Nobody_Important
said above.
I can only speak from my experience in the UK, but history books appear to be very popular here. Something I'm happy about because I'm a history student and a large portion of my personal library is dedicated to history.
I wouldn't say historians are a dying breed. Personally, I hope to be a full time historian and I've already started the groundwork on my own project. There are also lots of young, popular historians who are best sellers, such as Dan Jones or Helen Carr to name a few. However, again they're both British. Is history really that unpopular in the US?
Regarding David McCullough, unfortunately his works weren't as popular in the UK, but I do own and have read one of his books. Last year I picked up 1776 from the Folio Society. Absolutely incredible account of a year that changed the course of the world. After reading it, I understood why he was a Pulitzer Prize winner. A sad loss for the history world, but he won't be forgotten thanks to his incredible body of work.
Adams wasn't a drunk. If anything he was one of the most restrained of the Founding Fathers. Washington as well, was not an alcoholic.
The Great Bridge is fascinating.
We are cool then, for now.
As much as I love Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History podcasts there’s no substitute for genuine scholarship: RIP. I loved 1776 and Truman in particular and then I actually had no idea he was THE narrator for so many of Ken Burn’s documentaries.One of the best historians of our generation (or any generation, really). Rest in peace.
Also, pretty much everything
There is an interesting story about DM that when he was writing John Adam’s he was given full access to the archives which had never been organized or recorded properly and in his research he did the work to make them usable and presentable.
An American dramatising the odds for their favour? Sounds bout right.
Describing the historical event in an accurate way in not dramatizing the reality of the situation in 1776.
I mean, the odds were incredibly stacked against us. Had other conflicts not been going on, we likely would have been defeated quite easily.
You don’t know if it was accurate, we’re basing our views on estimations and hearsay. That being said, the Americans always love to push the patriotic angle and make it seem the tiny US of A was against overwhelming juggernaut odds from the evil British empire, come to destroy their freedoms.
Possibly and I don’t disagree with you, but it’s not like American Revolutionary War was a tea party for both sides.
We have good enough records of force sizes and movements that it isn't speculation. We know force sizes and losses from every battle or skirmish, because people wrote them down. Certainly the US likes a pro US bias in their material, but we have a record of the people that fought. I know my ancestor Cyprian Collins, fought in the revolutionary war.
Uhh... it absolutely was in Boston for one side.
AlteredForms
and I am going to walk into a thread about an Americans death and trash American history.
Get out of here with that nonsense. I'm not trashing anything, but it always seems as though the Americans love using their bias and underdog narratives. You said it yourself.Hey guys I'm
Well, we were underdogs until WWII. Now we know how lonely it can be at the top.
I'm not sure I've ever considered the US underdogs. You guys beating up on the Vietcong during Nam, now those guys were underdogs.Well, we were underdogs until WWII. Now we know how lonely it can be at the top.
Yeah, before the world wars, we were absolutely underdogs.
www.theatlantic.com
You should read some history. Might I recommend 1776 by David McCullough.
There is a book about the building of the Panama Canal. And the great bridge took place in America but is also about an engineering accomplishment.
