Sonar, your reply opened up so many avenues of thought it took a bit to travel a few. Mom always said read, but she meant religious reading, teenage boys want adventure, cars, and sex. I started reading more serious stuff in the military in Alaska before these times of instant communication. A beautiful place but darkness and winter cold made time for reading, oh and handball too.

My wife complained I read too much when we first married, she once threw a book at me when she got mad at something or the other. Women! We are still married and today I read a lot less with the Internet and photography. But back on topic.

The Constitution has improved with time, consider voting as a primary one. Sonar, you must think a few of the 17 additions are important and necessary?  The 12Th on election process, 13Th/14Th slavery and rights, the 18Th a failure, but the 19Th a real change and the 24Th another positive. If you can fight and die for your nation at 18 then the 26Th makes sense too.

We read for lots of reasons. The book I mentioned above covers how surveillance has taken over the Internet, your searches tell them your interests etc. You have a point but there are lots of things one can do to get a better understanding of our times.

There is good information online.  I try to read both sides.  This site gives information on the political leaning of various sites.

https://answers.library.american.edu/faq/282165

Back to books. While this thread was about history books I want to list a few diverse reads. Books friends and people online praise too. They will challenge you. Constitutional amendments covered below.  And read poetry too, Maybe I'll post on that at a later time.

"One must be careful of books, and what is inside them, for words have the power to change us." Cassandra Clare

'Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance' By Robert Pirsig
'Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain' David Eagleman
'Don't Sleep, There Are Snakes: Life and Language in the Amazonian Jungle' by Daniel L. Everett
'Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers' by Robert M. Sapolsky
'Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis' by J. D. Vance
'One of Us: The Story of a Massacre in Norway - and Its Aftermath' by Seierstad, Åsne and Sarah Death
'The Unpersuadables: Adventures with the Enemies of Science' by Will Storr

More History:

'White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America' by Nancy Isenberg
'The Modern Mind: An Intellectual History of the 20Th Century' Peter Watson
'The Rise and Fall of Communism'  by Archie Brown
'Humanity: A Moral History of the Twentieth Century' by Jonathan Glover


A useful site for book topic recommendations: https://fivebooks.com/


'The US Constitution has 27 amendments that protect the rights of Americans.'

https://www.insider.com/what-are-all-the-amendments-us-constitution-meaning-history-2018-11

"The limits of my language are the limits of my mind. All I know is what I have words for." Ludwig Wittgenstein

Greetings people, Hope all are well. Wife and I got our first vaccine, hope you did too.  Slight side effects and while we never get the flu shot or whatnot decided we'd do this one. 

On Topic:  For readers interested in the Internet and web, check our 'Surveillance Capitalism' by Shoshana Zuboff.  I am reading it now. It is a deep dive into social media, its use, Google, and other online issues.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/oct/04/shoshana-zuboff-surveillance-capitalism-assault-human-automomy-digital-privacy

Not exactly history but I'm sure everyone online here would enjoy it.  My copy is from 1988 and yellowing but still often a bump in head for thought.

'The Oxford Book of Aphorisms' by John Gross
   
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1219254.The_Oxford_Book_of_Aphorisms

One gem from politics' section:
   
'It is a vain hope to make people happy by politics.' Thomas Carlyle
   
   
   

It is good to see so many views of this thread.  As I noted in another post I am fascinated by cults and ordered this from Amazon.

'Hough's sharp, witty "Leaving Isn't the Hardest Thing" tackles everything from the military to our working class'

https://www.salon.com/2021/04/15/lauren-hough-leaving-isnt-the-hardest-thing-cult/


"The Fundamentalist Christians have told me that I am a slave of Satan and should have my demons expelled with an exorcism. The Fundamentalist Materialists inform me that I am a liar, charlatan, fraud and scoundrel. Aside from this minor difference, the letters are astoundingly similar. Both groups share the same crusading zeal and the same lack of humor, charity and common human decency. These intolerable cults have served to confirm me in my agnosticism by presenting further evidence to support my contention that when dogma enters the brain, all intellectual activity ceases."  Robert Anton Wilson

Quote from: midcan5 on April 26, 2021, 04:56:52 AM
It is good to see so many views of this thread.  As I noted in another post I am fascinated by cults and ordered this from Amazon.

'Hough's sharp, witty "Leaving Isn't the Hardest Thing" tackles everything from the military to our working class'

https://www.salon.com/2021/04/15/lauren-hough-leaving-isnt-the-hardest-thing-cult/


"The Fundamentalist Christians have told me that I am a slave of Satan and should have my demons expelled with an exorcism. The Fundamentalist Materialists inform me that I am a liar, charlatan, fraud and scoundrel. Aside from this minor difference, the letters are astoundingly similar. Both groups share the same crusading zeal and the same lack of humor, charity and common human decency. These intolerable cults have served to confirm me in my agnosticism by presenting further evidence to support my contention that when dogma enters the brain, all intellectual activity ceases."  Robert Anton Wilson

Ohhhh the fuckin irony~!!! A lib ordering from Amazon, a book on cults.

Now, look up Stockholm Syndrome, you fuckin sheep!

Solar, you should know me by now, the Stockholm syndrome is the farthest thing from me. Do you find me ever agreeing. Soon you'll ban me as I won't agree with ideas I disagree with. Think about that and SS for a moment.

I've updated my favorite quotes if anyone is interested. They range all over the place but will make you think or wink or nod or wonder and learn.

https://midcan5.blogspot.com/2019/02/jms-favorite-mostly-short-quotes-in.html

"The best advice I ever got was that knowledge is power and to keep reading." David Bailey

'Hiding' is one of the toughest reads you'll ever tackle.

'Hiding in Plain Sight: The Invention of Donald Trump and the Erosion of America'

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52274929-hiding-in-plain-sight

Quote from: midcan5 on April 27, 2021, 01:15:37 PM
Solar, you should know me by now, the Stockholm syndrome is the farthest thing from me. Do you find me ever agreeing. Soon you'll ban me as I won't agree with ideas I disagree with. Think about that and SS for a moment.

I've updated my favorite quotes if anyone is interested. They range all over the place but will make you think or wink or nod or wonder and learn.

https://midcan5.blogspot.com/2019/02/jms-favorite-mostly-short-quotes-in.html

"The best advice I ever got was that knowledge is power and to keep reading." David Bailey

'Hiding' is one of the toughest reads you'll ever tackle.

'Hiding in Plain Sight: The Invention of Donald Trump and the Erosion of America'

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52274929-hiding-in-plain-sight

I always did take you for a mein kampf kind of liberal....

Quote from: midcan5 on April 27, 2021, 01:15:37 PM
Solar, you should know me by now, the Stockholm syndrome is the farthest thing from me. Do you find me ever agreeing. Soon you'll ban me as I won't agree with ideas I disagree with. Think about that and SS for a moment.

I've updated my favorite quotes if anyone is interested. They range all over the place but will make you think or wink or nod or wonder and learn.

https://midcan5.blogspot.com/2019/02/jms-favorite-mostly-short-quotes-in.html

"The best advice I ever got was that knowledge is power and to keep reading." David Bailey

'Hiding' is one of the toughest reads you'll ever tackle.

'Hiding in Plain Sight: The Invention of Donald Trump and the Erosion of America'

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52274929-hiding-in-plain-sight

Yes, I know you well, and you are about as closed minded as they come, you refuse to venture outside of your bubble, even as we present evidence that Marxists are trying to destroy the US.
Then you prove my point by posting an anti Trump POS by a bubble dwelling leftist who obviously never studied our Constitution.
How is it you refuse to acknowledge the obvious fact that it was crony corporate leftists in both party's that brought us to this point?

Yes, NAFTA was a planned assault on the country, knowing full well all these corporations would bail on the American worker in search of slave labor.

And now we have one party that literally stole an election, placed a puppet in office, to only take orders from faceless Marxist.
Do you deny this?

Solar,  I'll reply to you later today, the good Lord willing and the creek don't rise....

Quote from: Owebo on April 27, 2021, 01:34:17 PM
I always did take you for a mein kampf kind of liberal....

Owebo,  Did you ever read Mein Kampf?  I tried it long ago but couldn't get through it. I was surprised though that Pres Trump was a reader and kept a copy at his bedside.

"The great masses of the people will more easily fall victim to a big lie than to a small one. If you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed. Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it. By the skillful and sustained use of propaganda, one can make a people see even heaven as hell or an extremely wretched life as paradise." 

Hitler's Control of the Masses, Mein Kampf

Quote from: midcan5 on April 28, 2021, 04:22:29 AM
Solar,  I'll reply to you later today, the good Lord willing and the creek don't rise....

Owebo,  Did you ever read Mein Kampf?  I tried it long ago but couldn't get through it. I was surprised though that Pres Trump was a reader and kept a copy at his bedside.

"The great masses of the people will more easily fall victim to a big lie than to a small one. If you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed. Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it. By the skillful and sustained use of propaganda, one can make a people see even heaven as hell or an extremely wretched life as paradise." 

Hitler's Control of the Masses, Mein Kampf

Yes I did...how do you think I can see right through you liberal nazis as you use hitlers playbook.....

Quote from: midcan5 on April 28, 2021, 04:22:29 AM
Solar,  I'll reply to you later today, the good Lord willing and the creek don't rise....

Owebo,  Did you ever read Mein Kampf?  I tried it long ago but couldn't get through it. I was surprised though that Pres Trump was a reader and kept a copy at his bedside.

"The great masses of the people will more easily fall victim to a big lie than to a small one. If you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed. Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it. By the skillful and sustained use of propaganda, one can make a people see even heaven as hell or an extremely wretched life as paradise." 

Hitler's Control of the Masses, Mein Kampf

Know your enemy. and know those that could be your enemy.

Trump also has a copy of Das Kapital as well.

But then I bet you either did not know that or since it blew your agenda up said nothing.

You are the kind that are used to fool others.

There are various names for such but one I thought very appropriate

USEFUL FOOL

Some call them USEFUL IDIOTS but I like mine better

Quote from: midcan5 on April 28, 2021, 04:22:29 AM
Solar,  I'll reply to you later today, the good Lord willing and the creek don't rise....

Owebo,  Did you ever read Mein Kampf?  I tried it long ago but couldn't get through it. I was surprised though that Pres Trump was a reader and kept a copy at his bedside.

"The great masses of the people will more easily fall victim to a big lie than to a small one. If you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed. Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it. By the skillful and sustained use of propaganda, one can make a people see even heaven as hell or an extremely wretched life as paradise." 

Hitler's Control of the Masses, Mein Kampf

Thomas Jefferson owned a Koran, that evil traitor.
This is your problem, you refuse to learn, sure you read a lot of shit, problem is, it's all opinion reaffirming.

We on the other hand we know that studying both sides, elucidates and educates as to what the enemy has planned, and just how ignorant and blind they are.
For this reason history repeats itself and idiots like you ask "How did this happen"?

Do you seriously believe an old dementiaed fool was elected with the highest numbers in all of American history?
Do you seriously believe opening the border is what is good for the US, that a party promoting racial division, riots actually won the American vote?

I don't believe your claim of being an American.

On topic:

A fascinating read for history buffs is, 'White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America' by Nancy Rosenberg.  I am amazed today that so much good writing and especially history is written by women.  Kim Phillips-Fein, Arlie Russell Hochschild, Jane Mayer are excellent. 'White Trash' is fascinating as it gets into how we got here.  If you don't have time for books check out the articles below.  They cover that historical period.

"1930s-era Alabama sharecroppers, among the most viciously exploited groups of people in American history."

https://medium.com/message/how-white-people-got-made-6eeb076ade42

Quote from: midcan5 on May 03, 2021, 05:13:02 AM
On topic:

A fascinating read for history buffs is, 'White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America' by Nancy Rosenberg.  I am amazed today that so much good writing and especially history is written by women.  Kim Phillips-Fein, Arlie Russell Hochschild, Jane Mayer are excellent. 'White Trash' is fascinating as it gets into how we got here.  If you don't have time for books check out the articles below.  They cover that historical period.

"1930s-era Alabama sharecroppers, among the most viciously exploited groups of people in American history."

https://medium.com/message/how-white-people-got-made-6eeb076ade42

Again, no one gives a fuck what you have to say, Marxist!

Quote from: midcan5 on May 03, 2021, 05:13:02 AM
On topic:

A fascinating read for history buffs is, 'White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America' by Nancy Rosenberg.  I am amazed today that so much good writing and especially history is written by women.  Kim Phillips-Fein, Arlie Russell Hochschild, Jane Mayer are excellent. 'White Trash' is fascinating as it gets into how we got here.  If you don't have time for books check out the articles below.  They cover that historical period.

"1930s-era Alabama sharecroppers, among the most viciously exploited groups of people in American history."

https://medium.com/message/how-white-people-got-made-6eeb076ade42

How about
'Karl Marx-responsible for more deaths than any other human in history"
Would you read that?