In which I recommend some of my favorite history blogs

Image courtesy of the Library of Congress

Working on the assumption that if you enjoy History in the Margins you might enjoy other history blogs, I thought I’d share a few of my favorites for your reading pleasure. Some appear every day. Some appear on a schedule known only to their creators. All of them are blogs that I greet with glee when they appear in my inbox.* Here they are:

    • Alison Taylor Brown’s wonderful blog about the sixteenth century, Wolfgang Capito’s View, has been on hiatus for a while now.  I missed it, so I was glad to learn she’s returned to the past with 30-Second Renaissance.  Quick bites of history that include a picture, an insight and a flash of wit.
    • Historical novelist Sandra Galland blogs about her research into 17th and 18th century life at Baroque Explorations.  Sumptuous stuff.  (I also enjoy her blog on surviving the writing life, but I promised myself I wouldn’t talk about writing blogs, book blogs, cooking blogs, needlework blogs or any of my other bloggish passions here.  This is, after all, a place for history buffs to hang out.)
    • Nancy Marie Brown’s God of Wednesday is a fascinating mix of Viking history, Norse mythology, Icelandic horses, miscellaneous things medieval and her personal relationship with all of the above.  (If these topics are among your passions, I also recommend the Icelandic Language Blog –which is far more interesting than its title would suggest.)
    • I return regularly to the late M.M. Bennett‘s blog on life in the eighteenth century.  She knew her stuff.
    • Military History Now looks at “the strange, off-beat and lesser-known aspects of military history”–just the kind of military history I like.  Unlike many of the military history places I hang out, it considers social and cultural history as well as what I think of as “technical military history”.  One of my favorite recent posts: The Secret Life of Napoleon Bonaparte.  This is not your weird uncle Albert’s military history.
    • Bart Ingraldi, regular commenter here at the Margins, explores historical ephemera at Paper Sleuth, where he uses literal scraps to illuminate bigger issues .
    • Donna Seger’s Streets of Salem is local history at its best.  She uses the history of Salem, Massachusetts, as a jumping off point for topics large and small, from historical ephemera** to world-shaking events.
    • Two Nerdy History Girls is the on-line home of novelists Loretta Chase and Susan Holloway Scott. What female history nerd can resist eighteenth century fashion and mores, historical hotties, and tough broads from the past?  Not me.
    • Alphabetically last, but definitely not least, the award-winning group blog Wonders and Marvels.***  The tag line says it all: A community for curious minds who love history, its odd stories, and good reads.  That’s you, right?

Those are my recommendations: a wide range of styles, periods and general approaches because that’s the way I read. I hope you enjoy them: just don’t forget to find your way back here when you’re done.

What history blogs would you suggest I check out?

 

*I don’t know about you, but I find it hard to keep up with blogs that don’t let me subscribe by e-mail. I have a Feedly account, but find I go there rarely. Which means I miss some great stuff. (Now that I think about it, this is closely related to my relationship with my filing cabinet.)

**Hmmm, I’m seeing a pattern here.

***Just so we’re clear: I loved Wonders and Marvels long before I became a regular contributor.  In fact, writing for Wonders & Marvels was one of my goals when I started writing.

 

9 Comments

  1. HJ on January 5, 2015 at 7:00 pm

    Thank you for these recommendations!

    The blog which comes to mind is The Regency Redingote by Kathryn Kane, which provides scholarly articles on aspects of the Regency which might be useful for an author writing books set during the period, either because the subject matter might prompt a plot or because it corrects a misapprehension commonly repeated. I thoroughly enjoy it, partly because it provides new information on a favourite period which I used to think I knew quite well! http://regencyredingote.wordpress.com

    I rely entirely on the RSS reader for keeping track of the many blogs I follow (including yours): http://theoldreader.com

    • pamela on January 6, 2015 at 9:26 pm

      Helena: Thanks for the suggestion. The Regency Redingote looks worth following.

      I love the idea of an RSS reader, I just forget to check it. My loss.

  2. Bart on January 6, 2015 at 7:54 pm

    Pamela,
    Once again I’m in your debt – for the gracious mention on my site, but especially for introducing me to those marvelous sites.
    You’re the best,
    Bart

    • pamela on January 6, 2015 at 9:24 pm

      Mutual admiration society?

  3. Claudia Keenan on April 10, 2016 at 5:21 pm

    Please take a look at my blog: http://www.throughthehourglass.com:

    Imagining and evoking American lives and places.

    My focus is American culture and biography.

    • pamela on April 12, 2016 at 7:05 pm

      Interesting stuff here, Claudia. Thanks for calling it to my attention.

  4. Adam Waugh on August 10, 2016 at 11:59 am

    I like the way you provide such good information in such an easy way, Thanks for posting.

  5. Tyler Burton on January 25, 2017 at 2:23 am

    Thanks so much for this. You’ve cracked the top page at google for ‘best history blogs’ and beat out all the other humdrum ‘Top 25 boring carousels of 20xx’ by having a superb sentence fragment for a title. What a great collection. I’ve blindly put all of these into a new feedly folder and am looking forward to some really great stories.

    • pamela on January 27, 2017 at 2:32 pm

      Wow! I had no idea I showed up on the page. Thanks for letting me know. And enjoy!

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