Introduction

Welcome to Clio's Daughters, a reading blog about history and a host of other topics. Thanks for stopping by!  This post serves as your introduction to the blog, and tells you a little bit about what you can expect in the future.  

What is Clio’s Daughters?

Clio’s Daughters is a book review blog with a special interest in nonfiction and the history of the U.S. South. From time to time I would also like to read and review a few works of fiction. I may also venture out to explore movies, television shows, and podcasts related to history. If I review anything that’s not nonfiction, it will clearly be marked to avoid confusion.  

 

Who is Clio?

Clio is the Greek muse of history. This blog takes it’s title from her, and from an essay by pioneering historian Virginia Van der Veer Hamilton, which describes women historians as Clio’s daughters. It’s a beautiful reminder that as a woman interested in history, I’m standing on the shoulders of giants.

 

From Hamilton’s essay: Fortuitously, the god of our profession is female. And fortunately, we have not had to shed from our professional label a bunch of es and ss, as have actresses, sculptresses, poetesses, stewardesses, and waitresses. Those were traditional feminine pursuits. Perhaps there were not enough women historians extant to bother inventing the term historianness; thus, we have been historians all along.


(Clio is also the name of a small town in Alabama best known as the birthplace of George Wallace, but that’s another story.) 

 

 

About the Author: 

Hi, and thanks for reading! My name is Haley. I’m an archivist who is proud to live and work in Alabama, and in case you haven’t noticed, I really love history. These reviews aren’t meant be academic; this blog is just a place to share a few of the books I’ve enjoyed reading.  

 

This is a labor of love written in my spare time, so I may be slow to update. I also want to be clear that the opinions I share here are mine alone, and don’t necessarily reflect the opinions of my employer.  

 

Personal Interests:

I’m going to try and read a diverse selection of books, including a variety of fiction and nonfiction. My historical interests primarily focus on social history, gender studies, African American history, and the U.S. South. My reading tastes are fairly eclectic; I’m also interested in theology, memoir, and fiction, so those genres will probably make an appearance as well. I strive to be a well-rounded reader, and I hope that’s reflected here.  

 

SEC Football Disclaimer:

Since I’m reading and writing about Alabama history and culture, I also feel like it’s my duty to note I’m a fan of the Crimson Tide. When I read about sports, I’ll focus more on Bear Bryant and less on Shug Jordan (sorry in advance, Auburn folks!).  

 

Fair warning to MLB fans: I'm also a casual Dodgers fan, mostly to harass my dad and brother, who are Braves fans. 


Ongoing projects:

I try to be an ambitious reader and writer, and this blog is here to keep me honest. Right now, I have a few long-term projects planned, along with a few annual reading challenges.  

 

Alabama Reads:  The state of Alabama celebrated its Bicentennnial in 2019, which left me wishing that I could read and review the dozens of books related to Alabama history or written by Alabama authors that are still siting on my bookshelf unread. What could I learn about my state if I commit to reading 200 books related to Alabama history? I’m excited to find out! Books read and reviewed for this project will be tagged “Alabama Reads” so you can follow along.

 

The Year of Bancroft: There are also a lot of award winners I would love to read and reread. To start, I would like to focus on books that won the Bancroft Prize, an annual award that recognizes the best book related to American history. It’s going to take me a lot longer than a year to read and digest everything on the Bancroft list, but I think “Year of Bancroft” has a nice ring to it, so that’s the tag I’ll use to identify books read and reviewed for this project.

 

History in 500 Words (Or Less): I love narrative nonfiction, and I’m a huge fan of Nate Dimeo’s podcast The Memory Palace, which shares beautiful little slices of history in 12 minutes or less. This feature will include brief reflections on archival documents as a way to practice a bit of creative writing. I’ll use the tag “History in 500” for this project.


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