It just occurred to me that I have never heard of anything even remotely like this, but it would be very surprising to me indeed if they did not -- especially as they were surrounded by and in frequent contact with other cultures that did.

If none of the Bennet girls found husbands, after their father died what would have happened to them? I imagine they'd be living off of the charity of others , but with five girls and their mother I think it would be such a burden? Even one girl might be a burden depending on the financial soundness and even age of her other relatives right?

Would they or at least some of them face the same potential fate of Jane Fairfax (Emma) and consider becoming governesses?

Hi,

A lot of my university's books have been digitised and converted to ebooks. I was wondering how they do this en mass? Surely there isn't a librarian just scanning each page individually?!

Clearly, the name Rome still meant something, since you had Germans calling themselves "Roman Emperor" right up until 1806, and Russians claiming the title into the 1900s. Yet the people living in and around the traditional heartland of Rome never seemed to take that banner up. Why did they prefer to stress the Italian identity over an arguably much more prestigious Roman one? And why didn't recent Italian nationalism adopt a more than passingly Roman flavor?

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The most recent Radiolab podcast mentions a Russian geneticist who had to flee Stalin-Era Moscow because he was an open Darwinian. Why the opposition? To what school of evolutionary thought did Stalin adhere?

The French invaded during the Second Baron's War in the 13th century, and during the Italian Wars of the 16th century. Why did they not invade during the War of the Roses, which seems like it would have been the best time.

I was wondering what the different cities of Sumer and Akkad did with their dead, specifically with the lower classes. I've heard and seen much about the royal tombs, but have we found any ordinary citizen's tombs? Did any cremate their dead? Were there Sumerian cemetaries? Any sources and literature would be appreciated.

I know that in different times of human history and among different cultures, the definition of 'beauty' has a tendency to change.

I am currently reading a lot of history on America during the American Revolution. In doing so, I often times reference the portraits of people they mention in the texts. I like to put a face to a name. I am taken aback by how often women they that are noted as 'striking' often times just seem kinda unappealing to me. Maybe even sometimes gruff or weathered in appearance?

It's unclear to me whether this has to do with the artistic style of the portraits at the time, a different understanding of beauty, or other factors that could come into play such as when in their life the portrait was drawn.

Regardless, how have definitions of beauty changed in America from the time of the Revolution?

A few years ago I took American History 101 at a public university in the US. The professor covered 1800(ish) to 1900ish. My professor was a t.a. working through the doctorate program, and I am almost certain the syllabus was his own. He basically taught the course around different aspects of sex throughout that 100 years. For instance in week 1 we talked about different states sex laws as a result of the religion that founded that colony/state. In later weeks we discussed how sex affected the Industrial Revolution (to be honest I can't remember what the affect was supposed to be).

Is this a common way to teach this course? He is the only person I have ever heard address history in this way (it was terrible but that may have been more about him than the subject matter). Did sex really affect American History that much?

Edit: The course book was Reading the American Past Vol. 1.

Somebody showed me a photo of Hitler with truly excellent abs. Do we have any idea of this was true? It had a very Putin-esque vibe.

Even though he was elected as the war was ending, I have been wondering if there were any accounts of President Eisenhower involving himself with front line plans during the Korean War. Given his experience as supreme commander of the allies during World War two I feel his advise would have been taken seriously and sought after by the forces. Though, I do admit that the timing of Eisenhower's presidency might have prevented him from changing what was set in motion by the previous administration.

Just so we get it out of the way, yes ive checked the sidebar and history but i have some questions about various AC games that I'm hoping to get some historical perspective on.

For those unaware the Assassin's Creed franchise is a series of contemporary videogames set in multiple historical settings in which you play a modern day protagonist who interacts with a device that lets you "re-live" the events of the characters genetic ancestors.
I have played every title over the years and i have some questions and ill break them down by game.

AC1: The Crusades.
Question: were the uniforms worn by the knights templar similar to what is shown in the game? (Also in Kingdom of heaven)

AC2: Italian Renaissance Question: was the Borgia family as influential as they are depicted in the games? Did they have ties to the papacy? Were they bloodthirsty?

AC3: American Revolution Question: was Charles Lee actually a tyrannical servant of the English Aristocracy? Also: did the game do an adequate job at depicting a Mohawk village?

AC4: Pirates of the Caribbean Questions: Did James Kidd galavant as a man in the world of Piracy, was James Kidd a women? Did the famous names of piracy in that era (Thatch, Hornigold, Kidd, Vane) ever get together in Nassau to endeavor to create their own Pirate nation? Did Thatch ever actually kill anyone directly?

AC5: French Revolution Questions: how well, in your opinion, did the game's depiction of Revolutionary Paris come across? Was Napoleon that involved, personally, with the goings on of the Revolution?

AC6: Victorian England Questions: (note: just started this game so my questions are environmentally based) Were there warring factions of gangs "running" London, ala Gangs of New York style. Was Charles Darwin mired in politics regarding his theory of evolution at that time?

Theres other associated games but these are the main ones. Also if any of you havent played them I'd suggest it merely for the fun factor.

I was hoping to learn more about the loss of life in Mexico during and after the conquests. Is there any reliable data set that illustrates the sheer amount of loss of life? I have tried looking into it, but seem to be coming up short.

Ever since the industrial age in the Western world (probably already starting in the age of Enlightenment), we've seen books, articles movies etc. dealing with various views of the future: from Jules Verne to HG Wells, the famous futuristic drawings by Jean-Marc Côté in France in the early 1900's, and of course more recent movies/series like Star Wars, Back to the Future. It doesn't stop fascinating people. Now I wonder, did these ideas of what the distant future would be like exist in pre-industrial times - say the middle ages? I'm not talking about apocalyptic or otherwise religious world views, but of how people saw human knowledge/technology develop in the future? Were these questions even asked?

One might ask the same question about non-Western cultures...

Edit: I see my post is flaired as "Theater". Sorry about that, but it happened automatically. I don't know how to remove that.

It obviously took a long time to get information from one place to another. Let alone get the details of the strategy used by the Carthiginians. I also find it hard to believe that Hannibal nor his relatives wouldn't have spotted the fact that the Romans were using similar tactics that they themselves were using.

I would like to be able to smell the tobacco in the room, so to speak. It seems like literature is really thin on the ground here.