Hi!! I have some questions regarding the Labor party in UK post-WW2. Even though the Labor Party won the election, they still lost seats. Which policies (or lack of) led to them losing seats? What lead to such a dissatisfaction among the post-war generation in late 40's/early 50's despite the pro-social democratic reforms of the Labor government?

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Hello everyone. So, I used to be a reader in high school but after graduating three years ago, I have largely stopped reading for the most part. I want to get into the hobby again because I literally have felt empty these past few years without it. In order to get back into the hobby I have compiled a large list of classics (listed in chronological order) which I want to read and go through. In addition to doing this I am also going to begin keeping a reading journal in order keep track of everything I read and I want to start with these books.

Many people might think me foolish for beginning reading as a hobby with a long list of difficult classics but I want to do so for two reasons: 1) Classical literature is the foundation upon which our contemporary literature is based, and they obviously came first, so I thought it would make sense to begin with them, and 2) I am mainly interested in classic literature and do plan on rereading many of these books throughout my life.

This is not the point of these questions however. The main thing I wanted to ask is how many people here have heard of a long historical series called "The Story of Civilization" by husband and wife historians Will and Ariel Durant? This massively long set of books was given to me as a gift by my grandfather back when I graduated high school and I have not actually read them yet. Since I am interested in history almost as much as I am interested in literature I have thought a lot about first reading these books before I begin my list of classics in order to provide me with an in depth examination of history that will massively aid me when it comes to reading The Bible, Homer, Confucius, Plato, Virgil, Dante, Shakespeare, Voltaire, and all of the other greats.

The other question I also have to ask in addition to this one though is whether or not this is worth it. The Durants' books were published between 1935-75 so they are, needless to say, out-dated in many aspects. I did some research and discovered that many people like Durant and his work while others do not and even strongly criticize him.

Ultimately it comes down to a number of questions. What are your opinions on the Durants' work? And would it be worthwhile to read this massive history series before I begin my list of classics? Or, since I already have a basic understanding of world history and will always use notes and supplementary material when reading, is it worth it to just go ahead and jump into my list of classics and read the Durants' work once I am done? What do you guys all think?

Any answers will be greatly appreciated.

It always struck me as curious that the Romans settled in Britain and lived pretty well there but never popped over to Ireland to even set up a city or two, even an outpost; I know they blocked off the Scottish which goes towards the idea they just had enough of "barbarism" and called it a day.

But my understanding was that Ireland was much less concentrated with much of the land without very many peoples, so what was stopping the Romans, if anything, from venturing across the channel?

I do remember seeing articles here and there of coins, maybe some bits of pottery being found along costal towns (most likely Dublin) but nothing as grand as a temple or Villa which were being built all over Britain at the time.

I was reading about the large number of German and Irish immigrants moving to America and kept thinking how come the French never left in as large of numbers. They had multiple civil wars during the century so why didn’t they leave in as large numbers as the Germans and Irish?

How did merchants safely sell their wares to campaigning armies? It seems like they would always run the risk of being robbed by the armies they're selling to.

So the series I read was The Warlord Chronicles by Bernard Cornwell. The author claims that soldiers will often balk at the idea of charging a well formed shield wall, sometimes standing for hours until they get up the courage or receive the appropriate coaxing from their superiors. The second claim is that horses will not charge a shield wall. He says that often a cavalry charge will make the shield wall break due to the soldiers fear, but if the wall holds the cavalry will veer off. How accurate are these claims? Are there any accounts of battles that illustrate this?

Pretty much got it all in the title. ive read a bit about Appalachia and Texas and their own contributions, but even those seem to mostly get sidelined as "country". is it just local scenes? or is there something deeper to the way melody is a European contribution

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Bonus points if you can point me to additional resources where I can learn more.

I was touring the USS Midway last week and I saw they had a list of all the people who where in charge of the CAG. Up until the 70s they were all Commanders. Afterwards, most were Captains. What changed?

I've been haphazardly stumbling through the early modern period for a lifetime now, picking up whatever little tidbits come my way, but I was hoping there was a more comprehensive source(s) for this period. Any recommendations?

Its annoying and ive seen like 5 interesting questions asked and all answers have been deleted.

And at which point was the before/after christ system implemented?

The common image of young women in the 1920s was of short dresses, spending time in speakeasies, and "loose" morals. Was this at all representative of social mores in general, or only of a small slice of society.

I've read that after the Powell Memorandum in 1971, corporations drastically increased efforts to influence policy, but where can I find more information about the causes and effects of this change?

I often hear about how positions would be bombarded for days or weeks and people always somehow survived. Were there specific methods that they would use for surviving barrages like this? Was it kind of just based off of luck?