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We all probably have our favorite periods. My question is as long as one remains objective, is it OK to be “obsessed” with a certain historical era?
Who is going to say you cannot? And why do you have to feign objectivity in your “obsession”? Well sure, if you are writing an academic paper you would need to be objective, but otherwise….I think an intense fascination with a historical period drives knowledge. Incidentally, someone could chronicle your historical "obsessions" over the past few years from Greece to Ireland and now to Britain. 🙂
Yeah, but Ireland and Great Britain are pretty much the same history. I'm particularly liking the early naval (exploring as well as military) history…at this time anyway ;D Still like the Greeks, just need a break.
My bread and butter is the Civil War… but I also like Ancient Christian History and the Dark Ages… But I will always fall back to the Civil War… obesession? Yeah… Some are a jack of all trades, some a master of of none… I prefer to be a master of one… ;D
I'm so Anglo-centric right now that I'll probably be staying with British history for a while (maybe even grad school). The thing about British history is it's great for those of us with ADD because you can go all over the place, and because of this going all over the place, I'm gaining more interest in other areas like the Middle Ages, Dutch history, the French Revolution, and Australia.The only reason I ask others' opinions is because I keep thinking a guy my age should be more focused on something and stick with it, but as I'm learning about other areas and eras, I'm developing more of an interest in them. That's OK, right?
The only reason I ask others' opinions is because I keep thinking a guy my age should be more focused on something and stick with it, but as I'm learning about other areas and eras, I'm developing more of an interest in them. That's OK, right?
LOL - so if you're younger you can be all over the place? I think it's great to have a new interest in something specific, and once you've found a period that will satisfy your curiosity you might as well stick with it. I don't think you have to plant your feet in concrete, though. I'm starting to plant my feet in a particular city within a certain period for my dissertation, but once I get done with it I might branch out a bit.
I specialize in Prussian history but am interested in other periods as well. 10 years ago I spent all my time reading about world war one now I find myself reading about Caesar's conquest of Gaul .
I am more interested in unusual historical characters regardless of the country or century.
That is another good way of going about it (thematically). Fortunately, history has a slew of unusual characters to entertain us with for quite some time.
I'm officially obsessed with the Age of Discovery. I'm impressed by the early Portuguese explorers (the first ones to open the spice trade by sea). Vasco da Gama didn't take any crap from the Muslims. They didn't want to trade with the Europeans, so de Gama bombed them and took their merchant ships.Still mainly obsessed with the British though. I think I would have been a loyalist in the Revolutionary War. Good thing I wasn't around them otherwise I'd be living in Canada.
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