By 'on sale' I mean specially discounted prices, usually because merchandise is old or there's a surplus, or for a special occasion

History seems full of poor artists who weren't famous until after their deaths. If the artists were penniless and not able to sell paintings, how did they afford paints and canvas? Even in modern times painting seems a hobby you need money for. Were paints just easier to get? Did they make their own? It seems like it would be a lot harder to have a wide color selection and good brushes and canvas and everything.

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Would the stories that serve as sources or inspiration for his plays (and plays of other writers of that time) be well known enough to be recognised by theatre goers? Did anyone see it as plagiarism or theft? Are there any examples of original authors/creators seeing the plays and any accounts of how they reacted?

Side question: when did the idea of owning a story become prevalent?

I recently saw a photo of a group of boys in 1916 and they were all wearing ties, I then had a search and in almost every photo, no matter there age if there was a male in the photo they would be wearing a tie. Why was this such a crucial piece of clothing? And how did it come about to be so popular?

President Obama has essentially disappeared from the public veiw since January and President Bush has helped support at least one major charity since he left office. President Clinton seems to have stayed out of politics as much as possible given his wife was still active, so on and so forth. It appears all modern presidents have decided to leave politics and retire from the public eye after they finish their terms yet this is far from universally true throughout US history.

For example, John Quincy Adams continued to serve as a representative in the house after he lost his reelection bid. Grover Cleavland ran for a second term after losing in 1888. And William Taft later served as the chief justice of the United States after his term as president.

Clearly these men did not consider the presidency as the "end" of their political careers (though weather or not they saw it as the height I don't know ) and stayed active in politics after the end of their terms.

So when did presidents stop being involved in politics after their terms and why? Did the stress level of the job increase that dramatically during the cold war? Did american society begin frowning on it?

What i liked most about Pliny's letters were the insight they gave to the world around him, granted it was limited from his own point of view and social class, but nonetheless to hear a voice from the past in such a way, with his daily preoccupations and concern for friends was very interesting.

What historical sources are fascinating in a similar manner? What voices can we hear as clearly as Pliny's? I have no preference as to what place or time period the source may be from, only that it concern real people and their own personal thoughts and opinions.

I have a few caveats:

1. I am mainly interested in the period just before the creation of cities all the way up to circa 1000 CE. This is not a hard deadline year - just a period that is considerably pre-Renaissance. A complete early history of the Ottoman Empire is an exception to this time period. There would obviously be others.
2. I am looking for overviews of large regions, not intensive in-depth histories of small city states. Bonus for overlapping cultural influences with other continents.
3. I would much prefer histories that do not focus solely on wars. I know that ancient and early histories are largely comprised of this topic, but it is not my main area of interest. Some war is fine, but preferably it would be less than 50% of the book.
4. Although I am looking for books devoted to entire regions and/or continents, I am particularly interested in ancient China, India, and sub-Saharan Africa. Please, no Egypt-specific recommendations - I already have plenty.

Thanks in advance for your recommendations :)

Seems like an obvious way to support the Soviets, was there any specific reason it wasn't done?

Just wondering if someone is using the Native American story for cannon foder..

Like, how did they get out of port? Just wait for the wind to change? Or did they hook up smaller boats that were rowed? I'm just trying to imagine such large ships pushing off, and it confounds me how they would do it.

What were people named before Christianity made it to the British Isles? Did English surnames use a prefix like the Irish and Scottish?

If Linear B is an adaption of Linear A why has deciphering Linear A eluded us?

It seems the shift started in the late 19th century but accelerated rapidly starting in the 1940's. It also doesn't appear to have occurred as much in non western cultures. What's with the shift away from multi-generational housing? Throughout history has such a shift occurred before?

EDIT: I'm sorry for forgetting the question mark..

After the disputes of the fifth century, how were 'Nestorians' viewed in the West? Within the (Eastern) Roman empire, a lot of time was spent on the argument between Chalcedonians and non-Chalcedonians, but Christians in the post-Roman West largely did not have to deal with that - how then did they characterise the Church of the East, and how accurate was their knowledge given the distance between them?

On average per soldier, that is.

What were the main reasons of WWII ? This is a vague question but every time I ask this question I get another answer. I have done my research on this topic but I'd like to hear other answers, if any. Cheers