I always liked history, but I fell in love with it in college when I read a book called, "The Plain People of the Confederacy."
And that's when I came to understand that history is all about stories.
In school you mostly learn about famous people, battles and events, with an occasional story thrown in along the way. For me, it's the stories that matter, not necessarily the names and dates.
I also am fascinated by the quirky, unusual and really wild stories about famous historical figures and events that you never read in history books.
Like this historical fact:
Confederate General Robert E. Lee traveled throughout the Civil War with a servant to take care of his needs. Lee also traveled with a live chicken to provide him with fresh eggs each day for breakfast.
I can't always put all the fun history stories in my books that I discovered while doing research, so I put them in my book talks and PowerPoint presentations.
Like the one I do for my Purple Heart book, One Dog, Two Horses, and .... The ending to this title changes depending on my autdience, be it adults or school students, and my presentations differ for the two groups.
