Welcome to the History Book Club, I hope you have a good time discussing great books with everyone here. I will look forward to seeing you over at the Military History thread later on."

Thanks everyone

Hi Jared, welcome to the club. I know you will find something interesting to talk about.

Hello. My name is Owen. Just about everything I read has a strong historical component, mostly nonfiction, but sometimes historical fiction too. I'm a big fan of Nathaniel Philbrick (In the Heart of the Sea, Sea of Glory). Other favorite books include Thunder at Twilight (Morton), Devil in the White City (Larson).

I have written one book on Chicago history for younger readers and am currently researching a second book on American history for adult readers.

Other reading interests include constitutional politics and history (Perilous Times by Geoffrey Stone) and civil liberties (card carrying member of ACLU).

I'm looking forward to reading my first book with the history club. Thanks.

Welcome Jared and Owen; Owen just mentioning historical fiction... not a favourite genre, but as a kid I did enjoy Biggles a lot and later Hornblower where the navy and time was very well researched.

Welcome Owen. Morton and Larson are great reads.

Some housekeeping. 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. This is how the books you've mentioned should look:

Nathaniel Philbrick

Nathaniel Philbrick

Frederic Morton

Erik Larson

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask us moderators. Here is a link to our "how to" board:

Mechanics Board

Thank you so much Bryan...I just got called away and was going to help Owen too. Glad that I checked back first and I am glad you jumped right in.

Owen, we are happy to have you but take to heart the guidance given by Assisting Moderator - Bryan. This guideline is not an option here because we try to cross populate our site correctly using the goodreads software. Without doing this, it is impossible to research books and authors across the site.

It sounds like you have been discreet with the mention that you are an author and we applaud your background and accomplishments. Please keep in mind for future posts that we are a zero spam site; no self promotion of any kind. However, if you send me a PM, I would be happy to include your publications on the author's thread.

I am sure that we will have some engaging conversations on the Constitution, etc.

We are truly glad to have you with us. If you have any questions, as Bryan correctly noted, please ask us first. We are all here to help you get your feet wet and jump right in.

Bentley

Bryan wrote: "Welcome Owen. Morton and Larson are great reads.

Some housekeeping. Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with the "add book/author" feature when you comment. It makes things so much easi..."

Thanks to both of you for helping out a newbie. (Looks like I transgressed more than one rule. Oops. I'll familiarize myself with the rules before proceeding. Bentley, not sure how to send you a "PM."

Owen wrote: "Bryan wrote: "Welcome Owen. Morton and Larson are great reads.

Some housekeeping. Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with the "add book/author" feature when you comment. It makes thing..."

I will send you a friend invite, accept and then it will be easier. In fact I will also send you a note and then you only have to reply.

Welcome, Owen. Thanks for taking the time to get to know the rules. There aren't many, and they all make sense and contribute to the great group we have.

We've got lots of great books being read by the group right now, and great discussions on other periods of history as well. Hope you find some good discussions for you to join!

Hi Owen,

Welcome to the group, I am sure you will have a fun time here discussing good books with all the others in the group.

Hello. My name is Lauren and I live in NYC. I have a Ph.D. in English and a Master's in Library Science. My doctoral work was in early American literature but I completed a certificate in American Studies and did a lot of historical research for my dissertation. I'm currently reading a biography of Catherine the Great.

Hi Lauren and welcome. It is always nice to have a fellow MLS'er around.

There are plenty of interesting discussions going on, so I hope you find something you enjoy here.

Lauren wrote: "Hello. My name is Lauren and I live in NYC. I have a Ph.D. in English and a Master's in Library Science. My doctoral work was in early American literature but I completed a certificate in Ameri..."

Catherine the Great, you are reading? Fascinating person! Sounds very interesting. Welcome! I think she is worth a thread!

Welcome to the group, Lauren.

Thanks for joining our group! We are excited to have you with us and we all look forward to reading your posts. If you need any assistance, please feel free to ask.

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

My examples are in the order of our group start date. We start The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire on May 10th and Master and Commander on May 2nd. And my name is Joe btw, and I am an Assistant Moderator of the Presidential Series here at the HBC. We are currently reading Chapter 3 of American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson by Joseph J. Ellis.

Mechanics of the Board link:
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/2...

Book cover and author link examples:
by Edward Gibbon Starting May 10th

by Patrick O'Brian Starting May 2nd

by John Keegan

by Michael Shaara

by Joseph J. Ellis

It's not visible as one of our featured selections, but we are discussing the Federalist Papers, one paper a week, and we would love to have you with us. Please join in on the discussion here:
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1...

by Alexander Hamilton

Again, welcome to the History Book Club, Lauren!
Joe

Welcome, Lauren. You've got some nice credentials there! I hope you have a great time reading and discussing with us. If you like, head over to the "What is everybody reading now" thread to let us know what Catherine the Great book you are reading:

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

And be sure to use the "add book/author" feature Joe demonstrated.

Hi Lauren, I'll add my welcome and hello to the rest of the guys above, I am sure you'll have a great time here.

Lauren wrote: "Hello. My name is Lauren and I live in NYC. I have a Ph.D. in English and a Master's in Library Science. My doctoral work was in early American literature but I completed a certificate in Ameri..."

Welcome Lauren,

I echo the sentiment of all of the Assisting Moderators; we are glad to have you with us but please follow the guidelines for adding book covers, author's photo and author's links.

Your background looks like you will fit right in.

Enjoy,

Bentley

Hello! I am 44, an attorney, but I got my degree in history. My primary interest these days is in ancient and classical history, and I have a related interest in archaeology and prehistory. Glad to have found this group!

Hi Vance ~ Welcome to the group. There are all sorts of discussion threads covering a broad range of topics so I am sure you will find plenty to pique your interest. Good to have you here!

Hi Vance,

Welcome to the group, look forward to chatting with you more about some good books covering your area of interest.

Welcome to the group, Vance.

I'm sure you and our Assisting Moderator in Military History, Aussie Rick, will get along just fine.

Please take a look at message #945 above for instructions on how to add bookcovers and author links. Using these features are very important, and we appreciate your help with it.

Welcome to the HBC,
Joe

Welcome Vance. Glad you could join us.

Thanks for the welcome, guys (and gal), I am looking forward to wading through the discussions!

Vance, we are glad to have you with us. I know you will enjoy the group.

Welcome, Vance. There are lots of discussions to wade through, but hopefully you find a few you want to jump right in with. Glad to have you!

Hello. I'm Carla, I'm new here, and thank you to Bentley for inviting me to join the group.

I'm interested in history and historical fiction, and have been for as long as I can remember. My interest probably started from seeing castles and ruined abbeys as a child and wanting to know more about who built them and why. I write historical fiction set in early medieval Britain (sometimes called 'the Dark Ages'). As a reader I'm interested in a wide range of historical periods.

I see one of your current reads is The First World War by John Keegan. I haven't read that particular book yet - I will see if I can find it. I've been very impressed with some of his other books, e.g. The Face of Battle .

I am currently (re)reading The Lost Gods of England by Brian Branston, a study of the evidence (such as there is) for Old English religion before the conversion to Christianity, and Within the Hollow Crown by Margaret Campbell Barnes, a novel about Richard II of England.

I hope I added the book and author links correctly as per your guidelines!

Carla...you actually did fantastically well.

When I do not find a cover...we usually do this...The Lost Gods of England (no cover available) by Brian Branston; folks then know why you did not add a cover.

Everything else is great. And you are welcome.

Glad to have you.

Bentley

Welcome, Carla. I love how your interest in history started. Would that we all could be blessed to see lots of castles and ruined abbeys, especially as a child! I hope to visit some someday.

There is always something to read and discuss here, even a little historical fiction. Enjoy!