So why do we (you) read about history? Surely not just because we're stuck in the past and can't cope with the present -- or if we actually cannot cope, is a bit of escapism such a bad thing, or put differently again, are we doing so badly just looking to the past?

For me, one important element is that old "you can't know your present and take control of your future if you don't know your past" adage (Orwell, et al.) -- as in, "mankind will only have at least a chance of avoiding past mistakes in the future if we are at least aware they were made," but also, "history is not the only, but certainly ONE determinative factor in who I am as a person, and who we are as society/a nation."

On the other hand, I'm just a sucker for any kind of book that takes me to a different place than the one I'm actually living in -- other countries as much as the world of societies past and gone. Nothing like reading about other places and times to put my own life/times/place into a larger perspective ... and yes, just plain escape the here and now every so often as well!

I like reading history for a few reasons. I love the feeling of connection I get when reading about people in the near and distant past. And although the geography, traditions, religion, or cultures may change, people can touch me no matter when or where they lived. I really love that!

Reply to post #2 (show post):
Yes to this! There is definitely an air of escapism for me, but I also enjoy "meeting" extraordinary people from other times. I'm super impressed with how hard working and resourceful people were.

I love learning from historical fiction, so a book that is both educational and entertaining at the same time is what I'm after. But if I can read a non-fiction book, and still be wildly entertained, that's a real feat!

@ #2, I like that too.

Also, I travel frequently and I'm also of the notion that in order to make sense of a place and of people you need to know where they are coming from (their customs, beliefs, stories, etc) - and for me that includes their past.

It's not so much an escapist form of reading for me (I prefer mystery writers for that) but more the opposite, I guess, where by reading about the past helps me understand current issues. So, as much as it pains me to say it, Orwell had a point.

Yes to both #2 and #3 as well -- the learning aspect, but also the connection we're making with people of different periods across time and space! The realization that history isn't just that dull list of dates and places as which it is presented by bad teachers, but a whole world as rich and colorful and diverse as ours ...

And Liza, I, too, particularly love discovering nonfiction books that read like fiction. Who are some of your favorite authors?

Reply to post #5 (show post):
Alison Weir is definitely among the top, and I can see why she started writing historical fiction, since her non-fiction reads like a novel. She's so accomplished!

My other go-to is Nathaniel Philbrick. I'll read anything by him. Favorites are Mayflower (about Pilgrims, other colonists, and the natives) and In the Heart of the Sea (whaling, and what Moby Dick was based on).

+1 on both (though I haven't read any of Weir's fiction yet).

Plus Antonia Fraser, David Starkey and Christopher Hibbert on British (and selected other) history, Robert K. Massie on Russia, and David McCullough and Joseph Ellis on American history. And Claire Tomalin's, Mary S. Lovell's and Jenny Uglow's biographies. And -- and ... :)

I would say that a large part of my historical reading is for escape. I just don't find a lot of contemporary fiction appealing (with the exception of reading about cultures/places vastly different from my own - 'The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian' comes to mind - a fantastic book!). But I also just have a thirst for knowledge. I never feel like I can know enough. I always feel there are HUGE gaps in my knowledge and the more I try to fill them, the more gaps pop up! It's a delightful problem really! ;-) I also like that feeling of connection with a person that exists in such a different place and time. I think it makes history relevant and fascinating. I was a history hater all through my childhood and teen years and would have laughed in your face if you'd told me I'd end up choosing it as my major in college (which I did!) I'm bound and determined to present history as the fascinating, complicated, nuanced, relevant subject it is to my daughter.

Reply to post #8 (show post):
Bashara - I think that's definitely an admirable way to go with your kiddo! I was always a reader, but never got into history until after school. I have a good friend who is a history teacher, and I wish that my teachers told me the story of history. I remember memorizing lists of dates of wars, names of kings, locations of rivers, etc. The story was completely lost, and I find myself making really embarrassing mistakes as an adult because I don't know history as well as I should (or at least, I didn't).

I read history because I love it. (Thanks mom! Thanks Mrs. Jones!)

Love Barbara Tuchman.

(Please excuse any typos; am typing with fingerless gloves on. This is interesting.)

Reply to post #11 (show post):
He had a way with words, didn't he, Rab Burns?

The best-laid plans, yes ... and the worst plans may succeed if we aren't watchful. And that's not even factoring in plain folly, which is probably responsible for at least as many historic disasters as any plans and strategy ...

Reply to post #10 (show post):
Typing with fingerless gloves? I think you just won the keyboard acrobat of the week award!

I'd been counting on seeing you here. :) Would have loved to have your history teacher (and/or your mom as a history teacher), I think.

My mom sometimes thinks she should have/would have done American Studies if it had been a real discipline when she was doing grad school. It wasn't, so she did English, but has always loved history. (As a result, I knew the kings and queens of England from Henry VII to the present at age 8. I have always been just slightly weird!)

Fingerless gloves: 36 hours and counting without heat. House is chilly. (Furnace being replaced. Taking longer than expected.)

Reply to post #14 (show post):
Ech. What a glorious time of year to have to have that kind of work done ...

We're only as weird as our families, as kids -- for me it was Greek mythology, and I wasn't even aware that others would consider that a distinctly "off" subject for a kid to be interested in until we started dealing with it in school, and I got all those funny looks from my classmates when it emerged that I not only knew most of the stuff that our teachers were talking about, but, shock of shocks, even found it supremely interesting.

And what's wrong with parents sharing their own interests with their children early on anyway?

Great pity, too, that your mom wasn't able to pursue the specific course of study she would have wanted to take on. "English" just seems such a vast and wobblingly comprehensive category -- an imprecise or, well, at least counterintuitive one, too, in the areas chiefly dealing with North America!

Reply to post #7 (show post):
Love, love, love Claire Tomalin. One of the most accomplished biographers around at the moment. I think the first book of hers that I read was her brilliant biography of Mary Wollstonecraft. And her books on Dickens, Pepys, and Hardy are also excellent.