What are some alternative ways you like to consider history?

[Emmalita]

Cookbooks are more than just books of recipes, they are also a cultural and historic record. When CoffeeShopReader was looking for a book to fill the Book Bingo UnCannon square she chose Toni Tipton-Martin's The Jemima Code: Two Centuries of African American Cookbooks. "As the author points out, one of the key things about the book is that it really focuses on not just food and recipes associated with African American or Southern cultures; the focus is really on what the people themselves wrote and did." You can read the full review here.

[Tali]

I second Emmalita. Food is such an amazing way to learn about how people lived, how work was divided, what they grew. The politics of food are also fascinating.

[Raven]

I like taking a subject I know at least something about and then finding an "alternative history." (ie: what if the British won the Revolutionary War). I also try and find books that show "the other side." John Wilson does WW2 from the German side (he's Canadian so there's a different take to start). But also Parallel Journeys edited by Eleanor H. Ayer is a non-fiction look at a Jewish woman and a man who was in the Hitler Youth. Plus, trying to find authors that are not American or are from another Allie nation (Canada has some interesting WW1 and WW2 history). Just to name a few ways