If you recommend any two books to give a general idea of what has happened in the Middle East since, say 1900. What would they be?

Weapons are loud. Black powdered ones even more so, so this question came to mind:

1. Was hearing impairment well known in that time

2. were there any preventive measures (rudimentary ear plugs or something of the kind)

3. Were persons with hearing impairment treated in any way, effective or not?

Thank you :D

-Were the Nazi's able to effectively quell Partisan Groups? -Did they rely on locals to do the Fighting? Or were special units put together? -Was it a "Hearts and Minds" campaign or one of complete "annihilation"? -Did they rely on massive sweeps or focus on infiltration?

I was reading about the Papal States and it seems to me that the majority of the wars they fought in were against other Catholic nations, even against such monarchs as Philip II of Spain, the "defender of the Catholic faith". Did these rulers see the papacy as a chiefly temporal office, or did they have reservations about going to war with a man recognized as the Vicar of Christ?

I know Egypt provided grain to the Romans and Byzantines, so it still had a surplus of agricultural products, but was the architecture, farming techniques, building techniques, city planning etc. there some of the best in the Mediterranean still? Or did they fall behind, and Greek and Arab scientists/engineers/artists/governors were responsible for its transformation into a new sophisticated center in the Arab era?

Hey guys,

I have a question about Middle Ages cathedrals. These edifices took vast amounts of time and treasure to construct - were they used for anything other than worship? For instance, the distribution of alms to the poor, or as fortresses, or for communal political events?

How effective was the giving of alms as a form of social security in the Medieval era?

Why did cathedrals take so long to construct? And were they the only buildings of that stature and technology in an average medieval town, or are they simply the only ones that survive?

If it is true then what are some examples of how the colonists survival were dependent on the Natives?

Before 212, for the most part only inhabitants of Italy held full Roman citizenship.

Emperor Caracalla declared that all free men in the Roman Empire were to be given theoretical Roman citizenship and that all free women in the Empire were to be given the same rights as Roman women.

How did the inhabitants of Italy react, giving that they had lost their privileges over the colonists?

Please don't answer this with pure speculation (obviously some speculation is necessary here) or mistake my question as some angry demand for answers on how the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict came to be.

That is not my question nor my aim: I'm looking to understand what Balfor and the British actually (or likely) hoped to achieve. It's hard to get a bead on what the British hoped to achieve with their support of Zionism and even more difficult to understand why the British were suddenly in the business of helping oppressed minorities, y'know? It doesn't fit historically at all.

Is this an attempt at a strategic move, be it militarily, socially, or economically? Is it an attempt to garner popular support? I don't understand why the British would support Jewish Nationalism whilst simultaneously suppressing basically all other forms of Nationalism across the rest of its Empire.

All answers would be greatly appreciated

I'm not talking about modern study, but the ancient source material that details his exploits. I'd like to read a few of it, mostly to look for how he was remembered and recorded. I already know how he's known today, seeing as I'm alive today, but would like to know more about how he was known in the past, especially by the Romans and Carthaginians. All I have so far is Livy, which while interesting, is only one perspective.

I'd also be interested in how later peoples perceived him, but mostly I want the ancient stuff where he'd be a more prominent cultural fixture.

The AMAs on this sub are a wonderful opportunity to interact with experts and get answers to interesting questions. But sometimes their potential goes unfulfilled when subscribers don't have a chance to think up interesting questions before the event ends. Or in some cases the experts are able to provide answers, but simply need some time to consult a source or to think on things.

My solution would be to sticky the AMA thread a few days before the event so that commenters have a chance to think up good questions, and so the experts can have a chance to preview and prepare (if they so desire). This would also give voters a chance to sort the best questions to the top so that the experts can see which ones are of the greatest interest to the community.

Of course answers should be restricted to the experts so only top level comments containing questions should be allowed until the experts respond. This does restrict commenters from replying to posts with further questions, but maybe it's good to give the experts a chance to answer one clear question at a time. Any subsequent clarification or related questions should be posted as a reply to the experts' comment.

I'm interested in books that recount the history of anarchism in Spain, especially the history of Catalonia in regards to the ideology.

I already have Orwell's Homage to Catalonia on my list, but I want something that would be more rigorous than a memoir; something preferably academic--citations and bibliography and such.

What would historians recommend?

Let me first state I'm not asking if Jesus actually existed, I'm only interested in Josephus's account of him.

I've heard from a few different people there is a consensus among historians about the accuracy of Josephus' account of Jesus. But at the same time I've seen a lot of sources that disagree with that assertion.

So is there a consensus on the authenticity of Josephus's account of Christ?

EDIT: Are there some sources I can read that talk about this in more depth? I would like cited answers so I could read the source material myself.

I was recently reading a book on Spanish treatment of Indians during the 1500's. Now during this time period you had widespread abuse of the natives by Spanish landowners now I understand King Charles attempted to institute reforms but many Spanish resisted it outright or rebelled. Now if this was an absolute monarchy at the time in Spain and the King was understood as Divinely appointed by God. So to rebel against that AND be religious just seems inconceivable. Not to mention the whole lust for gold and rape thing that was going on back then. I'm interested to hear what you guys think.

I am sitting here eating Cap'n Crunch and I noticed the Cap'n only has 4 fingers. So does homer simpson, mickey mouse and many many more. It got me thinking, when did losing one finger for a cartoon character become normal?