Introduce yourself!

[Menshevik]

Finally, a world history group! What countries/periods of history are all of you interested in?

Personally, I love Russian history, from the 1700s to present (but am especially interested in the Soviet period...October revolution, Great Terror, WW2). I'm currently studying Russian politics and history in grad school, and I've spent some time studying in Moscow and St. Petersburg.

How about all of you?

[outraged2]

1. Hi

... mostly World War II, but not so much the military campaigns My main interests are Nazis, resistance/occupation, and deception and cover operations.

I also like espionage and cold war subjects.

[Robeson]

2. Thanks for pushing this group through Menshevik!

:yourock:


I like ancient history such as Punic, Roman, Greek, etc. I like Byzantine, aka East Roman Empire, and the inheritor of it, the Ottomans, which of course, plays heavily into your favorite, Russian history. But, I love all world history in general, and can't get enough of it.

Thanks for following through with getting this thread going.

[cruadin]

3. My primary interest is in British and American history from...

the pre-Colonial era through the end of the 19th century. I am also interested in the Classical Age (the origins of Western Civilization), but I don't like to exclude any era or region.
I like to discover the connections and parallels between seemingly unrelated subjects, which obviously leads in unanticipated directions.
Basically, I enjoy learning about who we are as a society, and how and why we got here.

[Spider Jerusalem]

4. I'm interested in European history...

from the Roman empire through the 19th century, with a particular focus on Britain and Western Europe during the Middle Ages. But my historical interests tend to be all over the map...right now I'm working my way through all 6 volumes of Gibbon's "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire"...

[cruadin]

5. Wow--the unabridged Gibbon, I salute your effort.

I picked up a used (1943 edition), single volume ("condensed for modern reading") copy of Gibbon's "Decline..." a few years ago. I was immediately struck by his incredible prose style, and only later came to appreciate the breadth of his scholarship.
If all historians wrote with his flair for language and mastery of subject, far fewer people would be "bored" by history.

[Spider Jerusalem]

6. I think the closest to Gibbon we've seen (relatively) recently...

is Will and Ariel Durant's "Story of Civilisation", which, while weak in some parts, comes closest to the sort of comprehensive effort undertaken by Gibbon...

[Odin2005]

57. I recently slogged through the UNABRIDGED version of AJ Toynbee's...

A Study of History. Man that was a lot of reading, but well worth it, Toynbee's cross-civilizational analysis and comparisons are amazingly comprehensive.

[PittPoliSci]

7. hi!

i'm Wil and I like Soviet Russian history. Especially stuff relating to Khrushchev and the early civil wars.

[starroute]

8. A bunch of different periods

My strongest interest is in ancient history -- especially the period between about 1500 and 500 BC.

I've got a certain fondness for the period between 750 and 1250 AD in all areas of the world.

I'd like to know more than I do about the history of China and Japan.

I'm very interested in European history of the 17th century and early 19th century.

And I'm fascinated by the period between 1919 and 1939.

[bobbieinok]

9. German history--all periods, esp 17th -19th century

also the Napoleonic wars

British history...esp 17th-19th century...a favorite (popular history book) Josephie Tey's Daughter of Time, about Richard III

[Lefty48197]

10. Roman History

never knew much about it until I started collecting ancient coins. They gave me an introduction. Fascinating stuff!

[OrwellwasRight]

11. Hmmmmm

Interesting group.

Even though I taught some world history (at the high school level), my knowledge is still spotty (so much to know and so much depth once you think you "know" something). I'm especially intrigued by economic history, the rise of capitalism and nationalism, and basically studying any trends that can give me insight into helping people to see and understand the society we live in today.

I'm currently reading Weath & Democracy by Kevin Phillips (author of the Politics of Rich & Poor). Although it can be dry in places, I think it is useful and fascinating--I'm going to try to get it to be one of the books of the month over in the non-fiction forum.

Thanks for organizing.

[Dragonfly]

17. I'm focused right now on

European history, circa 1930's-40's, for similar reasons re contemporary America. The city public library just found a relatively new book for me a few weeks ago that dovetailed with me finding a library DVD that I had wanted to see for some time, mixed out-of-place with various music DVD's.

The book is: "The Plot Against America," a fictional work by the great novelist Philip Roth built on the premise of what might have happened in the U.S. if famous aviator Charles Lindbergh would have defeated FDR in the 1940 prez election. I'm about halfway thru it and the "domestic intensity" is rising fast.....what a mind!

The movie, seen a few nights ago, was "The Pianist." Talk about having your normal lives changed quickly/drastically!

Kevin Phillips has done a great job blending intellect and heart to warn us of the possibility of impending disaster. His work is a steady linchpin with some moderate Repubs that I talk to occasionally via work routines.

Glad to see you here and others, as well, talking about the long road leading us to where we are now.

[Endangered Specie]

12. Mostly Military history

[deadparrot]

13. Hi.

I'm into mostly premodern European stuff. Ancient Rome, especially, but I also love the ancient Greece, the European Middle Ages, and the Renaissance/Reformation.

[newyawker99]

14. I like ancient history....Roman, Egyptian and Greek are

my favorites.

:-)

[Astarho]

15. Persian History

is one of my favorites, but I enjoy pretty much all time periods and places.

[robbedvoter]

16. Roman history - post Republic (I Claudius)

France & England pre the 100 year war (les Rois maudits)
England - Richard the IIIrd and before (I am impassioned about the sliming of his good name because he was the last of his dinasty - see echoes in the present) (Daughter of Time)
France - Henry V and before - the religious persecution of the huguenots (Queen Margot)
France - Marie Antoinette - L-affaire du colier - how a con job lead to downfall of royalty in France
I got to love history through novels.

[JNelson6563]

18. This is so cool!

I love history, all kinds really. My in depth studies really begin in Europe, the middle ages through the reformation. I enjoy reading/learning pretty much any region and/or time period though. I think history is our guide for the future and the more we know our past, the better we can direct our future.

I have some work done on a book about William Marshal. An amazing career in service to the Plantagenets.

Will be checking in now that I know this group is here! :toast:

Julie

[outraged2]

19. cool

I came across William Marshal studying the rebel barons and the Magna Carta. He is an interesting character. Is the book you worked on out or available?

[JNelson6563]

20. Unfortunately

I have not yet completed it. I had to put it on hold to overthrow the government. The good thing about the Marshal, he's not going anywhere and will be there when I get back to work on it.

Julie

[outraged2]

21. understood, thanks (nt)

[DemBones DemBones]

22. Medieval and Renaissance history are my major interests

along with most anything English, since that's where all my family came from, or still is. The Tudor period is a special interest because I've visited the homes where some of my family lived in Tudor times, actually stayed in a relative's home that was partially built back then. But I've also always been interested in pre-modern Asian history and the Byzantines.

[Xipe Totec]

44. Iberia, XV-XVI Century

The turning point of many modern civilizations.

That is my particular interest. It is amazing to see how interconnected this period is to our modern world.

[Dzimbowicz]

23. European History for the most part

I have a Ph.D. in Modern European History (1789-present) with an emphasis on political-military events. I am also quite interested in military history of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in general, especially when a major power is involved in fighting against independence or resistance movements.

BTW, my doctoral dissertation was about the underground resistance in Poland during the Nazi occupation ("The Power of the Idea versus the Force of Arms").

[Anarcho-Socialist]

24. Everything, I couldn't possibly choose my favourite periods of history

:)

[Beware the Beast Man]

25. Cool! Just discovered this group.

Graduated with a B.A. in History (no, that was not my original major!) with a concentration on Medieval European and Byzantine History. I'd have to say Byzantine history is my favorite, but I'm also interested in World War I (I did my senior paper on the Zimmermann Note), Colonial Pennsylvania (since I grew up there), as well a histories on popular culture (because it can't be all war and politics). I haven't done the history thing in a while, so I'm glad I found this group!

[HawkerHurricane]

26. Hi, I'm HawkerHurricane...

and anyone who can't guess my favorite historical period isn't trying.

I started out with WW2... but to understant WW2, you have to know WW1... to understand WW1, you have to know the Franco-Prussian war, the Napoleonic Wars, the 30 years war, the 100 years war, yada yada yada.

I started with WW2 and worked backwords, OK?

[onager]

27. Ha! HH, I know the feeling...

Pull a historical string, and you find the whole world connected to it...example:

I got up all bleary-eyed this morning, turned on Sundance Channel, and they were showing the incredible 1965 movie The Battle Of Algiers.

You can see just about everything happening in Iraq right now in that movie. "Throwing flowers and dancing in the streets?" There's a moment in the movie when a French paratrooper plaintively insists: "The Algerian people love us! We've been here for 130 years!"

When the French complain about "terrorists killing innocent people with bombs in bicycle baskets," an Algerian responds: "Your bombers drop napalm and kill villages full of innocent people. Give us your bombers and you can have our baskets."

And why else should we care about what happened in Algeria? Because when the country finally won its independence in 1962, one of the first "students" who showed up to learn from the Algerian revolution was Yasser Arafat.

Oh, and...great thread! I'm leaving next week for a long biz trip and may be absent, but I'll be here when I can.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

28. so glad to be here!

My focus has been on ancient and early civilizations (obsessively - Egyptian and early north America) but current events have stimulated my interests in 'recent' world history...

[LibertyLover]

29. Introducing myself

I was browsing the DU groups and realized that this forum would be interesting for me. I have a BA in Ancient Near Eastern History and Culture from the University of Chicago, a MA in Art History and Museum Training from City College of the City University of New York and another Masters in Military History and Modern East Asian History from George Washington University.

My husband and I are historic re-enactors, members of a group called The Longship Company, which does Viking, as well as members of the Society for Creative Anachronism. So I have some facility with medieval history.

I have been interested in ancient Egypt since I was a child - my mom was a history teacher at the high school level and was into history as well, so I come by my fascination naturally - LOL.

[Menshevik]

31. hey!

I received my BA from GW. Minored in Russian and Eastern European history :)

[LibertyLover]

32. Menshevik

Hello fellow GW alum!

[Lithos]

30. All periods

All areas.

I love history.

L-

[WMliberal]

33. Hi, lifelong history nerd here.

I just graduated with a degree in History from William & Mary.

I like 20th century history (especially studies of totalitarian regimes and resistance to them, geopolitics, the Great Depression, and the 60's) Chinese History (Qing- Present), Crusading history, Colonial U.S. history (I went to W&M, duh. Took a class on Williamsburg in Colonial era and the class met in CW).

I detest leaders who ignore the lessons of history and I think every world leader should have at least one historian in their group of advisors.

[scarletlib]

34. I love all history and just take to various periods at different times

I am especially interested in the Civil Rights movements of this century in US

[yebrent]

35. History of indigenous cultures and their time of initial contact...

..with civilized culture. Pre and post contact history of North and South America. And the birth of our culture in the fertile crescent.

[Anarcho-Socialist]

36. Everything, I love all history n/t

[fudge stripe cookays]

37. I dig European and American history...

Especially before, during and after the World Wars. The whole "Paris in the 20s" thing I find fascinating. So much going on in arts and letters, only to be interrupted by major cataclysms.

And with my fascination for genealogy once again recapturing my interest, I've been taking more of an interest in Civil War and pre Civil War events here.

Two if my great granduncles fought for the Union, and 1 was in Libby Prison for awhile, so reading over military files that I've ordered from the NARA has become a interesting lesson in real life history for me.

I've purchased a lot of related books lately, and when I have enough branches dug up, I'm going to attempt to write our Smith family history. :-)

[bleedingheart]

38. I love history. All history....can't pick a favorite

[GOPBasher]

39. Hello everyone.

I'm not a history major or anything -- I only took a few classes of it in college -- but I've always had a keen interest in it. I'm mainly interested in the ancient Greeks and Romans, the Hebrews and later the rise of Christianity, the Enlightenment and the French Revolution, American history, and the past 100 years: WWI, WWII, cold war, post-cold war.

[Matilda]

40. Hi, all!

I'm interested in most history across the board, but I probably know
a bit more about English History due to my anglo-Aussie upbringing.

[solinvictus]

41. Hi!

History major, concentration in modern Europe. Political science minor specializing in comparative politics. I love Russian, German, and Eastern European history with lots of recent reading on the Spanish Civil War.

[architect359]

42. Hey all

Not a history major as some others but an avid reader. Since college, I've become interested in architectural history and to some extent, art history. It is enlightening to understand why such and so social norm became a custom or to see that there has been many interrelationships between societies.

[greyl]

43. I value the story of humans on Earth prior to our culture writing it.

Iow 3 million years ago forward, not 10,000 years ago forward.

edit: I respect Daniel Quinn's writing very much. http://www.ishmael.org/welcome.cfm

[Hello_Kitty]

45. I like the early 20th century

From the beginning through the Depression. This country went through tremendous changes in the area of worker's and women's rights. Prohibition was also a fascinating feature of it. I think what's going on now with the current admin. is an attempted reversal of the New Deal and other social changes that took place then. There is a concerted effort afoot to return this country to the "Gilded Era" of the late 19th/early 20th century. The parallels are amazing to me.

[Fatima]

46. Fighting Sail

of the 18th and early 19th centuries. Horatio Nelson, Thomas Cochrane, etc. Naval war of 1812 (will try to find Roosevelt's book of that title). Barbary pirates. General historical interest in the period. Also, Cook's voyages of discovery, the Bounty mutiny and its aftermath, and the French Revolution. It's hard for me not to get pulled in different directions, but there you are. Currently reading fiction set during the period- Patrick O'Brian's series of novels about a sea captain and his physician friend during the Napoleonic Wars.

On a side note also interested in history of the Middle East, and have picked up several books on the subject.

edit: maybe we can revive this thread! :)

[mtowngman]

47. Russian History is also my favorite

particularly interested in learning more of Romanov Dynasty. Massie's biography on Peter The Great is one of my favorite books. Look forward to discussions. Peace

[mdmc]

48. I am interested in the labor movement and

the American revolution. I live near West Point, and near where George Washington refused the crown.

[LadyoftheRabbits]

49. :D

Glad to know this group exists... I love British history, any period, and European history in general. American history is cool too.

[otherlander]

50. Hi, everyone...

I'm interested in all of history, but South American history seems particularly interesting. I'd also like to know more about the history of Ireland, since that's where my family comes from.

[stop the bleeding]

51. Introducing myself

I am avid watcher of the History channel, outside of TV I read things like National Geographic. I know you all are probably laughing at where I get my information from, but either way it doesn't make me any less curious as to why we are/who we are today as a society.

Special interest(s) include:

the history of our DNA - the families
the period(s) dealing with the births of all Mediterranean and Middle Eastern religions.
American Indian
1600's-present day with American colonization(s)
of some of the great societies intrigue me as well, ie: the Aztecs, Incas, Easter Island, Egypt, SW American Indian society(s).

I have added this forum to my special ones I look forward to reading what people have to offer on where we came from and how we got here.

:toast:

[ganeshji]

52. Just found this

I'm interested in Russian history, as well as Indian history of all periods.

[Mendocino]

53. History of polar exploration.

Other than that, I'm a history generalist.

[eyepaddle]

54. I spent one season in McMurdo and have a decent

Antarctic exploration library (though by no means exhaustive).

If you'f like to get a dialogue going shoot me a PM. There are a few other folks around here with ice time (qnr for one) and it seems to be alomst impossible to be part of the US Antarctic Program without first becoming a bit of a student of polar exploration.

It seems that Nansen will never quite get his full due as the titan of polar explorers he was, although I personally find Amundsen to be the most compelling--if certainly not the most dramatic!

:hi:

[outofbounds]

55. This is a wonderful category

I don't have a favorite period, I just like to read about history and different peoples perspective on it. After all it is the road to where we are and how we got to here. I like the History channel and Nation Geographic both magazine and channel. I'm looking forward to learning from you all. This group will give both direction and ideas of periods, events and people that I have overlooked.

[Odin2005]

56. I'm interested in the history of Western Civilization in general.

I've always been interested in "civilizational" approaches to history. I am a big fan of the historical theories of Arnold J. Toynbee.

I'm also become interested in interested in cyclical historical patterns after reading this book: http://selzlab.blogspot.com/2006/12/cycles-of-history.html

[Adsos Letter]

58. Great area

I especially enjoy apocalyptic/eschatology studies along the lines of McGinn's "Antichrist", "Visions of the End", or Boyer's "When Time Shall Be No More"; anything to do with how people's "end-time" beliefs have influenced (or been influenced by) history.
Also, how the "Antichrist Legend" to use Bousset's term, developed in both Western and Byzantine history.

:D

[Jed Dilligan]

59. My interests are numerous

Shang-Qing China, Bronze Age Near East, 16th-18th century Europe, South Africa, and pre-Columbian Mesoamerica are special interests of mine.

[shenmue]

60. I like ancient history.

:patriot:

[pscot]

61. I minored in 19TH century British history

And I've read widely, but unsystematically in American history, cultural aspects of the middle ages, and the Greeks and Romans. I know far more than is needed about Genghis Khan, and less than I should about the Maya. I'm a sucker for a good biography, and I especially like books by men who were there; Thucydides, Xenophon, Julius Caesar, Grant's memoirs, Herndon's Lincoln. A good presidential biography is always a treat. I'm finishing Flexner's Washington now. If I find something that sparks my interest I read around it. I re-read the Illiad recently, and that led me to Aeschylus' Agamemnon, which I should have read 40 years ago. Reading history is one of lifes enduring pleasures

[k8conant]

62. I majored in history, mostly European

Then I got an MA in French.

All this a long time ago.

My favorites at that time were the Middle Ages, Renaissance and Reformation as well as 20th century.

Since then, I've learned more of US history by helping my kids out, as well as WV history. My 3 WV kids all got the Golden Horseshoe which is an award for the top 8th graders in West Virginia culture and history.

[izzie]

63. I sort of like the social part of history. I did a lot of that in college.

I just like to know why they did these things. I do like Russia and also the whole middle part of Eur. before WW1. I am also into family history which falls into the whole mess in Eur. and why we came over to this country. Interesting that doing this, until my age, no one in the family mixed in with any one but another Am. or English. I do not think I have even found some one that came from Scotland. Then we have mixed people from northern Eu. then all over. It just fits into my thinking that the world is not the world I was born in(30's) and all is changing. Good deal as far as I can see, but just an interesting find in all this family stuff. I think it makes a better world. Any one have any thoughts about that find?

[pingzing58]

64. I've been researching Champa Culture in Vietnam and Malaysia.

The Hindu influence is fascinating as one sees in their cultural dances. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwyMC1-cl04> You can see the influence of Hindu and Moslem cultures. A seafaring people who developed their culture as they traded and were the guests of the people they traded with.

[izzie]

65. I like the social part of history.

It is interesting how the society changes as it moves along. Right now I think we are witnessing the dying gasp of Islamic fundamentalism. In fact all types of fundamentalism in the worlds religions. It is not pretty but then look at WW1 and the death of all those empires and what that did. It seems to get really bad before it folds up and the society moves on to better places. We see the same type stuff go on in history all the time. Social movements.