Fianna Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 Oh man, that's really rough! For my exam (singular!) we have to read a list of about 80 books. Since I'm a modern Americanist, my list ranges from 1877 to the present. We have no idea what the questions will be until we sit for the exam and end up writing 3 essays in 4 hours. I have this recurrent nightmare that I fail the exam, don't get my MA and have to turn down PhD offers. It's making me extremely motivated to study! That's close to what we have. My two major field committee faculty each worked with me to develop a list of 50-odd books in the field, and each will give me two questions. I get to pick one question from each, write on it (2 hours, no materials) and cross my fingers. I'm talking out the field readings with one of the professors now, so I'll have an idea of the type of question and the scope. He's prone to being very broad. The example he gave me was, for a 20th century exam he gave, "Was the Progressive era progressive?" Out of curiosity, how many of the current MA students are doing comp exams? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh J. Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 I just started reading Lincoln's Virtues: An Ethical Biography, for a review essay that I am writing for a course on Religion and the Civil War. It is actually a page turner, I'm quite surprised...that, and I've actually already gotten a good laugh out of the first few pages. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToomuchLes Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 I just heard Harper Lee is publishing a sequel to "To Kill a Mockingbird" called "Go Set A Watchman." If anyone is interested, Amazon has pre-orders available $17. The story takes place some 20 years after the events in the first book. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chiqui74 Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 I'm currently reading a book edited by one of my POIs, but if I don't get into that school, I'm going to sabotage the reading! I kid, I kid... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashiepoo72 Posted February 10, 2015 Author Share Posted February 10, 2015 I don't think I'll ever read that sequel LeventeL. To Kill a Mockingbird has taken on nearly mythical and mystical proportions in my soul, and I'm worried the sequel may inadvertently knock it off it's well-deserved pedestal. Let me know if it's a worthy addition to the legacy of Atticus Finch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annalistasaxo89 Posted February 11, 2015 Share Posted February 11, 2015 Right now I am reading Heinrich Mitteis' Der Staat des Hohen Mittelalter which is something like a German take on Strayer's On the Medieval Origins of the Modern State. It is really interesting because it presents a comparative approach with a focus on Germany, though covering Scandinavia, the Iberian peninsula, central Europe, and Italy, from the Carolingian period onto the 1300s. I actually enjoy his prose style as compared to some of the other German historians I am reading now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heimat Historian Posted February 11, 2015 Share Posted February 11, 2015 Annalistasaxo, you're an early modern Germanist, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annalistasaxo89 Posted February 11, 2015 Share Posted February 11, 2015 Annalistasaxo, you're an early modern Germanist, right? High medieval Germany though I also have an interest in that period as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dr. t Posted February 11, 2015 Share Posted February 11, 2015 Right now I am reading Heinrich Mitteis' Der Staat des Hohen Mittelalter which is something like a German take on Strayer's On the Medieval Origins of the Modern State. It is really interesting because it presents a comparative approach with a focus on Germany, though covering Scandinavia, the Iberian peninsula, central Europe, and Italy, from the Carolingian period onto the 1300s. I actually enjoy his prose style as compared to some of the other German historians I am reading now. "Enjoyable German prose" is not a concept with which I am familiar Annalistasaxo89 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annalistasaxo89 Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 Perhaps as enjoyable as possible due to the standard opaqueness of German academic writing. I always wonder who one should blame for this. Perhaps Hegel? dr. t 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heimat Historian Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 Or Kant Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dr. t Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 Perhaps as enjoyable as possible due to the standard opaqueness of German academic writing. I always wonder who one should blame for this. Perhaps Hegel? Fun story: my supervisor can trace his intellectual lineage, Doktorvater to Doktorvater, back to Hegel. Further fun story: I read an 19th century commentary on a 17th century apocalyptic text which interpreted a passage to mean that either Hegel or one of his disciples would be the Antichrist. smg and Heimat Historian 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danwaterfield Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 Tintin and the secret of literature, by Tom McCarthy. It basically deconstructs the texts via Freud, Derrida, et al, arguing that, in some cases, Tintin is better than literature as a way of navigating signs and discourse. Also fun fact: Haddock is an illegitimate descendent of Charles XIV. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HistoryGypsy Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 I've been preparing for my PhD program by reading Daniel Boorstin's The Americans trilogy. And then, for fun, as much of Terry Pratchett as I can possibly cram in! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sigaba Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 Fun story: my supervisor can trace his intellectual lineage, Doktorvater to Doktorvater, back to Hegel. Which means that you can too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dr. t Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 Which means that you can too! Nah, he's not advising my diss. Strict membership rules, that club. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sigaba Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 Nah, he's not advising my diss. Strict membership rules, that club. I understand your point. You are probably right. And I respectfully disagree. FWIW, what I would like to see from you telkanuru is more swagger. That includes embracing, to the point of annoyance, your academic pedigree. Here's my POV. My intellectual inheritance/linage does not just include the professors on my committee, but also those who have taught me the craft. So while my areas of specialization and many of my tastes are "traditional" when it comes to history, I also claim as mine many of the sensibilities of those radical upstart historians who turned the profession on its head with their radical approaches and politics. (Okay, this will definitely be my last cup of coffee today. ) Fianna and dr. t 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dr. t Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 I understand your point. You are probably right. And I respectfully disagree. FWIW, what I would like to see from you telkanuru is more swagger. That includes embracing, to the point of annoyance, your academic pedigree. Here's my POV. My intellectual inheritance/linage does not just include the professors on my committee, but also those who have taught me the craft. So while my areas of specialization and many of my tastes are "traditional" when it comes to history, I also claim as mine many of the sensibilities of those radical upstart historians who turned the profession on its head with their radical approaches and politics. (Okay, this will definitely be my last cup of coffee today. ) If I end up at Brown, one of his students will be on my diss committee, so I'll get there virmundi 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
virmundi Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 Right now I am reading Heinrich Mitteis' Der Staat des Hohen Mittelalter which is something like a German take on Strayer's On the Medieval Origins of the Modern State. It is really interesting because it presents a comparative approach with a focus on Germany, though covering Scandinavia, the Iberian peninsula, central Europe, and Italy, from the Carolingian period onto the 1300s. I actually enjoy his prose style as compared to some of the other German historians I am reading now. Annalistasaxo89, Out of curiosity, does the book end with 1300, or at some point in the 1300s? What is the terminus of the book? It is on my list of things to get around to, but I haven't yet had the opportunity to do so -- I'd appreciate your insight if you are willing to share it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
virmundi Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 "Enjoyable German prose" is not a concept with which I am familiar Haha! I hear you. I will say, however, that Conrad Ferdinand Meyer's "Plautus im Nonnenkloster" is brilliant, both in terms of prose, story, and style. It follows Poggio Bracciolini in his discovery of Plautus while he is at the Council of Constance, and is stylistically a masterpiece. I am currently reading a book about mills in Late Medieval England. Ergh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chiqui74 Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 I recently picked up "Lies My Teacher Told Me," but I haven't started it yet. It's totally pop history, but I've heard good things about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heimat Historian Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 It's an entertaining read Chiqui. His sequel is good too about roadside commemorations. On another note, I'm impressed by all the medievalist/early modernists on these boards. There are a lot of ya'll. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danwaterfield Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 Now moved on to Les Particules Elementaires, to brush up my literary french. Amazing book in a 'I don't know whether to be enthralled or disgusted' sort of way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kotov Posted February 28, 2015 Share Posted February 28, 2015 Now I'm waiting for my copy of ,,Chestiunea Evreiasca" în documente militare române, 1941-1944 by Ottmar Trasca to arrive from Romania...so maybe I'll see it before April. In the meantime, working my way through România si Transnistria: Problema Holocaustului, edited by Viorel Achim and Constantin Iordachi, the former of whom I met at a conference in London last month. #namedropping Still picking through the book I mentioned in my last post as well, but mostly just for taking notes at this point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HistoryGypsy Posted February 28, 2015 Share Posted February 28, 2015 I love this particular forum -- thanks to you guys, my "Need/Want to Read" list just got several more entries! Anyone here specialize in 19th century America and have a favorite they'd like to share? I've got an over 30-hour bus ride coming up in a couple of months (and probably several hours in airports at that time, too -- I'm traveling to a VERY remote area near the China/Burma border with some of my high schoolers) and I'd love some good monographs to take along. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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