I love reading about many historical periods and discovering how people lived , what they believed, what motivated them. I began with the Tudors & Victorians (lots of historical fiction as a teenager) and, over the last 40 years have been fascinated by many other times and places. I read a lot of ancient history and mythology during the pandemic and now, I've just discovered the Byzantine empire. The trouble is, I just keep adding historical periods and people to the list so, I'm a bit of a magpie jumping from one period to another. Still, it's wonderful to think I'll never run out of books, docos, lectures and podcasts.
HistoryFest sounds so fun! Too bad I live so far away. Seattle is not close to the UK :( My favorite historical figure is ED Morel, the shipping clerk/journalist who brought down King Leopold in the early 1900s
Firstly thanks for my first HistFest newsletter RR. Such a difficult questions posed at the end.. I like understanding how normal peoples lives were impacted by the big changes in history - Time period, well for Britain it's probably the 1000 years between 700 and 1700 but I'd love to hear more about the history of other civilisations such as the Indus Valley - see you all at the BL in April
Great answer! Yes, we don't focus enough on the experiences of "ordinary people" from history. I think some of it is down to the sources that are available, but there are interesting studies being done. Hopefully we can share some on this site soon.
Thanks for replying! We're hoping to feature some world war 2 history at the next festival. There'll be some posts coming up over the next few months too.
I love reading about many historical periods and discovering how people lived , what they believed, what motivated them. I began with the Tudors & Victorians (lots of historical fiction as a teenager) and, over the last 40 years have been fascinated by many other times and places. I read a lot of ancient history and mythology during the pandemic and now, I've just discovered the Byzantine empire. The trouble is, I just keep adding historical periods and people to the list so, I'm a bit of a magpie jumping from one period to another. Still, it's wonderful to think I'll never run out of books, docos, lectures and podcasts.
Thank you for sharing this. I think we're all a little guilty of being magpies when it comes to history!
HistoryFest sounds so fun! Too bad I live so far away. Seattle is not close to the UK :( My favorite historical figure is ED Morel, the shipping clerk/journalist who brought down King Leopold in the early 1900s
That's a fascinating choice!
It's not quite the same, but most HistFest events are online too, and available globally.
Firstly thanks for my first HistFest newsletter RR. Such a difficult questions posed at the end.. I like understanding how normal peoples lives were impacted by the big changes in history - Time period, well for Britain it's probably the 1000 years between 700 and 1700 but I'd love to hear more about the history of other civilisations such as the Indus Valley - see you all at the BL in April
Great answer! Yes, we don't focus enough on the experiences of "ordinary people" from history. I think some of it is down to the sources that are available, but there are interesting studies being done. Hopefully we can share some on this site soon.
I love all things WW2
Thanks for replying! We're hoping to feature some world war 2 history at the next festival. There'll be some posts coming up over the next few months too.