Jody, just don't fall into the trap of giving creedence to Tom as your lone source of history. It's become very apparent to many of us that his version follows the political motivation of his party affiliation. Read carefully when he posts a link to some "official source". When you dig down you find that the sponsor of that source has huge motivation for putting out a slanted or distorted look at facts and figures.

If you're deficient in your knowledge of history then look at multiple sources for your answers. Take input from conservative, liberal, and libertarian viewpoints. Remember that often times an account of some distant event comes not from the type of evidence we see today where there are cameras, bloggers, and reporters everywhere but during a time when the history of a battle might come from a letter some soldier sent to his wife, hardly a balanced viewpoint from all sides of the issue and subject to the interpretation of the text.

I recently took a history course from a local community college and was amazed at the difference from what I remember being taught in my early years of schooling. Still, despite the course text being incredibly researched and highly detailed, I still read the accounts with a grain of salt and kept in mind the possible personal motivations of the author.

I would hope you have some regret for not keeping up research in the area of world and American history and I highly encourage you to begin the exploration in earnest. I think you'll find it a rich and rewarding journey and an eye-opener into the bizarre mind of mankind.

Art