LibraryThing
So I broke down and decided to catalog my ever-growing personal library. I chose to use an online tool called LibraryThing because it seemed like a good way of keeping track of everything. There are other tools out there that I considered, many of which are offline, however most of the cost money and I didn't want to spend money on something when I can get it for free. LibraryThing seems like a good tool. I haven't cataloged my entire library yet, only what I happen to have on hand with me at the moment. All 38 books. I have a much larger collection of books that I still need to move to my apartment at some point.
If you are interested, you can view my library here. I will also be putting a link to my library catalog as a button on the right side of the blog so readers can view it at anytime.
If you have any books that you think I should add to my library or any comments, feel free to leave me a comment on this post or any other post.
Here is a widget with some of my books:
David Irving’s Translation of Der Dienst: Erinnerungen 1942-1971
For anyone who is going to be working with the memoirs of Reinhard Gehlen, do not use David Irving's translation of it, entitled: The Service: The Memoirs of General Reinhard Gehlen. For a project I am working on, I have been dealing with both Irving's translation as well as the original book in German written by Gehlen himself (Der Dienst: Erinnerungen 1942-1971). I read the German version cover to cover for this project and have been attempting to use Irving's translation as a quick reference to check for facts, however, as I have been using the translation, not only is information missing from the original in his translation (I've had to check the original multiple times to verify it was actually there), but there are actually pages and pages of accounts and "memories" that don't exist anywhere in the original!
The accounts may be true for all I know, but they are presented as though Gehlen told them (though he did not in his memoirs) and there are no references cited. It has been most frustrating and I do intend to report this inaccuracy to the university. Perhaps they will dispose of the book as anyone who is unable to read the German version would have no idea otherwise, possibly leading to inaccuracy.
History Magazines
I recently subscribed to a couple of history magazines that I really enjoy a lot. The first one is called Wild West and, as the title implies, discusses events that happened in the "wild west" days of the US. This seems to me to be a fairly unique magazine as I have not really found any others about the same topic anywhere else.
The other magazine I highly recommend is the BBC History Magazine. This one has more generic history than a specifically focused topic. They do, however, tend to have somewhat of a focus on British history, although that is not all that they cover.


Books about Native Americans
I have posted a new featured book called Native American Testimony edited by Peter Nabokov. This book is a very interesting culmination of testimonials by Native Americans about the coming of the white man. What makes this such a unique volume is that it is told from the perspective of the Native Americans rather than from the Anglo-American perspective with which we are all so familiar.
Peter Nabokov has provided us with a collection of testimonials that range from prophesies about the coming of the white man into Native American territory through the end of the twentieth century. As I continue reading through the book, I will probably discuss portions of it that I find interesting here.

This is one of three books which I will be reading for a Native American Studies course I am taking this semester. The other two are The Earth Shall Weep: A History of Native America by James Wilson and North American Indians: A Comprehensive Account by Alice B. Kehoe.


His Promised Land: The story of John P. Parker
For the same US history course that I mentioned I am taking this semester in my last post, I just finished reading a book called His Promised Land. The book is the autobiography of John P. Parker, an African-American born into slavery who eventually bought his freedom for $1,800. Based out of Ripley, Ohio, he then used his freedom to smuggle runaway slaves off to Canada via the Underground Railroad. The book is based on manuscripts compiled by Frank M. Gregg after conducting an interview with John Parker in the last years of his life. Eventually Frank M. Gregg compiled the manuscripts into a piece called "The Borderlands." His Promised Land is also based off of these same manuscripts.The book itself read more like a novel than an autobiography and kept my interest the entire way. Parker recalls some of the first hand accounts he experienced of smuggling runaway slaves and several of the dangers he faced while doing so -- even the risk posed to his own freedom.
Wikipedia has some more basic information about him, but I highly recommend reading the book for anyone interested in this era of history.
New Worlds For All
This semester I am taking a survey class of US history up to 1865. For that class, I just finished reading a book entitled New Worlds for All: Indians, Europeans, and the Remaking of Early America by Colin G. Calloway.
The book itself was actually quite interesting. Calloway discusses how the world not only changed for the Europeans who came over to the Americas, but also how life changed for the natives who had already been here for centuries. From my experience, I can say that most Americans tend not to even consider the Native American viewpoint on the European invasion on their lands.
The American West by Dee Brown
A couple of weeks ago I just finished reading a book called The American West by Dee Brown. For anyone that wants a general overview of the American west, it is a great book.
It really focuses on the settlement of the American west after the Civil War, The Indian Wars, the large cattle drives, wild west towns and outlaws, etc. One of the things I liked most about it was that it contained a lot of pictures from the 19th century as well as several maps of the cattle trails, the battles between the US government and the Indian nations, etc. I highly recommend it.
You can find it on the History Rhymes Store (powered by Amazon.com) for $11.56.





