Abby Epplett, Historian

I recently read The Birth of the West: Rome, Germany, France, and the Creation of Europe in the Tenth Century by Paul Collins, published in 2013 by PublicAffairs . I read from the eBook version on the Libby app, which allowed me to make 1378 highlights in the book. I will only share a handful with you today. At nearly 500 pages in its print addition, and nearly 1500 in digital, this book is not for the faint of heart but rewarding for those interested in learning more about this century of the European Medieval Period, a time of violence and disorder after the fall of the Roman Empire and before the Roman Catholic Church dominated the government.

I recently read The Gene: An Intimate History written by Pulitzer-winning researcher Siddhartha Mukherjee and published by Simon & Schuster in 2016. Now celebrating its tenth anniversary, I decided to read this ambitious book to better understand the history of genetics research and how far science has advanced in that short amount of time.

I recently read the eBook Witch Hunt: A Traveler’s Guide to the Power and Persecution of the Witch written by Kristen J. Sollée and published in 2020 by Red Wheel / Weiser . The book was based on Sollée’s road trip to places of importance in witchcraft history with each chapter covering a different location with Europe or the USA. Sollée seamlessly blends her lived experience with detailed research, creating a narrative of magical realism, historic documentation, and modern interpretation, from scholarly books to tourist traps. Besides exploring places less familiar to the average reader, Sollée includes references to literature turned pop culture like Shakespeare’s Macbeth and well-known artworks like Michelangelo’s David and The Fall and Expulsion from Garden of Eden in the Sistine Chapel. The balance of novelty and familiarity kept me engaged through the 2.5 hour reading time. Another talent exhibit by Sollée is her ability to explain new vocabulary. From the “Introductio...

Today I am reviewing The Guinness Book of Records 1492: The World Five Hundred Years Ago , a book I purchased at the Book Barn in Niantic, CT back in 2024. Almost exactly a year ago, I reviewed A Pictorial History of Costume by Wolfgang Bruhn and Max Tilke , which I purchased on the trip. The two books are similar in that they provide fun facts about world history broken into easily readable sections with plenty of pictures. Much like the modern Guinness Book of Records , Guinness Publishing produced the book back in 1992 for the anniversary of Christopher Columbus and his crew arriving in the Caribbean. Unlike the modern record book, where records do not rely on the judgement of trained GRW employees but on primary resources from the time period with varying levels of accuracy. Deborah Manley , a co-founder of the Association for the Study of Travel in Egypt and the Near East (ASTENE) and a prolific author, was editor of the book, while Dr. Geoffrey Scammell, a history profess...

I recently read the book How to Be a Victorian: A Dawn-to-Dusk Guide to Victorian Life by Ruth Goodman published in 2014 by Liveright Publishing Corporation . I had previously watched several informational videos hosted by Goodman through the YouTube channel for HistoryExtra , the history magazine of the BBC , and wanted to know if her writing style was similar to her presentation style. I found the book fun, factual, and easy to read, a great way for people first learning about the Victorian era to establish a solid base, and for those knowledgeable about the period to fill in gaps about the lives of everyday people.

I recently inherited a signed copy of the book Honor the Past Celebrate the Future: A Historical Overview of the Blackstone River Valley, Massachusetts written by David White and published by the Blackstone Valley Chamber of Commerce in 2005. Since the book is celebrating its 20 th birthday, I thought this was the perfect opportunity to not only see what it teaches the reader but also how our understanding of history has changed in the past two decades. The book is divided into eight sections and not only explores how revolution and industry shaped the region but offers a snapshot of important local business from the time of its publication. The first section, “1 Through Many Dangers, Toils, and Snares” riffs on a line from the song “Amazing Grace”, reminding the reader how European colonization of the area was motivated in part by religion. Missionary John Eliot committed to converting Nipmuc people to Christianity, which allowed the colonists to more easily manipulate N...

I had not attended a History Camp virtual event for a few years but am still subscribed to the weekly newsletter, so I was delighted to receive an email featuring this author talk . Graphic novelist John Hendrix recently published The Mythmakers: The Remarkable Fellowship of C.S. Lewis & J.R.R. Tolkien with Abrams Books  and spoke on his research for the book. The talk was moderated by History Camp founder Lee Wright and major contributor Mary Adams.

On Christmas 2023, I was gifted the book Interesting Facts for Curious Minds by Jordan Moore along with similarly titled Interesting Stories for Curious People by Bill O’Neill, which I reviewed in March . As mentioned in past book reviews, my book pile is extensive, and I need to read through my books more quickly. Much like Interesting Stories , Interesting Facts is written at a middle school reading level, mixes humor with more serious topics, and cites none of its sources, although some sections match Wikipedia almost verbatim. As an added bonus, the name Dr. Seuss was frequently misspelled as Dr. Suess. This is a great place to get a taste of many different historical topics but not something to cite in a school project. As a result, this review will contain connections to my past blog articles and links to more reputable resources.

A few months ago, I was gifted St. Eustatius Historical Walking Tour Guide , written by archaeologists Gay Soetekouw and Joanna K. Gilmore, and published by the St. Eustatius Historical Foundation in 2007. This tropical island is also known as Statia and located in the Caribbean Sea. While I have no plans to visit in-person in the near future, I did enjoy a rainy Saturday morning exploring on Google Maps while listening to cheerful island music and using the book to learn history.

On Christmas 2023, I was gifted the book Interesting Stories for Curious People written by Bill O’Neill. This was the second book by this author that I have read, as I reviewed The Great Book of Alaska in December 2022 . Today’s review is also a reminder that I need to move more quickly through my ever-growing book pile. Just like Alaska , Interesting Stories is written at a middle school reading level, mixes humor with more serious topics, and cites none of its sources. This is a great first stop for learning interesting facts but certainly not a work to include in a bibliography.

Continuing through my history book pile, I recently read an antique pamphlet, One Hundred Years of Banking Service published by Blackstone National Bank in 1925. At two hundred years of service, the Uxbridge-based bank is now a branch of UniBank. The book is only thirty-three pages in length but offers a wealth of insight into local history along with photographs and engravings of important people, places, and things. While a product of its time in some aspects, I was impressed by the research that went into the publication.

Having a master’s degree in Museum Education means one is gifted many books related the topic. Footnotes from the Most Fascinating Museums by Bob Eckstein was published just last year in 2024, and I received it for my birthday. The small hardcover with glittery gold title text and a watercolor painting of the MET on the front cover made for a lovely coffee table book. Inside, the contents was light and humorous, making an easy read for museum enthusiasts. While overall a delightful experience, my issue with this book was the disconnect between the title, the author’s original intention, and his apparent methodology of choosing the “most fascinating museums”.

During my winter holiday break, I began working through my pile of history books. I had found The Poison Eaters: Fighting Danger and Fraud in Our Food and Drugs by Gail Jarrow in a giveaway pile at my local library and decided to give the book a new home. I was familiar with the story of the poison eaters, young men who volunteered in a study to assess how food preservatives altered the human body, after listening to the episode “A Pure Food Father and His Poison Squad” for the podcast Stuff You Missed in History Class , which was released in 2011. The two questions I needed to answer were 1) What else was there to this story? and 2) Why was this book “weeded” from the library collection?

During my relaxing winter break, I began reading through my stack of history-themed books that I accrued throughout the year. The first book I completed was A Pictorial History of Costume by Wolfgang Bruhn and Max Tilke, which I found for a mere $7.00 at the Book Barn in Niantic, CT . The book combined a pair of earlier books: Deutsche Kultur-Bilder: Deutsches Leben [ German Culture Pictures: German Life ] published by Bruhn in German in 1934, and Kostümschnitte und Gewandformern [ Costume Patterns and Garment Designs ] published by Tilke in German in 1948. I read the 1988 English language edition with a publisher’s note on the “archaism” found within the book, a polite way of warning readers that some depictions would not be politically correct. The book was divided into two sections. In the front half were written descriptions of the costumes, which include information on the culture represented through clothing, famous people who might have worn the clothing, and o...

For my birthday, I received the book Greek and Roman Technology by K.D. White , published in 1984 by Thames & Hudson with Cornell University Press . While the author claimed this book was “no more than a survey, and a starting-off point” (173), his work was by far the most extensive information I have found on the subject. The book was divided into two parts. In Part I, White outlined the technologies available in Ancient Greece and Rome while explaining the environment in which these were developed. In Part II, White divided technologies into categories and explains each category in detail. At the back of the book were extensive information on White’s sources, several appendices, tables, a bibliography, endnotes, and an index. White opened his book with his “Introduction” pointing out what he claims to be inaccurate work done by other historians and archaeologists. He had written this book to fill “the need for an up-to-date account of the technical resources of the...

I recently finished the book One Goal: A Coach, A Team, and the Game that Brought a Divided Town Together by Amy Bass , published by Hachette Book Group in 2019. Bass is a professor of history and career writer with a special focus in the history of sports. This modern history book covers the state championship winning boy’s Lewiston High School soccer team from Lewiston, Maine . Known both as the location of Bates College and a longtime mill town, Lewiston has more recently become a refugee city for people fleeing from conflict in Somalia and other East African countries. In the book, Bass described the importance of a local kids team in bringing together a town filled with people from different backgrounds. Bass introduced the top players of the soccer team, almost all refugee children with a handful of Mainers. She quickly juxtoposed the family-oriented, East African, Muslim culture of the refugees to community-oriented, French-Canadian, Catholic culture of long-time ...

I recently finished reading A Connecticut Yankee Goes to Washington: Senator George P. McLean, Birdman of the Senate written by Will McLean Greeley and published by RIT Press in January 2023. I previously watched a talk hosted by the United States Capitol Historical Society where Greeley discussed his new book , and he sent me a digital copy to review. While I have read and reviewed several great history books in the past months — Path Lit by Lightning and Slaves for Peanuts were two favorites — this book generated a wider range of emotional responses, including laughter, sadness, and triumph. A Connecticut Yankee follows the life of underrecognized Senator McLean (R-CT) who survived an underprivileged childhood to become a wealthy lawyer and career politician. He worked during the Progressive Era in the United States from the 1880s after Reconstruction through the early 1920s during World War I. McLean’s proudest achievement was the passing of the Migratory Bird Trea...

On August 17, 2023 at 12:00 p.m., I took a lunch-and-learn break to watch the talk Birdman of the Senate: George P. McLean and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act presented by Will McLean Greeley and hosted by the United States Capitol Historical Society . I received a special invitation from Greeley to watch his talk, and I was immediately drawn by his book title, A Connecticut Yankee Goes to Washington published earlier this year by RIT Press , which alludes to the novel A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by Connecticut author Mark Twain . During both the talk and the book, Greeley proudly shared the work of his great-great-uncle, Senator George P. McLean (R-CT) , in passing the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 (MBTA) . Greeley began by noting how most American history classes focuses on charismatic presidents rather than other political figures such as state legislatures, governors, and congressional representatives. Although McLean worked with five US Presidents...

A few months ago, I received a perfect gift, the revised and expanded second edition of Old Testament Parallels: Laws and Stories from the Ancient Near East . Few other readers will be quite so pleased by the book as I was, but for those who are interested in mythology from Egypt, the Akkadians, and other ancient cultures, this is an easy-to-read primer. Authors Dr. Victor H. Matthews of Missouri State University and Dr. Don C. Benjamin of the Kino Institute of Theology wrote the book with the intention of creating “a readable, affordable, and portable anthology of ancient Near Eastern law and stories”, beginning with their first edition published by Paulist Press in 1991. I read the 1997 edition, which includes black-and-white illustrations and runs about 380 pages in length. Along with this book, the authors co-wrote The Social World of Ancient Israel 1250-587 B.C.E. in 1993, while Dr. Matthews published Manners and Customs in the Bible in 1988. I knew a conside...

On Thursday, March 2 at 7:00 p.m., Dr. Megan Kate Nelson kicked off the 2023 season of Parked at Home , a series of Zoom webinars hosted by Blackstone River Valley National Historic Park . Dr. Nelson gave a talk on her new book, Saving Yellowstone: Exploration and Preservation in Reconstruction America , published by Scribner, an imprint of Simon & Schuster , in 2022. Park ranger Mark Mello acted as the moderator for the session, reviewing the history of BRVNHP and the motivation behind the parked at home series before sharing a clip from Ken Burns’ documentary National Parks: America’s Best Idea . Dr. Nelson’s new perspective about the creation of Yellowstone was inspired by her previous book, The Three-Cornered War: The Union, the Confederacy, and Native Peoples in the Fight for the West , which received numerous accolades for its explanations on the effects of the American Civil War and Reconstruction period. She shared a map demonstrating the size of Yellowstone ,...