Please excuse me if my title is a little confusing. So, I’m starting to do some research into a historical topic and I’m having a bit of trouble with discerning which sources are good and which are not. This comes up for me because I was going through the Wikipedia article and going through each source. One of the primary sources for the article is a travel and poetry book - on a historical matter. Not only that but I believe it misquotes the book, but that’s neither here nor there.

My initial thought is that a textbook or study is more reputable than a travel/poetry book, especially since that travel book does not even have sources listed. Am I wrong in believing this? If so, are there other types of sources that may seem inadequate as source material but are often commonly used?

Thanks for your time and I really hope this made a lick of sense.

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For this round, let’s look at: Islam! One of world's leading religions: Islam. Share any stories surrounding Islam your area has

So a common argument I've heard is that the sudden shift from Communism to Capitalism directly led to a host of economic and social woes in the newly independent Russia. The common argument given is that the people were not used to democratic institutions and capitalism, which allowed oligarchs to amass personal fortunes at the expense of others.

However, the same conditions existed in Poland, East Germany, the Baltics, and Czechoslovakia in 1980s, yet these countries ended up much more successful economically than Russia. What were the differences between the liberalization policies across these countries which led to such radically different outcomes?

Guys what books would you recommend me to read about 20th century european history?

From my understanding, after the failures of the Great Leap Forward, Mao Zedong was progressively pushed out of mechanisms of control. He was in the process of being liquidated. In response, Mao used his influence in the party and society to attacks his opponents, which became the Cultural Revolution.

But how did Mao retain power after the devastation of the Great Leap Forward?

Thermae Romae is an anime where a bathhouse architect from the Hadrian period of ancient Rome finds inspiration by time-traveling to modern japan and copying their bath-house culture. The protagonist starts with simple things like paintings of mountains to adorn his ancient Roman bath-houses, but soon moved on to more extravagant things like fruit-flavored milks, heated floors, slave-powered massage chairs, and water slides.

I understand that Hadrian did in fact have a private bath built to mimic Egyptian waterways, crocodiles and all, in honor of his deceased lover.

So my question is, how elaborate were bathhouses, either public or private during Hadrian's reign?

Edit to add the show mentions that slaves had, by law, the same access to ba to houses as full citizens, is that true? Also there's no mention of women's bathhouses, except a brief mention that different times were reserved for women and men, would women have access to the same amenities as men?

Second edit: at the end of the show >!The Senate conspires to destroy the bathhouse architect protagonist because the popularity of his bathhouses are seen as supporting Aurelius Caesar.!< Is there any truth to this? Or the idea that a popular entertainer would become such a target?

I’m thinking of writing a novel set in Ancient Rome. Is there a particular period that we know more about daily life, for both nobles, commoners, and slaves? Also, for plot purposes the main character will have a large library so any info about historic Roman libraries would be appreciated, as would good sources to learn more.

When Lincoln and Douglas were debating, they weren't even presidential candidates! They were just trying for the senate.

Can you imagine anyone sticking around for a seven-hour senate debate today? Or even a 7-hour presidential one? Granted, most were only three or four hours, but that's still longer than anything we have today.

Reading through the debates, it's clear that the candidates weren't just policy wonks talking over the heads of their audiences.

The audience regularly cheered minor points and policy minutia. "You tell 'em, Abe!"..."Try to answer that one, if you can!"

The audience members must have had good average ability to aurally comprehend compound, complex sentences. I counted seven commas and a semicolon in one of Lincoln's sentences.

So what sort of political culture brought this incredible mix of both talented speakers/writers and politically well-versed, civically engaged, and devoted audiences together? Was this very common in the US at this time?

If these farmers, tradespeople, and factory workers had little formal education, how were they even able to follow the debates? Were newspapers covering nuances of policy to this extent, with people actually reading their analyses? Were long-winded books readying them to follow these long, meandering sentences?

I know that legally speaking all the lines of the US Constitution and its Amendments have the same validity and are equally binding.

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That being said, considering that the first 10 Amendments (the Bill of Rights) were proposed at the same time, I would like to know if, at list symbolically, there was any meaning behind the number associated with the amendments.

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For instance, the First Amendment seems clearly to be the most fundamental one in the United States Constitution. It grants the separation of church and State, free speech, free press, freedom of assembly and right to petition the government. That's the very foundation of the United States and, though not free from controversy on how these rights should be exercised, it looks like it's a common ground, at least theoretically, for the vast majority of American citizens regardless of their political preferences.

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The Second Amendment, despite all the controversy that it has spawned in the last decades, also seems to be of a very high importance at the time (18th century), as the right to keep and bear arms is regarded as essential for the very maintenance of a free State (specially to protect the sovereignity of the then new nation).

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I don't necessarily mean that this order would be solely a rank of "importance" (the Tenth Amendment is VERY important for the constitutional groundwork of the federation), but if there's any undelying logic behind the numbers (for example, the Ninth Amendment stands well topologically as a "conclusion" of the prevous eight, and then the Tenth Amendment closes up all of it defining the powers of the Union and of each of the States).

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Is there any historical evidence that the numbering was made on purpose or is it "random"?

I was watching a film that takes place before 1000 CE and at some point a character said he would take a number of minutes to perform some action. That got me thinking... The division of hours into minutes is a rather recent notion, something out of the 13th century and only incorporated into clocks a few centuries later. The Romans divided the day in hours, but they were of variable length.

How would I express something like.. "I will take 5 minutes to do this and that" when I have no understanding of minutes or any ways of measuring it? Did the ancient Europeans have any similar ways of expressing smaller amounts of time?

Hello! I recently found what looks to be a copy of the 1648 death warrant for King Charles I while going through my grandparents stuff - Apparently it was given to my grandpa by my uncle from England, im not sure when my uncle got it in his possession and my grandpa is not aware either - Im just hoping someone may know more about this document then me as im not sure what to do with it. I noticed I cant post photos on this community so I can sent the photos I took of the document when I found it and can also send a video if that would also be useful to anyone who messages me.

Thank you!

Was there some sort of measuring stick as to how much a dollar, or similar currency in other country, be able to purchase? Perhaps rolling in dollars were for the rich men and cents for the peasants? If not, why are there 2 different denominations and why not 1 single denomination?

Now I'm not talking about the characters and events. I want to know whether the traditions, armor, clothing, street life, and essentially the everyday life of Romans.

EDIT:

To clarify, I mean the Russian Republic from the February Revolution to the October Revolution, not Russia under the Bolsheviks. And given how short-lived that system was, if someone would talk about future plans, that would be appreciated.

I'd like to begin by asking if the books series on Imperial China part 1 through 6 is a good start for learning about Chinese History. If not, what book or book series would you recommend for a beginner in the subject such as I. Also interested in Vietnam, Cambodia, Thai and Korean history if you could recommend something.

So apparently the Caannites are known to sacrifice children and even practice cannibalism. I buy that since in reality, most ancient cultures did do some level of human sacrificing though to different degrees. But the big question was, just how common and significant, was it?

I'm doubtful of biblical sources because a group of people doing mass murder would have very good reason to demonize the people they were slaughtering. A kind of 'history is determined by the victors' situation. Plus I'm highly certain there are instances in the bible which aren't as accurate as described.

I totally buy that human sacrifices and so on was a thing. Since that's common and almost every ancient culture.

But just how extreme was it really? And more importantly, are there any non-biblical sources? Like any archaeological records?