Dear Will --

Thanks for the sebsite contact information. I immediately acted upon it. For a while, some years ago -- back in the 70s actually, I worked for the late State Senator Wynona Lipman when she was in the N.J. legislature in Trenton. I did not get down there often, remaining usually in Newark. Good luck with your work and your interests. Many thanks for being in contact. If I find something especially interesting along your lines, I'll send it along.

Best regards,

Barry Wiegand
Washington, D.C.

posted by bwiegand at 10:16 am (EST) on May 15, 2008

Dear Will --

Many thanks for your note. I looked at your listing, and your collection on Austrian history, the Seven Years War, and the Franco-Prussian War, to name just three, were spectacular. Just looking through them, I could hardly restrain myself from dialing a number of them up to buy on the internet, especially on the Habsburgs.

I am not a member of the Habsburg society -- indeed, your reference is the first I think I've heard of it. Although I have been in Washington, D.C., since I went to Georgetown in 1972, except for a few years over seas, I'm originally from Montclair, N.J., just outside of Newark in Essex County. I'm not immediately familiar with Ewing, where you profile states that you live. Is it in central or southern N.J., or were my northern N.J. horizons too parochial?

I, too, have a large backlog of books to read, although I often buy books knowing that I'm unlikely to read them soon, but I feel I should have them to hand in case I need to use them, or one of my children does (they never do). The backlog is worse now that I've also started buying college course lectures on DVDs and CDs.

My principal interest is in Irish History, but I've long been interested in the history of the Habsburg lands and the Catholic parts of Germany, which also has to look history in Eastern Europe and the Balkans. Where can I find out more about the Hapsburg Society?

Best regards,

Barry Wiegand
Washington, D.C.

posted by bwiegand at 5:17 pm (EST) on May 14, 2008

I like your mix of diplomatic and military history. One often leads to the other, in both directions!

posted by surly at 7:41 pm (EST) on Apr 29, 2008