Charlie Schroeder

This was a fun lighter read about a writer who decides to explore the world of historical reenactors, which leads to various strange adventures reenacting everything from Roman times to the Vietnam War. Schroeder is most likable when describing his journey from being someone who didn't care much about history to being a true history buff. One of my favorite passages:

"The more history I absorbed, the more I felt like a detective. Everywhere I looked, I examined things not for the way they are, but for the way they were, the way they came about...Becoming a history junkie, I discovered, is a lot like learning about that negative-space arrow thingy in the FedEx logo--between the "E" and the "X." Once you know it's there, that's all you can see."

He does try to get to some deeper points about the significance of studying history, but this mainly leads to strange tangents (most noticeably the one about the effect of the military-industrial complex on the economy). I would have liked the book more if he had been more successful in exploring the greater significance of his adventures...but it was a fun read nonetheless!

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This is the kind of book I wish I had written. With some humor, the author joins several different groups of reenactors and livingg history, and writes of his experiences and observations. He does not use his experience to mock or abuse the historians, but writes about their events and philosophies and different views of history. He joins groups for different time periods, such as the Roman period when he joins the Legion VI; then he joins up with a Viking period group; then several American colonial and Revolutionary War period units; then a Civil War reenactment in Florida. One of the more humorous scenes is when he is portraying a German WWII, and the reenactment of Stalingrad takes place partially on land they do not have permission to be on. The annoyed landowner, irritated that men running around in German uniforms were on his land, calls the police. Everything is going well, and the landowners and the police are reassured about the peacful intentions of the Germans, when of course, the Russian army makes a surprise attack on the German position in the middle of the peace talks. The Russians arrive with machine guns firing, and scaring everyone.

The author is sympathetic to the reenactors, and even attempts to produce a reenactment of a monk's 26 mile journey near his own home. He is touched when some of the reenactment friends he made doing his research joined him, even traveling across the country to contribute and participate.

An excellent introduction to the hobby for those who have not participated, and a good book for the parent or spouse of a historical reenactor to read.… (more)