Member: Feicht

Hi Feicht

I was reading the "German History" thread & noticed your great grandfather was born in Wurtemburg. My grandfather was born there. His family
settled in New Washington, OH where a whole bunch of Wurtembergans settled. They were all farmers, good farmers, they drained the Great BlackSwamp. My grandfather left the farm & moved to Cleveland, much to my Grandmother's regret (she was also born in W., but came over at a later age & spoke with an accent which her family found embarrassing during WW1.)
If you watch Toledo PBS or WBGU, every summer they broadcast re-runs of the German Fest at Hamler, OH. They have local Polka bands, & also bands & musicians come over from Germany. We would go every now & then, & also Toledo's German Fest. One of our daughters worked at Foodtown, owned by the family that also sponsered the Fest & got us tickets. The Hamler Fest is also noted because Chip Davis "Mannheim Steamroller" is from there & sometimes puts in an appearance, but not with his band.
Are you still at BG? I went there my last 2 years of college, majored in Creative Writing. It was a 36 mile drive from home in Marblehead to BG campus. But I really loved it.
Another puzzler - why do the Poles hate the Russians, but not the Germans? Is it because the Poles & Germans are Catholic & the Russians Orthodox?
I jnow Religious wars play a large part in european History. Of course the Germans considered themselves superior to everyone - especially my grandfather. I had some problems with that side of the family when I married a Pole. But no trouble with the Poles for my husband marrying a German. The hillbilly part - yesm there was some flack about that but not as bad as when my father (German) married my mother (Kentucky, still had an accent, disliked Lincoln, relatives fought for the South)
How are things at BG these days? Hope they have more parking lots, that was my biggest hassle.

Marian Veverka

posted by MarianV at 4:46 pm (EST) on Oct 22, 2009

"Hypothesis," yes! Thank you. I learned that word a while back and promptly let it slip away.

posted by walf6 at 11:00 am (EST) on Aug 29, 2009

The Ryan & Pitman book was interesting in concept, but poorly written. I am reading the Cunlifee book as one of my five books at the same time, slowly but surely.

posted by Garp83 at 7:48 pm (EST) on Jun 3, 2009

Thanks buddy. I thought you had commented at length about this book when you finished it but there are so many threads ... Maybe I'll read it. It sounds like at least some of it suits my current mode of inquiry.
Now that you've read this you should read the Ryan & Pitman "Noah's Flood" which is also about the origins of Indo-Europeans. Also, I'm into Cunliffe's "Europe Between the Oceans" currently. You would definitely like that.

posted by Garp83 at 5:58 pm (EST) on Jun 3, 2009

I try to avoid claims I cannot adequately document :-) (haha, of course)

posted by stellarexplorer at 1:42 am (EST) on Apr 11, 2009

Feicht,
When I did my book shopping this month. My wife and I each have a monthly allowance. I ordered Ordinary Men by Christopher Browning. My father-in-law was drafted into the German army and was one of the paratroopers who landed in Crete. He doesn't talk about it much.
I have resisted reading Hitler's Willing Executioners based upon my knowledge of how the system worked, learned from such books as [The Nazi Doctors]. Maybe after Ordinary Men I can tackle Willing Executioners with some ammunition to refute what I think is an over generalized approach used in that book.
I have enjoyed your posts in the history group. You have ideas coming out from all directions. I am trying to come up with a topic. Something based upon the competing philosophies of the Enlightenment and Romanticism and how they have effected historical writing. Also give people a chance to examine their own thinking to see which philosophy is their primary influence. Isaiah Berlin sees those two philosophies as the major competing philosophies in the modern west.
I also studied a lot of Chinese history and would like to find a way to get people thinking about their ideas of what makes Eastern ideas different and what influence they are developing in the present world as the globe shrinks.
Just some thoughts but I see some work necessary to come up with a topic from them.
I plan to come back to check out your library. Come by and say hello if you have the time and inclination.
Bill

posted by wildbill at 10:53 pm (EST) on Apr 8, 2009

Hey man -- how are you in college and don't own a laptop? Anyway, I run a computer services business so if you are laptop shopping I can give you some good free advice.

posted by Garp83 at 7:57 am (EST) on Mar 7, 2009

Interesting library! Ted

posted by HarmlessTed at 4:48 am (EST) on Mar 1, 2009

lol

posted by Garp83 at 10:07 pm (EST) on Feb 7, 2009

Thanks. I'm going to try The Battle that Stopped Rome.

posted by stellarexplorer at 12:09 pm (EST) on Jan 10, 2009

No, haven't read that -- but I will check it out-- thanks!

I see you list Peter S Wells as a favorite author. I haven't read him. Do you have a recommendation among his books?

posted by stellarexplorer at 2:31 am (EST) on Jan 10, 2009

I'm fascinated by those connections too. Who knew whom when, what did they know, what did they think of them, etc. Were there many earlier long distance wanderers like Marco Polo or Benjamin of Toledo? Did they ever return and tell of their travels?

Incidentally, I forgot a related book, a work of impressive scholarship: http://www.librarything.com/work/672914/... The Huns seem to fit somewhere into this topic, at least by virtue of the wide geographic range they lived in over time.

posted by stellarexplorer at 12:08 am (EST) on Jan 10, 2009

Hey Feicht, sorry if I am chiming in on a private conversation, but I left a comment for Garp, and couldn't help but read your comment:

"I'm really into "pre-historic" history of humanity; not the geologic aspect as much, but rather the dispersal of homo sapiens across the globe after we became our own species, distinct from erectus or neanderthalensis, etc."

As it happens, that is a great interest of mine as well. I love the idea that some 50,000 years ago some of us went east and some went west, and 50,000 years later their descendants met again in Labrador or Northeast Canada, looking rather different, but both groups still human...

Anyway, I'm wondering if you have read anything you especially liked on patterns of human dispersal, and/or cross cultural contacts during dispersal in premodern times. I have a bunch of stuff on these issues, but if there's anything you've come across that stands out, I'd love to know!

As for me, I have two relevant tags: "migrations" http://www.librarything.com/catalog/stel...

and "cross-cultural contacts" http://www.librarything.com/catalog/stel...

These are not limited to prehistory though.

"prehistory" is not specific enough a category in my library to be useful for this.

posted by stellarexplorer at 11:41 pm (EST) on Jan 8, 2009

Love the profile pic! :D

posted by Stevia at 3:09 am (EST) on Jan 7, 2009

I see we both have "1491" & "Before the Dawn" in our libraries. Did you read them? I thought both were great books.

posted by Garp83 at 6:00 am (EST) on Jan 5, 2009