I'm a bibliophile of the first order--I love books--all kinds of books. History, religion & law are among my passionate personal interests. My bookshelf includes 1) books I own (some of them--my personal library holds several thousand volumes) and 2) books I've read in whole or in part from the library or from others & which I liked and 3) highly recommended things I have encountered in my studies & work (I'm a lawyer & teacher).
For years, I kept 3x5 index cards of books I read or consulted in the library. I've always clipped book reviews and advertisements for books to guide my buying and research. The books shown here, I've read or referred to or sampled or quoted. I don't necessarily agree with the ideas of all the authors I include. I put books here which make me think or challenge me in some way or round out the approach to an issue. My shelf contains books that I own and have read, books that I own but haven't read, books that I don't own but wish to own and read, books I've read but don't own, and books I've consulted, quoted or came across in some fashion. In other words, my shelf is my IDEAL library if time, money and space were no problem. I'm just not interested in creating and maintaining separate lists to codify differencess I find unnecessary.
The biggest part of this library is history. I did my undergraduate degree in history in the 1960's & am still a fanatic about history! But I define terms & periods more broadly than lots of professional historians. For example, I include material on the U.S. War of 1812 in "napoleonic wars" because I believe it was a sideshow to the major conflict between England and France on the world stage. I include the materials on the underground railroad as part of "abolition." For me, the "Protestant Reformation" extends from Hus and Wycliffe to the death of John Wesley in England and the end of the First Great Awakening in the American colonies. Likewise, the nineteenth century ("the greatest of centuries???) extends from 1789, the French Revolution, to the Guns of August in 1914.
My tags do not always draw fine lines between and among themselves & sometimes overlap. I include women from the Western Hemisphere--Canada, South America, Central America, the Caribbean & the United States--as "American women"--defined by hemisphere, not merely the U.S. I use "Native Americans" to include all the First Nation peoples of the Americas. For what it's worth, I'm the librarian here so my system prevails over any others in my library. My tagging system: if one of my students were writing a paper on this "topic", she could start with this "tag" as a bibliography. (Can't get "teacher" out of my blood.)
This library is a collection of books about things that concern and interest me. It's a collection about people, especially about women and for women. (I was a feminist in grade school, long before I ever heard the word). Everybody is welcome to browse. (May I suggest, since this is a BIG library, you begin your browsing by checking one or two tags which may be of interest? Then you may find if thre is more of interest for you.) Hope you find books you'll want to read, books you enjoy, books that make you think.
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