Hello, I'm trying to write a novella that takes place in the 1920s, but I want to be well educated on the time period before I write.

Other than the people who tried making their own alcoholic beverages (and dying because of it), how did people get alcohol during Prohibition?

Were there secret bars where you could get alcohol, or am I thinking too fictitiously? I understand that there was a lot of corruption with the law enforcement because not a lot of people were for this movement, but I still don't get the "how"s.

Thanks.

Note: This is a repost of a post I made a week ago that didn't get answered. If this is not allowed, I'll take it down.

It seems odd that this word is used instead of something from Hebrew or even Aramaic. As an analogue, it is akin to Christians calling their churches "mosques" instead of, well, churches. When and why did the term "synagogue" become the term of reference?

I understand that vipassana meditation (Pali, “insight”), comes from the oldest tradition of Buddhism, the Theravada. Did this part of Buddhism fade out as it spread around Asia?

The Great Divergence by Pomeranz says "The Qing did give serious thought to taking punitive measures in 1740."(page 203)

What made the Chinese government decide not to retaliate for this massacre? I always thought the Qing had a very weak navy. Would they even have been able to punish the Dutch?

Russia has one of the largest amounts of arable land in the world. They also have one of the largest supplies of freshwater in the world. You would think that agriculture would be booming. Now I understand the climate is not the best. However, most of European Russia, and certainly the Ukraine, has the same climate as France and Germany. So historically speaking, why did the Russian Empire and later the Soviet Union have so many famines/food shortages? Why did European Russia never achieve the same population density as France or Germany?

I work in Renaissance faires and a character I’m trying to create is a female spy from the medieval era. I’m having trouble finding books and sources to do research on this topic and would greatly appreciate any assistance. Please feel free to PM me sources to check out if you don’t have enough for a full answer on this sub :)

To give it a good range, let’s say from the years 900-1600.

A couple follow up questions:

• Are there any female spies that are notable from the period?
• In general terms, what types of methods did spies in this era use?
• How did the spies’ methods change depending on if they were men or women?
• What kinds of punishments awaited spies if they were caught?

I did see a few older posts on this sub that have a similar topic, but those didn’t have many responses and I’m hoping to get some more attention this time around.

Any insight is greatly appreciated! Thank you in advance!

I'm developing a work of short fiction* set in Leopold II's Congo*. I'd appreciate any details I can get, as well as any recommended reading material. Here are some specific questions:

1. I've read that the administrative language of the Free State was French, but what language would a native have spoken? Would most of them have been able to speak French too? How well could the average native communicate with soldiers and officers?

2. What were the native's villages like? How 'modern' were they in construction, compared to the colonial outposts? How big was the soldiers' presence in residential areas?

3. I've read that the admistrative practice was very non-standardised from region to region, with the governors and soldiers being permitted essentially to run whatever system they wanted as long as they collected large amounts of rubber. To what extent is this accurate? What was standardised, and what wasn't?

I think these are my main questions for now. Thanks!

*EDIT: Just to clarify, this work will not be sold commercially -- it's essentially just a way to practice writing and to do something actual with everything I've been reading about the Free State. Thanks!

I've heard from different sources that either,

1. Hunter-gatherer societies had to work nearly all day to secure the food they needed - including hunting, foraging, preparing, etc, or
2. These societies worked far less than the agricultural societies that followed - they had much more free time

What do archaeological sources and modern hunter-gatherer societies tell us?

My family and I have found an old silver case with my grandfathers initials on the outside and a date and the words "Til minde om højtidsdagen" (In memory of the feast) on the inside. The date is October the 23. 1943. I know my grandfather was part of a resistance movement under the 2. ww in Denmark and I know that he helped danish Jews migrating to Sweden from Holbæk. He also stole some train wagons from the Germans, and more.

When I Google the date I find a website which states that there were a lawsuit in DK on that date where a lot of members of a resistance was found not guilty, but later some of the members was sentenced to 3 months jail. I want to know if my grandfather was one of those men who was in that trial. Can anybody guide me to find some old documents about this? Thanks

What sort of result would Austro-Hungarian negotiators pushed for at a peace conference if the Central Powers won the First World War?

I realize this is dependent on the stage of the war, but how they wanted to shape Italy, the Balkans, Russia, etc. after the war has me curious.

If someone voyaged from Europe to North America in 1500 and then again in 1800, would it be fundamentally the same trip at the same speed for the same time, or were there advances along the way that made the trip faster and more efficient before the steam engine replaced sail power?

In modern pop culture, like Dungeons And Dragons for example, the words Wizard, Witch, Sorcerer, Warlock, have different meanings. A Wizard is not a Sorcerer, a Witch isn't a Magician etc. Would a medieval European have recognized a difference in these terms? Was being accused of being a Witch versus being accused of being a Sorcerer different?

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