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Five Pieces of History That Are Worth a Little Extra Reading

Forgive me, fair internet, but for the last few weeks to pay rent I’ve been backlogged with articles about septic tanks and random internet hosting and the super bowl and college tuition. I’ve written about nothing fun, and I wonder if anyone reading my shit has caught onto my feigned enthusiasm (I repeat: septic tanks). So, I need this. I also need to keep visualizing that I’m gonna have a little extra money to rent more movies and buy more wine and be able to take pretty girls on dates. Oh, and gas for the car. But until then, allow me a little indulgence

I, essentially, am a history nerd. I love reading biographies and histories and just, well, stories. And here are five you probably don’t know too much about

  • The Great Assassins of U.S. History: I can confess that I didn’t really learn about this the way I learned about the rest of these. I was turned onto this topic by, well, a musical. Stephen Sondheim’s semi-fictional work, “Assassins” on the mentality of these anti-heroes when put together in the same space, is riveting. But when you actually begin to do the research, the stories of the people who missed is as interesting as the people whose shots landed: From David Herold to Charles Guiteau to Squeaky Fromme to everyone in between and outside is nuts. What can drive a person to essentially play king of the hill with a human life? Nuts.
  • The Formation of the Transcontinental Railroad: It’s one of those stories I’m shocked isn’t a modern day action movie yet: Two companies get contracts for half of a project, and are essentially trying to do it as cheaply as possible. Men came from miles to get a bit of work and excitement, especially immigrants, and it’s got everything from the emergence of the mobile whore houses (they had to follow the men as they moved across the country) and a lot of extreme deaths involving Chinese immigrants and explosives. It’s part sad, part riveting, but on the whole an interesting story of how a great method of transportation came to be.
  • Homosexuality and The Holocaust: Again, I got into this in a way I wasn’t expecting. I had three classes I could take to fill one credit of my religious studies minor. I ended up in this one, purely by scheduling, and I’ve never looked back. I’ve been afforded the opportunity to have dinner with a lot of Holocaust survivors, meet the youngest man on Oscar Schindler’s actual list, and really experience a lot in terms of this dark period. But there are a lot of victims in the Holocaust that schools don’t go over, and the stance that Germany had towards a population completely shifted as Hitler came to power, and that’s something chronicling.
  • 1920’s Los Angeles: This might be my favorite time period, and of course television shows like Boardwalk Empire are highlighting other parts of the country at this time. But it’s a history lesson I’ve gotten since I was named, the story of Clifford Clinton and how he tried to stop corruption in his hometown, which resulted in his house being bombed. It’s also a really interesting view of mobsters in this time that Los Angeles doesn’t often get credit for. Also See: Mexico in the 1920’s (also known as the birth place of the culture that produced the phrase “That Shit Cray”)
  • The Game Show Scandals: Anyone interested in entertainment at all should read a bit about this. Sure, it may not be as crazy or graphic as a lot of my other recommendations, but there was such a bit scandal that was being manipulated by so many people that you can’t help but be interested in the story. The movie “Quiz Show” targets the game show 21, NBC’s hallmark trivia show, but it wasn’t the only one. In fact, wherever there was a birth of a non-fiction drama there was a bit of a scandal. Late Night Wars is a fun pick up for that kind of thing too
  1. cliffclinton posted this