Thank you for your replies which are are of enormous interest. Obviously I posted the original question because I was interested in the fact that the enormous weight of postings in the the Mudcat forum reflect an interest amounting( to a Brit's perception) to an obsession with Scottish and Irish history. I wasintrigued with this, considering that anyone would imagine that vast amounts of English, German, Welsh, African, Spanish...etc etc you name it have gon to America. Even if we accept that English is the "default" position (though one ofthe letters suggests that German should take that place) it still seems odd that so few people discuss their English ancestry, Scandinavian history, Japanese religion, Native American songs or whatever.Anybody got any theories? Granted, the battles of the Boyne and Culloden are interesting, but I can think of a lot more events in human history that must affect American culture just as deeply. Any comments deeply welcome. I hope you will all realise that this is not some some shit-stirring stuff but of relevance to the musicwe all hold dear. I hope you won't mind adressing any more comments to the American Ancestry Part 2 thread I am now going to start, because I can't read threads much longer than 40 messages due to my cable tv system thanks a lot Gregxxxx