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An easy way to discover the “personable-ness” of history is to get beyond the boring litany of names and dates and wars by reading autobiographies and biographies. Such books render the past more human, more intimate, more accessible. We can connect ourselves to people in the past who, like us, had to get up in the mornings and go to work or school, make decisions, juggle a day’s activities, and put their pants on one leg at a time. Test the validity of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s belief - "There is properly no history; only biography." The collection of French and Indian wars (or the Seven Years’ War as it was known in Europe) unwittingly gave Americans the military experience they would use to win the American Revolutionary War. Unfortunately, this key period in American history is oftentimes overlooked in the textbooks. What was it like for the French to fight for North America in the mid-18th century? Memoir of a French and Indian War Soldier by 'Jolicoeur' Charles Bonin, edited by Andrew Gallup. This memoir is not only a first-person account of the French and Indian War, a scarce commodity, but it is also the work of a common soldier, rarer still. Charles Bonin's story reads as if the reader were sharing wine with the old veteran in a Paris cafe. We all know that the American colonists fought against their English countrymen during the American Revolution. Did you know that some Britishers changed sides during the war? And that military engagements occurred as far away as the Caribbean? From Redcoat to Rebel: The Thomas Sullivan Journal by Joseph Lee Boyle. Chronicles several years in the life of Thomas Sullivan, who enlisted in the British Army in 1775, fought in the Revolution, and deserted to join American forces in 1778. A Vindication of My Conduct: The Court Martial Trial of Lieutenant Colonel George Etherington of the 60th or Royal American Regiment held on the Island of St. Lucia in the West Indies, October 1781 and the Extraordinary Story of the Surrender of the Island of St. Vincent’s in the British Caribbean during the American Revolution by Dr. Todd E. Harburn and Rodger Durham. The fascinating story of the surrender of St. Vincent’s Island, and the subsequent attempt by the colonial governor to make the military commander a scapegoat, is presented here from a fresh perspective based on new research and previously unpublished documentation. The Adirondacks today are a pleasurable retreat from hectic city life, filled with resorts, cabin getaways, and hiking trails. Not so in the early 19th century! Take a step back in time to when the East was really wild! Salt Pork and Poor Bread and Whiskey: The Adirondack Diaries of John Brown Francis edited by Henry A. L. Brown. Transcription of the diaries which recount the visits of John Brown Francis (later a five-term governor of Rhode Island) to the vast Adirondack wilderness known as “John Brown’s tract” after the diarist’s grandfather. John Brown Francis was in his twenties when he wrote these accounts in 1816, 1817 and 1818. First-person accounts of wartime service provide some of the most poignant views of the soldiering life. Let the Civil War come to life for you through young men’s diaries. We Are In A Fight Today: The Civil War Diaries of Horace P. Mathews and King S. Hammond by Kenneth A. Perry. Two soldiers’ diaries, that of Horace P. Mathews (123rd NY Volunteer Infantry, Co. H) and that of King S. Hammond (16th NY Heavy Artillery, Co. K). Look beyond the famous men and women to those who are lesser-known to gain new insights into the fascinating world of history. Give My Regards To The Ladies: The Life of Littleton Quinton Washington by David Scott Turk. Despite a prestigious birthright and a career in the public eye, Littleton Quinton Washington is a virtual unknown today. In his lifetime, L. Q. Washington had been an adventurer in gold rush-era San Francisco, a powerful political insider and outspoken advocate of Southern interests in Antebellum Washington, D.C., chief clerk of the State Department of the Confederate States of America during the Civil War, a booster for southern Reconstruction, an outspoken journalist, and could claim the nation’s first president as a relative. Do you think you know all there is to know about somebody famous? Challenge yourself to look deeper than the usual textbook treatment to see a new or little-known side of a famous person. Buffalo Bill, Actor: A Chronicle of Cody’s Theatrical Career by Sandra K. Sagala. Buffalo Bill Cody—frontiersman, buffalo hunter, U.S. army scout, showman extraordinaire—and his Wild West show are colorful and popular highlights in our nation’s history. However, Cody’s early theatrical accomplishments have typically been overlooked—until now. World War II was one of several major wars of the 20th century. We know what it was like for the soldiers who fought overseas, but what was it like for the kids on the homefront? A Boy's Eye View of World War II and Other Reminiscences of Maryland's Eastern Shore by Frank H. Pierce. A Boys Eye View... is precisely that--the warm but extremely accurate account of 'home front' life in a small town on Maryland's Eastern Shore during the war. Rollicking good adventure awaits those who dare crack open these books! The Tagebuch of Ernst Silge, USN by Frank Pierce. This book is pure 19-century adventure, from young Ernst Silge's years as a U.S. Navy sailor boy on the fabled China Station in the last days of the great sailing ships to his times on America’s Western Frontier. The Diary of Benjamin Reynolds: The Journal of a Voyage ’round Cape Horn from Philadelphia to Chile and back again via Rio de Janiero in 1840-1841 transcribed by Rosalie Esmond Blizard. Imagine yourself, a young man of 20 in the year 1840, about to embark on a sailing ship for an adventure you will never forget.
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