Tonight I am adding another entry in my Historic Book Acquisitions series.

To see what the previous four were about you can visit Historic Book Acquisitions IV which has a synopsis of the previous three at the beginning of the post.

This post starts in 1603 and progresses to the Civil War.

1603: The Death of Queen Elizabeth I, the Return of the Black Plague, the Rise of Shakespeare, Piracy, Witchcraft, and the Birth of the Stuart Era by Christopher Lee examines one of the pivotal years in history.

The early 17th century is an era that has really caught my interest lately. This was a time of upheaval in England and led to the Pilgrim and Puritan migrations to America. I want to know more about the environment in England that many of my ancestors who immigrated to America grew up in. What forces came together that prompted them to immigrate? What type of freedoms were they looking for?

I picked this book up at Half Price Books today and am looking forward to reading it soon.

The Witches: Salem, 1962 by Stacy Schiff is of course about the Salem witch trials. I am looking forward to reading this book and finding out more about what role my Putnam ancestors had in the witch trials.

You may have noticed that witchcraft was also mentioned in the subtitle of 1603, so there is a bit of a link here.

I found this book at the library book sale last weekend.

When Britain Burned the White House: The 1814 Invasion of Washington by Peter Snow is also about an event that I want to learn more about.

I have a friend who always says that the Canadians burnt the White House. Someday I plan to research and find out if there were actually any Canadians in the force that attacked Washington. My preliminary research shows that only regular British troops were in Washington and not Canadian militia units.

I found this book today at the bookstore. This may be one of the books that I take to England with me next week.

The Civil War: Strange & Fascinating Facts by Burke Davis is a collection of interesting information that the author found while researching for other books that he wrote.

I have skimmed through several sections of the book and there are definitely some interesting facts in this book. This would be a good book to read if you were going to take part in a trivia contest about the Civil War or one of the other 20+ names it is known by.

This was another library book sale acquisition from this past weekend.

Which one to read first?

Steven