I recently learned that the waltz was considered a very sexual dance when it first premiered and so that got me wondering: is Western music (and the culture around music, such as dancing) today actually significantly more sexual than what came before it as some people claim, and, if yes, is this a recent trend or something that has been slowly accumulating over years?

Based upon my extremely rudimentary knowledge of Islam I know that Sunnis and Shiites differ on who the rightful successor of Mohammad was. Why does it matter to each respective group why that person should have took over after Mohammad ?

I was wondering this. In the same way that the USA has supported, sometimes armed, sometimes covertly, sometimes not, right wing governments in places like South America, are there any leftist, or more specifically socialist regimes in he world that the US has propped up and armed in a similarly Machiavellian way? I understand that this sort of approach was more of a CIA thing, and so was historically an anti-communist thing. But I was curious if the US ever saw fit to arm and aid left wing regimes or fighters as intimately as they did (radically)right wing ones.

EDIT: Yugoslavia is a good example, as well as /u/gmoney8869's mention of flirting with Pol Pot. These regimes I think saw themselves as properly instruments of that whole socialist dialectical trajectory. In other words I think both of these regimes conducted themselves as though they were helping to one day achieve communism. Examples I am not so much looking for would be social democracy regimes that more often than not emerged from the Marshall plan and concerned itself with supplementing a market economy with social services and welfare, but with no revolutionary aspirations.

EDIT 2:

I forgot to ask if there were not just regimes but fighters, maybe militant stateless factions, guerrilla cells, or even more above ground movements that one would consider pretty "red" yet may have received aid, money, training, weapons, intel, that kind of thing from the US.

Ever since I learned about the infamous Vietnam War operation undertaken by the ARVN, I've been interested in its name -- precisely, what the meaning of "Lam Son" is, and what the 719 stands for/represents. I've done a quick search and Google but it's yielded no results -- or was the name of it completely jargon to confuse any potential leaks to North Vietnamese spies?

I really want to learn more history but recently only found podcasts that do ~15min episodes.

What do you like listening to?

I know that Germany and several other countries were secretly working on the A bomb for a few years. But did the average person know that there was this potential weapon out there with huge destructive capability? Or the day after the bombing did most people read the newspaper and learn for the first time about the existence of atomic weapons?

When I was teaching about ancient Greece, my students kept calling Socrates, "So-Crates" and at first I laughed but when it persisted it became really annoying.

EDIT: Grammar

I know very little about saami history apart from the racism and discrimination they had to endure during the 20th century

I am making a slight assumption that the NA/FN DID actually make and consume alchohol, but I am sure you fine folks wwill set me straight if I am incorrect :)

Additionally, is it true that, as Wikipedia claims, "As late as the seventeenth century in Europe the practice was commonly employed by nannies to put their young male charges to sleep?" (From the article on masturbation)

Did something notable happen during its "birth" that caused it to get stuck in the "middle income trap"?

I can't seem to find anything about this anywhere on the internet or this subreddit so apologies if I've missed something.

Basically, I'm wondering if anyone knows whether a man named (for example) Michael Cydones would be referred to as Michael or Cydones by his peers. There seems to be lots of info about how naming worked in the early Roman Empire but not so much about the Byzantine Romans. Any help is gratefully appreciated.

Mainly the methods that dealt with torture as well. There have been some really messed up, absolutely gruesome methods to punish people in the past. Just curious how the exdcutioners were able to internally deal with that

My wife is a lover of all things Medieval period. She has lately begun to read more and more about daily life during these times. I'm curious if there is recommended, almost baseline, reading that somebody can recommend. So far she's read: 1) The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England; and 2) Life in a Medieval Castle. She far preferred the first one. Any ideas on what might be a good next step? Perhaps even moving to a different geography during the same period? Her birthday is coming up and I'm thinking about her getting a set of books (in addition to flowers and something more traditionally romantic!).

EDIT: I should've mentioned, I've been through the recc'd reading list in the sidebar. However, some of those feel quite academic and, dare I say, not as enjoyable for the casual historian (if you'll allow me that term).

For the specific time period, I'm interested in anytime during the Pax Romana, but I would still be interested in any other time period as well.

As a side question: Did certain tribes/families all live in the same "neighborhood"? Like would Julius Caesars tribe all live next each other, or would they be spread out throughout the city like we see nowadays?

What were the social norms, how were minorities treated, etc.?

Crime and Punishment Theme Question:

Why did California never adopt the Model Penal Code?