Why Are Popular History Books Popular?

What makes popular history books "popular?" Over the last few months, I have read several popular history books for Ben Franklin's World.

I read these books with the same care and thought I give to scholarly work. I also read them with an eye toward trying to figure out why they are "popular."

Why do history lovers choose these books over scholarly ones, which often contain better evidence, information, and analysis?

In this post, I offer observations about the popularity of popular history books.

Popular History Books Feature People

Many historians argue that popular history books are popular because they tackle a founding father or famous person.

A casual glance at the bookshelves or best-seller tables at Barnes and Noble supports this idea.

With that said, I am not convinced that famous people make popular history books popular.

Listeners of Ben Franklin's World love learning about the founders and famous people, but do you know what they love learning about even more?

The lives of everyday people.

Each week, I receive e-mails with requests that I present more episodes about how non-famous, non-elite men and women lived.

You know who tackles this topic best and writes about it the most?

Academic historians.

If readers want to read about everyday men and women, why are popular history books popular?

They are popular because they feature people readers can follow and live through vicariously. I suspect that many history lovers settle for books about George Washington and Thomas Jefferson because they can't find books about people like Martha Ballard or George Robert Twelves Hewes.

The feedback my listeners provide strongly suggests that they would love to read books about men or women who lived average lives; books that allowed them to witness the past through the eyes of someone like them.

Popular History Books Use Plain, Evocative Language

Language has the power to evoke ideas, images, and emotions. The writers of popular history books embrace language. They use words and idioms that enliven or humanize the people and events they write about.

I love scholarly history books, but comparatively the language within them is flat. Many scholars focus more on the point they are trying to make rather than on how they express their point. Popular history writers pay more attention to expression.

Popular history writers also use plain language, short sentences, and idioms.

You won't find the "technical or specialized parlance of a specific social or occupational group" in a popular history book. You also won't find copious citations or in-text references to other historians' books.*

Popular history writers write like they talk.

Scholarly writers often write like distant narrators who use big words and complex sentences.

Popular History Books Make Judgement Calls

Writers of popular history books pass judgement. Historians mince words.

Often, scholarly authors use language that both implies judgement and offers them plausible deniability for such thoughts.

For example, a popular history author writes "Benjamin Franklin was a womanizer." An author of a scholarly work pens "Benjamin Franklin seemed to have an affinity for women given all of the flirtatious language in his surviving correspondence."

Readers view authors as subject experts. They want to know the writer's opinion on the topic or person at hand. A preference at odds with scholars' training.

Conclusions

I offer the above as observations on the patterns I see.

I freely admit that while reading some popular history books my eyes have rolled and audible, exasperated sighs have passed through my lips.

I think popular history writers are on to something with people and the use of plain, evocative language.

If writers of scholarly history books took these techniques and applied them to their studies of everyday men and women, I believe we could see a resurgence of scholarly historical research on bestseller lists and on the bookshelves of non-university bookstores.

*Encyclopedia Britannica, "jargon."

The Bobblehead Collection

January 7 is National Bobblehead Day.

In honor of the occasion, I offer you a look at my historic bobblehead collection.

My collection consists of 14 bobbleheads. It started in the late 2000s with Thomas Jefferson.

The collection started with Jefferson because we share a birthday (April 13).  Jefferson's birth (and mine) are the only interesting historical happenings on that day. (Seriously, April 13 is a historically boring day. April 12, 14, and 15 are action packed.)

After Jefferson, I acquired John Adams, one of my favorite historical figures.

For several months, Jefferson and Adams lived on top of my office bookcase. Friends and family always commented on them when they visited and for the next several Christmases and birthdays I received bobbleheads. Bobblehead gift-giving continues today: this past Christmas (2015) my Dad gave me John Stark, Continental Army colonel and New Hampshire general.

The Collection

Most of my bobbleheads come from a company called Royal Bobbles. However, Henry Hudson and John Stark have different manufacturers.

I picked up Henry Hudson at a Tri-City ValleyCats baseball game in Troy, New York in 2009, the quadricentennial of Hudson's voyage up the North or Hudson River.

My Dad found John Stark at the New Hampshire Historical Society.

In display order:

My Wishlist

You may have noticed from the photos that my collection is largely male. I have written to Royal Bobbles over the years to ask if they would make a Founding Mothers series. They seemed intrigued, but it's 2016 and I am still waiting.

I would love to add Abigail Adams, Martha Washington, Dolly Madison, and King George III to my collection.

Yes, King George III. If you have seen Hamilton the Musical, you understand how perfect this would be. Remember Jonathan Groff's shaking head? I watched the show and thought "King George III would make an awesome bobblehead."

Related to the Collection

In addition to my bobbleheads, I also have a bust of John Hancock. A friend gifted him to Tim and I as a wedding present.

In our household, Hancock always roots for the Boston Red Sox.

Why I Love My Collection

I love my bobblehead collections because it starts conversations. Every time someone visits my home they see it and comment. Their comment leads to a conversation about history, the founders, and the American Revolution. Over the years, I have had great conversations with friends, family, plumbers, electricians, and other contractors.

The bobbleheads also elicit conversations on social media. On occasion, Tim likes to move my bobbleheads around. Since we saw Hamilton the Musical, I often find Hamilton and Jefferson facing each other with Washington, Madison, and the Bostonians gathered round to watch Hamilton and Jefferson engage in a "cabinet meeting." Sometimes I post pictures of the bobbles' new position on Twitter and Facebook. Many followers comment on the photos.

I love these conversations and I can't wait to have them with my niece and nephew when they get older. I know it is only a matter of time before they ask questions about my "toys." When they do, we will have some fun with history.

Share Your Collection

I showed you mine, now let's see yours!

What historic or other bobbleheads are in your collection?

Boston Athenaeum Author of the Month

I am excited to announce that the Boston Athenaeum selected me as their "Author of the Month." Over the last 2+ years, the Athenaeum has become like a second home. I joined the institution because of its reputation for being a great and inspiring place to work. They also have university-like interlibrary loan services, which I need given how many obscure and specialty titles I request.

As "Author of the Month," the Athenaeum asked me to answer a few questions about my research, Ben Franklin's World, my favorite podcasts and Twitter follows, and why I study early American history.

My favorite part of the interview was trying to explain why I became a historian of early America. I became fascinated with early America because I grew up in an old, New England  town and because my parents cultivated an interest in history.

My parents never took my brother and me on beach vacations (it's okay, we both turn red just thinking about sun exposure). Instead, we enjoyed cultural vacations around New England and the United States.

Also, Mom and Dad granted us an allowance in books instead of cash. We became voracious readers as a result. (We earned the money we wanted for other things by doing chores and delivering newspapers.)

All my reading, combined with trips to museums, historic sites, and national parks, ensured that I learned how to ask "why" and where I might find the answers to my questions.

You can read the full interview on the Athenaeum's website.

The Secrets of Nearly Every Productivity Book Revealed

Do you wish you had the ability to add more time to your day? I do.

However, as I cannot create more time (at least not yet), I read books about how to increase and maximize my productivity.

I have read a fair number of productivity books over the years and recently I noticed that they all offer the same formula for success; authors just use different jargon to convey the same productivity recipe.

In this post, you will discover the blueprint offered in nearly every productivity book.

Blueprint for Increased Productivity

The formula for increasing and maximizing your productivity consists of 6 Steps:

Step 1: Create goals.

Dream about your life.

What would you like to accomplish? Where would you like to live? What kind of relationships would you like to forge?

Think about every aspect of your personal and professional life and note your hopes and dreams.

Step 2: Write down your goals and internalize them.

After you think about what you want to accomplish and what you want your life to be like, write down your ideas.

Read and refer to your written goals often. Visualize yourself realizing your goals as you review them. If you internalize your goals and believe that you will accomplish them then you will find ways to achieve them.

Step 3: Break your goals down into actionable steps.

Create an action plan.

What work do you need to do to achieve your goals?

Outline this work and use this sketch to plot out actionable steps that you can take to realize your goals.

Step 4: Review and plan progress weekly, monthly, and quarterly.

Life goals tend to require a lot of action steps to achieve. The sheer number of steps it might take for a person to realize their dreams discourages most from trying. Overcome this mental barrier.

Break down the number of action steps you need to take by plotting out how you will undertake a portion of those steps each quarter.

Divide the steps you plan to accomplish within each three-month period among each month in the quarter.

Distribute the work you will tackle within a month among each week within that month.

By dividing your action steps into manageable steps and time frames you will make incremental progress toward your larger goals.

Step 5: Tell people about your goals and your progress.

Hold yourself accountable for progress by telling people about your dreams.

You will make the most progress toward achieving your goals if you know people are counting on you or that they will ask you about your progress.

Step 6: Maintain focus by writing down ideas and tasks.

Maintaining focus can be hard. Free up mental space by writing down ideas, tasks, and other important thoughts in a safe place. Your mind will let go of these ideas once it knows that you have filed them in a place where they won’t be lost.

Each week, month, and quarter, review the ideas and thoughts you stored and sort them into your action plan. If the ideas don't align with your larger goals, file them away for “later” and let the ideas rest.

Conclusion

The above six steps appear in nearly every productivity book. Authors call each step something different to make their book stand out, but their advice represents a variation of the same success formula.

The key to their advice: you can achieve almost anything if you make steady, incremental progress and persist in your desire to reach your goals.

Now that my brain has recognized this productivity recipe, I won’t be reading any more productivity books. Instead, I will will divert my energy toward accomplishing the tasks in my action plans and to reading other books on my to-read list.

Share Your Story

What are your favorite productivity tips? 

6 Podcast Interview Tips That Will Make You Shine

Have you ever been interviewed on a podcast? In this post, I offer tips that will help you prepare for your next podcast interview.

6 Tips For Your Next Podcast Interview

1. Research the podcast and its host

If you want to thrive during your next interview, take an hour or two to research the host and listen to their show.

Knowing the format of the podcast and the background and interests of its host can help relieve pre-interview anxiety about what the host may ask you.

Most podcast hosts seek conversationalists. If you take the time to research the show and host, you will glean information you can use to engage the host in conversation.

Pro Tip: Most podcast hosts do not send questions in advance of an interview.

2. Provide value for the audience

Your primary function as a podcast guest is to provide value for the audience.

Hosts invite guests because they believe the guest can provide their audience with valuable information and unique insights. Honor this by reviewing the information you have been asked to talk about and by researching the show you will appear on.

Pro Tip: Podcasters listen to podcasts and they talk to each other.

If you perform well as an interviewee, you will not only provide value for the show’s audience, but you will pique the interest of other podcasters who might want you to appear on their show. Good interviews often beget more interview opportunities.

3. Respond to questions and converse as if the audience were in the room

The next time you tune in to Terry Gross or another experienced radio interviewer, listen to how they speak and ask questions.

They speak as though their audience is in the room taking part in the conversation.

For example, seasoned interviewers don't often say "Listeners, in her book about George Washington's favorite foods, Janet describes how Washington preferred corn-based hoe cakes to buckwheat pancakes."

They say "In her book about George Washington's favorite foods, Janet describes how Washington preferred corn-based hoe cakes to buckwheat pancakes."

Or, "As you may know, Janet describes how George Washington preferred corn-based hoe cakes to buckwheat pancakes."

Imagine you are speaking in front a live audience during your interview; picture them in front of you.

Pro Tip: When you include listeners in the conversation, you will draw in your audience and they will be more interested in what you have to say.

4. Watch where you hold your phone during a telephone interview

Hold the receiver of your phone so it sits on or near your jaw line, not in front of your mouth.

This placement will help cut down on heavy breath sounds and the "popping" produced by the hard sounds of Ps, Cs, CHs, Ks, and Ts.

5. Be aware of background noise; don't fidget

Ideally, you will participate in your interview in a quiet room. While in said room, remember that leaning back in your chair, typing on your keyboard, and other types of movement and fidgeting produce sound that your phone may pick up.

Pro Tip: Be sure not to lean on your phone if it is a wireless handset. Leaning may cause you to press buttons while you talk, which the audience will hear.

6. Learn how to use Skype and consider investing in a decent microphone

If you plan on appearing as a podcast guest, learn how to use Skype. Most podcasters conduct their interviews through that service.

Also, consider investing in a decent microphone.

Many podcasters love the [simpleazon-link asin="B004QJOZS4" locale="us"]Audio-Technica ATR2100[/simpleazon-link]. This versatile mic sounds great and Amazon periodically places it on sale for about $30.

Regardless of what mic you purchase, don't skimp! Purchase a [simpleazon-link asin="B0002GXF8Q" locale="us"]pop filter[/simpleazon-link] and [simpleazon-link asin="B00YOQZQUU" locale="us"]table-top stand[/simpleazon-link] to go with it.

The pop filter (foam cover or mesh screen for your mic) will soften the popping sounds made by hard letters. The stand will help ensure that you keep the mic at a consistent distance from your mouth and that you don't fidget with and drop it during your interview.

Pro Tip: There are over 250,000 podcasts. Opportunities to participate in podcast interviews increase every day.

Conclusion

The above techniques represent best practices. If followed, they will help you sound great and come across as a professional-sounding guest that any podcaster would like to have appear on their show.

Interviews often beget other interviews. Make the most of each opportunity.