History. It's more than just dusty books on shelves. It comprises the lessons we should have learned, are still learning and will never master. Evolution, war, economics, philosophy, the arts, personalities, technology, sciences, religion. There are no limits to the impact history has on us today. Humans have changed, but only in superficial ways. We have learned more, but we remain ignorant. We have experienced more, but we remain naive. We have killed and been killed. Tried and failed. And throughout that experience the lesson remains the same. Witness, and you will learn so that your future endeavors will be tempered by the lessons of the past.
Ain't it cool?
I love history. I've been in love with history since, as a child, I sat enthralled by the pictures and stories in the American Heritage. In elementary school I pored over the Scholastic Book Services new books list, monthly purchasing enough books that I - alone among my fellow students - had to have the delivery box to carry them home in. There were novels, certainly, but there were also biographies and histories - written for young people but with subjects that addicted me to the study of what came before.
Older, I fell in love with the tales of British royalty. I tried to read biographies in order, only to find earlier rules' stories to have to go back to. I am a student of World War II, but to really understand it one must study World War
I. And before that the political history of Europe to understand the jockying for position that nations have done throughout the history of civilization.
Ancient history, world history. American history, European history. My favorite countries - England, Scotland and the US. But everything in the past is interwoven. To learn about England and its history, one must study France. And Rome. And Ireland, America, India, Africa and Australia. Not to mention the Middle East, the Far East, South America, and Canada.
To study Nazi Germany one must look to Russia, Japan, Austria. And the UK, where Germans populated the royal family that still rules today, the renamed House of Windsor.
To study the American Civil War one must be familiar with the settling of the country. With the Revolutionary War. The War of 1812, the history of England, the royal houses ....
So you see where I'm going here, right?
Everything is connected. Like an historical game of dominoes, each fact is related to the one before, and impacts the one to come.
There is no end to sources for historial knowledge. Whether it is the library, magazines (and the American Heritage magazine still survives!), countless books and now in the internet age, the on-line resources for every historical incident, person, or era abound.
Something for everyone in fact. For the World War II or Civil War afficianado. For an interest in the Far East, Near East, Middle East. For the history of continents, or people.
In fact, there is more than a person can study or read in a lifetime.
But hey, what's life without a challenge?
Ready, set, READ!
