of nagging metime to read historical works, it is coming to fruition here. as far back as i can remember, my dad always read to me or told me stories. our house is nothing that would have pressed any decorator, but i think a librarian would have been happy because we have tons of books everywhere. he would often tell me as a young child about the books he was reading. i always loved listening to his stories because he could make it come alive. another thing he often said to me was those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it. that was usually when i was complaining about history homework or the amount i had to do. as i said earlier, history was not the thing i loved. i did not see the importance of learning about the past when i was younger. at some point in my 20's, i began to see how right my dad was. it is so important for us to know the people of our past. i have many fond memories of going places with my dad and learning about the past. for me, that was better than any history book. one father's day, we went through the antietam battlefield. i r