Category Archives: history

The Birth of the United States

Posted on August 25, 2010 by smellincoffee

The Birth of the United States© 1973 Isaac Asimov274 pages, including a table of dates. While trolling Amazon in search of elusive copies of Isaac Asimov’s Roman history books, I chanced to find evidence of a four-book history series on … Continue reading →

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Working IX to V

Posted on August 18, 2010 by smellincoffee

Working IX to V: Orgy Planners, Funeral Clowns, and Other Prized Professions of the Ancient World© 2007 Vicki Leon312 pages This amusingly-titled volume caught my eye more than a few times in the past, and with an itching to read … Continue reading →

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Don’t Know Much About Geography

Posted on August 17, 2010 by smellincoffee

Don’t Know Much about Geography: Everything You Need to Know about the World But Never Learned© 1992 Kenneth C. Davis384 pages I’ve taken several geography courses as part of my university education, a tribute perhaps to Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs, … Continue reading →

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Heroes of History

Posted on August 15, 2010 by smellincoffee

Heroes of History: A Brief History of Civilization from Ancient Times to the Dawn of the Modern Age© 2001 Will Durant348 pages Will Durant is an author I’ve heard of but not yet read from, and this slim volume intended … Continue reading →

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The 100 Most Influential Books Ever Written

Posted on August 7, 2010 by smellincoffee

The Most Influential Books Ever Written: the History of Thought from Ancient Times to Today© 1998 Martin Seymour-Smith498 pages In retrospect, the introduction should have served as a warning to me.  Author Martin Seymour-Smith opened his The 100 Most Influential … Continue reading →

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La Belle France

Posted on August 3, 2010 by smellincoffee

La Belle France: a Short History© 2005 Alistair Horne485 pages I have rarely enjoyed any book as much as La Belle France, a quick sprint through French history that begins in the Roman era. Initially focusing on a small town … Continue reading →

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Citizens

Posted on July 28, 2010 by smellincoffee

Citizens: a Chronicle of the French Revolution© 1989 Simon Schama948 pages Aux armes, citoyens, Formez vos bataillons, Marchons, marchons! Qu’un sang impur Abreuve nos sillons! Mon dieu, this was a read. My first mentor and first college-level history professor recommended … Continue reading →

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The Life of Elizabeth I

Posted on July 18, 2010 by smellincoffee

The Life of Elizabeth I© 1998, 2003 Alison Weir542 pages “She certainly is a great queen […]. Just look how well she governs! She is only a woman, only mistress of half an island, and yet she makes herself feared by Spain, … Continue reading →

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Chainbreaker’s War

Posted on June 29, 2010 by smellincoffee

Chainbreaker’s War: a Seneca Chief Remembers the American Revolution© 2002 ed. Jeanne Winston Adler224 pages On the eastern seaboard, young militia men marched around their town squares, tea-chests floated in Boston Harbor, and the bells of war tolled. Only a … Continue reading →

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The World Through Maps

Posted on June 23, 2010 by smellincoffee

The World Through Maps: A History of Cartography© 2003 John Short224 pages Cartography has interested me ever since elementary school, when I read that Christopher Columbus worked in a cartographer’s shop. The idea that people made maps fascinated me, and … Continue reading →

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