Home Fires

In this episode, Tilly and Abigail discuss favorite history reads from the past year or so. Are there any enduring principles for reading history, when every historian works under some kind of bias? How do you read history with virtue and pull as much wisdom and application from it as possible? How do you judge whether an author is taking a legitimate approach to history? Is there a difference between bias and subjectivity? (Answer: yes.) What are some of the most pleasant ways of absorbing history?
BOOKS REFERENCED DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY
David McCullough
John Adams
1776
The Pioneers
The Wright Brothers
Mornings on Horseback
Books About Historical Method
Histories and Fallacies — Carl Trueman
Lying About Hitler: History, Holocaust, and the David Irving Trial — Richard J. Evans
Excellent book about the trial of a Holocaust denier, with a very detailed, point-by-point demonstration of his illegitimate historical methods.
Early American History
Of Plymouth Plantation — William Bradford
A Land as God Made It: Jamestown and the Birth of America — James Horn
The Origin and Principles of the American Revolution, Compared with the Origin and Principles of the French Revolution — translated by John Quincy Adams
Give Me Liberty: A Novel of Patrick Henry — Noel B. Gerson
American Sphinx — Joseph Ellis
Founding Brothers — Joseph Ellis
Civil War Era History
The Caning: The Assault That Drove America to Civil War — Stephen Puleo
Apostles of Disunion: Southern Secession Commissioners and the Causes of the Civil War — Charles Dew
Lincoln's Greatest Speech: The Second Inaugural — Ronald C. White Jr.
WWII / Nazi History
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich — William L. Shirer
Ordinary Men — Christopher Browning
Hitler's Furies — Wendy Lower
History Through Hobby
The Oxford Book of Humorous Prose — Frank Muir
READ MORE THAN ONE PERSPECTIVE
Take care to read at least two views on a person or era. For instance, if you read:
Hitler, Churchill, and the Unnecessary War — Patrick J. Buchanan
Anything at all by David Irving
Also read:
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich — William L. Shirer
Appeasing Hitler: Chamberlain, Churchill and the Road to War — Tim Bouverie
Original source material such as Mein Kampf or Goebbels's diaries
Lying About Hitler — Richard J. Evans, specifically dealing with David Irving
For something as wide and complex as a war, more than a few books would be ideal. Even a simple biography of one individual would be best understood from more than one author's work. The sources build on and balance each other:
Jane Austen: A Life from Beginning to End — Hourly History
Jane Austen: Her Life — Park Honan

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Abigail and Tilly talk about the new roles that come with middle age and how to swap hats or add new ones gracefully. They also discuss the importance of family stories and sharing our history with our children, among other sundry topics.

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In this episode, Abigail and Tilly discuss female friendship, using characters from well loved books as a jumping off point. They pull lessons from the friendships of Maryanne and Elinor from Sense and Sensibility, Molly and Cynthia from Wives and Daughters, Orual and and Psyche from Till we Have Faces, Anne and Diana from Anne of Green Gables, Ruth and Naomi from the book of Ruth, Bathsheba and Liddy from Far from the Madding Crowd, and more. They talk through the pitfalls of oversharing, avoiding accountability, and the necessity of active love in any relationship.

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Tilly was the subject of an article by The Guardian on the rise of online wife schools. We take some time to respond and note the ways it was framed to denigrate the goodness of Christian marriage. We expound on how older women really can help younger women navigate the seasons of life--particularly the transition from college and all its inherent reading and study to marriage and motherhood. Furthermore, don't expect the gardening talk to slow down anytime soon! Happy Spring!

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It's finally time to weigh in on the trad wife movement. Is it heading in the right direction? Is it a trap to avoid? Is it even one thing or is it several different things under one label? But before we get there, we get updates on coyote attacks, the persistent widower, dahlia trends, and more.

IT'S HERE! Pre-Order the 4th installment of the Ashtown Burial Series at ashtownburials.com.