The Emergence of a History Geek

I just read a great quote from Harry Truman:

"There is nothing new in the world except the history you do not know."

Over the last several months, I have totally become a history geek.

Sure, I have always had a sort of general interest in history - enough so that my career involves more than the usual exposure to the people and places of the past - but it's only been recently that I have started to become really excited about learning as much as I can, particularly about our own American history.

I am currently mid-way through my new favorite tome, Doris Kearns Goodwin's Team of Rivals. If you had asked me a year ago, I would never have guessed that I would be devouring a nearly 900-page (with footnotes) book about Lincoln and his Civil War Cabinet. But I can't get enough of it! I even have the next 4 history books I want to read lined up on the shelf - another about Lincoln and the Civil War, one about the Emancipation Proclamation, one about the history of the American Presidency, and Goodwin's Pulitzer Prize-winner about Franklin and Eleanor.

I have recently had the pleasure of being able to see Ms. Goodwin speak in person, and Justice Stephen Breyer, and Presidential historian Michael Beschloss, and Lincoln assassination author James Swanson, and soon I will see Walter Isaacson speak on his new book on Einstein. Our book club got together last week to discuss Manhunt and the Lincoln assassination, and thanks to the enthusiastic research of a fellow emerging geek we all tested ourselves with a Presidential history quiz. And guess what? I'm having a great time spending these evenings being a total history geek!

Ten years out of college, I am starting to feel somewhat academically inspired again. There's a real high to learning more about our own history, cuz it helps us understand so much more about today. And -- bonus -- it's fun!