There's a pretty good selection of books here. Mostly it's American history. There's quite a few on the American Revolution and the War of 1812 (You know--the one where we had to whomp on the British and remind them again that we weren't just a bunch of upstart colonies.) There's a growing Civil War (War of Northern Aggression) section. This period now fascinates me more since I've moved into an area where much of the fighting took place. Post-war industrialism and western expansion is the next big section. It covers the rise of the railroads, mining, and western frontier life. Both World Wars are covered, as are Korea and Vietnam.
Other military periods are represented as well, including the Age of Piracy, The United States naval war against the Mediterranean pirates (The shores of Tripoli...), the Boer War, the Russian Revolution,and United States interventions in Central America. There's also a couple on the French involvements in Algeria and Vietnam. (Predictably they got their asses handed to them. But hey--it's what the French are best at--losing.)
I've also got many regional books covering some of my favorite parts of the country. There are good sections on Michigan, Louisiana, Alaska, and West Virginia. I've spent time in all these places and learned to love them.
The regional books sit on these shelves underneath a couple of my favorite mining artifacts.
The large drill there is a Rand compressed air drill which I discovered in an abandoned silver mine in Colorado. It took me the better part of a day to move that 60 lb drill from the tunnel I found it in out through several hundred yards of water-filled passages and then down the side of a mountain so steep that it would have frustrated a mountain goat. Finally I had to carry it over a mile back to my camper. I was tired and sore, and if I hadn't wanted one of these so badly I'd have chucked it away a dozen times. But I got it.
And the long metal bar atop the other case is a piece of iron narrow-gauge railroad track that I took from one of the underground passages of a northern Michigan copper mine. This is what the mine haulage cars used to travel over back in the 1800's before this mine closed for goos around the turn of the century. Again, I had to climb a 70-degree shaft with this for more than 500 feet to reach the air vent that I'd slithered into the mine through and then I had to carry it a mile and a half back to my truck. But the good things are worth working for.
There's a good political section in my library as well, including a number of books written by one of my favorite past Presidents, Richard M. Nixon. Nixon is one of my favorites because of all of the things he managed to accomplish. He opened the trade door to China and established decent relations with Russia. He established the Environmental Protection Agency, ended the draft and got us out of Vietnam. He also appointed Warren Burger and William Rehnquist to the Supreme Court and thus helped make America safe from the encroachments of Liberalism. Nixon was also a foreign policy expert of the first order and his memoirs and foreign policy texts show amazing insight and perception. It's my goal to eventually obtain all of his books and I'm sorry that he's no longer with us.
Other favorite Presidents of mine are Theodore Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan.
Roosevelt is a favorite for his conservation work, his success in checking the big trusts and breaking the old-boys' network in Congress, and his military exploits in Cubaa as well as his foreign policy doctrines that established America as a regional if not a world power for the first time. And of course we wouldn't have had the Panama Canal without T.R.
Reagan was another great man who came along at the right time. He won the Cold War, freed the people of Nicaragua and eliminated the threat of a Communist air base there, beat the unions into shape when the Air Traffic Controllers struck, and rejuvenated our economy. And he did all of this with a hostile Congress that was willing to see America take a beating on the world stage if only they could bring about President Reagan's defeat or embarrass him somehow. I loved this man as a President and I had the honor of working at his funeral procession. I'd have done it for free out of respect for that man and his legacy.
Usually I spend my evenings reading the books in my nice soft chair in front of this fireplace. I also have a nice selection of classics and they're my favorite for light evening reading. These are the books next to the fireplace.
I have many works here by Mark Twain, John Steinbeck, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Jack London, Ernest Hemmingway, Charles Dickens, Herman Melville, Robert Louis Stevenson, H. Rider Haggard, James Fenimore Cooper, Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, Ayn Rand and many other fine authors. Lagniappe usually lays next to my chair and dozes or watches the fire. Sometimes I'll snack on roasted peanuts or popcorn and then Lagniappe is an incurable beggar who acts as if he'll die unless I give him some. No wonder he's getting fat.
I have over 900 books presently and as you can see from the new shelves I still have room for more. I'm working on filling the empty shelves now but it becomes a vicious cycle. Space on book shelves means that I need more books. And when I get more books I run out of space on the shelves. So then I get more shelves and now I have more space....
As to the heat sources in Lagniappe's Lair, I have basic electric baseboard heat but I prefer not to use it due to the cost involved.
So I use this neat pellet stove in conjunction with the fireplace.
The pellet stove keeps the house toasty warm and I got a ton of pellets for a little over $200.00 and they'll keep me warm all winter.
Also visible there is the accursed television set. Like I said--it was a gift. I do watch it but mainly I just watch videos and old movies since there isn't a single TV show made today that warrants my time or attention.
I do enjoy most anything featuring John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, Chuck Norris or Humphrey Bogart. What can I say--it's a man's world, baby. But I do support equal opportunity and as soon as some cable company comes out with a 24-hour centerfold model mud-wrestling channel, I'll be all over that.
I do own a few movies which I watch over and over again. My favorites are: Billy Jack, The Blues Brothers, Farewell to the King, Full Metal Jacket, and Jesus Christ, Superstar.
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