Lately, there's been a lot of rhetoric saying that people in colonial american, during the medieval era, etc. lived about the same length as us, it's just that high infant mortality rates skewed this data. To what extent is this true?

From what I understand the democratic party supported the movement to secure the black vote. I'm curious about JFK's personal beliefs. Were his motivations for the civil right's act just political?

I am looking for non-Islamic sources (be they manuscript, archaeological, epigraphic, numismatic, etc.) on pre-Islamic religion, particularly in western Arabia or the Hijaz or better yet Mecca?

I read Robert Hoyland's book "Arabia and the Arabs: From the Bronze Age to the Coming of Islam" but he uses almost all Islamic sources which does not serve my purpose.

Thank you!

So I'm taking a history class on 20th century Europe at Cornell and we had a guest speaker come in and tell us that Germany purposefully inflated the German mark in the 1920s. Seeing as (I believe) their reparations were due in British pounds, how would printing more money really help them? Would they be able to pay more of their debt by taking advantage of a "lag" in the currency exchange rate? Or, like my TA suggested, did they inflate the mark to signal to other countries that they couldn't pay back their debt?

And then, finally, I know there exists an oversimplification that the German people were "pushed" to elect a leader like Hitler because of the harsh reparations that crippled Germany's economy. I have two problems with this explanation. First, if the hyperinflation was actually a purposeful action then Germany's economic strife could be largely attributed to the Weimar Republic's response to the reparations as well as the global depression of the 1930s. Second, it's been my understanding that Hitler was simply appointed chancellor in 1933 by Paul von Hindenburg and then assumed a dictatorial position by way of the Reichstag fire decree. I know Nazis were being elected in the Reichstag but what part of Hitler's rise to power would be democratic?

(Bonus question: I remember reading somewhere, years ago, that the Nazis had actually begun to fall out of favor with the German people based on the most recent Reichstag elections before Hitler assumed totalitarian control because the German economy had begun to improve. To what extent was this true?)

I understand that this may be hard to know, but I can see some ways people could know. Perhaps some words that come from pre-IE languages in Europe could be found in different languages. Perhaps there are similar place names from Pre-IE, for example next to rivers or another feature which would give the names similar words.

That is, the Great Pyramid of Giza (in its original manifestation) , the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, the Statue of Zeus at Olympia, the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus , the Colossus of Rhodes, and the Lighthouse of Alexandria - what are thought to be the most accurate pictures or drawings we can see?

I am asking this because I remember reading about how the French had an abnormally small generation because of such heavy losses from WW1 and therefore did not have enough men in their military.This meant they had to play defensive by building the Maginot line for exampme. Why was this not the case for Germany who seemed to recover its manpower after suffering similar losses in WW1?

When I look at Germany during that time, its seems like the majority of people did agree with him, it seems like he was a very loved and very popular leader, I think this is evident in the fact that the Germans fought ruthlessly to the bitter most end, not giving up on their fuehrer, and looking at the massive sprawling videos of rallies of thousands of people cheering and crying in happiness for Hitler, women charging him trying to hug and kiss him and give him flowers, the fact millions upon millions of Germans tried joining the SS, The fact that in places like Auschwitz there isn't even a single case of an SS person disobeying orders... Whenever I hear "most Germans didn't like Nazis", "Most Germans didn't hate jews" ect. I get very skeptical because it didn't seem like that at all

I know there was some German resistance, but the majority of Germans at that time, seemed very nationalistic and liked Hitler, perhaps im wrong and you guys can enlighten me.

Thank you

I have a Japanese headband that was given to me by an old friend that was a colonel in the air force during WWll. I would like to know what the Japanese characters on it means. Can any one help me? I will send picture in request.

I have recently discovered I have some Egyptian in my blood line and was wondering if anyone could suggest any good books on Ramses II/Cleopatra or other renowned Pharaohs. Thanks!

I suspect Hollywood is responsible, so I suppose this might be a question directed towards film or entertainment historians, rather than fellow medievalists.