So I started reading lately. I'm planning on reading some of the books I should have read for my history classes, but I am also interested in other books too. I just finished reading "Memories of World War I: North Carolina Doughboys on the Western Front." It was written by R. Jackson Marshall III who works/worked at the history museum. I liked it a lot. Before that I read "Wounded Fortress: The Story of 2D LT. Tommy Kohlhaas, U.S. Air Corps." He was my cousin who died in World War II. They even put the picture of his grave in Algona, Iowa in the book which is the town a lot of my family is from. Before that the last book I probably read was "Blood Done Sign My Name." You have to read this if you take HI 364 at NC State. It's a story about a murder in Oxford, NC and race issues in the 1960s. The all white jury found a white man innocent of murder after it was clear he was the person who murdered the black man. According to the book, our state court system and library system have destroyed all information about this case now.

4/27/2010 4:55:02 PM

Your post reads like a Reading Rainbow review

4/27/2010 5:09:28 PM

You don't have to take his word for it.

4/27/2010 5:12:28 PM

I don't know if you're interested in Jefferson or the founding fathers, or if it's your thing or not, but I just read a really interesting book called The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family. As you can probably guess, it's about the slave Jefferson had sex with and her family. Pretty good stuff...if you're a Jefferson guy like myself, you're sick of hearing the whole "but he had sex with his slaves" argument. This book puts a new spin on it.

4/27/2010 5:13:53 PM

Quote :

"He was my cousin who died in World War II."

you must have been devastated when you got the telegraph in 1943

4/27/2010 5:16:24 PM

^L

O

L

Quote :

"...if you're a Jefferson guy like myself, you're sick of hearing the whole "but he had sex with his slaves" argument. This book puts a new spin on it."

but is it the right spin? (i dont know)

4/27/2010 5:18:21 PM

Quote :

"you must have been devastated when you got the telegraph telegram in 1943"

4/27/2010 6:28:01 PM

Thunder Below by Admiral Eugene Fluckey - the story of his war patrols in the Pacific during WWII in which he was awarded the Medal of Honor and FOUR Navy Crosses.

The USS Barb set the standard for tonnage sunk during the war and his sub tactics were revolutionary. He also sent a patrol ashore on mainland japan which blew up a rail line, becoming the only US forces to set foot on japanese soil during the war

4/27/2010 7:05:37 PM

Bill Bryson - Made in America: An Informal History of the English Language in the United States
http://www.amazon.com/Made-America-Informal-History-Language/dp/0380713810

Quote :

"Readers from Toad Suck, Arkansas, to Idiotsville, Oregon--and everywhere in between--will love Made in America, Bill Bryson's Informal History of the English Language in the United States. It is, in a word, fascinating. After reading this tour de force, it's clear that a nation's language speaks volumes about its true character: you are what you speak. Bryson traces America's history through the language of the time, then goes on to discuss words culled from everyday activities: immigration, eating, shopping, advertising, going to the movies, and others. Made in America will supply you with interesting facts and cocktail chatter for a year or more. Did you know, for example, that Teddy Roosevelt's "speak softly and carry a big stick" credo has its roots in a West African proverb? Or that actor Walter Matthau's given name is Walter Mattaschanskayasky? Or that the supposedly frigid Puritans--who called themselves "Saints," by the way--had something called a pre-contract, which was a license for premarital sex? Made in America is an excellent discussion of American English, but what makes the book such a treasure is that it offers much, much more. "

Great book.
It's much more about general US history than it is about the English language. Absolutely chock full of little tidbits that will one day come in handy on Jeopardy.

4/27/2010 8:00:28 PM

Very good historical account told mostly in first person. Also,

4/27/2010 8:30:53 PM

Quote :

"you must have been devastated when you got the telegraph in 1943"

That was waaaaaaaaay before I was born.





[Edited on April 27, 2010 at 9:19 PM. Reason : .]

4/27/2010 9:16:24 PM