Patriots

I've always enjoyed American history.  I never have been able to get interested in world history too much.  I guess I just don't have the imagination to be able to identify with Charlemagne, the Russian czars, or King Louis I-XXXIV, or whatever.  But I love American history.  I am currently reading A Patriot's History of the United States. Unlike a lot of history books, it is very readable. And very informative.  Just a trivia note, I learned today where Cajun originated.  At the beginning of King George's War in 1755, a group of colonists took it upon themselves to take Acadia (Nova Scotia) from the French settlers.  At the end of the war, the British gave much of the conquered territories back to the French, but kept Acadia.  They were concerned about having French loyalists in their Nova Scotia, so they deported them.  A group of the deportees relocated in current Louisiana and were called Cajuns, a slurred version of Acadians.  That also explains the presence of their French influenced dialect.  Impress your friends at the bar with that little bit of trivia.  

One side note, I am reading this book on the Kindle Reader for PC.  It seems that as I am getting older more mature, those evil publishers are printing books with smaller type.  With the free Kindle Reader,I can download Kindle books to my laptop and read them in a slightly larger font.  I can also read in a poorly lit room (i.e. any room in our built in the 40's house).  Another advantage is that the Kindle version is generally cheaper than the hardback and I get it within seconds of ordering it.  There are also a lot of free books available for the Kindle.  The only downside is the fact that they aren't books.  As a former bookstore owner, I really like the smell, feel, and look of a book.  So I will probably end up buying hard copies of this one and a couple of others I have read on the Kindle.

A Thousand Words

I am changing the title of my blog to A Thousand Words.  As in a picture (or photograph) is worth...  

I just finished reading River Season by Jim Black.  It's a quick read, but a deep one.  Anyone who grew up in the 60's or 70's in a small town will identify with the teen narrator.  One of the feelings I came away with, was one of loss.  I don't think my daughter will have the same nostalgic sense of her childhood.   While the characters in this book went through some trauma, it was all tempered by an innocence that is not present today.  Even in a town as small as the one we currently live in, my wife and I would never allow our daughter to wander and explore the way we did as children.  And that is a great loss.  I think the world is a much more dangerous place than it was 30 years ago, even in small western towns.  On the more optimistic side, my parents probably felt the same way about the world I grew up in.  And my daughter will probably feel the same for loss for my grandchildren's childhood world!  I think this caution has cost my daughter some of the sense of adventure my generation enjoyed.  That is a very big loss.