Half Price Books: The History Nut's Friend

Most students of history that I know love books, and personally I am no exception to that rule. I am a book junkie extraordinaire. I guess part of that is because books have the unique ability to transport me back to the events that are described. To me, good history puts you there, and then interprets those events to help you make sense of them.

Like most history enthusiasts I am always looking for good deals on quality books, especially used books, because most of us that work in some field of history don't pull in big money. When I moved to Kentucky I asked a friend where I could find a good local bookstore and he referred me to Half Price Books. Although they have CDs, LPs, DVDs and just about every category of book that one could want, I was ecstatic to find that they have a real good history selection. Luckily for me I found that I live between two stores; one in Lexington and one in Louisville.

Not only do they have a good selection of books, but their prices are very reasonable too. In addition, they buy your used books! Yep, bring them in any old books you don't want anymore and they will give you cash money. Now, be assured they don't give you excellent money for your used books, but I haven't had them reject one book that I have brought in to sell...er, I guess I should say trade, because that is what I end up doing. Today, for instance, I brought in several books that I had kept in storage and that I had already read and didn't especially want to keep, so I took them in and received a nice little credit that I then applied to six books that I had been looking forward to reading. I picked up David Blight's Frederick Douglass' Civil War, Fitzhugh Brundage's, The Southern Past: A Clash of Race and Memory; Marcus Rediker's The Slave Ship: A Human Story; Noah Andre Trudeau's, Southern Storm: Sherman's March to the Sea; James M. McPherson's This Mighty Scourge of War: Perspectives on the Civil War; and Gerald J. Prokopowicz's, Did Lincoln Own Slaves: And Other Frequently Asked Questions about Abraham Lincoln. A nice haul if I say so myself.

So, if you are a big history fan too, check online to see if you have a Half Price Books in your area. You will probably be happy you did.