I picture everything in varying shades of burlap and smelling of mud and feces.

Barring any cases where countries are renamed or broken up.

Hello everyone,

next February I will begin a long journey and will be pretty much without internet for weeks. I do carry with me an e-reader and a mp3 reader. I would like to download (if at all possible legally) podcasts and books that I can listen to, and read, during my traveling.

I am very fond of Kevin Stroud's History of the English Language podcast. I like his style, the narrative, the overall care for accuracy and (as a matter of personal preference) linguistic history.

I would like to know if you have any more podcasts to recommend? Besides of course the /r/AskHistorians podcast which I'm taking with me to discover on the trip. I'm really not into "Carlin-esque" "Hardcore" or sensationalist histories. I'm interested in pretty much anything when it's presented with passion... but on top of my head I can say that I do like the High middle ages, the age of european explorations, of course linguistic history (really like that one), folklore and mythography, and a cultural approach to History.

As for books... anything goes, really. Scholarly books, non-fiction preferred of course, doesn't matter if it's too 'dry'... if it is I just won't read it, but I can carry like 5000 books on the reader. Better have some choice. I'm really not a fan of pirating books so let's keep it about legal free downloads :) I suppose this limits me to some "classics" though.

Many many thanks :)

TGLAF

How far were the two great empires of the first century AD, Rome and Han China aware of each other? I know there was trade between them but did they really know who was on the opposite end of the silk road? Are there any ancient sources discussing this or modern scholars who have written about this?

I suppose this would apply to reading any tertiary source as well. Put another way, what are the challenges of critical thinking and reading that are unique to history, as opposed to, say, sociology or economics, if any?

The tribal warrior "barbarian" culture between the Gauls and Germans seemed similar. Both areas seemed to have equally forested terrains.

Hi all! I was reading something about maps and navigation, and couldn't help but wonder:

How did sailors navigate the vast oceans? They surely used compass for directions, and speed for distance. But how did they achieve such unbelievable accuracy? A deviation of 1° when stretched across oceans could lead to a place miles and miles away.

Secondly speed, how did they accurately measure speed on oceans?

And thirdly, if sailors got lost, how did they get their bearings with no idea where they are? How accurately could one know one's position from looking at the stars?

I've been reading autobiographies of politicians lately and finally started with "Inside the Third Reich", which is a surprisingly entertaining and interesting read so far. However, given the subject, I should probably be even more careful than with others' works. So, for someone without a firm historical background, is it defensible to read the book without additional documentation?

I'm doing a research assignment on this topic for school and I need to know as much as possible on this topic. Any help, especially links to good, reliable sources, will go a long way for me.

Can't find a clear answer who was more powerful

Apparently 'on this day in history' back in 1909, the wife of the Russian Ambassador caused a "stir" during a white house function when she asked for a cigarette and became 'the first woman to smoke at a public function in the White House'.

This would seem to indicate that smoking was not considered an acceptable practice for women at this point in time. But in the '30s and '40s, the image of the femme fatale with cigarette in holder is a pretty enduring image, and by 1968 Virginia Slims is proclaiming "You've come a long way, baby" trying to push women smoking as a symbol of equality as they latch onto the coattails of feminism and women's lib. So from this, it would seem to indicate that the process was pretty gradual, but I was hoping someone could shed more light on the changing perspective on women smoking in the US.

Were there any telltale signs? When did things start becoming especially bad for the jews and other groups that were persecuted?

It all just seems like a jumbled mess at this point. No matter how much research i do, i cannot seem to wrap my mind around it. I guess i really need to have it explained as if i was a 5 yr old :/

please keep it short and not so fancy, I am not good at history...

EDIT: I guess the most important thing is understanding how things were when it started and how things where when it ended.

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