Birthdays are better with books (part 7): Some hefty history

You know that you have done something right when you are still celebrating your birthday as the month closes out! Given the size of these books, I'll be celebrating for a long time!

I can't say exactly when the study of history began to exert such a pull on me. I do remember that we always had National Geographic in the house and that I was drawn to pull-out images of battles and I remember a Christmas when I was given a minie ball as a gift because I was so interested in the American Civil War. In college, I took so many classes from a history professor that I respected that his fiance became nervous (she was very congratulatory when I got engaged!) and I gave an impassioned speech about why English majors should study history as part of my Comprehensive exams. Perhaps my favorite thing about history is that I'm always tripping over something new, finding something that formerly seemed uninteresting and letting it grab hold of me drag me off to new climes, new tales, and new authors!

 I am come late to my study of the Revolution and I am moving slowly from figure to figure as I struggle to learn. I started this book as a borrowed title from the library and found the language and the author's affection for his subject so winning that it just had to come and live on my nightstand!

 I was excited about his book because I've wanted a book on Howe for quite some time. Unfortunately, the only predecessor to this one that I know of is Ira Gruber's The Howe Brothers and the American Revolution and it both looked rather technical and proved rather expensive. Thankfully, the popularity of Hamilton has prompted the publication of additional Revolutionary titles. I'm looking forward to meeting Howe in this one!

 As I have noted before, I am blessed to work with a flock of wonderful and brilliant scholars. One of my colleagues generously agreed to guest lecture when I taught and Maus in my graphic novel class. It was a pleasure for me to get to be a student again (I took notes!) and he spoke on two themes I hadn't though of in connection to the Holocaust - economics and gender. His words led directly to the purchase of these two books!

This one isn't strictly history; it's actually joining my museum collection. However, it does look at how we co-opt artifacts and articles to teach history and how the individuals with the most claim to these objects have often been left out of the process. I was rather blind to the politics of museums until I read Craig Childs' work Finders Keepers and I think this one will build nicely upon his themes!