I definitely do feel different personality types are attracted to certain periods of history. I can only speak for myself here, but I'm doing my MLitt degree in Medieval History (British, to be precise) because I work better at untangling complex political situations more than I am at understanding the emotions, motivations and language skills of a more social historian. For example; I struggled with the data statistics of the Thirty Years War and often failed to recognise patterns within the demography. On the other hand, I've been able to evaluate political situations fairly well (I received an A on my undergrad dissertation on the 13th century "Great Cause). That's my take, hopefully some people a bit further up the ladder here will also give some input!

I published a book on environmental history with a univ press recently. I was mostly inspired by some of the books assigned in grad school on environmental history.

Personally, my interest are directly connected to my background and where I have lived. I was born in a small town in Mexico called Ebano, and I grew up hearing stories about a big battle during the Mexican Revolution that happened there. My uncles (mom's brothers) tell me about finding a skeleton with a rifle and full ammo belt when they were kids. So the Mexican Revolution has fascinated me for a long time. Now I live in Texas, and my other field of interest is Spanish /Mexican Texas. To me those two periods are the most interesting. So personality does have something to do with it, also general interest. I'm in the process of applying for graduate school, with the intention of focusing on the Spanish Colonial Presence in the Southwest. But that's just me.

I think that specific topics of study can often be influenced by life experiences or identity, but also by mentors and their subject areas. For example, in undergrad I worked in a diversity and social justice education center. I began to ask why and how systems of oppression developed in the U.S. as I was learning about how oppression and privilege operate in the present. Because of that interest I started studying the history of race and ethnicity in the U.S. I was also surprised by how much history I wasn't taught before college, so I kept seeking to learn more.

Once a general topic area is found - I think that reading and researching pushes us each to more specific questions about the past and therefore to more specific areas of study. Primary sources can often lead us to specific questions and histories. For example, I was a volunteer in a local history center during undergrad, I ended up transcribing a set of oral histories about the suburban experience during the Great Migration. Listening to the oral histories, I felt compelled to do more research and to write on the subject during my master's. I never expected to write any history concerning race and suburban migration, but I stumbled upon the sources and new I had to do the work.