I had always assumed the slaves brought to the Americas from Africa practiced local animism with oral traditions. But Islam had also been in Africa for a long time by the time the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade got going. Do we know of any Muslims being enslaved? Were they literate? Did they maintain their religion or form communities in the Americas? Were they allowed to practice traditions like Ramadan or salat? Were they treated differently from other slaves?

I drive a car with no a/c and it is often too dangerous for me to drive during the summer. I am curious if there were more heat related deaths before air conditionjng?

Hi everyone, In the last year I have taken some International Studies courses, and I think I am switching majors (again) to Economics. That's not really relevant except that during those courses I read The Communist Manifesto, Ellen Woods' Origin of Capitalism, King Leopold's Ghost by Adam Horschsild, The Protestant Ethic by Max Weber, And Vermeer's Hat by Timothy Brook. In preparation for my Study Abroad program I am reading Nelson Mandela's Long Walk to Freedom, Steve Biko's I write what I like, and White Supremacy: A comparative Study by George Fredrickson. I haven't really taken school, or reading in general that seriously until I started taking classes at community college. I have realized that my newfound interest in history is competing with my obvious lack of general knowledge of history. I Really enjoy learning about history through the more personal stories, or at least through analytical critique. Both Adam Horchsild and Timothy Brook seem to really care for making the material equally engaging as informative, I would really like to read similar styles in different areas of knowledge. I would really appreciate if someone here could recommend some history books to me, preferably something in the Audible catalogue, as I don't really know what I am looking for. The first thing I need is to brush up on my US history. Ideally something that goes from the french revolution up through the 1900's or so, but I'm sure that someone who knows what they are talking about could give a better suggestion. Really, any suggestion for a good read that is also informative is welcome. I signed up for audible to get through some of these course readings as I really like listening to them while I do chores, do my hobby things, etc.

Thanks in advance. I sort of rambled on a bit.

From what I know about the debate over slavery in the pre-Civil War US, it seems like everyone pretty much agreed that if Southern slavery wasn't allowed to expand westward (or southward), it would collapse. I understand why people believed this, but I haven't come across any modern writing about whether they were right.

Is my impression about 19th century opinion correct? And what do contemporary historians have to say about the idea that Southern slavery had to expand? I'm familiar with the debate about the profitability of slavery, but I'm not aware of anything that addresses this specific question.

In one of my history classes a few years ago my prof told us that with all the things attributed to charlemagne, he must have lived for over 300 years to actually do all those things. I wish I could give examples but I simply do not remember. Was hoping someone could clear this up for me.

In the SPQR novels, a character comments on the barbarian practice of consuming a large noon meal, and how it is catching on in Rome. Is this accurate? Was three meals the standard for gallic society? What other meal times were standards?

Edit: I was not sure if the British considered afternoon tea a meal.

I don't know if this question is better suited to /r/askhistorians or /r/socialscience or /r/AskEconomics but I'm curious about the precursors of Beatle mania. Was the phenomenon based on an uptick in television sales, was it the power of the radio DJ? What were the reactions of older people to the reaction of young people to the Beatles?

From what I've gathered their reception was not predicted. Why wasn't it predicted? Was there a backlash from young men against the Beatles, similar to how we see a backlash from guy against boy bands and people like Justin Bieber these days?

I would think the war would have caused the accent to lose its cachet.

Did people in places like China, India and Africa know about the Romans? Were the Romans known in European settlements like Ireland and Scandinavia?

When, with the break from England along with the Dutch and Swedish presence in year North American history, a parliamentary government would have been a very familiar system?

EDIT: Thanks for the responses everyone, some really interesting information here.

In understand that the crush of the Revolution of 1956 caused schism in many Communist parties (some even turned to Social Democracy), but did the Soviet invasion of Poland had any similar effect?