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Muppet Treasure Island

This year I started reading some longer, more advanced books to our eldest (and the two others if they sit still and be quiet), who's...

Lion, Witch, Wardrobe (and the Narnia order)

After we finished The Hobbit I was determined to regularly keep reading better, longer books to our firstborn. The next book seemed...

The Hobbit

I recently finished reading The Hobbit to my five year old. It was easily the longest, most complex book we've read to him in totality (I...

The Fall of Gondolin

For my birthday my wife gave me The Fall of Gondolin, a new-ish (2018) book credited to J.R.R. Tolkien but put together by his son...

Sparta and the helots

When talking about ancient Greece it's easy to make generalizations. Most of our hard evidence from that era comes from Athens, home to...

Xenophon's Ten Thousand

In case you couldn't tell, I've really been into ancient Greece lately. After hearing about it a couple times in other books, I decided...

The legacy of classical Greece

I think most Americans know the broader definition of western civilization goes back through medieval Europe to Rome and, ultimately, to...

The late Bronze Age and AoE

We spent our Thanksgiving down in Arizona. Much of my family is down there, including my parents, and we split our time between the 'East...

The Green Knight

What do you think about when you hear King Arthur? There's the sword in the stone where Arthur's worth and lineage are proven. His grand...

Dune

I intended to write this before the film came out. Alas, whatever, it wasn't meant to be. I've been a fan of Dune since first reading the...

The Hundred Years War and the Black Prince

I wrapped up The Plantagenets, and another topic really interested me beyond the King John and the Magna Carta. That was a deeper look...

King John and Magna Carta

King John is one of the few English kings that most Americans recognize (Henry VIII, for example, is another). Even though you may know...

History reading list

As part of the Christmas gift for my mom this year, I had the idea to put together a shortlist of approachable history books. She likes...

Rorke's Drift

I'm enamored with Carnage and Culture, a book covering nine battles through the history of western civilization and attempting (rather...

Cannae

The book I'm reading now was given to me by a friend, and it's called Carnage and Culture. It looks at nine battles where 'western'...

The Decline and Fall of the French Empire

For what should be the last time (I finished the Roberts book) I'm writing a Napoleon-centric post, though I can't promise there won't be...

Origins of the Louvre

Well I'm still tackling Napoleon: A Life by Andrew Roberts, and as always not making enough time to read. Even missing a lot of context...

Whiff of grapeshot

Everyone hopefully already knows the basics of Napoleon. He became dictator of France and conquered most of Europe before finally being...

The politics of Lewis and Clark

I finally finished Undaunted Courage by Stephen Ambrose. To be honest, I'm embarrassed it took so long. After starting on our Florida...

Tfw you see yourself in an explorer

Ok, I can finally write the post that spurred me to actually start a blog. From Undaunted Courage, written by Stephen Ambrose, chapter 9...

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