Sometimes I feel like the only person I know who finds reading history fascinating. It’s so full of amazing-yet-true stories of people driven to the edge and how they reacted to it. I keep telling friends that a good history book (as opposed to some of those textbooks in school that are all lists and dates) does everything a good novel does–it grips you with real characters doing amazing things.
Am I REALLY the only person who feels this way? When is the last time you read a history book? Historical biography? You know, something that took place in the past but was REAL.
You are definitely NOT the only person who feels this way BTT. The last historical book I read was The Devil in the White City and that book rocked my socks off and I talk all about it here. And, nerd that I am, I read my college history books all the time. I especially like the ones I have for my American History survey courses. I'm still working on Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow and like to impress people with random facts about the man whose tasty face graces our $10 bill. Did you know that, at one time, people thought that Hamilton was part Black, as he was the illegitimate son of a, for lack of a better word, prostitute and that he was the first American politician to get involved in a sex scandal? Unlike most politicians today, he didn't deny it or try to keep the secret from his wife, and his wife stuck by him until his unfortunate end. Oh wait! Did you know that his son also died in a dual? Seriously, I love that book and have not finished it only because it's really long...I mean really long.
My friend just recommend The Devil in the White CIty to me today. I will definitely have to read it now.
ReplyDeleteoh do, it's very good! and, makes me wish we still had world fairs!
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