What books were they teaching in high schools back then rather than 1984 or Of Mice and Men?

There are many geographical features of the New World which are almost preposterously extreme when compared to Europe - the Amazon jungle, the Andes and Rockies, the grand canyon, the great lakes, not to mention hurricanes and tornadoes.

To a European settler coming from placid England or France, some of these things must have seemed so out of proportion that they verged on fictional. Do we have any accounts of what people thought when they experienced these places for the first time? They manage to stun us in the 21st century, even with mass-media. They must have been an order of magnitude more surprising 500 years ago.

I'm reading Abbas Amanat's excellent work "Iran: A Modern History", which covers Iranian history from 1501 all the way to the modern era.

Ismail II had a very short reign of 15 months that was characterized by radical shifts in policy. He was found dead in November of 1577 with his lover, "a young man of humble origins, after a night of nocturnal wandering through the taverns in the capital." (Amanat). Supposedly, he died from opium overdose, but assassination was also a strong possibility due to his alienation of the Qizilbash chiefs.

Does this mean that Ismail was homosexual or bisexual? It's not explicitly stated, but it would seem to be strongly implied.

Moreover, how would homosexuality be viewed in this strict religious Shi'a Islam society? I assume it was officially condemned, but would people "look the other way", so to speak, when someone of noble origin was homosexual? Would've this type of thing been the subject of court gossip? Would someone have gone out of their way to keep this "top secret"?

I was recently in an interesting discussion about the word "medieval" in an acedemic context (I am not an acedemic). I argued that the word "medieval" is inherently eurocentric as defined by both the Cambridge and Merriam Webster definitions and that referring to other parts of the world during the "medieval" period would be contemporary to the period in Europe. But it was pointed out that the Chinese medieval period seems to have slightly different starting and end points but largely overlap. Does academia ever use the term their medieval period in a malleable way like their iron age or is inherently bound to events in the European world?

Modern world offers a thousand options to learn foreign languages, from traditional classrooms to Duolingo and everything in between. Before this how would people learn a foreign language? When two peoples with no previous contact came into contact, how would they learn each other language?

From what I understand for much of history the creation of weapons and armor was considered an art, with one good weapon taking hours to complete, and needing a lengthy apprenticeship of many years to learn the craft. With these requirements how did nation supply their armies with weapons? What about in times of severe emergency when regular old people had to be drafted to serve did those people just have to make do with whatever resembled a weapon that they had access to?

Where I can, I will provide quotes that prompted my questions.

After supper, firing off the pistol, that had been heavily charged above 3 weeks, out of my room window. The report was tremendous. It bounded out of my hand, forced itself thro' the window & broke the lead & 2 panes of glass. My hand felt stunned for some time.

How did people of Ms. Lister's social class learn to shoot? I was under the impression that both men and women learned to hunt and shoot, and that it was something of a social requirement. This quote gives me the impression that she's not well versed in the use of guns, and other quotes imply that she doesn't know how to reload her pistols. Would this level of knowledge be common amongst her peers, or is she disadvantaged due to her gender or general lack of wealth comparitively?

Miss Ann Paley seems a nice enough woman (girl) but lolls her arm over the chair back or sticks her elbow out with her hand akimbo in rather too masculine a manner...

Ms. Lister often calls other women masculine and her favorite descriptor of others seems to be "vulgar". Would others of this time period have seen masculinity in the simple way a woman holds her arms and hands? It seems fairly obvious that Anne was rather judgemental and snooty, was she more snooty than her contemporaries?

Speaking of the Staveleys (Mrs Staveley too), said no talent could make up for such bad manners. Bold, boisterous, & Mrs Staveley slatternly, strangely singular... Met her walking one day in the town with her hands under her petticoat & she pulled out two great muffins.

So this woman pulled two huge muffins out of her petticoats? Is this slang for something? Who would want to eat muffins that had been nestled so closely to a woman's (who Anne describes as "slatternly") nethers? I have to admit, this is absolutely my most pressing series of questions.

Staid luncheon (didn't eat anything)

Lister frequently appears at social gatherings, but does not eat at them. Would this have been perceived as rude or was it expected that women would eat less?

Mr Duffin & I walked to the theater...

Mr Duffin seems to take her out rather frequently. Would this not have been seen as courting behavior, despite the difference in age?

thought of her using a phallus to a friend

How common would dildos have been at this time in her social strata? What would they have been constructed of and how would they be procured?

Game basket from Lawton containing a fine hare...

Were gift baskets frequently exchanged amongst the gentry during this time period? She mentions them frequently.

The Greek account says his lordship [Byron] died 'about 11 o' clock in the evening, in a consequence of a rheumatic, inflammatory fever, which had lasted for ten days.' 37 min. guns (he was in his 37th year of his age) were ordered to be fired, by sunrise, on 20 April, from the batteries of Missolinghi.

Were 37 guns fired, were many guns fired over 37 minutes, and why were the Greeks so enamored with Byron despite his lack of military experience and bisexual proclivities?

Thank you all so much for taking the time to read this.

I'm watching Doomsday Preppers, and a beekeeper claimed that honey was once used as currency—and that it was worth its weight in gold.

I've found a couple ancient examples of honey used as a currency, but no indication as to the worth of that honey.

How would I go about finding the worth of honey and gold by weight in an ancient civilization?

Something I just started wondering about was there any pirates involved in the American revolution?

I’ve started reading some posts here on siege warfare during the renaissance, but haven’t been able to find much information on how the attackers deployed their troops, so here’s what I’m wondering:

• Would soldiers scale walls?

• If yes, would they use siege towers, ladders or something else?

• How would pike formations be employed by the attackers?

• Were there any infantry formations that fared better than pike-squares?

• Would infantry storm breeches?

• Were there different tactics from what I’ve mentioned in getting your infantry to the enemy?

• How would arquebusiers / musketeers be employed by the attackers?

• Did cavalry ever contribute in these battles - if so, how?

I am writing a story for school/enjoyment and am trying to be accurate. What kind of swords would be more available to lower class in medieval times?

Where did the concept of women being expected by society to shave their legs and even more intimate areas? Is it a modern phenomenon or one that traces back further than the 20th century? When did it become the norm in British, or Western, society?

Thanks in advance.