I still buy books. I know that's very "old school" of me, because, from what I hear, young people are not into books anymore. And many other people have their kindle readers and the like. But I am of an older nature, for I am a hand-held, page-turning book kind of guy, and I've previously written postings on a few - just a few - that are in my history book collection...er...library. To see some of these posts please click HERE, THERE, EVERYWHERE, THIS cool one, and HERE, too.
But it's been a while since I've written such a posting, so I thought I would do so now,
this time centering on my collection of Time-Life Books.
Time Life Books began their enterprise in 1961 and gained fame as a seller of book series that would be mailed to households in monthly installments. Several of these book series garnered substantial critical acclaim - unusual for mass-market mail orders.
The collections noted in today's posting, I am certain, are all a part of that critical acclamation.
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In my living history world I'm known as a Colonial (and sometimes Victorian) farmer. And once in a while, depending on the event or presentation, I'm known as Paul Revere. But in my real 21st century life I am a high school classroom parapro - short for paraprofessional.
Paraprofessionals, also known as teacher assistants, teacher aides, or para-educators, are "educational workers who are not licensed to teach but who perform teaching-related tasks in support of certified educational professionals. They usually work alongside fully licensed lead teachers, but they also sometimes work more independently. They work in a variety of educational environments, from elementary school through high school and sometimes beyond."
That's me.
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| Fearon's Pacemaker World History |
In the high school at which I work, one of the subjects I help to teach is a World History class, using the Fearon's Pacemaker World History text book. It's not too in depth, unfortunately, but then, it's not meant to be; it works well for our students and whets appetites by touching on all the important subjects and eras of ancient times, beginning with the prehistorical ice age period and then meeting up with the Sumerians and Sumer, and it continues on to cover all the early civilizations such as Greece, Egypt, the Byzantine Empire, India, going through the middle ages, then into the Americas, and, toward the end of the book, we hit the major wars (including WWI and WWII), and finally into modern times.
A seed-planting book, so to speak.
It is a lot to cover in one textbook, but it's history lite and airy, meaning it's great for a quick overview with just enough depth for a reasonable understanding of the ancient times.
I also try to help to fill in the gaps with researching extra information, often about daily life, to add to the books' content, and in this way I can make it even more interesting and adaptable to the students.
Now, I must admit, I remember being in a World History class when I was young and going to high school all those long years ago, and for some reason the subject just didn't retain my interest. Maybe it was the droaning-monotoned teacher, or perhaps maybe the way the old textbooks were written - drab and plain, with no emotion or feeling at all, and can easily remind one of when a teacher or a professor gives a lecture. Or maybe it was simply just the way history in general was taught back then, for details on wars and great leaders took precedence over everything else, such as the daily life routines of those ancient times. And because of my expanded interest in history, even back when I was a young pup, none of my questions or interests of and about the past were being addressed. In all honesty, that's the way it was in my American History classes, too. As you may be surprised to hear, I did not do very well in any of my history classes, for they were, as mentioned, boring & monotoned and tended to concentrate only on the names & dates and the political leaders of the time, which are obviously important (it wasn't until I gained in age that I began to study such information), but at the time I was more interested in everyday life activities.
Still am.
Even with all the lethargic learning I suffered through, I still absolutely loved history.
As an adult I continued to hone my love of the past in a myriad of different ways, the biggest of which was visiting historic Greenfield Village. It was there that I could see everyday life of the past come to life, and the presenters were pretty darned amazing - "Master Presenters" was what they were called. They answered my questions, they showed us, live and in color, numerous tasks and demonstrations right before our eyes.
It was all so interesting! I ate it up! And so did my wife and my kids!
Oh! Greenfield Village, in those days, was filled with historical daily life activities, which changed with each passing season. Just imagine seeing the household, farm chores, and other period activities change because the time of year changed. That fed my historical soul like little else - the words from my book popped out and came to life! In fact, I gained a love of old-time farming chores from watching the men work at Firestone Farm, and I gained a love of textiles from watching both the men and women at Daggett. And it's because of this I initially became acquainted with the agrarian history of our great country. And now, through some wonderfully well-written books, I am becoming familiar with the agrarian history of our ancient world as well!
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| Flax? Beer? The first solid proof of beer production comes from the period of the Sumerians from Sumer, which is the earliest known civilization, located in the historical region of southern Mesopotamia, emerging during the early Bronze Ages between six thousand and five thousand B.C. - perhaps earlier. And they also used flax. I didn't say they necessarily invented the flax process, for flax is one of the earliest plants known to be used for producing textiles and may have been around the region for thousands of years before. But if Sumer is considered the earliest of civilizations, well... I would probably not have cared a thing about this textile plant if it weren't for Roy at the Daggett House at Greenfield Village. He's the one who, years ago, initially showed and told me about it in a living history manner, and how men were involved. And many other presenters throughout the years also gave history lessons in the same manner, which still sticks with me. Seed planters is what they were. |
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| The importance of grain in those ancient days is given, perhaps, a sentence or two in most school history books, not allowing students to fully grasp its importance. |
We always seem to hear things like, "Well (blank) has been used for thousands of years" spoken in a nonchalant manner. But do we fully grasp what that means? I mean, it's easy to say something like that. But to have it researched and then to be able to become even more specific about the subject (the where's, when's, why's, and how's) says a whole lot more than throwing out a "it's been around for thousands of years" type of statement. When I hear that sort of comment coming from anyone, I just want to say, "And how do you know this?" But that would just be rude of me, wouldn't it?
Perhaps if I had a means to research the off-cuff line for myself, just in case I hear such a comment again, I could then come back with a suitable answer, and not be cheeky about it!.
In past years I'd made quite a few trips to brick and mortar stores like Barnes & Nobles and Borders in hopes of finding the odd everyday life book mixed in their selection. But it was when the historic Greenfield Village presenters from years ago would tell me of a specific book to look for, usually needing to be special ordered, that my historical hunger was being fed. Then Amazon came around, and eBay, and a few other on-line purchasing places and, well, soon I could order the history of the world to have at my fingertips!
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| History---early history |
Well, helping to teach the World History class I mentioned earlier renewed my interest in the early cultures, so I went in search of books that would cover my interests and yet not become burdensome and over-bearingly detailed, yet will give me fine coverage of man's early years.
Time-Life strikes again!
I love Time-Life books. I have quite a few and they fill my historical soul, for over the past 60 years they have covered so much of mankind history. They are top-notch-quality in text, information, illustrations, and book-covers & bindings. Besides having a treasure-trove of pictures and paintings in each volume, I very much enjoy the non-stodgy, non-monotonous, non-lecture-style of writing; instead, the authors and historians bring the world of the past to life in almost a living-history manner and make what most might think to be a boring subject very interesting and even exciting, oftentimes due to the quality of the illustrations / photos.
Individually, the Time-Life collections may not seem like tomes as such, but collectively they most certainly can be considered in that category (for instance, I certainly would call the approximately 800 pages that covers just the B.C. period alone, when one puts together the complete TimeFrame series, quite extensive)!
And if there is a topic I have a further interest in, (which often I do), I then can always seek out more information from other books which can get into even greater detail (which often I have done).
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| A few from my TimeFrame collection. |
So let's begin with what I have been interested in of late - early history. Not just American history, but actual early history, as in world and mankind history. As I mentioned above, a sort of renewed interest in the ancient world has built up in me. Time-Life put out a wonderful series of the ancient world called TimeFrame. The collection begins with The Human Dawn and goes all the way through the 20th century. Now, since I have that later period of the 19th and 20th centuries covered quite well, I see no reason for repeats. So I concentrated on the earlier history - initially with the B.C. and early A.D. periods - which, aside from biblical history (yes, the Bible is filled with history), I am mostly unfamiliar with. Then I moved up to cover the world history through the 18th century.
Why not, right?
The cool thing is finding these books rather cheap on eBay and Amazon.
So this is what I have in the TimeFrame collection:
The Human Dawn: Early Man (covers the Sumerians quite well)
The Age of God-Kings: TimeFrame 3000-1500 BC
Barbarian Tides: TimeFrame 1500-600 BC
A Soaring Spirit: TimeFrame 600-400 BC
Empires Ascendant: TimeFrame 400 BC-AD 200
Empires Besieged: TimeFrame AD 200-600
March of Islam: Time Frame AD 600 - 800
Fury of the Northmen: TimeFrame AD 800-1000
Light in the East: Timeframe AD 1000 - 1100
The Divine Campaigns: Timeframe AD 1100-1200
The Mongol Conquests: Time-Frame AD 1200-1300
The Age of Calamity: Time Frame AD 1300-1400
Voyages of Discovery, TimeFrame 1400-1500 AD
The European Emergence: TimeFrame AD 1500 - 1600
The Powers of the Crown: TimeFrame AD 1600-1700
Winds of Revolution : TimeFrame: AD 1700-1800
The Domestic World: TimeFrame (covers home & family from ancient times through today)
The Rise of Cities: TimeFrame (covers city history from ancient times through today)
The following, in italics, comes from a reviewer from Amazon:
The series arranges and compartmentalizes history in time periods and regions. Doing this does more than you think. People learn, in general, by categorizing things. By categorizing the books by time period (while Rome was doing this, China was doing this), the reader can take in and digest large amounts of information while still recognizing that they are only learning about a specific period and time. Also, because of this approach, the books are not ethno- or euro- centric. Timelines are provided, as well as illustrations, architecture, maps, etc. I whole-heartedly recommend this series to any school or library as a learning tool, or to individuals... It's extremely worth it, even if you just read it to distill the fine points... The setup lets you fly right through the books.
The series arranges and compartmentalizes history in time periods and regions. Doing this does more than you think. People learn, in general, by categorizing things. By categorizing the books by time period (while Rome was doing this, China was doing this), the reader can take in and digest large amounts of information while still recognizing that they are only learning about a specific period and time. Also, because of this approach, the books are not ethno- or euro- centric. Timelines are provided, as well as illustrations, architecture, maps, etc. I whole-heartedly recommend this series to any school or library as a learning tool, or to individuals... It's extremely worth it, even if you just read it to distill the fine points... The setup lets you fly right through the books.
I have eighteen out of the twenty five books in the total available collection; pretty comprehensive history, I would think.
Anyhow, in the book which covers very early man - The Human Dawn - it speaks about, lo & behold, the beginning of farming and the growing of flax for cloth! How cool is that, considering I work with flax. It also touches on the possibilities of how early man may have initially harnessed fire and how, by doing so, helped to create a home / home base, therefore not being quite as nomadic as they once were. And there is an excellent piece on the crossing of the land bridge from what is now Siberia to what is now Alaska by what would become the earliest native Americans.
Each book in the series is filled with information of its time period along these lines.
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| A few from my collection of What Life Was Like~ So much reading...so many interesting subjects... Great books! |
I also have a few books from the What Life Was Like series. Once again, I did not purchase the entire set, I only bought the books I was/am most interested in, which is the following:
On the Banks of the Nile: Egypt, 3050-30 BC
At the Dawn of Democracy : Classical Athens 525-322
Among Druids and High Kings: Celtic Ireland, AD 400-1200
When Longships Sailed: Vikings AD 800-1100
In The Age of Chivalry: Medieval Europe, AD 800-1500
At the Rebirth of Genius: Renaissance Italy, AD 1400-1550
In Europe's Golden Age: Northern Europe, AD 1500-1675
In the Realm of Elizabeth: England, AD 1533-1603
In the Jewel in the Crown: British India, AD 1600-1905
My favorites are the books about When Longships Sailed: Vikings, Among Druids and High Kings, and In The Age of Chivalry: Medieval Europe.
Between What Life Was Like and TimeFrame, I believe I have a very good - dare I say EXCELLENT - representation of ancient and early history.
Okay, now, you silly people who think that just because I have an interest in this period I will now want to reenact it:
nope.
Not at all.
Like my love of WWII and the 1940s, I very much enjoy reading, researching, and studying ancient and early times, but that doesn't mean I want to reenact it.
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| Ope! Ya caught me! Here I am in Medieval clothing! Yeah...I dressed as a Medieval serf/peasant for Hallowe'en once a few years back, but to actually reenact this period (or earlier). well, it's just not me...but I do love learning about this era. (Gotta love the Victorian setting here, right? Lol!) Laugh at me if you want---I am! |
As noted, I have piece-parts of some collections and the full set of others. For instance, in the 12 volume Life History of the United States series I have the following books:
The New World: Before 1775
The Making of a Nation: 1775 - 1789
The Growing Years: 1789 - 1829
The Sweep Westward: 1829 - 1849
The Union Sundered: 1849 - 1865
The Union Restored: 1861 - 1876
Time-Life does a fine job in covering our great American history, though I wish the first book of the series, The New World: Before 1775, went deeper into the great explorers, and maybe had more of a study on them. Perhaps a separate book could have been written about the earlier part of the 18th century leading up to the Revolution.
Ah, but that's just me.
However, this is also where other collections can help. For instance, I mentioned owning
Voyages of Discovery: TimeFrame 1400-1500 AD
The European Emergence: TimeFrame AD 1500 - 1600
both from the TimeFrame collection, which does cover the great explorers quite well.
And a book from What Life Was Like (At the Rebirth of Genius: Renaissance Italy) also touches on the subject.
But The Making of a Nation: 1775 - 1789 does give a very fine overview of the American Revolution, covering all of the major events leading up to and during our War for Independence.
I have plenty of other books that pertain strictly to the American Revolution and what lead up to it (including another Time Life book not part of any series), as well as daily life of the period for the common folks who lived at that turbulent time, but this set is just a great overview with some fine historical paintings and text included.
I also very much enjoy The Growing Years and The Sweep Westward, both of which do a great job covering the post-Revolutionary years and our first few presidents, as well as the first half of the 19th century. This time period in American history tends to be greatly overlooked, and Time-Life brings it all back to life in the era's many aspects.
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| A few from Life History of the United States and The Civil War are represented here. |
And since we have crossed the ocean to America, our next stop in the time line of American history is The Civil War.
I did not collect the entire Time-Life Civil War series, for there are 28 volumes in this collection - a little too much for me - but I know a few friends who simply cannot get enough of this period and have the entire set, absolutely loving and devouring each book.
However, to fill out my own Civil War book collection, I collected a specific selection of titles:
Confederate Ordeal - The Southern Homefront
The Bloodiest Day - The Battle of Antietam
Twenty Million Yankees - The Northern Homefront
Gettysburg - The Confederate High Tide
Tenting Tonight - The Soldier's Life
Also, as part of the Civil War I have two from the Voices of the Civil War collection:
Antietam
Gettysburg
This 18 volume set known as Voices of the Civil War is different from the other Civil War series in that it concentrates on the words written by those who were there, rather than scholars of the future writing about the conflict. "Letters, diary excerpts, photographs, and artifacts recount the personal experiences of soldiers and civilians."
Again, a bit too much for where my interests lie, for even though I've reenacted the American Civil War era for pert-near twenty years, I have a basic interest in the War itself, and I am satisfied with what I own and have a few other books to fill in any gaps. But I suppose if someone were a completist of the American Civil War, they would want all of the books from both series.
For The Old West collection, which is 2nd to none in its covering of America's cowboy era, that fabled Cowboys & Indians time period of the last half of the 19th century, I have the complete series - all 26 books. And each book centers in on a different topic, including The Forty-Niners, The Cowboys, The Rivermen, The Loggers, The Townsmen, The Women, The Pioneers, The Indians, and eighteen more along these lines. This is one amazing collection of American History, and it gets pretty in depth on each subject, to the extent that readers become engulfed in the period.
My interest in the old west began as a youngster when my dad and I would watch John Wayne and Clint Eastwood cowboys movies on TV, which I still love to do. I never lost my love for those great flicks, and when I was a young working adult I saw the Time-Life Old West advertisements on TV, called the number on the screen, ordered my first book (The Great Chiefs) and never looked back!
And...I learned truth from myth.
Awesome!
And here is the original commercial that pulled this 19 year old in to subscribe:
And I still have each one!
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| Here we have one from "Voices of the Civil War," and two each from "The Old West" and "Our American Century." I remember when I first ordered "The Old West" - I was quite surprised that my father didn't necessarily approve, for he loved that period in time. But I'm glad I did, for given the fact that there are 26 books in that collection, it was my first introduction to deep study of a certain time, place, and culture in history. |
Our American Century begins in the late 19th century (Prelude to the Century 1870-1900) and covers each decade of the 20th century, hitting all the headline news events, touching on daily life, and includes photographs galore, going all the way through to the end of the 1990s. Each book covers a different decade, with a few extra specialty books thrown in. These extras include One Hundred Years of Hollywood, The Rock & Roll Generation: Teen Life in the 1950s, as well as books on 100 years of Immigration, Sports, and Flight.
My favorite just happens to be Dawn of the Century: 1900-1910, followed by Prelude mentioned above, for these two books go so well together. Then the rest of the 20th century follows, as mentioned, decade by decade. It's funny, in an odd sort of way, that I remember much from the last four books, covering the sixties through the 90s, as it happened, and is now considered history.
With 17 books, this is a true treasure trove of the 20th century! It would be so cool to have such a collection for other centuries.
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| Discarding the oh-so-prevalent myths |
And that about covers my Time-Life history collection. As you can see, they really do a remarkable job in their historical coverage. I mean, if I had no other history books but Time-Life, it would still be quite the collection to have, for the depth and quality of what they cover is perfect. I mean, 26 books in The Old West series alone! And there are dozens of other series books I do not have.
So, beginning with TimeFrame, heading into What Life Was Like, followed by The History of the United States, and continuing with Civil War & Voices of the Civil War, riding into The Old West, and then ending with Our American Century (20th century), each of these books can be found pretty cheap on eBay and Amazon and elsewhere, oftentimes with free shipping!
Now, I'll leave on one thought:
with 46 books (two separate series) focused on the four years of the Civil War alone, I would've loved to have seen a series on the American Revolution done with the same care and detail. I do wonder why this has not been done. Time-Life did put out a special book called The Revolutionaries: The American Story (yup---got it!), but that is one book; nothing like a series.
Ah well, I suppose it's a little too late to complain now considering they no longer produce book series of any kind.
Anyhow, I honestly highly recommend any of these Time-Life books.
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| A couple more... |
But I also recommend exploring other books on any particular period of interest for a deeper study.
Until next time, see you in time.
For other postings about my book collection - -
Please click HERE,
Please click THERE,
Please click EVERYWHERE,
And please click THIS cool one,
and HERE, too!
Yeah, one cannot have too many books, that's for sure.
By the way, to have an ever-so-slight idea about past times, check out a few TV shows:
~The Chosen, which is a TV series about the life of Jesus Christ and also shows everyday life during His time. Aside from the modernisms in language, they actually do a good job depicting the time and era that Christ walked the earth.
~The various Vikings series being shown are about as accurate as Brave Heart (which I love, but is not very accurate), but it does give one a slight idea and feel of the times - and there's a touch of historical truth to boot strewn about here and there!
~Secrets of the Castle and Tudor Monastery Farm - these last two being as historically accurate as can be done. In fact, I did a blog POST about these two as well as a few other very accurate shows in the series.
all of which are streaming on various channels throughout the TV/computer world.
And the time-travel movie, Timeline, where a team of present-day archaeology and history students are sent back in time to medieval (1357) France to rescue their professor just as a battle begins.
A pretty intense battle at that!
I know little of this period, but I found this to be an exciting film to watch with quite a bit of action throughout. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
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