I have been reading a lot of American History lately (capital A capital H).

I realized I hadn’t actually studied American History in about 10 years. Since my junior year in high school. Mr. Schock. He loved American History – you could tell. Very entertaining.

That was an AP class (Advanced Placement), the one AP test I took. And I passed. So I didn’t take American History at all in college.

After that there was a little history here and there – early American puritan preachers in that particular American lit class. Or the history of the Southern Pacific Railroad when reading The Octopus by Frank Norris.

Or any of the 25 times I have read Gone With the Wind. Which, by the way, I am still trying to get Andrew to read. For someone who loves Abraham Lincoln so much, you would think he would want to read something from the point of view of the Confederacy. Not exactly history. But better than nothing.

Please don’t everybody leave a bunch of comments about how Gone With the Wind isn’t history. I know. Plus if you haven’t read it, you don’t get to.

Anyway.

As I type this I’m watching American Dreams (also not history, but historical. There’s a difference). Also historical (maybe more like historic-ish): The Wonder Years. More history than historical: Band of Brothers.

I am loving American history. I’m actually finding it kind of … inspiring. I don’t know exactly what it is inspiring me to do. Maybe just follow the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election a little more closely. But something.

I kind of eased myself into it, and now all I want to do is go to the library/bookstore and hang out in that section, filling my arms with big, heavy, hardcover books with dead people on the cover. Clarification: pictures or names of dead people.

Here’s a current list of what I’ve been reading – not in order:

• Team of Rivals
• JFK and Vietnam
• America’s Queen
• Founding Brothers

Plus totally poring over various related Wikipedia articles. The more I read, the longer my list gets on what I want to read. For example, reading Founding Brothers has a chapter about the Alexander Hamilton/Aaron Burr duel, and now I need to read a biography on both of them.

All this American history makes an interesting back drop to the current election. Especially to the early American’s thoughts that the U.S. may not be long-lasting.

So now, on Wed when I get to my parents’ house in Phoenix, I get to stock up. My dad reads/buys American history books. That I get to borrow.

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