In the middle of the Pandemic and during the U.S. presidential election of 2020, I was suddenly struck by the desire to read a biography about each of the U.S. presidents. Actually, I was interested in reading a biography from two different political alignments plus an autobiography when possible to explore how bias shapes the individual’s perspective of a leader and how they performed. (But, that would be close to 200 books, and I’m lucky to read 10 non-picture books a year, right now.) This morphed into wanting to dive deep into U.S. history in general, with a degree of chronology. And then, after rooting around on the Barnes and Noble website, I snagged a book about the Victorians and their interest in true crime, and suddenly I just wanted to read all the books about all of history across the globe. This is way more than 200 books, but the possibilities of what I could learn (and unlearn) are endless!
So, I started a side project on By Golly, Ollie! called Reading Through History to chronicle this adventure through time. Below is a timeline of all the periods in history I’ve visited so far. Or, if you prefer, I’ve organized books by continent too:
Africa | Antarctica | Asia | Australia | Europe | North America | South America
Currently, I am exploring American and U.S. history with An Indigenous People’s History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz.
The Timeline So Far…
1620 CE
- The Mayflower lands at Plymouth Rock
- Mayflower: Voyage, Community, and War by Nathaniel Philbrick
- The Mayflower lands at Plymouth Rock
By Golly, Ollie! 