Milton Meltzer is the author, not the title.
I first got to know of him when I read Hear That Train Whistle Blow! How the Railroad Changed the World (Random House, 2004) for my adolescent literature class a couple of months ago. I enjoyed the book, loved the writing style, clear and with a populist bent. It called to mind Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States.
Now that I am finished with the course and off the required reading treadmill, I have read a couple more of his books- he's apparently written around 100 books for young adult readers. It's the perfect level for me, not overly in-depth like those scholarly adult audience tomes, but not juvenile and generalistic as a child's book may be. In the middle, just right. And makes for relatively quick, informative reading.
I just finished Ten Queens: Portraits of Women of Power. Before that I read - you gotta love this title - Gold: The true story of why people search for it, mine it, trade it, steal it, mint it, hoard it, shape it, wear it, fight and kill for it.
If you want to read some quality history on interesting topics but don't want to spend half the year on one book, I recommend you check out the work of Milton Metzer.
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2 comments:
Thanks a million for the story on Meltzer. I have (somehow) so little time to read, that slimmer books fit my time budget a whole lot better. But finding slim books that really are informative is hard... I'll try some of his, thanks again.
POPPA
i will have you know that "them scholarly adult audience tomes" as you refer to people's history of the US do NOT take half a year to read! only 4 1/2 months thank you.
maybe i will check this guy out though, thanks.
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