I'm an American English speaker, if that makes a difference.

I have been interested in the Japanese immigrants that came to America before/around World War II. Does anyone know where I can look to find information?

Thanks :)

Was it just kind of like Emily Dickinson's random capitalization For Emphasis, or was it a copy of German rules (if German had rules at that time), or something else entirely?

I would also like if someone could explain the ideas of diffusionism and interactionism as models for historical development.

Apologies if this isn't the kind of question this sub is for.

After my grandfather died, I inherited a box of old books. In it I found my great-great-great uncle's diary from World War I. I would love to see this information digitized/preserved, but I'm afraid to handle it too much because the pages are already yellow and thin and the binding is very loose.

What is the best way to approach this document without damaging it?

Such as Vikings having horned helms, Macedonians not speaking Greek, the well treatment of slaves in the U.S. south, holocaust denying etc.

I keep seeing this and I wanna know if it's acutally true.

Edit: thanks for all the replies guys, and thanks for clearing it up. I didn't think this would get this much response.

I understand that this was a form of ritual suicide reserved for instances when a Samurai or group of Samurai had fallen into enemy hands and as an alternative to being tortured to death or dying in some other less-than-honorable way. But who made this call?

Instead of retreating did someone at the front of the battle just suddenly say, "They've overtaken us! Get out those ritual daggers!"?

I just don't understand when the turning point would be between "lets take as many of them down with us" and "All is lost, lets kill ourselves."

Wouldn't the point when there was nothing else they could do to fight the enemy come after the point when they would still have the ceremonial weapon on their person?

Thanks in advance!

Is this due to the 18th- and 19th-Century German-speaking world simply being ahead of everyone else at music knowledge and education? Is it due to luck in terms of having fantastically talented individuals like Mozart and Beethoven? Or is it our own bias from contemporary times (or an earlier bias that we have adopted), viewing German-speaking composers as "the best" and most famous now, when other composers from other places were just as famous in their own time?

My high school relative is in an AP history class and was telling me about how democracy was practiced in Athens where men were chosen at lottery to run government. Aside from the sexism part it sounded like a better system than what we have now. I am more than likely overlooking something but would appreciate any expert helping me to better understand the Athenian system and explain why perhaps it is better or worse than our modern system.

perhaps this belongs in /r/asksocialscience or /r/homeworkhelp, but i feel like people around here might know better. I'm just trying to identify trends in capital offenses and capital punishment overtime during the 18th and 19th century. The Old Bailey online is pretty helpful but I was wondering if anyone could point me towards some more useful sources.

I'm going through the 'Rise and Fall of the Third Reich' by Shirer, and he's just got to the summer of 1939. He poses an interesting question but chooses not really to elaborate. At this point Chamberlain has:

• Stood by while Germany reoccupied the Rhineland
• Stood by while Germany re-armed ahead of any change to the Treaty of Versaille
• Stood by while Germany absorbed Austria
• Played part in the surrender of the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia to Germany

A policy of appeasement is suggested by the author, and it was a change in sentiment within the House of Commons and House of Lords that caused a change in policy.

At this point he reaches out to offer a great-power united front against Germany, then a pact of Mutual defence between France, Poland and the UK, and then finally a guarantee of independence to Poland directly.

All of this to a militocracy that helped chop up Czechoslovakia, with up-until-recently Pro-German, anti-Franco-Russian leaning.

Frankly, it seems like the guy got backed into a corner and then came out swinging when he realised his own political career was basically over: but I'm getting this from a 50-year old book where homosexuals are still called degenerate sexual deviants.

What're the modern interpretation of his actions? Has more information come to light vis-a-vis declassification of Russian data, etc.?

I'm planning to write a novel that takes place in an alternative history Russia between 1890 and 1915. I want to research the true history to better tweak it, so do you have any suggestions for books I can read on this topic?

Specific topics I'm looking into:

• Russia's relationships with other countries at that time, especially Germany, Finland and Sweden

• Rise of communism in Russia

• Life in a Russian village

• Media access in Russia at that time. What newspapers were there? How good was their coverage?

• Were any industrial/factory jobs available in Russia at that time?

• Marksmanship- what were the weapons available?

• The tsar and his family. I'm already planning to read The Romanov Sisters and Former People for this, but anything else is appreciated.

• The state of medical care in Russia

Other books I'm planning to read as a general overview on culture and history: Spies and Commissars, A People's Tragedy, The Russian Revolution by Richard Pipes, Uncle Vanya by Chekhov, books on Baba Yaga, The End of Imperial Russia by Peter Waldron, and The Best of Russian Life: History and Culture.

I've been doing a lot of reading about women entering into the German labour market during the First World War, but I'm having trouble getting any information on the kind of pay the approximately 4.5 million married women who saw their husbands go off to war might have expected them to send home? Most secondary sources I've been looking at focus on the movement of working class women from unskilled textiles/clothing, etc. manufacturing, in to skilled "men's work", but no one seems to discuss women who couldn't make such a move, how they might have survived on their husbands wages, or how they may have supplemented them. Now, obviously I'm aware of the variable spending power any such wages would have had over the course of the war, but any information would be appreciated!