Blog of the Week, Vol. 1, No. 12

     In this week's installment we turn our attention to Michael Lynch's blog, Past in the Present. You can find the blog at https://pastinthepresent.wordpress.com/.  Michael has been blogging for several years and also edits another blog at the Abraham Lincoln Institute for the Study of Leadership and Public Policy. He teaches at Lincoln Memorial University and has a BA in History from that school and MA in US History from the University of Tennessee.

     His areas of interest on the blog usually cover American History from the Revolution through the Civil War. He has a peculiar interest in Tennessee history and believe it or not, has been posting repeatedly about anything to do with the Jurassic Park series. I am going to guess he has seen Jurassic World at least three times. Hey, even a historian can have their fanboi moments!

     It seems that he started this blog back in July of 2008 which means he just celebrated the seventh anniversary of blogging. A hearty congratulations to Michael on that anniversary! He has kept up with the blog consistently and while he does not seem to have a schedule, makes at least a new weekly post. The blog is on Wordpress.

    If there is a drawback to the blog I think it is in how it is set up. I find it a bit sparse and stripped down which I think is slightly unusual for a blog that has been in operation for seven years. The obligatory information is there on the right sidebar, and I do really enjoy seeing the Twitter feed, but I somehow feel as if Michael could have more informational links available. Maybe it is just me. He does sprinkle a lot of links throughout his posts, so that is something that is very much appreciated.

     One thing I really do enjoy when I visit other blogs is looking at their blogrolls. I have found several blogs this way and Michael's blogroll is a good one. Michael's posts are very good ones as well. They are informative and there are some consistent commenters. I do like that the site is not focused on one particular event such as the Civil War or Revolution. This allows the author some room to discuss history on a broader scale and I think that is important. Don't get me wrong, the specialized blogs have their place too, but many seem to repeat each other. Michael does not do that and I think it is rather refreshing to read what another historian is thinking about when it comes to history at large.

     All in all, I like the blog a lot. I am a daily visitor and enjoy what I read here, even the Jurassic World posts. I'm pretty sure Michael is sneaking in courses on dinosaurs and is a budding paleontologist. He did say he went back to the University of Tennessee as a doctoral student, but he did not say it was in history. Good luck with the grind regardless of the major.