I'm currently reading Heart of Europe by Peter Wilson, and in it he talks about at times there being German Kings, but who were not emperor. I was wondering, what did it take to become the Emperor?

Examples of grunge bands include Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Stone Temple Pilots, etc.

Why were they so popular at the time?

I want a book that deals with history in a more comprehensive way. Instead of from the point of view of one civilization or another. I want something that shows events that happened concurrently. It wasn't until recently that I found out that the French and Indian War was part of the Seven Years War. I have no idea what to even look for but I thought maybe I could ask here. I'm not even looking for a certain part of history. I want it all.

There are quite a few contemporary accounts and records of the expulsion of the Moors from Spain and the 1499-1501 and 1568-71 rebellions of Muslim peasants against their Christian rulers in the Granadan region of Alpujarras from a Christian/western perspective, but I've never seen or heard of a firsthand account by an Iberian Muslim who was expelled, or who took part in the rebellions and what their experience was like. I'm wondering if anything like that exists, perhaps in the former of a letter or a journal or something, because the perspective of the Moorish expellee or rebel is something I'd be absolutely fascinated to read and learn about.

I've chosen to write about Martin Luther for a history essay as I've always had an interest in him and the Reformation. However, I've never read books that focus only on him, so I'd like to have recommendations for history books that include opposing or at least differing view on Martin Luther from one another.

Any suggestions will be appreciated.

This question may be completely ridiculous but I'm genuinely curious. I've been re-reading a historical fiction manga called "Kingdom" recently that takes place in the Warring States Period in China and features female generals and officers. I know very little about the time period, and want to know if this is entirely the author taking liberties or if there's any validity to it.

In early photos (or daguerreotypes) people invariably have a serious or even solemn look on their face, which I believe is in large part to them considering them another form of portraiture. But somewhere along the line people started smiling. When did that start happening and why?

Basically, there was a military system in Chinese history, I don't know the exact english name of it, but i know how it worked. In short, the soldiers were professional standing troops but they would farm during free time, thus they could sustain themselves.

With halos*

I'd like to study this topic further, since the way the Koreans eventually won with naval superiority seems fascinating to me. I've looked at the reading list provided by reddit, but none of them focus on the Japanese invasions of Korea. Anyone know any good books on the subject?

EDIT: Yikes, I'm a reddit noobie. Sorry I left our "wars" in the title...

From what I understand, Caesar was assassinated because many senators didn't like how much authority he was receiving, as they were reminded of the earlier kings of Rome and how they always had power over everyone else, which was a big reason as to why Rome transitioned from a monarchy to a republic to begin with. In the case there truly was that much insecurity over one person gaining a high amount of power at the time, then does that mean there were assassination attempts made on the life of Augustus, an emperor?

I recently came across descriptions of early civilizations using cowry shells, among other items, as a form of currency, and it led to some questions. I've found this information repeated in a few sources, so it seems to be common knowledge, but I have to ask first - is it true? Were cowries used as currency? Assuming they were, I'm basically curious how value was maintained. If I lived in a society that used cowries as shells, could I go down to the beach, find my own, and enhance my wealth? I believe I read that shipments of cowries were sent to West Africa and traded for a large profit. If such an influx of currency happened, what kind of systems did these societies have to try to control 'inflation?' For that matter, what kinds of theories or thoughts on economics or value did they have?

Obviously, China could be thought to have racial divisions within its own culture from the very beginning, for example Xunzi lists off a few near the beginning of his essay "On Learning." However, it seems he would believe these races to all be equal, as he notes that they all have the same nature at birth, while learning makes them distinct. However, fast forward to the China near the end of the 19th century, and you have people like Kang Youwei who believed that certain races were of lesser intelligence. Hence, we can see a huge difference in understanding of race from Xunzi to Kang Youwei.

However, I have been taught (informally) that race is sort of a western invention, or at least distinctions based on race (i.e a racial hierarchy). Would it be fair to say that Kang Youwei would have adopted his views on race from the West, or could it be said that China has its own distinct evolution of view on race?

Everyone American knows how slaves used the Underground Railroad to escape from Canada, but what they don't teach is what happened when they got there. Were they still discriminated against, like was racism still a big issue in Canada? Did any get sent back to the US? What provinces did most of them go to? Were there communities set up of escaped slaves? What were their economic prospects? And how many actually got to Canada? Any info would be appreciated since in US history the story of runaway slaves usually stops with the US.

If they were still Communist but didn't use Soviet-type planning, then what did they use? They refused to collectivize their agriculture, and I'm going to assume, based on their leader's ideology, that they didn't privatize it either. So what did they implement? A mixed economy? Decentralized planning via worker's councils? I can't seem to find any info on it and I've searched through JSTOR for the past few hours. Any relevant info is appreciated.

Looking to gain knowledge starting with The Pilgrims up to Independence from Britain.

Best handful of books to start with?

I've been doing some research into what is considered a good or bad President. So far, James Buchanan seems to have near unanimous support for being one of the worst. This confuses me because I don't see any big policies or bad things that he did.

I am not sure if this is a myth or not: Japanese soldiers in WWII would rather fight to the death or suicide than surrender i.e. the famous pilot who dropped in the sea and as Americans were approaching to rescue him he just killed himself with a grenade. But I was just watching Hacksaw Ridge and some Japanese soldiers come out of the caves holding white flags for their surrender.

So how much truth is there to this?

Edit: haha I was actually watching the mentioned movie as I was writing this and stopped it to ask the question. As I finished posting it I unpaused the movie and the "surrendering" Japanese soldiers are actually not surrendering, they just starting throwing grenades. So yeah, even more stuff to pile up on the fact/myth.

However, in order to finally take place, Finnish independence had to wait until Russia was in a weak spot with a war and severe political instability on its hands.

My questions are: Why did Finland not become independent until 1917? Was the movement for independence not strong enough? Is it possible that there was some pro-Russian sentiment as well at the time? How did the prospects of full independence at the time compare to the given special political constitution of Finland?

Since he was born on a Caribbean island and not in the American colonies? And all the other early Presidents were born in them. But technically none were born in the US.