I change all the damn time. My family never buy me books because one day I may be into the Civil War then the next WWI.
Anywho, lately I’ve been reading up on WWI (**The Unknown Soldier was a very good read. It was a lot more casual than what I usually read but I was happy with that. It was nice to be able to put a few human faces on the story instead of just dealing with facts and figures). There is something fascinating about the entire senselessness of it all, especially reading about the fighting that took place just hours short of the armistice.
Before WWI it was from the British and French colonization of North America all the way until just after the American Revolution.
Before that was the Civil War, but that was while I was in high school and I haven’t really studied it at all these years.
So yeah, what era fascinates you and why?
P.S. If anyone has any suggestions on a good WWI book, dealing with the culture of the homefront, and especially on the era between the World Wars in all major participant countries, that would be much appreciated.
Greece and Egypt, especially the Ptolemaic era. Best of both worlds there! English history in general, especially how it relates to the monarchy. I tend to fluctuate between those two in intensity. I also read all the U.S. and Presidential history books my mother brings home.
I was a history major and though it hasn’t done much for me career-wise, I’m still endlessly fascinated with it. My favorite era is U.S. 1960s-70s, but I also love the colonial period. And for some reason I’m obsessed with the history of the British monarchy.
It’s actually pre-WWI, but you should read The Proud Tower by Barbara Tuchman. Also check out Dreadnought by Robert Massie - its central theme is the naval race between Britain and Germany but it’s also a good general history of the pre-war period. (Massie also wrote Castles of Steel, which is an excellent history of WWI naval warfare.)
For the inter-war period, I’d recommend The Dark Valley: A Panorama of the 1930s by Piers Brendon
I enjoy the medieval period basically 400-1400. Right now I’m on a bit of an Ireland kick but I like to cover all of Europe. I mainly enjoy reading about the technology that was employed in daily life and enjoy combat stratagems.
I don’t really have any preference at all. I’ll read about any historical or scientific-historical thing you drop in front of me: Greek, Roman, English, Chinese, history of salt, pre-Columbian American, whatever.
I’ll read just about anything on European or American history, but my particular favorite is 20th-century American cultural history. I’ve got a huge interest in the history of broadcasting, and that period coincides with all of it.
I teach mostly late Medieval through the 17th century, but I’m increasingly obsessed with Byzantium and Medieval Japan. And Medieval Islam. God, and the Minoans, They’re awesome. Oh, and Sumerians. The Akkadians and Assyrians and all those bloodthirsty bastards can suck it, but the Sumerians are swell.
I’m obsessed with the Bubonic Plague, which from the 14th century to the 17th, killed almost 200 million people. The social implications of having so many people die just fascinates me. I like to read all I can about it, even historical fiction that features it. And did you know that even today, 1,000 to 3,000 people still get it every year? I would like to become an expert on it some day.
Give me collapses, declines, revolutions. The fall of the Western Roman Empire (and the subsequent history of the Eastern Roman Empire) is, for me, one of the most interesting periods of history. Also Greece, Egypt, anything involving the Americas in the 16th century, the Black Death, Venetian history (blame Medieval II for that). I also like looking at the various personalities throughout history, what people such as Napoleon, Alexander, Caesar, Frederick etc, actually like?
History which I don’t like; Regency foppery and anything whatsoever to do with the history church (except the Crusades, which are always fun). Oh, and the Spanish Civil war I don’t like, because ‘the bad guys won’. Also WWI, which is just a depressing waste of life and historical headbanger (I always want to shout in the ears of Haig and the like - stop marching your men towards machine guns! Are you mental?!).
Isn’t it interesting in itself how people find different things interesting? Although that does sound like an unusual and thought-provoking area of study.
Personally I find the Cold War absolutely fascinating, in all its aspects, military, political, cultural, ‘what might have been’ etc
In fact I had a good-naturedly heated discussion with my friends a couple of nights ago about what sort of person could actually participate in a nuclear exchange, it came as a surprise to them all that despite my inordinate fondness for The Button I know that I wouldn’t actually be able to press it.
Currently reading ‘Fighter Missions’ by Bill Gunston and Lindsay Peacock, published in 1988 it provides an overview of the various types of combat missions that would have been flown in a ‘Hot War’ of the period. Next on my reading list is A Long Long War by Sebastian Barry set in WW1 and then Perestroika by Gorbachev
I like The Plague, too!!! (wait, I don’t mean it like that…) Ever since I did a term paper in junior high, decades ago, I have been utterly fascinated with the Middle Ages. Primarily English history, days of old when knights were bold. I have, and do, read non-fiction and historical fiction (not bodice-rippers!). (Visiting my mother I wanted to watch a show about the plague on the History Channel, but she insisted on one of the afternoon judge shows so she thinks I’m weird and I think she’s shallow). One of my favorite books is Forever Amber and I highly recommend the out-of-print novels of the late Norah Loft, who wrote about English history from Roman times through the Middle Ages, Victorian Times, and ending up in in the 1970’s…My secondary passion is WW1. Don’t care reading about war, much, but there was something about WW1 that I find endlessly fascinating. Probably Civil War buffs feel the same as I do.
I love Medieval history, especial England. English and Celtic history in general. Roman and Greek ancient history. The ancient world in general and I have an insatiable interest in WWII. I also like to study the Founding Fathers and our Greatest President*, Theodore Roosevelt.
Mesopotamia, medieval France, and renaissance England. I was a history major (hi, other history majors!) and these were my three areas of interest, though the renaissance England was more from the literary perspective than the other two.
One strange facet of my schooling: All throughout junior high and high school, my American and Ohio history courses never progressed past the Civil War. When I went to university, I had to take at least two “modern” history courses, meaning set from the last half of the 19th century forward. Most people chose American history courses. I chose Japanese.
So my only exposure to the world wars in any history class was from the Japanese perspective. I find I have a few gaps in my knowledge.
War history, especially military blunders. Civil War is #1, with World War I #2 (I’m not particularly interested in WWII, though I did concentrate on Europe between the World Wars in college).
English history, especially in the Houses of York, Lancaster, and Tudor.
The history of Paraguay, a fascinating and sad tale.
so she thinks I’m weird and I think she’s shallow). One of my favorite books is Forever Amber and I highly recommend the out-of-print novels of the late Norah Loft, who wrote about English history from Roman times through the Middle Ages, Victorian Times, and ending up in in the 1970’s…My secondary passion is WW1. Don’t care reading about war, much, but there was something about WW1 that I find endlessly fascinating. Probably Civil War buffs feel the same as I do.