1 Answers 2016-04-09
For example, were there companies that would buy a large amount of slaves with the sole purpose of loaning them out to entrepreneurs? Perhaps on a short term basis for large projects a company might have?
What I'm thinking is a company buys maybe 20 slaves. But they don't own a plantation or anything of the sort. Instead they make agreements with land owners to "loan 10 slaves to John smith on a 6-month agreement for 30% of profits and a $500 early termination fee."
Did these enterprises exist, and if so, were they profitable?
1 Answers 2016-04-09
Was wondering if anyone could help me out with a good book or two on the support side of Apollo. I'm looking to learn about the administration and more mundane details.
Bonus points for a book that focuses on the procurement process.
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I am curious if it was a difficult decision to drop a second atomic bomb on another city after the first one failed to bring about an immediate surrender.
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Also, from this article by Patricia Crone, https://www.opendemocracy.net/faith-europe_islam/mohammed_3866.jsp,
The realisation is slowly dawning that this is fundamentally wrong. The prophet was not an outsider haphazardly collecting fallout from debates in the monotheist world around him, but rather a full participant in these debates. Differently put, the rise of Islam has to be related to developments in the world of late antiquity, and it is with that context in mind that we need to reread the Qur'an. It is a big task, and there will be, indeed already have been, false turns on the way.
An assertion of historians like Patricia Crone and Fred Donner (both featured in the documentary) seems to be that Islam blossomed from a melting pot of religious ideas and not in an isolated corner of Arabia, as suggested by the traditions around Islam. To what debates are these historians pointing to? Geographically, around what areas of Arabia were these debates happening? What was the content of these debates of late antiquity? What evidence do we have of them?
Link to documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J60AWCS-hfo&nohtml5=False
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I'm recently become interested in the history of Spain (and surrounding areas like Portugal/France). Instead of reading endless Wikipedia pages, can anyone recommend a book on the history of Spain, should one exist? I'd prefer no textbooks, just a casual, fun, informative read. Thanks you guys!
2 Answers 2016-04-09
I was watching a documentary on meth addiction, and it made me think of the Lotus Eaters in the Odyssey. That concept of addiction seems similar to how we think of it today, but it's the only one I've heard of until pretty recently in history.
(I know that hallucinogens were used in a religious context in many ancient cultures, but I'm referring specifically to addiction with this question.)
1 Answers 2016-04-09
For example, households having photo portrait of JFK in their living rooms. I have also read of households in Japan having pictures of General MacArthur. But I'm wondering if there are other social reasons for this other than feeling a connection to the individual.
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Acts of homosexuality are so harmless, and it just seems weird that so many culures have enforced or enforces harsh punishments for it.
Are there any functional explanations for this? Or is it completely tied to other cultural constructs, such as concept of manliness and purity and what not.
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http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51or28vjdnL.SX399_BO1,204,203,200.jpg Who is this man? He seems to only have one eye?
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I am quite familiar with the "red scare" within the United States, but did Soviet Russia (or Soviet satellites) experience an anti-democracy wave of propaganda at the same scale?
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The wikipedia page on the arab slave trade speaks of millions of africans being bought, and as there doesn't seem to be rigid race divisions in the american fashion, then I'm guessing they have mostly intermingled with the population over the years.
Which leads to the title of this post, about how people looked like prior to this trade. On a side note, people often criticize depictions of jesus for looking too white, could this have anything to do with that?
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How were the Bundesländer (states) Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Brandenburg, Sachsen, Sachsen-Anhalt and Thüringen formed? Who decided how where to draw the borders?
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I'm writing a research paper about the changes in the genre of captivity narratives over time, specifically in colonial North America. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
2 Answers 2016-04-09
Today:
Saturday Reading and Research will focus on exactly that: the history you have been reading this week and the research you've been working on. It's also the prime thread for requesting books on a particular subject. As with all our weekly features, this thread will be lightly moderated.
So, encountered a recent biography of Stalin that revealed all about his addiction to ragtime piano? Delved into a horrendous piece of presentist and sexist psycho-evolutionary mumbo-jumbo and want to tell us about how bad it was? Need help finding the right book to give the historian in your family? Then this is the thread for you!
10 Answers 2016-04-09