I'm about to read The Absent Superpower by Peter Zeihan, a self proclaimed geopolitical strategist. I couldn't find any concrete academic review of his books, and so I was wondering if anyone would like to share an opinion about him?

I'm a bit sceptic because he seems to be quite right wing when it comes to politics, which is not an issue but I'm afraid his work might not be objective enough.

Thank you

I’m specifically wondering if the 20-40 million number includes the couple million that also died in the red turban rebellion

Also any additional lesser known info on the taiping rebellion would be appreciated. How is the Taiping rebellion viewed by the current Chinese government and within Chinese culture?

During the 1980s, in keeping with the American political climate, some apocalyptic-minded right-wingers predicted that the Soviet Union would be a major antagonist in the biblical armageddon. By necessity, this rhetoric changed by the early 1990s once the Soviet Union dissolved. But had it already begun changing during Reagan's second term, when he and Gorbachev worked to improve relations?

Jackson sold himself as a man of the people as opposed to the political elites of his time, but that narrative is inaccurate in many ways, the fact that he was a land speculator, supported and made money from the slave trade, was a well paid military officer who abused his soldiers and brought them into unnecessary battles, and so much more would prove that he didn’t come from or support the “common man” he claimed to. So why was he so popular? What appeal did Andrew Jackson have to poor whites across the country?

Im back, and have another dueling related question. Ive been reading more from the various facets of info Ive found through this group (THANK YOU! I forget who it was that unleashed the treasure trove of dueling history for me but thank you!) and I have been listening to HAMILTON again and again and I found myself wondering; I know that dueling was a way for men to settle differences whether for various reasons; Was there any instances of women settling it out on a duelling field?

North Africa used to be very developed (I.e. in the Roman era). What went wrong? It is clearly less developed than Europe, even though it appears to have been on a similar trajectory all those years ago.

I recall that people who were accused of being communists were arrested, lost their jobs, or in some cases were deported back to their native countries whereas the same hasn't been done to outspoken Nazis even after the Nuremberg trials. Was this information simply made less accessible, or is it really the case that the degree of attention just wasn't equivalent to that given to Communism?

There seems to be a sad pattern when reading the history of WW1-WW2 ships, they played such a historic role, but those that survived were all sold for scrap.

- HMS Dreadnought - first of her kind

- HMS Warspite - fought at Jutland and through the Second World War.

- All of the battleships

If we specifically look at HMS Dreadnought were they simply motivated by money or were they not interested in the preservation of these kind of ships, were they seen as uninteresting, was there no public outcry?

Listening to Stephen Fry’s Mythos, I was struck by the incestuous relationship between Gaia and Uranus. Do we know other creation myths where these kind of relationship give rise to everything else, and do we know why this myth is structured thus?

Russia still had nuclear warheads.

Hey there, my friends and I have been extremely keen on knowing if Turkey, Cyprus and the Agean islands are part of the European continent and culturally part of Europe or are more geographically and culturally closer to the Asian/middle eastern culture.

It seems to me that WWI history is glossed over in schools here. It's almost as if it is only mentioned to explain why there was a WWI. Is there a reason it seems almost ignored? Even when I was in college it was less commonly taught about.

Because im a history buff, and wikipedia and Biographics arent as reliable as i once thought they were.

A list would be great. Preferably stuff that citer their sources or generate content via input of professional historians/educators.

Plz help.

Esp. websites. As for Youtube channels, i do know a few: Crashcourse Sam'onella Biographics

Are a few that come to mind.

A lot is said about what Jefferson thought about the French Revolution but what did he think about the ideas of the Hatian Revolution? Did he ignore the ideas presented? Did he respect the people revolting or the counter revolutionaries? Did he not really know much about it? And what did he advise the French do?

Africa is a large continent. In a movie African pygmies used blowguns against Europeans. Pygmys never used blowguns. Are there other societies that could have had or still have the blowgun in use. It could anytime in African history. Ancient or pre-colonial, Colonial and even today. Even if the society in question gained it form some other source.

I recently read The Modern Mercenary by Sean McFate which discusses the history of Mercenaries and compares it to modern Private Military Contractors by discussing their roles, their performances and the evolution of Mercenary work. However McFate never really explained why Mercenaries fought.

He mentioned how in the Italian Wars of the 16th century, the majority of soldiers were actually mercenaries! Like Germans and Swiss, but what motivated tens of thousands of Germans and Swiss to travel to Italy to fight and die? I'm aware Mercenaries are paid, but what's the point of money if you're dead? Was there a secondary motivation?

Such as Mercenaries having an interest in their employer winning? Or some sort of financial system which saw their relatives back in their hometowns get their salary even if they died?

My question isn't about any specific time period (I'm sorry if that breaks a rule) because the book itself is about the history of Mercenaries in general and not a specific war.

The physical characteristics of the Ayran race would seem to be in direct contravention to his own physical form.

Four of the five major modern sports saw their initial organization begin in the mid-to-late 19th century: Soccer started in England in 1863; baseball in New Jersey in 1846; American football was developed and codified between the 1870s and 1880s; hockey in Montréal in 1875.

Were there any social, environmental or economic changes going on to spur this growth? Or was it just random chance?