I don't really know what resources exist on the subject so I can't point you anywhere specific, but I know that a lot of my understanding of history came through studying art history because it put things into context with strong visual cues, which stick in my head a lot better than just words do. You might also explore foreign-language historical films; I learned a lot from historical/period American films, but obviously, they have an American perspective and/or only focus on history that's "relevant" to Americans. There'll be fiction thrown in, but it's a starting point?
I really regret how America-centric my world history education was, I feel like there's a lot of important shit kids aren't learning anymore :/
Hmm. You might be on to something there. I probably wouldn't turn to art, because I'm not very visually-oriented, but it might be worthwhile for me to look to literature more, since that's something I'm familiar with, and it's helped me get some understanding of some small bits of history.
My main problem is that in school, I didn't have any formal historical education whatsoever. We literally did not have history class. We did have social studies, but it focused more on political and economic systems. For example, when we studied WWII, we learned a ton about fascism as a system, and very little (if anything?) about what actually happened during WWII. I learned about the Holocaust in English class. There just seems like there's something wrong with that....
haha, wow. I mean, there is some excellent literature about the Holocaust, and both world wars from all sides of the conflicts*, but still, that's... haha. On the other hand, the only thing I learned about political systems in grade school was "THIS IS WHAT DEMOCRACY IS" and we got told how horrible everything else was without actually explaining any of what it is. Hell, I took a comparative politics class in college and I'll be damned if I gained anything valuable from it. Pretty much the only things I remember are Denmark once paid its citizens to move elsewhere during a financial/jobs crisis, and clips we watched from a Bollywood movie called Devdas. :D
* - most of the books I read from those periods were based in fact, but they were also very human, individual accounts, and not really descriptions of the wars themselves. But I suspect that if you read the right accounts from the right people, you'd find a wealth of information about specific battles and key players therein.
This is exactly my problem too! I have a serious lack of background in History, and it always makes me feel uneducated and inferior. Add to this that I have a father who is an expert at history (and geography, politics and current matters) despite not working at this area at all, two brothers who are also very good at history and a mother who has B.A. in history (although to be honest she doesn't remember that much), and you may understand why I feel so stupid and why I spend much of my spare time trying to cure my ignorance by reading as much history material as I can... I read more non-fiction stuff these days than fiction
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Fff, I'm glad it's not just me. I just... feel so DUMB sometimes. I don't encounter anyone in real life who knows anything about history, but then when it comes to Hetalia fandom I'm found feeling awkward because I lack so much basic knowledge
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*waves hello, first of all, from the friending meme*
Speaking as a historian by study and training, I can count on my fingers the number of historical subjects and periods that I don't consider myself to be thoroughly ignorant about. I was firmly reminded of this not too long ago, when I picked up a book on the history of North Korea (because I realised that my knowledge about it all but started and ended with the Korean War), and as I was reading the book I came to a part where the author mentioned the assassination of the dictatorial South Korean President Park Chung-hee by the head of South Korean intelligence in 1979. And then I realised that I was remarkably clueless about that incident as well, and about South Korean politics since the end of the Korean War...so each additional bit of historical information opens up a whole new world to explore. This is probably why I have about 85 books on my nonfiction history list to check out from the local library, and keep adding new books every time I read one of the ones on my list, and
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Ugh, I know what that's like. All I learned in social studies was how to cram for tests, then forget everything to make room for the next test, etc., etc. I probably learned more about history from watching Time Squad. But I'm sure not having any interest didn't help. I wish I could offer some useful advice, but I can't get things to "click" either. Well, unless I simplify things into notes, but that's really boring, especially when you're just trying to read.
Oh, and I hope you have fun in Halifax! I didn't get the chance to comment on your last entry, but it sounds like you've got a pretty solid plan. Takes lots of pictures and share them with us, coastal cities are the best. <3 /so not biased at alll
Also, if this fic is the one I'm thinking of based on those WIP threads, I'm looking forward to it. *3*b
UGH. CRAMMING. Don't even talk to me about cramming, bro. I just. Eugh, I'm so glad those days are over. And yeah, not having an interest didn't help here, either... the few times we actually learned anything about history, it was mostly early Canadian history, when I generally find kind of dull, at least the way that it was taught. Though I probably would have liked it more if we'd learned something about, say, actual people, rather than just vague things about provinces being established and such
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Hahaha, I know that feeling too and I've done a fair amount of history studying! Although mostly only the Nordic countries' history, because that's how history is taught in Finland: order of importance is Finland - Sweden - Nordics - Europe - the rest of the world when it's somehow liked to European countries (f.ex. Britain getting up to no good in China etc.) - remaining countries. Whenever I start to write historical fic the first step is always to hit the wikipedia. Just in case I misremember something. Just in case history is different when written by a non-Finn. Just in case there are details included that I don't know of/cannot remember that would make an awesome addition to the fic
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Somehow it makes me feel better to know that you have problems like this too, pffff.
...the forewords of books in context with what's written in them YES YES YES this is one thing that I've found helps quite a bit for me when it comes to literature written in a distant time period... There's just so much about understanding what's going on in literature that requires having at least a basic idea of the historical context. Thank fuck for forewords, else so often I would have no clue.
And you just reminded me that I should read more sagas, because I have some stowed away in a trunk somewhere, as I haven't gotten to them yet, except for Grettir's Saga, which I liked. :Va
Also... alsdkfjdf okay. ;3; I will! I'll be putting it on the kink meme first, because it is a response to a prompt there, but I'll be sure to do a second revision and post it in my journal just for you. (It's... kind of sappy and sugary and I'm not sure if it's really the kind of thing you prefer? But I will blame that on it being in response to someone's prompt. I
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I really regret how America-centric my world history education was, I feel like there's a lot of important shit kids aren't learning anymore :/
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My main problem is that in school, I didn't have any formal historical education whatsoever. We literally did not have history class. We did have social studies, but it focused more on political and economic systems. For example, when we studied WWII, we learned a ton about fascism as a system, and very little (if anything?) about what actually happened during WWII. I learned about the Holocaust in English class. There just seems like there's something wrong with that....
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* - most of the books I read from those periods were based in fact, but they were also very human, individual accounts, and not really descriptions of the wars themselves. But I suspect that if you read the right accounts from the right people, you'd find a wealth of information about specific battles and key players therein.
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I'm sure tomorrow I'll feel better about all this, but right now I just feel like a dumbass who knows absolutely nothing about, well, anything. Sob.
On a completely unrelated note, you just reminded me that I've been meaning to watch Devdas for years, but haven't gotten around to it *_*
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Speaking as a historian by study and training, I can count on my fingers the number of historical subjects and periods that I don't consider myself to be thoroughly ignorant about. I was firmly reminded of this not too long ago, when I picked up a book on the history of North Korea (because I realised that my knowledge about it all but started and ended with the Korean War), and as I was reading the book I came to a part where the author mentioned the assassination of the dictatorial South Korean President Park Chung-hee by the head of South Korean intelligence in 1979. And then I realised that I was remarkably clueless about that incident as well, and about South Korean politics since the end of the Korean War...so each additional bit of historical information opens up a whole new world to explore. This is probably why I have about 85 books on my nonfiction history list to check out from the local library, and keep adding new books every time I read one of the ones on my list, and ( ... )
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Oh, and I hope you have fun in Halifax! I didn't get the chance to comment on your last entry, but it sounds like you've got a pretty solid plan. Takes lots of pictures and share them with us, coastal cities are the best. <3 /so not biased at alll
Also, if this fic is the one I'm thinking of based on those WIP threads, I'm looking forward to it. *3*b
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...the forewords of books in context with what's written in them YES YES YES this is one thing that I've found helps quite a bit for me when it comes to literature written in a distant time period... There's just so much about understanding what's going on in literature that requires having at least a basic idea of the historical context. Thank fuck for forewords, else so often I would have no clue.
And you just reminded me that I should read more sagas, because I have some stowed away in a trunk somewhere, as I haven't gotten to them yet, except for Grettir's Saga, which I liked. :Va
Also... alsdkfjdf okay. ;3; I will! I'll be putting it on the kink meme first, because it is a response to a prompt there, but I'll be sure to do a second revision and post it in my journal just for you. (It's... kind of sappy and sugary and I'm not sure if it's really the kind of thing you prefer? But I will blame that on it being in response to someone's prompt. I
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