I'm looking for good sources (preverably books) on how Jews and Christians lived in al-Andalus, particularly during the Emirate and later Caliphate of Cordoba. Any recommendations?

I', currently reading Catlos' Kingdoms of Faith but the lack of references makes it very hard to check what his arguments and statements are based on factually.

I've been an opera-goer for nearly 30 years. One thing I consistently notice is that Baroque opera (primarily opera seria, I think) feels like a concert with some drama thrown in between the arias. The plots often grind to a halt for a series of arias, or the major action happens off stage, or the conflict is resolved by a last minute deus ex machina. This is sometimes true in bel canto operas as well, but seems most often the case in operas from the eighteenth century, like those of Handel. These operas confound my expectations as a modern audience member and hence I tend to find them boring as theatre (though I still enjoy the music).

The first operas I know that really integrate the music with the drama, instead of stopping the drama for the music, are those of Mozart's middle and late career (Figaro sings about measuring his new bedroom while measuring his new bedroom, etc.) By the mid-19th century, though, integrating the music with the drama seems much more common; characters converse in song, they sing about what they are doing as they do it, etc. And the plots tend to have more of an internal logic: the characters' feelings and actions drive the plot and there aren't as many last-minute twists. This is why I tell people getting into opera to start with something like La Traviata or Carmen, because the action on stage will be immediately relatable to them in a way that, say, Rinaldo simply won't.

I know that when Handel's operas were written, opera-going was a social occasion and there was no real expectation that the audience would pay attention throughout the performance. Is that why the drama tends to be secondary to the music, or is there another reason? Was opera buffa different from opera seria in this respect? When and why did composers and librettists decide to integrate music and drama into more self-contained plots that require (or at any rate, encourage) the audience to pay attention throughout the performance, and how did audiences react?

Basically, what am I missing when I find Baroque opera boring? :)

(edited for clarity)

Would it be possible to purchase a Martini-Henry? A Winchester 1873? How much would these cost? Additionally, would would be the most common arms owned by citizens?

I've read that until the Meiji Restoration when the Japanese sought to emulate certain elements of Western societies, no one in Japan ate beef or dairy. Can anyone confirm if this is true? The story I've heard is that the unofficial ban on beef and dairy was lifted by announcing that the emperor enjoyed eating beef and drinking milk, with the idea being that people would follow the emperor's lead.

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If anyone could give me any more ideas/sources about the Japanese diet and the Meiji restoration, I would really appreciate it.

A book wrote that Mussolini was playing "double games" Giolitti and Facto. I'm curious to know did Mussolini did this and what were steps that actually led to the March on Rome?

(Hours of unfruitful google search and a lot of confusion...finally resorting to Reddit...)

I realize that after WW2 the allied powers wanted to make up for the hurt the Germans caused to the Jewish population so they gave them a territory which the Jewish people would then call Israel. What I don’t understand is how the allied power got that land to give to them? Did they just take it from Palestine?

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Surely each would be able to fire at each other while the trenches were being dug, particularly if one side had dug in first. How did this happen?

It seems unethical to continue to refer to these peoples are 'barbarians' when we know they had unique cultures. We even know their names - Vandals, Saxons, etc.

Why do historians continue to perpetuate the idea that they were uncultured, lessor, etc?

This may be off topic for this subreddit, but I am trying to do a family tree for my family and I can't seem to find any information. I am trying to find information on my Great Great Grandfather. He was born in 1888 in Istanbul. Are there any Ottoman birth, military, or marriage records from this time I would be able to look through?

Also, he was Sephardic Jewish. Would synagogues in Istanbul have kept birth and marriage records of the people in the congregation?

Like the Canadian Pound, Australian Pound etc... Was it an attempt to distance themselves from the UK?

I'm having google trouble, All the links are to lead related sites and often only mention fuel in passing. It's just this one specific thing I can't find an answer for.

WWII was a mass mobilization of US women's labor, and women entered manufacturing and the steel, automobile, and aerospace industries in unprecedented numbers; by 1944, women held one third of manufacturing jobs in the US, and women's participation in the workforce had more than doubled since 1930. At the end of the war, however, despite 86% of women saying they wished to remain in the sectors in which they worked, there were mass layoffs of the female workers, women's participation in industrial and automotive manufacturing fell below ten percent. Women's participation in the labor force in general dropped immediately after WWII. [sources: khan academy, american social history project, HERB social history]

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How did this change impact women's independence? It seems to me that, despite celebration at the end of WWII, that change might have been a devastating blow to the financial and social independence of the five million women who had just entered the workforce.

The only north American ruined cities I can think of are some Puebloan sites in the southwest. Aside from that, there's Cahokia, but if I understand it correctly Cahokia is "just" a series of mounds with pieces of buried physical culture rather than structures, monuments and temples.

I am personally familiar with the classic Mediterranean and have taken a few undergraduate courses on the archaeology of Anatolia and the Near East. While I do know that metallurgy was mostly unknown to the Native Americans (correct me if I'm wrong) we still have lots of paleolithic city ruins in the near east like Gobekli Tepe.

In a kind of narrative sense, why did 17th century America look more like "unspoiled wilderness" than "post apocalyptic landscape" despite the continent relatively recently having a large population?

It seems strange to me that at the same time that you see this huge transition in Hinduism from self-reflection, meditation, scholarly practices, etc. to murti puja and the idea of gods as greater powers, the Mauryan empire also heavily promoted Buddhism - which as far as I know rejects the idea of gods being superior and is heavily based on jnana, rather than bhakti, elements. What were the reasons behind this?

Seems to me like if the Soviets were to say "alright we want this country to be communist but private business is also great!" 

So this is a debate that comes up often in my circle of friends. We are medieval enthusiast and most of us fight in late 14th century period armor. A focus of our group is historical accuracy, and translating/interpreting the fight books, manuscripts and effigies of those periods to understand how armor worked and was fought in.

One thing I try to encourage to anyone in the group is basing your 'harness' off of extant museum pieces, effigies or manuscripts to help ensure that certain pieces will function properly together. I.e a gothic helmet and bevor don't always work right with a transitional period breastplate.

That said, this question comes up often: How realistic was it that regional armor styles made their way around Europe?

Most effigies represent regional trends and fashions, and it stands to reason that a person would go to the local armor smith rather than import the armor. However Europe is not as big as many of us Americans make it out to be in our mind. Salzburg to Milan is roughly the same distance as Kansas City to St. Louis.

I've changed my position on this over the years. I believe it is not unreasonable, given the amount of trade and mercenary work that was happening in the time, to see a French Knight wearing something that might be considered more of an Italian style. I don't think this was the norm by any means but given that our concept of nationalism wasn't yet a thing, I could see soldiers from modern day border regions adopting fashions that are more geographically fluid than we think of today.

If anyone has an insight into the trade and proliferation of cultural fashion and/or armor I would be very curious to hear about it. If you have any sources that would be fantastic.

Thanks for your time.