HISTORY AND REFERENCE BOOK LIST

HISTORY BOOKS

Dobson, David, Scottish Emigration to Colonial America, 1607-1785 (Athens, Georgia, University of Georgia Press, 1994, 2004) endnotes, bibliography, index. Overview of Scottish migrations to Canada, America, and West Indies. Good jumping off place for further Scottish research.

Langguth, A. J., Union 1812: the Americans who fought the Second War of Independence, (New York, Simon & Schuster, 2006) endnotes, bibliography, index and maps and photos. This book proves that study of history can be enjoyable. Now if only the students in schools across the nation could have an opportunity to study history in a manner such as presented by Mr. Langguth. Besides the usual dates, places and names, Mr Langguth has managed to fill the pages with quotes and bons mots and other thoughtful statements by the players in American history. The political in-fighting and social climate are a teasers and will lead the reader to further materials.


Ramsey, Robert w., Carolina Cradle: Settlement of the Northwest Carolina Frontier 1747-1762 (Chapel Hill, North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press, 1964) ISBN 0-8078-0934-9 and ISBN 0-8078-4189-7 (paperback)
Every index (but be watchful for those missed in the generous Footnotes), Maps, Appendices, Tables, Bibliography
Comment: Absolutely a Must Read for those whose families are of Scot/Irish or German ancestry. My copy is highlighted and used to identify families who resided in Pennsylvania and migrated to Virginia frontier and thence to North Carolina where they sunk deep roots. If your family migrated south or west, you will want to read this book. Mr. Ramsey includes information on families such as occupations, marriages and identifies the land on which they settled or the church they attended. Much more, plus historical events.
I cannot praise this book enough. It is a 5-star work. My ancestors are not included in this work so this is an objective commentary.


Brands, H.W., Andrew Jackson, His Life and Times (New York, Doubleday, 2005)
ISBN 0-385-50738-9
Source Notes, Annotated Bibliography, Indexed
Comment: Very readable. Good outline of the events between the end of the American Revolutionary War through the acquisition of Texas. War of 1812, Indian Removal, Seminole Indian War, Life on frontier and settlement of the southwest. Profiles the politicians and other players in the state and federal government and fight to save the Union from British interest in regaining the United States and/or territories west of the Mississippi River. Slave issues, industry vs. agriculture interests, Bank of America and its effect on farmers and the national economy.


Horn, James, Adapting to a New World: English Society in the Seventeenth-Century Chesapeake: Chapel Hill, North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press, 1994)
Published for the Institute of Early American History and Culture, Williamsburg, Virginia. This work covers a 100-year period from 1609 to 1710 in the Chesapeake and background history in 16th Century England. Contains many tables, charts, maps, index of names, subjects and places, and citations to documents in Virginia and England.
Comments: The book's footnote bibliography is cumbersome and if republished needs a separate bibliography. One needs to use highlighter and post-its to get back to book titles of interest for further reading. A must-read for genealogists wanting to understand the first settlers and their daily lives in Virginia and Maryland.

Rappleye, Charles, Sons of Providence: The Brown Brothers, The Slave Trade and The American Revolution, (New York, NY: Simon and Schuster, 2006) ISBN-13:978-0-7432-6687-1

One family's rise to prominence in Rhode Island, brothers divided by ideology: slave trade vs antislavery movement. Quaker, Moses Brown 1738-1836 and trader, John Brown 1736-1803.
A bird's eyeview of the period prior to, during and after the American Revolutionary War.

Labunski, Richard, James Madison and the Struggle for the Bill of Rights, (New York, NY: Oxford University Press,2006) ISBN-13-978-0-19-518105-0
David Hackett Fischer, Series Editor Pivotal Moments in American History.


Gaines, James R., For Liberty and Glory: Washington, LaFayette, and Their Revolutions. (New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company, 2007) ISBN-978-0-393-06138-4
I suggest a reading of Rappleye's Sons of Providence noted above for beginning American Revolutionary War students before reading Mr. Gaines' work in that references to problems facing Washington are made without documentation and leaves new readers questioning his statements. His treatment of Washington portrays a man fraught with problems, tasks and duties which would have crushed most men. This book does reveal the harshness of war and creating a nation with self-serving parties under-cutting the work through greed and lust for power.

O'Kelley, Patrick, Nothing But Blood and Slaughter, 4 volumes on Revolutionary War in Carolinas (Blue House Tavern Press, 2004) ISBN 1-59113-458-7 Booklocker.com,Inc.
My comments: Has excellent Notes with source materials; use of battle formations will assist researchers studying a particular battle and the units involved.

McCullough, David, 1776, (Simon & Schuster, 2005) ISBN-13:978-0-7432-2671-4; indexed with source notes and bibliography. Font is easy on elder-eyes.
My comments: Reads like a fast-paced thriller and hard to put down. Covers one year, 1776, and Washington's army in battles of Boston, Brooklyn, New York and Trenton. Maps and portraits of main characters included. Much of the material is from letters of men who served as soldiers which makes this book all the more insightful of the conditions of 1776 and that of the soldiers who suffered mightily.
At was not a Very Good Year.


REFERENCE MATERIAL

Mills, Elizabeth Shown, Evidence! Citation & Analysis for the Family Historian (Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1997) ISBN 0-8063-1543-1
A Must-Have for all genealogists and family researchers and writers.

Mills, Elizabeth Shown, Evidence Explained, Citing History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace (Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Company, 2007)
ISBN 13:978-0-8063-1781-6

Mills, Elizabeth Shown, Professional Genealogy, A Manual for Researchers, Writers, Editors, Lecturers and Librarians (Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Company, 2001) ISBN 0-8063-1648-9

Doran, Michael F., Atlas of County Boundary Changes in Virginia, 1634-1895 (Athens, GA: Iberian Publishing Company, 1987) ISBN 0-935931-30-9; phone 1-706-546-6470 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 1-706-546-6470 end_of_the_skype_highlighting begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 1-706-546-6470 end_of_the_skype_highlighting begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 1-706-546-6470 end_of_the_skype_highlighting begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 1-706-546-6470 end_of_the_skype_highlighting, New Papyrus Company, Athens GA (2003 9th printing)
This atlas is sure to be used frequently by southern researchers following their ancestors from county to county as new lines were drawn.