I am looking for articles and/or books that describe decisions the United States made during the Cold War, especially ones that go into the reasoning for US action and/or one's that utilize a structural realist framework.

Another related thing that I am looking for is sources that counter or discuss the commonly-held notion that the conflicts between the United States and the Communist states at the time were due to ideological disparities like the ones between Communism and Capitalism/American-Style Democracy.

Some examples of what I think would be particularly helpful, if you have sources that don't fit these that you think might help I'd be very happy to see them as well,

• American decision makers describing why they acted in such-and-such way, either as a primary source or through respected historians,
• Case studies of the United States acting largely for the sake of/ or concern about power,
• Case studies of the United States acting in a way that doesn't fit in a purely/mostly ideological understanding of the Cold War,
• General books that go into the Cold War/Historical Analysis with Structural Realism in depth.

The famous idea of betraying the Greek alliance by Ephialtes.

How much of that idea is accurate? What reason should Ephialtes be loyal to the southern Greeks anyway? The Persians said they wanted to attack Athens, not Malis. Lots of Greek states sided with Xerxes, including Macedonia. Was there any other reason why Ephialtes might have been supposed to be loyal to a people who could have been nearly as foreign to Northern Greece as Persia?

I've seen some maps that shows the hun empire controling modern day Denmark, and even parts of Sweden. I couldn't find any information on this, is there any evidence of that being the case?

What made the Dutch government (want to) accept Wilhelm II following the exile he was forced into after the end of WWI? I know the Netherlands was neutral during the war, but did their monarchy have some sort of closer relation to Germany's in that era? I know that Wilhelm II was first cousins with Czar Nicholas II and George V, but was there a strong Dutch connection there as well, or was it something from Wilhelm's father's side?

What is the oldest type of protection used in sexual activities by humans? What did different civilizations use as protections until modern condoms were invented?

Its the only letter that doesn't follow the naming conventions of the rest if the alphabet, i.e. it has 3 syllables as opposed to all other letters' 1, and it doesn't have a sound it makes in its name. Additionally, I've heard that "q" is the newest letter in the alphabet, yet "w" uses the presumably more contemporary word "double"

I heard "Down in the River to Pray" for the first time in the movie "Oh brother were art thou" and I really liked it, but ever since I've find it really odd

The song is indeed very mystical, in terms of music and lyrics, but it doesn't sound very christian

the singer invites "brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers and sinners" to go "down in the river to pray", they talk about studying "the good old way" and it constantly ask two questions: "who will wear the starry crown" and "who will wear robe and crown"

Many of those symbols can be seen from a christian perspective. The river represents baptism, perhaps full body baptism and "the good old way" could be the ten commandments, but what are the robe and crowns?

The song seems to be describing a ritual were two people, a man and a woman, will be chosen to perform some kind of ceremony, while wearing ritual clothes, and standing on a river. That ritual is not christian in the slightest

This makes me suspect that maybe the song has its origins in african religions, since this song seems to have its origin in the african american communities. Is it possible that african religions had a ritual that resembled something like this? Perhaps the Serer religion of Senegal has or had a ritual like this?

I was recently looking for information about ancient egypt in the Old, Middle, and New Kingdom periods.

And the information tended to come in two flavors:

1. Historians talking about the monumental architecture, and funerary practices.

2. Pseudoscientists talking about "advanced ancient technology".

I'd like to learn more about Pharaonic Egypt than just how people died, and what happened after, but that seems to be the only thing anyone ever talks about.

Where can I find information on what life was like in these societies?

And is there a good process for finding reliable, vetted information about historical societies and cultures in general (outside of research papers)?

I do not know the scope of white fears around slave revolts, but I believe there was a substantial amount of fear to drive some areas of policy-making in the antebellum South. However, slave revolts could never be well enough armed, well enough coordinated, and with well enough numbers to make any slave revolt in the US successful. Where did the fear come from?

King Charles had his Proclamation Speech today and it included a long oath about The Church of Scotland. Can someone provide some context as to what that's all about?

It seems like every town and smaller fief had its own currency. For instance, in the Wikipedia entry for the Old Swiss Confederacy it says:

About 75 different local currencies, including Basel thaler, Berne thaler, Fribourg gulden, Geneva thaler, Geneva genevoise, Luzern gulden, Neuchâtel gulden, St. Gallen thaler, Schwyz gulden, Solothurn thaler, Valais thaler, Zürich thaler

Seventy-five (75!) different local currencies for just such a small region! There must have been like a thousand different currencies across the entire empire!

Questions:

• Where would those localities get their money from? I doubt that there were 75 different gold mines in Switzerland which allowed each locality to mint their own currency. Could it be perhaps that they issue an order at a central gold mine to mint currency for them?
• Why did each locality have their own currency?
• Did there exist supra-regional currencies that were valid for more than one locality? Like an empire-wide currency for example?
• How would I get the local money? If I work there I may be paid in it but what if I am a traveler? Is there some sort of currency exchange? What if I am just a peasant who has no money because I exchange my produce for other goods, not money?
• Could I pay with a different locality's money? If so, whats the point of each locakity having its own money?
• How would the value of my money be determined? Sure a Bern thaler and a Zürich thaler may both have a nominal value of 1, but maybe the Bern thaler has 50% more gold content in it. Or what if I have 53 gulden? How many thaler is that?
• How would the money get back to the locality it originated from? If people keep being paid in the towns local money then eventually all the currency will be out and about in the wide world and the town needs to mint new currency.

During Japan's small invasions off China over time, why did they establish multiple Chinese puppets, more specifically, Mengjiang and Manchuko. (I know they established the reorganized one too) but why have 3 puppet states? Why not just one or maybe 2? And what was the purpose of Mengjiang which seemed like the most useless. My apologies if I got anything wrong; my knowledge of this period is bad.

I'm trying to dye linen without synthetic or New World ingredients but so far it seems impossible. I've read that black clothing was used in Greece at least since the 6th century BC and Romans wore it as a symbol or mourning. How did they do it? Or was "black" used for shades that we wouldn't classify as black today?

Thank you so much.

In the historical novel Shogun, the main character Blackthorne, a daring explorer finds himself in feudal japan, there is a moment where he is offered a boy to sleep with as a polite gesture.

In his anger against the offer, he delves into an internal monologue mentioning something that stood out to me.

“Most sailors have tried that way, for how else can they stay sane with many months at sea. Isnt it because you have been tempted and you’ve hated yourself for being tempted? ISNT because when you were young you had to fight to protect yourself, and once you were held down and almost raped, but you broke away and killed one of the bastards the knife snapped in his throat. You twelve.”

So I have two main questions, how common was sodomy between two consenting sailors in the age of sail? And if it was common, how was it looked upon?

Also, was the sexual assault of cabin boys common at this time, and again, how was the practice treated in the eyes of the naval community?

Clavell was know to perform heavy research when writing the Epic, so for him to randomly insert this out of no where seems unlikely. Hence my question.

I recently heard a pre-Columbian transoceanic contact theory suggesting that African people sailed to South America and traded with Olmec peoples and other indigenous Americans. Is there any truth to this? Any hard evidence?

I have not read Freud's Moses and Monotheism. I am only reading excerpts from it in a different book which does not explain clearly why.

Particularly people in relatively landlocked areas, and I also don't necessarily mean like, "could swim a mile in the ocean comfortably", but I'm wondering more like if they were in a situation where they were in water deeper than their height (meaning: just not shallow enough to stand) and had to swim to safety, how likely would it be for a commoner to drown in such relatively safe/shallow conditions?

I am aware of the criticisms of The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, but I really enjoyed the flow and breadth of the work and specifically the audiobook.

I'm going to listen to The Coming of the Third Reich soon, but I'd also like something about the Asia-Pacific aspect of the war that's respected, but still an engaging listen.

Does anyone have any recommendations?