I am currently on a bit of a break from heavy academic reading. I just finished Eric Foner's really enjoyable essay collection Who Owns History? which wasn't exactly what I had expected but really interesting and engaging nonetheless.

Right now I'm enjoying a bit of pop history with Peter Ackroyd's The Tudors. I have to say the Tudors as a subject has never really interested me. I like the era, the politics and culture around the Reformation is fascinating, but I've just never bought in to the soap opera-esque exploits of England's most famous royal family. That all said, Ackroyd is a good author and I'm finding the book quite engaging despite myself. I'm no expert in the field so I'm sure there are errors that I'm completely missing, but he's so far avoided some of the worst pitfalls of popular history. He seems hesitant to make too many sweeping statements and uses the phrase that seems to be absent from too much pop history "we don't know why this happened". That said, it is still pop history and I've found at least a few places where his interpretations seem a little dubious. Overall though, an engaging and enjoyable read so far.

I'm halfway through my first book on Alfred the Great and I really enjoy how this author (Justin Pollard) has worked through the legends that have grown around Alfred and put them back into their historical context.

After I've sated my curiosity with Alfred the Great, I'm going to expand my research into the broader time period. If anyone has any book suggestions I'd be happy to hear them!

Just started Miguel Artola´s La España de Fernando VII. Beyond just being a great book on what was going on under Ferdinand VII´s rule it is surprisingly well written and generally a pleasure to read. Definitely pleasantly surprised about that.

Went to the archive yesterday and today to try to tie up some loose ends. They still haven´t fixed the microfilm roll I reported as damaged months ago. I was also presented with the annoying surprise that some of the microfilm rolls are missing pages. The roll begins with an internal index, which guides me to a letter on page 293. Letter is supposed to continue on 294. There is no 294. It jumps to 296 and is an entirely different letter. Happened again elsewhere.

The good news here is that this may be the excuse I needed to see the original documents, after my initial request to see them got flatly denied.

Also good news, the records I consulted offered a list of all American ships going in and out of the specific port in question, including name of the ship, origin of the ship, destination of the ship, cargo, etc. Pretty cool. I may send this to a friend who does economic history since it is up his alley more than it is mine.