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.

The Medici are fascinating especially Catherine- she was an interesting character to say the least

It's such a nice thread, caulk, thanks for starting it.

I have a list of books to go get, now, too.

For Victorian history you could do worse than George MacDonald Fraser's Flashman series, it is a generally unPC account of a cad and scoundrel who is wrongly feted for bravery when he happens to be involved in the country's great foreign policy events.

Really, every week in Sunday Times Culture throws up some brilliant books you feel you have to get out the library, the latest Penguin on the Russian Revolution by Orlando Figes (I think) is on my list.

GoldenGytha - have you been to the British Museum Vikings exhibition?
I dreamt about them after visiting it

Women's history all the way!

I'm mostly Tudor but I used to be a re-enactor and did 15th-18th centuries, and I did Classics at uni and plenty of Roman archaeology so I'm rather into that as well.

I just love all the everyday life stuff.

This is something I think a lot of MNers would enjoy - In Bed With The Tudors by Amy License. (She's not me but I wouldn't be surprised if she was on here somewhere.)

My dh is the total opposite of me - he's a mathematician by trade but lately he's discovered his longstanding geeky interest in military history can be transformed into research on mathematical modelling of warfare, so he's gone and had papers published in real live history journals . So I'm all about what people ate and wore, and he's up there in the sky juggling numbers of aeroplanes.

Just orders that book tunip, thanks!
I would also recommend A guide to ancient and modern by Natalie Haynes - fab book.

It's not pre 1914 (well some parts are I guess) but I went through a period of being fascinated by the Kennedys. Going from dirt poor Irish farmers to "America's royalty" in a few generations is an interesting look at the US class system.

I've just ordered the Dowden (?) book mentioned up thread from the library. Despite growing up in South Africa, the majority of the history I did at school was on Voortrekkers running around or European history; very little on African history (though, judging by what my cousin's children study, this has changed a lot thank goodness). Then, when I went to university the overview course of African and Asian history was called "Colonies and Colonisation" and I just thought "FFS, I can't go through that again" and didn't do it. The next year they changed the title to African and Asian History (which is what it was). I can't believe that up until the noughties, at a pretty good and left-leaning university, the history course on Asian and African history was framed as being about colonisation. How Euro-centric is that?

CheerfulYank: I heard a story (don't know how true it is) about the Kennedys. Apparently, there were dozens of German Jewish immigrants in the early years of the war, who were trying to get visas to go to the States via the US embassy in London. Joe Kennedy turned them away and sent them back to Germany, and they ended up dying in the camps. A rabbi who was involved in trying to get them out, when he found out what had happened said to Joe Kennedy "You have blood on your hands; you and your descendants will be cursed".

I've heard that too Absy but there are different versions; he sold weapons to the Nazis in one, and in another he demanded a rabbi abd the Jewish passengers on a boat stop praying.

I don't know what, if any, part of it is true. They've seen their share of tragedy though!

Rosie the Riveter is a fascinating documentary about the role of women during world war 2, the contribution they made and how they were persuaded to go back to domesticity after the war was over.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Life_and_Times_of_Rosie_the_Riveter

David Crowther's The history of England podcast is a great way to get an overview of history from Saxon times onwards. He's got to Richard II so far, but I didn't find it for a while, so I'm still playing catch-up - I'm only up to King John. You can find the archives at historyofengland.typepad.com/blog/archives.html and there's a facebook page too

My two favourite eras are rather wide apart - the Roman emperors from Augustus to Nero, and the Abdication crisis of 1936.

I went through a period recently of reading everything I could find about Queen Victoria's children. They really were interesting people, especially Princess Louise, and they all had significant struggles in life. Of course, many of these were because of Victoria's controlling nature and her obsessive devotion to Albert's memory.

Cheerful yank- I read a novel told from the viewpoint of one of the Kennedy nannies. I loved it. Would also like to read more about them.

Someone mentioned queen Victoria's children- if you haven't visited Osborne house then do go. Really interesting and can see their Swiss cottage etc. looking at them as a family was covered a lot when I was 11 and loved it. (Growing up on "her" island did help though!)

I really enjoyed this book - about Queen Victoria grandsons:
www.amazon.co.uk/The-Three-Emperors-Cousins-Empires/dp/0141019980

I really like 19th and 20th century social history if this counts.
The wars are also great to read about.
The Tudors.
The Victorians.

If you would like a light-hearted romp through the kings and queens of England then I recommend the Rex Factor podcast. The two presenters review of the entire English monarchy from Alfred the Great to Elizabeth II including their achievements, notoriety and a bit of context to their reign. Its available on the podcast app on iOS, and there is a website here

Link to the Rex Factor podcast

I don't know where is my mind, took my ages to get the joke of reX Factor

Big list of reservations at the library now

I don't know whether this will be of any help, but I've just discovered that I can download ebooks from my County Library service to read in my browser (or some other devices). It used to be that the only download option for ebooks was very restricted to ePub devices.

And, unlike audiobook downloads, which remain in my account until the minimum 7-day expiry point, I can "return" an ebook as soon as I've finished reading it - which suits me as I'm a fast reader.