My goal with History Geek is to enlighten, entertain and inspire the masses through a collage of ephemera, snapshots and documents combined with a few sordid stories, observations and personal tales of historical misadventure.
Many posts featured on this blog focus on original items from my own personal collection and as such many of these are previously unpublished. To me they are unique personal windows into times gone by and it is wrong of me to continue to hoard them away unseen in shoeboxes. It is time to share their stories with all who are interested!
My approach to history is not to offer comprehensive academic analysis of historical events. There are many much more qualified people already doing that. My interest in history lies not in who was right and who was wrong but in what it was like to be there.
Topics of interest range through the late 18th – 20th centuries with specific focuses on Napoleonic, Colonial, New Zealand, Antarctic, Maritime, Aviation, Broadcasting and Military history.
Living in New Zealand it is natural that many of my musings will be from the Kiwi perspective but I do make an honest attempt to be as objective as possible (except perhaps when Australia is concerned!)
If something sparks the interest of a reader then I urge them to do their own research on the subject and where possible I will recommend further reading or viewing.
It is my sincere hope that visitors to this little corner of the Internet will find something of interest.
I love history. I wish more people would inspire their children to learn more of it, the schools merely skim over the events.
Completely agree. The kind of history taught at schools can sometimes be dry and difficult to relate to. I think there is a lot that can be done to make history a lot more accessible both to children and the wider public.
All I can remember in history class is memorizing dates.