Favorite Historical Period(s)/People

I don’t know how many of us Dreamer fans are also history buffs, but I know I am, and a big one at that.

So…that brings me to the question: which time period (and obviously in which place) is your favorite? Your favorite figure from that particular period? You can have more than one (I do!) but what’s your FAVORITE favorite? What if you had to go back and live in one? Whom would you like to run into while you were there?

For me: my top choice/most favorite--Colonial America. I really adore the culture, the architecture, the clothing, pretty much all of it. My favorite person from this period is most definitely Thomas Jefferson, and I would be all over that love to meet him if I was there…

My second-favorite, though, is 1850’s/60’s America; I absolutely adore Abraham Lincoln beyond all reason.

Yeah…YOUR TURN. =)

Time: Colonial America is tops for me, as well. Has been since junior high school, when I read Johnny Tremain - it was my "major" in college, and I still have my nose buried in books on the time period (fiction and non-). I'm most interested in the social/cultural aspects of the history, and the ideas that went into the Revolution. (When things get too wrapped up in military maneuvers, my eyes glaze over.)
Place: Boston. Again, blame it on Johnny. It's also only two hours away from home, so I can easily hop up and get my fill of the Freedom Trail every couple of years. But I love learning about the colonial history in "my own backyard" as well.
Person: Dr. Joseph Warren, hands down. If he's too busy to meet with me, I'll shamelessly use the connection of my cousin Dr. William Eustis (one of Warren's students).
Second-favorite time period: Ancient Egypt. Go figure.

I'm actually glad I grew up in the 80's. So unoriginal I know! But the more I read about history the more grateful I am to be living right now. As a woman who has been able to pursue my dreams, get an education at a private college, run her own business, and to be 30 without kids without the judgment of the community is huge. There's never been another time like now for women, I'm so grateful for that.

My ancestors were pioneers and immigrants. The more I learn about their lives the more I realize what a blessed generation I live in. I have more opportunities and advantages than anyone in the history of my family! That is humbling. What am I going to do with it is the question.

Of course I'd love to go back and visit the past. My number one pick would be to meet Jesus and John.

My favorite time period just for fun is late Plantagenet England which is all the fault of Sharon Kay Penmen's The Sunne in Splendor which you should read if you haven't.

Professionally, my area of history is WWI. I wrote my master's thesis on the 1918 influenza and have spent a lot of time researching propaganda during the war. I think World War I really has become the forgotten war. Professionally and in popular culture, it has been shoved aside by World War II.

And I really have to second the comment about being grateful to live in this time period. As a woman I would never want to live in any other time period. I love being educated and independent! I use to work in a civil war dress shop and I would always cringe when people would come in saying how much they wished they lived during the civil war and I always bite my tongue. It goes to show how much we like to romanticize the past and gloss over how hard to was for our ancestors to survive!

To be completely honest, I don't have just one favorite time period. The periods that I particularly enjoy would be Medieval, Renaissance, Tudor-Era/Elizabethan, Colonial America, Regency England, Civil War America, Victorian England, and WWII. That's just a small list.

I couldn't begin to describe who I would want to meet from those periods. Now, I'd probably be drooling over Thomas Jefferson, or our dear friend, Mr. Hale, but I doubt they'd enjoy that very much. I would want to meet King Henry VIII, Elizabeth I, Gen. George Washington and the other founding fathers, Charles Dickens, and as I mentioned before, the list goes on and on.

I'm with Mrs-Lovetts-Meat-Pie, there's too many time periods to choose, and so much happening in each time period to pick one.

I wouldn't want to go live in any time period, I like living in this time, the freedom to have an education, to wear pants, to be whoever or whatever I want to be without having to marry a man and be his wife, I like that I have the freedoms women in other time periods were denied, and also, I like running water.

But my favorite time periods are:
Ancient Greece: I LOVE greek myths, I grew up reading the myths like they were fairy tales and I'd love to go back and hear them in their original versions, maybe take notes on any stories that were forgotten, and I'd want to follow Socrates as he engaged strangers in discussions on life and anything in between in the market places of Greece.
Renaissance England-I'm currently taking a Shakespeare course and I'm finding out that he was so amazing and so good at capturing the chaos of his time period, I'd love to go to the Globe and watch his plays performed as directed by him, maybe catch a glimpse of Queen Elizabeth I.
1700s-1800s America: Those are my two most favorite time periods of America, and I'd love to go back to those times, to be in the middle of these great changes that happened at those times, to be in the presence of such amazing men who were willing to die to free our country from England, to create our country and give us a home and a pride in calling ourselves Americans (and of course, to meet Nathan Hale). Although I'd probably prefer to go back to after the Civil War, when things had just changed and everyone was changing the country by virtue of what they'd lived through, I'd go to Wild Bill Hickock's shows and try to get Calamity Jane to give me her autograph. Just to be in the midst of revolutions happening that changed the face of America, from creating a country, to changing the landscape of the country, how amazing to be able to say "I was there when the world changed."
Speaking of 1700s, I'd also love to go to France and try to get a glimpse of Marie Antoinette. I went to her homes when I made a trip to France as a middle schooler and ever since I've been fascinated by her, the struggles she endured as a foreigner in France, and her ability to overcome it all right until her death. I'd love to see her in person, experience her worldliness.
And of course, I think I'd like to go to 16th century Japan, I like the customs and the culture of the time, and I'd like to see samurais in action.
Let's see.. I think also I'd like to go to the 20s, if only for the parties and clothes!

Long story already too long: I want to go visit where the major revolutions happened, in art, in philosophy, in the status quo,

For people, I love the figures of the Revolutionary time period! My favorite is Washington, because he... well, allow me to quote my history teacher:

Mr. Clarke: "Okay. You know what? This guy was perfect. He had no flaws."
Random student: "Didn't he cut down a cherry tree?"
Mr. Clarke: "Yes... but he didn't lie about it." XD

I also love Adams, Hamilton, Madison, Franklin, and one guy that no one's probably heard about, Edward Rutledge. (He sings an awesome song in the musical 1776! And was a pretty cool guy in real life, too, from what I've read.)

Because I love all of these guys so much, it's easy to say that the revolutionary time period was my favorite. (Though I enjoy studying ancient Greece, the Civil War, and the 1920's, too.)