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Permalink Reply by Ray Crego on November 10, 2011 at 12:55pm

I am actually currently reading Washington on my kindle. It's been very good. 

Next I'm going to read a quick fiction book as a palate cleanser, but afterwards I will read Colonel Roosevelt by Edmund Morris. His first two books on TR were awesome and really got me into biographies for the first time.

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Permalink Reply by Native Son on January 21, 2013 at 1:37pm

Colonel Roosevelt is well worth the reading. Years ago, I foolishly donated my hardcover copy of Morris's first volume of the biography of Theodore Roosevelt to charity.

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Permalink Reply by Davis on November 10, 2011 at 2:33pm

I have found the high school text book The Bible and Its Influence, Student Text [Hardcover] immensely helpful in introducing students to an understanding of not only allusions in poetry, drama (Shakespeare), modern fiction and yes, history, too, as well as a host of other academic subjects (the arts and music, rhetoric). Here is the Amazon.com book description and editorial reviews. website address—

http://www.amazon.com/Bible-Influence-Student-Literacy-Project/dp/p...

I highly recommend it as a companion to all history books.

Davis

 

The Bible and Its Influence, Student Text [Hardcover]

Book Description

Publication Date: January 19, 2005

The student textbook is a hardcover, full-color, 387-page volume that covers the content of Genesis to Revelation. It is described as a feast for the eyes for its spectacular beauty and contains some of the world s most famous art, as well as sidebar features on how the Bible has influenced literature, poetry, music, art, history, public rhetoric, and Western civilization. Special one-or two-page features include Abraham Lincoln and the Bible, Handel s Messiah, The Bible and Emancipation, Shakespeare and the Bible, plus many more. The textbook was edited by Cullen Schippe, vice-president and publisher for Music, Religion, and Social studies at Macmillan/McGraw-Hill and Chuck Stetson, founder and chairman of the Bible Literacy Project. The book was examined prior to publication by 40 reviewers, with their feedback incorporated into the editing of the text.

Editorial Reviews

Review

A signal achievement. Will serve as an excellent and even-handed introduction to the Bible. -- Marc D. Stern, American Jewish Congress

An undisputed triumph of scholarship and presentation. The achievement is breathtaking. -- Leland Ryken, PhD. Wheaton College, Illinois

Solidly researched and professionally written. I am please to endorse this effort wholeheartedly. -- Bishop Richard Sklba, Catholic Biblical Association

[When public schools] decline to impart knowledge about such an important subject ... They are merely failing their students. -- Chicago Tribune (May 12, 2005))

[Young] people cannot understand America’s ideals if they are cut off from the stories that gave those principles life. -- The Wall Street Journal (Nov. 12, 1999)

From the Inside Flap

Academic study of the Bible in a public secondary school may appropriately take place in literature courses. Students might study the Bible as literature. They would examine the Bible as they would other literature in terms of aesthetic categories, as an anthology of narratives and poetry, exploring its language, symbolism, and motifs. Students might also study the Bible in literature, the ways in which later writers have used Bible literature, language, and symbols. Much drama, poetry, and fiction contains material from the Bible.
The Bible & Public Schools: A First Amendment Guide, First Amendment Center, 10

See all Editorial Reviews

 

 

 

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Permalink Reply by Davis on November 10, 2011 at 2:46pm

Civil War history is a favorite study of mine. If you can get a hold of the multi-volume set that Douglas Southall Freeman wrote on Robert E. Lee or George Washington, you will be eternally grateful and a much more informed historian. Freeman interviewed survivors of the American Civil War. He the quintessential scholar. His books may be out of print at this time but well worth searching for them in libraries or private collections.

In addition books by Shelby Foote (Civil War historian) and Bruce Catton's Civil War: 3 Volumes in 1: Mr Lincoln's Army, Glory ... by Bruce Catton (Dec 12, 1988) is an excellent study on the Civil War.

Thanks for starting this thread.

Davis

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Permalink Reply by Wayne W. on January 21, 2013 at 6:58am

Great bokks! Read them years ago....must re-read in the future.

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Permalink Reply by Angel Perez on November 12, 2011 at 6:45pm

I know more people have great books.

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Permalink Reply by Steam Engine on November 12, 2011 at 7:21pm

Recently read A Land So Strange by Andres Resendez. It recounts the story of Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, a Spanish conquistador who spent 10 years in the North American interior in the 1500's after being separated from the rest of his group. He, along with 2 others from his expedition, lived with indigenous groups at various times as slaves, traders, and faith healers, and essentially walked through North America from the Gulf coast, into the Plains, and on to New Mexico. Interesting stuff.

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Permalink Reply by Buffalo Bill on January 21, 2013 at 8:16am

The most interesting book on US history I have ever read was Howard Zinn's 'A People's History of the United States.'  It's all the major US events you were taught in school, but focusing on the minorities, the oppressed, and the dominated.  It's certainly a must-read for anyone interested in US history.

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Permalink Reply by Will on January 21, 2013 at 10:51am

Since we're on history... I don't usually read history, but here are a few that gripped me.

Lies My Teacher Told Me.  A book about how US history textbooks in schools miss a lot.  If you think the War of 1812 was fought over impressment, or that President Wilson wanted to keep us out of WWI, read that book.  Perspective is US liberal, but both sides of the aisle will learn from it.

The Fourth Turning.  A theory that there's a roughly 70-year cycle in US history (and other history, for that matter), of internally generated crisis, resolution, reformation, disaffection, and then crisis again.  No points for guessing where we are.

A Disposition to Be Rich: How a Small-Town Pastor's Son Ruined an American President, Brought on a Wall Street Crash, and Made Himself the Best-Hated Man in the United States.  The details are amazing, and show a vulnerability of Wall Street to, well, worse than Enron.

Destiny Disrupted.  How Moslems view the sweep of world history.  As you might expect, there's a lot of attention to the life of Mohammed, then the immediate aftermath.  What was going on when Islam conquered all over and western Europe was in a shambles?  Why did Islam then give up on learning?  What was the greatest challenge to their faith (hint:  it wasn't the West)?  It's amazing how little you know, if all you had was World Civ in college.

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Permalink Reply by Vytautas on February 7, 2013 at 4:00pm

I think it's interesting that when you speak of history and how we write history, you immediately turn to modern political divisions.

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Permalink Reply by Jack Bauer on February 7, 2013 at 4:11pm

The only book there that seems terribly related to 'modern political divisions' is the Muslim history one.  What's your objection to it?

JB

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Permalink Reply by Vytautas on February 7, 2013 at 4:26pm

I didn't say objection. I said it's interesting. It's telling about how he views the purpose of history (perhaps--I don't want to put words in his mouth).

And I was referencing his comment that the American history book was written from "US liberal" perspective but could teach both sides of the aisle.

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