What happened immediately after the civil war ended? Was there a process of reconciliation?

How did everyday people adjust to the new reality - do we have any accounts of what life was like for former slave owners? What about demobilised soldiers from both sides? Did everyone just go home and try to rebuild? What happens to those whose homes were gone? Was there any assistance given to help resettle?

Sorry for the shotgun approach to questioning - I've seen deadwood and parts of hell on wheels and am intrigued by how a society copes with such a traumatic and unique experience. Any suggested reading would be awesome.

Is it simply being true and remembered? It seems there can be tons of bias, starting with history being told by the winners. A better question might be what makes something historic to you?

Did old imperial money linger until the 20th century?

To put it bluntly, I find it hard to believe that so many men or women could be contained within small quarters for such a long time without something going on. Was this ever a concern or ever addressed?

Did you need to apply to go to the same place? Or was this just a fictional thing for plot purposes?

I know Steven Pinker had his famous (and much debated) book The Better Angels of Our Nature, where he argued that violence has been decreasing over time and is at its lowest levels ever, at least per capita, in the present day. It's attracted a lot of praise and criticism, with a lot of the criticism, to my understanding, focusing on his implicit biases and the sloppiness of his figures.

With that in mind, has anybody other than Pinker tried to figure out whether we're more or less violent than during the past? It certainly seems like a worthwhile issue to me.

We can find the trope "lost technolgy" in vrious genres, mostly fantasy snd science-fiction. It descibes technologies, techniques, or knowledge in a broader sense, that was known/used by ancient civilisations/groups, but has over time become "lost". This trope very often implies/shows the "lost technology" to be more advanced than "current" technology.

I have two questions about this trope, one "practical/archeological", one that i think is more in the realm of literature, myths, and legends:

1.) What are good examples of technology that has been losz throughout the ages? As far as i know we stil don't know how the pyramids were built, or how stonehenge was errected. There must be more curious stuff like that.

2.) Do any historic sources speak of technology that is lost to us and is described to be able to rival modern technogy? Are an of those sources consided to be more than myths or legends? (Stuff like "'greek fire" wouldn't cut it, because even if it existed and subsequently was lost, it pales compared to napalm, termite, etc.)

Weapons like the bow and arrow come to mind, which was invented separately by every major civilization except for the Australian Aboriginals. Where there some intercontinental trade routes that were used that could have brought these ideas around the world?

After reading Robert K. Massie's Dreadnought I've been looking for more reading on the subject of pre-dreadnought battleships, specifically the Great White Fleet. What books on that subject are considered both accurate and interesting?

While i was reading the latest Smithsonian magazine, a article was talking about the new york draft riots- and i could not find a picture/image/description of what the average policeman looked like/do, etc.

I have an idea for an alternate history world that deviated from ours in 1889 when something wiped most of the human race outside Britain.

I want to know, in that time, how badly it would effect britian's food supply to suddenly be cut off from international trade.

Why did the Germans wait so late to implement a full wartime economy in WW2?

Why did they wait until 1943 to declare total war? Wasn't this is a bit too late in the war to do so?

What would the impact be if they had declared total war years sooner?

Would it aid the Nazi war effort to a significant degree? Would it improve their military performance against the Allies as compared to OTL?

In a similar fashion, going further back in time, did people living in the 1810's, 1820's, and 1830's refer to the 1770's, 1780's, and 1790's as the seventies, eighties, and nineties? Or maybe if they were referring to the 1720's, would they say the twenties?

I bring up this question because I wonder if people in 2100 would refer to our 21st decades as the twenties, thirties, fourties and fifties because we have referred to 20th century decades as such.

I know this question is wordy and probably naive (I assume people in past centuries haven't referred to past decades like us with the twentieth century), but my curiosity itches.

Regarding the global popularity of Hollywood movies, how did they become so widespread and how? Why are "Hollywood" movies so prominent around the world as opposed to any other country's film industry?

Thank you all in advance!