What history do you find interesting? Inspire me!

[CaulkheadUpNorth]

I have a pretty good general knowledge, and retain "stories" better than "facts". However my historical knowledge is very low. I'm not sure why this is- I did history at gcse but remember studying Arab/Israeli conflict, history of medicine and the American west - all of which I found dull.

As an adult I've read books about Bletchley park and found that really interesting but that's about it. I have no knowledge of anything pre 1914 except the bare bones (ie Henry's wives).

I'd really like to know more, and wondered if you could tell me what area of history you enjoy or books you've read/places you've been that might inspire me.

greyhoundgymnastics -you arementioning Japanese/American intellectual history

I went to Portland in Orrgon last spring and was amazed by the Japanese and Chinese gardens I visited - could you mention where can I read more about the roots of american fascination of those cultures? Esp in relation to West coast.

I remember that both gardens were built with private donations.

Sex, death, birth and madness from the 18th century to the present day.

Especially where it touches on medicine/science and women's lives.

I can give book recommendations if wanted, but not at almost 1am when I should be asleep!

I would love to learn more about Anni di Piombo - the Years of Lead in Italy, in the 20th century, from the late 60's to early 80's.

History of certain cities -- London, Paris, Vienna, Istanbul, Moscow, New York.
Georgian London.
Paris and the French Revolution.
Fin de Siecle Vienna and Austria-Hungary generally. Austria up to WW2.
-- culture, society, arts, politics are all intertwined in the history of urban areas.

Vikings/Norse/Normans.
History of the Baltic region (including Hanseatic cities).
Heresy, religious reformers, late medieval rebellions, Reformation and Counter Reformation, English Catholic recusants, religious wars.
The Netherlands.

Eastern Europe from late medieval times to modern.
Russian, Soviet Union and post-Soviet Russian history.
German area from 1815 and subsequently Germany.
WW1 eastern and western fronts
Rise of Nazis and WW2 -- all angles including military hardware.

Britain -- especially the Victorians and Edwardians and on through to the interwar period, political, social and literary.
American 20th century political history - certain presidents: FDR, Truman, Johnson, Nixon. And the American Civil War.

Childhood through the ages.
Everyday life in British India.
History and perception of history, history that has a life of its own so to speak.

Well Osborne House (and the knock-on fashion for IoW) and Bourneville village (?? I'm guessing) or any of the Quaker philanthropists' model villages illustrate two contrasting sides of Victorian social history so maybe that era would interest you?

GoshAnn, The Aldo Moro Affair by Leonardo Sciascia is a good book about a high-profile kidnapping at that time.

History I find fascinating

Exploration of Africa by Europeans
African independence c. 1960s
Post WW2 Eastern Europe and the rise and fall of communism
Segregation/civil rights USA
Women's emancipation

Ooh, forgot about ex-monarchs, I had heaps of books and family trees about throneless royal families. Must dig them out again.

Denzel - thanks very much for that, would definitely be more interested in reading about Aldo Moro.

I've watched quite a few films related to that period - Il Divo, My Brother is an Only Child, Good Morning, Night, Romanzo Criminale, but would love to sit down and actually read about it.

I read history at university (or as we Americans say, majored in history in college) and specialized in Tudor-Stuart Britain. I did not pursue it professionally, but I remain an ardent amateur. I spent a year at a Scottish university where I developed a special interest in Scottish history which through the years has expanded to include a deep interest in Scottish social history and literature.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/history_club

Some threads in History Club have other recommendations.

This is brilliant. I genuinely didn't expect so many responses!

I'm now feeling quite excited to start reading more and finding out stuff.

Someone asked for it to be moved to History Club for the recommendations to be saved. That's fine with me.

I really love social history, finding out how different people lived, and indeed how various cultures live today. I particularly like fiction that is based in different countries/cultures/times as I enjoy the story but also learning at the same time. If anyone can recommend books, I would be grateful. Have taken note of Elizabeth's London from earlier post.

TheWanderingUterus - if you have time, I'd appreciate your recommendations. Thanks.

I enjoy lots of different bits. Over Easter I read Victoria's Daughters by jerrold Packard which was fascinating. I'd agree that the biography of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire was great too.
I think, without previously realising it, I am most interested in the role of women in history. So much stuff at school was about men, I am clearly filling in the gaps in my knowledge.

For example, I have read fiction that has enhanced my understanding of Quakers, lives of geishas in Japan, families in WW1 London, couple in Spanish Civil War, how cavemen lived. All great absorbing fiction based on real events and full of well-researched information.

Ooh and just remembered "Nothing To Envy" - real life accounts about living in North Korea. Fascinating.

Thanks OP - I've requested the move.

I've just finished studying History of Medicine from 1500-1930 and it was fascinating.

Especially the role of women in medicine, from their role as wise women and healers in the Middle Ages through to their fight to be allowed to practice as physicians in the 19th century.

Loads of really interesting social history about how women were treated through the ages both as patients and practitioners.

You said you studied this at GCSE - have you read Roy Porter 'The Greatest Benefit to Mankind'? Brilliant (but very long) read. His 'Blood and Guts' is also really good, but much shorter.

Fairy penguin here you go, mix of times, subjects and countries.

Girl trouble - Dyhouse
History of women's bodies - shorter
Inconvenient people- wise
Eve- Petrina Brown
The Girls who went away - Fessler
Spitting Blood - Bynum
The Lives They Left behind - Penney
Asylum Bound- Townsend
Gracefully insane - beam
The road home- Arthur
Female malady - Showalter
Round about a pound a week - Pember Reeves
No one but a woman knows - Llewellyn Davies
Can Any Mother Help me? -
Working Class Wives - Spring Rice
Hot Flushes, Cold Science - Foxcroft
Independent Women - Vicinius
Beyond the Glass - Antonia White
A Woman's place - Roberts
Women and Families - Roberts
Sex Before the Sexual Revolution - Szreter and Fisher
Modern Love - Collins
Goddesses, Whores, Wives and Slaves - Pomeroy
Women of the Asylum - Geller and Harris
The Technology of Orgasm - Maines
Mad, Bad and Sad - Appignanesi
Agnes's Jacket - Hornstein
The Heart of the Race - Bryan, dadzie and Seafe
Elsie and Mairi go to war - Atkinson
Bluestockings - Robinson
Mind Forgd Manacles - Porter
Stella Browne - Hall
For her own good - Ehrenreich and English

Marie Antoinette

I found doing about the industrial revolution and politics really interesting. I did this as my GCSE history in 1991 and yet it still stays with me now and yet I hate anything to do with politics nowadays

Porter was my uni tutor! A maverick, scruffy, mesmerising lecturer absolutely passionate each time about his subject! Sorely missed.

Eleanor of Aquitaine is a person who fascinates me. She was a woman who made her own things happen, in a time when women really didn't do that.

If you like stories, Philippa Gregory is a good author to seek out. She writes great and fairly accurate historical novels.

I have almost abandoned fiction in the last 2/3 yrs and now read mostly history.

I would highly recommend reading Simon Schama's Complete History of Britain. I read it a few years ago, as felt there were gaps in my knowledge. There are three books in the series and it is hugely readable.

I am fascinated by certain periods and events.

I love Irish political history. The Green Flag by Robert Kee is a great book about the history of Irish nationalism.

I also love the history of London. Any era, really, but particularly the 16th/17th/18th centuries. Have you ever read Daniel Defoe's Journal of the Plague Years? Very slim little book that is, literally, his diary from the years when the plague took hold of what is now the city of London. Terrific read.

Peter Ackroyd's 'London Under' is also a marvellous book about subterranean London. So imaginative and endlessly fascinating.

Keep an eye on the listings for BBC4, they often have short documentary series' about all different eras, they are usually very well made and entertaining as well as informative, you may stumble across something that grabs your attention. They often have book tie ins too.

Paxman had a great 3 parter at the start of the year about WW1, because of the centenary (sp?),

Some of the books mentioned above have been made as programmes first so might be worth checking the players for them. Also check out radio documentaries podcasts, radio4 would be a good starting point for when you are ironing or whatnot.