Who in history?

GonzoStyle · 09-04-2002, 06:04 PM

Fascinated you? Anyone in history or even the present, naturally besides your parents or family members.

A musician, a poet, an actor, a mass murderer, whatever..

It doesn't have to be someone you look up to but are just interested in reading up on and learning about.

I was always fascinated by history, civilization, wars, leaders, religion, etc. Great generals and leaders always fascinated me; Hannibal, Napoloen, Alexander, even more recently Mao.

But the one man who stands above the rest to me was always Ghengis Khan, I musta read atleast 15 books alone on Ghengis. A man with no formal education nor much of a family life. Who just basically was born a leader and came to control an empire bigger than even Alexanders.

Hey Ladi · 09-04-2002, 06:12 PM

I've always been interested in the way people lived. Not so much one person. The things they built, what they made.

Romans, Egytians, Indians ... Medieval, Colonial ... all of that.
Buildings, tools, art, the way they spent the day.

Edited By Hey Ladi on Sep. 04 2002 at 2:14

PollyannaFlower46 · 09-04-2002, 06:12 PM

I've always been fascinated by Hitler...and Timothy McVeigh....(not in a good way, just curious).

GonzoStyle · 09-04-2002, 06:13 PM

Hitler fascinated me cause he was a sexual deviant, he loved the yellow discipline.

Corpsegrinder13 · 09-04-2002, 06:14 PM

I was always interested in the early 1700's. Just the way of life seemed so pure..

PollyannaFlower46 · 09-04-2002, 06:17 PM

Quote:I was always interested in the early 1700's. Just the way of life seemed so pure..

They were dirty little sexual deviants...I did a whole paper on it actually :lol:

kindred · 09-04-2002, 06:17 PM

I'm a huge fan of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway. I took a great college english class on the two authors.... I prefer Hemingway over Fitzgerald, but both authors are classic American authors.

Black Lazerus · 09-04-2002, 06:18 PM

Malcome X

K1d A

Gonzo

GonzoStyle · 09-04-2002, 06:20 PM

Quote:They were dirty little sexual deviants...

You woulda fit right in.

Actually I prefer Fitzgerald cause he was more complicated a man than Hemmingway, Hemmingway was just cooler in that Teddy Roosevelt and Gen. Patton type way.

Maynard · 09-04-2002, 06:20 PM

Did you know....that Ernest Hemingway's house in Key West, FL is a retreat for polydactyl cats?

It's weird but true.

Ken'sPen · 09-04-2002, 06:23 PM

Gimme Jesus....
I just gotta know.....

I would love to talk to him....(language barrier broken) and hear from his own lips exactly what he professes to be.
I would be willing to wager his claims were boosted significantly by the apostles and the church after his death.

Ahlexus · 09-04-2002, 06:25 PM

I'm a huge fan of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway.

:-o So am I! I've read everything about them! I feel like I know them personally :lol:

fbd · 09-04-2002, 06:29 PM

attila the hun, the man who single handedly came in and fucking raped the last days of the roman empire. it was in decline, and he just kicked its ass and almost sacked rome(pope leo stopped him, though). the other germanic tribes were cool, too, because they plunged civilization back hundreds of years and into the dark ages.

U.S. Grant, Robert E. Lee, and Joe Hooker i've enjoyed in civil war history. grant was a drunk, a low officer who would have ammounted to nothing if not for the war, and he came out of nowhere and won some huge union victories that turned the tide of the war (shiloh, vicksburg, the wilderness campaign, his idea for sherman's march). lee was a man who couldnt decide who to be loyal to. one of the best generals in the army before the war, served with destinction in the mexican war, asked by lincoln to command the union army. he almost took the post, but then virgina tried to leave the union, and he was tied more to his state than his country. finally, joe hooker was just cool. he fought some great battles early in the war, yet was a total drunken leecher. he's how the word "hooker" was coined through his favorite form of morale boosting. too bad he choked once he was given command of the army of the patomic

i'll probably have more guys later

kindred · 09-04-2002, 06:30 PM

Quote:Did you know....that Ernest Hemingway's house in Key West, FL is a retreat for polydactyl cats?

I had no idea.... I can sleep better tonight, Maynerd. Thank you!! :moonie:

I've always preferred Hemingway. His works illustrated grace under pressure, a quality I find highly worthy.

OAS · 09-04-2002, 06:32 PM

Robert Kennedy was my hero. He challenged all that was wrong and represented the new way of thinkinking for his time. I saw JFK as a hero but Bobby was a major advisor to his administration. Plus he got to bang Marilynn Monroe before he had her put to sleep. Nice!

PollyannaFlower46 · 09-04-2002, 06:41 PM

The Great Gatsby is my fave book of all time. I've read a few of both Fitzgerald's and Hemmingway's works, but never read about their actual lives.

I'd love to meet people from the Witch Hunts in Salem.

GonzoStyle · 09-04-2002, 06:42 PM

Quote:attila the hun, the man who single handedly came in and fucking raped the last days of the roman empire.

Attila is second to Ghengis in my book, I agree he was just a vicious piece of shit and I loved it.

RFK was a pansy though, Hoffa made him his bitch.

Doc · 09-04-2002, 06:48 PM

Two guys for me: Robert Goddard & Neils Bohr
(two scientists, big fucking shock)

Robert Goddard is the forgotten father of the rocket. He was the first guy to do experiments wuing rocket propulsion way before the Germans were making the V-2. But no one in America seemed to acknolwedge his existance because his ideas were too whacky for the early 20th century (like going into space on a rocket...remember, this is before the Wright Brothers).
Interesting story concerning Goddard:
Most of the rocket engineers for the space program were former German rocket scientists from WWII. The head of the rocket program at NASA was a German guy named Wener van Brahm (sp?). One time, when he was working on the Saturn V rocket for the Apollo moon landing, a reporter asked him how he came up with some of the theories and laws predicting rocket behavior. Van Brahm turned to the reporter and said, "I didn't, your Robert Goddard did 30 years ago and you never noticed." Now that is a recommendation

Neils Bohr is the guy who first proposed what atomic structure looked like, but he was also an incredible physicist and mathmatician. Much of what is now quantum physics is based on his work.

Ken'sPen · 09-04-2002, 06:50 PM

would a scientist or general be fun to actually meet though,
just because one is a genius with tactics or numbers would it translate into good conversation, or would the thrill be simply meeting that person.
like the goofs who stand at Star Trek conventions for their 5 seconds of meeting Captain Kirk?

Doc · 09-04-2002, 06:53 PM

Well, since both of my guys have been dead for 50 years, I'd think it would be quite a thrill if I saw them on my way to the bathroom or something