I'm looking for reading on the history of the DRC so that I might better understand the situation today and in the past 20 years. I know that this will come close to the 20 year rule, but if anyone could point me to some reading resources then I'd be very grateful. I have nearly no background knowledge of the country or the continent, but I don't mind dense reading.

Thanks!

I've been in a discussion about Jesus and I was wondering what most historians think about Jesus's burial. I know that ancient Roman crucifixion practices had the criminals either left on the crosses for days or buried in shallow mass graves and that Jesus's crucifixion was Roman and not Jewish, and I also know because of Josephus that Rome would adhere to local tradition (which would be for crucified Jews to be buried before sunset). So is it more likely that Jesus was buried by Jews or given a dishonorable burial/left on the cross?

I know that after Stalingrad many knew that WWII was now a losing effort, but I was wondering at what points or after what set backs different groups in Germany knew/accepted that they were facing defeat (i.e. military high command vs. commons soldiers vs. German people on the home front vs. political leadership). I assumed that it wasn't a collective realization at once but maybe I'm wrong.

So, I've read that the curious 'f'-shaped letter 's' that is so classic to 18th century printed material (is there a word for it?) was made because the 's' shape was too weak, and so the 'f'-shaped letter was used instead as it held up better. First, is this true? Second, when did it stop being is use and why?

What brings me to ask is that I'm reading some old Louisiana legislature and in all the English-language text, they use the 'f'-like symbol, but in all the French-language text, they use our modern 's'. Crazy! Now, I'm pretty sure this is a later reprint, but why reprint the text with two different 's' keys?

Anyway, just wondering if some print historian could answer my strange query. Was it some new invention in typing? A style change?

This is probably a naieve and foolish question. But I'm genuinely curious.

I've lived in big cities my whole life. They feel so strong and lasting and permanent. But it's not uncommon for us to find the abandoned ruins of big cities.

I can easily imagine how a town or village could dry up.. But a thriving metropolis?

One reason why Hitler was so keen to push for war with Poland and then the Soviet Union was because Nazi Germany was a card house build on debt and the Nazis needed the revenue from the plundered countries to keep the show going. That begs the question, where did the Nazis loan the money from and what happened to these loan after their defeat?

I have a debate in school, and I was assigned to Jefferson's side in Hamilton vs. Jefferson. Aside from the "corrupt" ideologies that you could say Hamilton held, is there anything scandalous or really bad that he got caught for? I've been researching but I haven't found anything worthy yet.

Ever since the uproar about "civil war" statues being torn down. I've been fascinated with early American history. (Also slightly terrified.)

The more I look into it the more it seems like most Americans didn't want to end slavery on any moral grounds but because they wanted small farms run by white men not huge plantations staffed by black slaves.

This question is probably going to bring the worst kinds of people out of the woodwork but I am pretty interested in the answer.

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I was reading recently about a missionary that was sacked over allegations of homosexual activity, and was kind of surprised to learn that nothing he was alleged to have done was actually illegal at the time. My questions are, if you weren't actually breaking the law could you still get in trouble? How and from who? Could you be pretty much open about it?

Secondary question: in what situations were people actually prosecuted for sodomy? It seems like a difficult crime to get convictions for.

I find it bizarre and almost a historical cop-out that the Bronze age collapse has been widely chalked up to being brought on by the “Sea Peoples”... Recently, I watched a youtube video about the bronze age collapse (feeling ridiculous for never having studied it before) and I heard the video lend the wordly devastation to something called the “Sea Peoples” and immediately my mind’s record scratched loudly and sharply. Insert slack-jaw dumbfounded face. Finishing that video, I went on to watch a longer documentary about the collapse, and it was almost embarrassing watching these scholars and historians chalk things up to these Sea Peoples. Then I took to google to read as much as I could about both the collapse and the Sea Peoples but NOTHING managed to clear anything up. It all resembles some sort of historical conspiracy theory.

Anyway, go Wikipedia “Bronze Age Collapse” and scroll down a little ways to find: “Prior to and during the Bronze Age Collapse, Syria became a battle ground between the empires of the Hittites, Assyrians, Mitanni and Egyptians, and later the coastal regions came under attack from the Sea Peoples.

Follow the link for Sea Peoples and you get: “The Sea Peoples are a purported seafaring confederation that attacked ancient Egypt and other regions of the East Mediterranean prior to and during the Late Bronze Age collapse (1200–900 BC).” As well as “the Sea Peoples are conjectured to have sailed around the eastern Mediterranean and invaded Anatolia, Syria, Canaan, Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Egypt toward the end of the Bronze Age.” And to aid in the mystery “The Sea Peoples remain unidentified in the eyes of most modern scholars, and hypotheses regarding the origin of the various groups are the source of much speculation.”

In what I’ve learned between these various sources,these Sea People’s are said to have come from the Sea, the water, with origins unknown and undocumented, and the little “records” there are record these people being not so much an army of soldiers bent on destruction, but migrating families with women and children and wagons of their belongings. They didn’t appear to fight on the Sea very often, either, even though the wikipedia explanation compares them to a type of pirate. As it is currently reported, there was no decorated pottery to prove culture or ethnicity, no decorated ships or flags or clothing or jewelry or shrines, relics, gods, or anything left behind to prove a Sea Peoples... And this description of a culprit is supposed to be the very same that brought on “the cultural collapse of the Mycenaean kingdoms, the Kassite dynasty of Babylonia, the Hittite Empire in Anatolia and the Levant, the Egyptian Empire; the destruction of Ugarit and the Amorite states in the Levant, the fragmentation of the Luwian states of western Asia Minor, and a period of chaos in Canaan. The deterioration of these governments interrupted trade routes and severely reduced literacy in much of the known world. In the first phase of this period, almost every city between Pylos and Gaza was violently destroyed, and many abandoned.”

And I think the idea of the Sea Peoples was originally provoked by an Egyptian King/god, bragging about a victory over them, which I don’t find trustworthy at all with their egos and godliness on the line.

I’m trying to study as much about this as I can, I am hooked. But I’m also just a regular joe and my mind may not be wrapping things up properly. AM I MISSING SOMETHING CRUCIAL IN ALL THIS? From what I’m understanding, believing the bronze age collapse was brought on by these Sea Peoples is no different from trying to believe martians did it all. I am open minded, I really am, but this one is rich.

I’ve actually been provoked to study the old Testament and The Exodus further, because it somewhat shockingly jives with the collapse if you can open your mind to it.

Open to all info and critiques and yada yada!