Popular History discussion

I'm just checking to make sure we still have members! Hi, everybody. I'm Doug, and I used to teach high school history. Now I'm a GED tester in a federal prison. I was also an infantryman in the Army and a storekeeper/master at arms in the Navy.

I live in the country with my wife and enjoy fishing, hunting, leatherworking, living history, black powder (flintlock mostly) shooting, making primitive bows, woodworking, writing, songwriting and playing guitar, and a lot of other fun and exciting things.

I love all history. I go through phases. Currently, I'm reading a lot of Vietnam memoirs. A few months ago, I was on the Trans-Mississippi, Missouri, guerilla war in the Civil War. Sometimes it's ancient Greeks or medieval Japan. I don't really have a focus. I like all history. I really love archaeology, too. I'm mostly into military history, but social history interests me as well.

Do we still have a group here?

I'm still here, but have had some things come up which took me offline for a bit.

I'm a history buff myself, but am looking to change it up and expand into subjects other than American or European history. I just got Guns, Germs, and Steel and hope to read it soon. I also just got Friedman's The World Is Flat as I think I need to read about more modern history and globalization.

Cool! I was just checking because there hadn't been any activity for a while. I'm reading a lot of Vietnam memoirs right now.

Nice to meet you!

I think the only book I have close to that subject is The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien. Otherwise, most of the fiction and historical fiction I have is of older times - Civil War and earlier.

I guess since I was around for the latter part of the war, it doesn't seem as much "history" as it may to others. But time is passing and I'm sure this perception will change. At least for me.

We're living history every day. I love Civil War history. I'm planning to start researching a book on the Missouri/Kansas border war within the next couple years. A lot of excellent Vietnam memoirs have been published the last few years, so I'm reading them now.

I read a bit of historical fiction, but mostly I read memoirs. I really love the Aztec series by Jennings.

A couple years ago, I read some excellent pirate books. This one is my favorite from them:
by Richard Sanders

Funny you should mention pirate books. I work in a used bookstore and saw this:

by
Barbara SjoholmThe Pirate Queen: In Search of Grace O'Malley and Other Legendary Women of the Sea


I got it and hopefully can read it this year.

Very interesting!