Ancient & Medieval Historical Fiction discussion
General Discussions
>
Random Thoughts
happy wrote: "Thnx for the comments on SLC, as a Utah resident (about 15 miles north of SLC), yes it is beautiful and more importantly accessible (for the most part). It does have it's problems though - ie in th..."We have the mountains causing us the same kind of issues here. Breathing in all that smog is awful.
Marilyn wrote: "The best way to see it is by car. That way you can stop when you want, see what you want ( for as long as you want) and meet the people who lie and work in that area. I remember finally getting to ..."When I went to the "Little Bighorn National Battlefield", my overwhelming impression was "What a lonely place to die!"
It still is in the middle of nowhere and you really have to be going there to see it. My brother and I spent about 4 hours there walking the ground. We also went and saw what was left of the "Rosebud" battlefield - not much there, just a state marker,
For those that don't know, The Rosebud happened about a week before Little Bighorn and Crazy Horse and Co stopped the US Army cold -didn't destroy them, but forced them to retreat back to there starting point.
There are so many great US sites. I want to go see Mt Rushmore. And Arches National Park. The Four Corners monument.
I recommend Fort Ross in California. A little Russian history on the West Coast.
Alcatraz is totally worth visiting too. And I loved the Statue of Liberty.
A west coast road trip where you visit all the lighthouses is fantastic fun, Point Reyes is a highlight!
happy wrote: "Marilyn wrote: "The best way to see it is by car. That way you can stop when you want, see what you want ( for as long as you want) and meet the people who lie and work in that area. I remember fin..."I bought an on-line course a few weeks back which covers this event as well as many others around Native American culture & history. Im fairly up with European History but this is my first real venture into the Americas outside of the Aztecs & the AWI
https://www.centreofexcellence.com/co...
Ellis Island is worth a visit too if anyone is heading for the Statue of Liberty, very poignant exhibits & the size of rooms the later immigrants were herded into :( criminal!
I have been trying to increase my Native American knowledge over the last couple years too, but have mostly stuck with Canadian history. Lots of residential school history, which is a little newer. Though, I want to go back to New Mexico and see Acoma Pueblo. And I want to go back to see Canyon de Chelly National Monument which is on Navajo land. Lots of history at both of these places.
Dawn wrote: "I have been trying to increase my Native American knowledge over the last couple years too, but have mostly stuck with Canadian history. Lots of residential school history, which is a little newer...."The course I mentioned I got waaaaay cheaper than full price btw, no way i'd pay £129 for it :) I got it reduced to £29 (there are lots of offers currently) & having done one on The Celts I'd say they're a good introduction for anyone who wanted some resource material to then go & study further/deeper in their own time.
The NA course covers a lot of topics Dawn & worth a looksee if only for the areas of study summary
In the thread of Native American books, several years ago someone mentioned a series where the Protagonist Is a Native American detective. Anyone remember this series? The author? I would like to read them this year!
May wrote: "In the thread of Native American books, several years ago someone mentioned a series where the Protagonist Is a Native American detective. Anyone remember this series? The author? I would like to r..."https://www.mysterytribune.com/24-bes...
Tony Hillerman series comes up in a lot of searches too as well as being listed a few times in the above.
May wrote: "In the thread of Native American books, several years ago someone mentioned a series where the Protagonist Is a Native American detective. Anyone remember this series? The author? I would like to r..."There are several, but I really enjoyed James D. Doss Charlie Moon books.
https://www.goodreads.com/series/4096...
May wrote: "Thank you, Margaret. I’ll give that series a go!"The first few books, it's Charlie's aunty who is the main character...then, according to Doss, Charlie moved in and took over!
Dawn wrote: "I like Tay-bodal Death at Rainy Mountain"Thank you, Dawn. I look forward to this one, also!
I read a lot of Tony Hillerman before moving to New Mexico. He wrote a great series that is both interesting and educational. His daughter Anne Hillerman has continued the series since his death.
Just read that Sharon Kay Penman died on 22 January. I´ve still got The Sunne in Splendour and her Welsh and Plantagenet series on my tbr list.
Thank you, Laura. Thank nay have been the series I was originally remembering!! However, I think I need to try out all of the suggestions!!Be well! Stay safe!!
happy wrote: "Thnx for the comments on SLC, as a Utah resident (about 15 miles north of SLC), yes it is beautiful and more importantly accessible (for the most part). It does have it's problems though - ie in th..."I can see how that would happen with that plain tucked in there surrounded by mountain ranges. I also wondered, does it ever flood? It looks like a flood plain.
Marilyn wrote: "The best way to see it is by car. That way you can stop when you want, see what you want ( for as long as you want) and meet the people who lie and work in that area. I remember finally getting to ..."Argh. How sad that they only came for Custer's body and left the others.
Michaela wrote: "Just read that Sharon Kay Penman died on 22 January. I´ve still got The Sunne in Splendour and her Welsh and Plantagenet series on my tbr list."Wow. That must be breaking a lot of hearts.
Terri wrote: "happy wrote: "Thnx for the comments on SLC, as a Utah resident (about 15 miles north of SLC), yes it is beautiful and more importantly accessible (for the most part). It does have it's problems tho..."Actually it's the bottom of a lake bed from about 10,000 yrs ago. When you look at the mountains you can see were the shore line was (about 400 feet (125 M) above my house.
We have major floods about every 30 - 40 yrs or so - so we're due. There has to be a combination of heavy snow pack and warm spring so all that snow melts quickly. The last really bad floods were in '84 and '85. They were so bad they turned the main street in downtown SLC in to a stream for about 5 or 6 blocks - made the national news.
I was in the Army at the time and when I came home for lunch one day and flipped on CNN, they had lifted about 10 minutes from SLC's Local News and was rebroadcasting it (without the CNN logo). I was stunned for a minute - got transported back home
Truly hoping that stays old news & current climate crisis doesn’t add to that story!! Be well. Stay safe!
Terri wrote: "Marilyn wrote: "The best way to see it is by car. That way you can stop when you want, see what you want ( for as long as you want) and meet the people who lie and work in that area. I remember fin..."Quite frankly most of the bodies were unidentifiable - with mutilation, being out in the hot sun for 3 days etc. Plus the muster roles were with the 1st SGTS who died on the hill, so they didn't actually know just who was there. IRRC they also took a couple of others to reburied - members of Custer's family.
There is also a national military cemetery there that I found interesting. As the Army closed the frontier forts they disinterred the body's from the closing base cemeteries and moved many of those from the Dakotas, Montana, Wyoming bases and reinterred them there. Lots of sadness in that place - esp children and their mothers who died within days of each other. Just a sidelight - The Cemetery is also the final resting place of Major Marcus Reno, Custer's second in command. He died in the 1880s and was moved there sometime after his death. IRRC I don't thing there are any other LBH survivors buried there.
You'd think they'd just load them all up for a mass grave at Little Bighorn, or at a location closer to civilisation. Sad. Not as sad as the Native American losses (which gets me right in the feels), but sad all the same.
Thanks, happy, for the extra details re Custer’s Last Stand. There were so many details to the story. It really is in the middle of nowhere. As I said before the picture that stayed with me was standing on that hill, looking out toward the west, all those grave markers, the Little Bighorn River and the trees standing along it. Beyond the river was where Custer sent some of his men down to the river and across it to attack the Indians first. Imagine the folly and arrogance - there were thousands of them! Some of the men were trapped along the river - they couldn’t get back in time! So, where those thousands of Indians were camped is now just vacant, flat, dry land - and beyond about a mile stands Interstate 90 with the cars flying by, unperturbed by the cost paid for that bit of real estate.
Awesome details... makes the location more poignant. Encourages me to want to visit... soon! Thank you.
I was about to post this comment about sports and paid streaming services in the history related tv series and movie thread, and realised it was way off topic. So I a posting it here instead, :-)The Rugby moved this year from the Cable tv service we had, to a streaming service. At first we weren't too phased because we already subscribed to that service. But this week I discovered you have to pay an extra $10 a month to get the Rugby! So angry at Rugby Australia for leaving cable, which is a service that the most amount of viewers can access, and moving it to one of these random streaming services where people have to pay above the usual plan to access the rugby. Not happy.
Aw Terri, I understand! Like to watch sports too, but often the real interesting ones aren´t on my channel.
big news in the UK this week was that channel 4, free to air, secured the rights for India vs england test, odi and T20 series..... satellite subscribers seething lols at one point apparently Disney channel were in the frame as favourite!!!! first time in 16 years that a test series has been on free to air. sky putting their billions into soccer, hope it all blows up in their face, far to much going to the overpaid primadonnas
I took out a subscription to BritBox over Christmas. I'm loving it. Classic British television from both BBC and ITV.
I think for non UK viewers it's not a bad shout, for us it's like why should we be paying for bloody repeats, so goes most of the feedback lols
I was surprised to see that there was a BritBox in the UK. Seemed more like a good service to export....weird to pay for something you can already get though...
Amazon Prime has BritBox as a channel. I shall need to check this out, maybe a better deal than the TV package I have at the moment.
I think there trying to recoup monies lost from those that watch streaming services but don't pay for a tv license which is a bit harsh on those that do pay for a license.
Andy wrote: "I think for non UK viewers it's not a bad shout, for us it's like why should we be paying for bloody repeats, so goes most of the feedback lols"I am hoping we get a lot of the stuff on the UK version here. A lot of it is stuff that doesn't get repeated, like the BBC Play of the Day and all of the BBC Shakespeare recordings from the 1970s.
Dawn wrote: "Amazon Prime has BritBox as a channel. I shall need to check this out, maybe a better deal than the TV package I have at the moment."I love it, Dawn. I binged on the series "Loch Ness" a couple of weekends ago. The plot might have been ridiculous, but the scenery was superb. It was shot entirely on location around Loch Ness.
Most of the stuff on Britbox is available on the services I already have - free-to-air tv (ie abc iview), Foxtel, Netflix, and Stan. Although, granted, I'm not into much of the older repeated stuff that I've seen plenty of times in my life. I'm in no hurry to rewatch Dad's Army again! Seen it enough as a kid. haha. :-D
Astra Zenica 1/0 Andy Elliott lolsThat's been a bit of a ding dong for the past 3 days..... now dont let me put anyone off having the vaccine as i have a few underlying conditions along with being on some strong meds so i'm not A typical but if that's the reaction to the antibodies Id hate to be getting the real COVID.
Take that vaccine folks when it's offered to you!!
I would definitely take the vaccine ... unfortunately I have a severe needle phobia. It's a ptsd thing from a hospital event when I was a kid. They were supposed to be working on a nasal vaccination. So, hopefully they will refine that until it is successful.
Books mentioned in this topic
The Berry Pickers (other topics)Fortune's Child (other topics)
Hild (other topics)
Sharpe's Command (other topics)
Edenglassie (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Amanda Peters (other topics)Nicola Griffith (other topics)
Bernard Cornwell (other topics)
Bernard Cornwell (other topics)
Allan Hands (other topics)
More...



Goodness, May, you have a lot more patience than I.