History

History has fascinated me for as long as I can remember. Maybe it's genetic; my father taught history. My to read pile usually contains at least one history book. Lately the pile has included books on the Titanic and World War Two.

The Titanic captured my imagination when I first read Walter Lord's A Night to Remember for a book report in third grade. So it came as no surprise to see the myriad of books about the Titanic start to hit the shelves late last year. Next month marks the 100th anniversary of the ship's sinking. Given the bouts of Titanic fever that occurred during my lifetime, it surprises me how little frenzy there is. Or maybe I'm just focused on other things right now (32 days!).

Or maybe it's because World War Two is being looked at from a perspective of 70 years. I've seen several new books on Hitler and other notable figures of the Third Reich. There's also a book by Kurt Schussnig, Jr., son of the Austrian Prime Minister who held office when the Nazis annexed Austria. I find my interest captured more by these personal stories and those of lesser known events, like the rescue of the Danish Jews, which will mark its 70th anniversary next year.

Of course, we also have the marking of 150 years since the Civil War. Although as a child I often picked up my father's book of photographs from the Civil War, I rarely read about it. In fact, I don't think we ever visited any of the Civil War battlefields during our family vacations of my childhood and youth. And then there's the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812, which seems to not to have excited much interest at all. I've seen only one new book on the shelves of the local Barnes & Noble, Mr. and Mrs. Madison's War. I will probably look for it in my new local library after I've moved and settled in.

And what an area I'm moving to in terms of history. Jamestown, Colonial Williamsburg, Mount Vernon, Alexandria (my soon-to-be new home), Washington, DC, Fredericksburg, Bull Run... I'll be able to visit places I've only read about. Granted, some of these, well, many of these, will be more than day trips. Virginia is quite a bit larger than Connecticut, a state you can drive across at its widest point in about two hours. Even so, the number of historical sites within day trip range, or even less,is astounding for a history buff like me.

Not that my current home lacks in history. Just a few blocks from my childhood home stands a house built in the 1690's. Louse Hall Tharp's first novel, Tory Hole tells the story of events that took place in Darien during the American Revolution (although it was still part of Stamford then). Norwalk had a significant artists colony, which included the Johnny Gurelle, the creator of Raggedy Ann and Andy. But because I grew up here, most of this simply just is. It's a part of the fabric of my childhood, my home, and my identity.

At times people don't believe I come from New England. During my freshman year at Moorhead State University (now Minnesota State University Moorhead) members of my freshman English class didn't believe I was from New England because I didn't sound like either a Bostonian or the characters of a play we were reading that was written in one of the regional dialects--or the author's idea of the dialect. There was no use explaining to them that there are a myriad of variations across New England. Or the fact that being a town close enough to New York City to commute, corporate executives from all over the country moved into Darien when they were transferred offices in the City. Or that my mother grew up in Chicago.

My family history here in the Americas spreads across the Northeast quadrant of the United States and into Canada. But I was born and raised in this little corner of Connecticut, steeped in its 400 plus years of Anglo-European history and a smattering of the longer Native American history. (The oldest Reservation, the Pequot's, is in eastern Connecticut.) No matter where I go, I will always be a New Englander. It's my history.