Wizards has long been known as a massive virtue signaler as a means of getting people to buy their increasingly expensive products.
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I'm not super knowledgeable about American history so this was a really informative read. Are there any of those historical works that stand out as being a good read if I'd want to learn more or anymore recent publications you'd recommend?
People have the misconception that history courses are largely "blow-off" courses, somewhat attributed to schools only putting the min amount of effort into teaching it and not getting the right people for the job. Even if I find history very interesting, I can still find myself growing bored with whatever section of history is being taught if it isn't engaging.
Where I found history the most well taught and engaging was when taking university level courses taught by people specialized in the fields they were teaching about. Especially engaging was when they touched upon a topic they had a personal interest in, made clear by how animated they'd get when teaching it and often going into mini-tangents even more engaging then the course material. Sure there were still some dud classes, but I believe that the majority of classes were wonderful (Judging from how people have talked about their own experiences I seemed to have gotten lucky with my university experience) and even subjects that might have veered into more sjw topics (i.e. Women in the two world wars) were taught professionally.
Even then, I'd note that while I found it all very interesting, it was observable how unengaged many of my peers were due to the enduring notion of history being a "blow-off" course. Sometimes I almost feel the notion was maliciously spread through years of hammering in the point that "nothing outside STEM matters, taking any humanities is a waste of time" which many people take at face value and ignore any history courses. I know many see the humanities as being infected by ideologues, a problem also pointed out by some in the field, but too many people are "throwing the baby away with the bathwater" due to the known extreme cases. Every one of my history professors emphasized the importance of critical thinking and how the study of history was a good way of honing that skill, again I might have just gotten lucky with my learning experience.
I'm wondering if any fellow kiwis have put together any lists for recommended readings on various subjects? History books themselves are a mine field if you don't know what you're looking for or are unaware of the academic discussion/reviews taking place. You have books like
Arming America: The Origins of a National Gun Culture by Michael A. Bellesiles that has been torn apart by academics, but even that took several years to happen and in the time who knows how many people read the book thinking it was credible. You can still buy the book too.
Someone walking into the history section of a bookstore is bombarded by so many books, with no idea the quality standards put upon them. I know one of my professors went by rule of thumb "Be wary of books not published by university/academic publishers, they have less reputation to lose if they publish a poorly researched book. Even if you think you've found a good book always check for reviews of the book from different academics, especially those in the same field."
It can be a really frustrating experience finding good books, well-researched history books even more so
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