Hello and greetings from Belgium. My apolegies for the not 100% english.

I have recently been listening to Civil war songs by Tennessee Ernie ford (love his voice. Union dixie is the best diss track of them all). However i am confused.

In the song "bonnie blue flag", they state arkansas has joined the confederates. Yet later on the album, the song "marching song of the first Arkansas African american regiment" is clearly about an Union regiment of african americans from Arkansas...fighting the confederates.

Are they escaped slaves who fought in the union army against the confederates? Or did people from arkansas also fought against the confederates?

I know that often the wife of the Slaver would be jealous of the other woman who was being raped, and would try to mutilate them to make their husbands lose interest.

Did fellow slaves treat sex slaves with jealousy as well? Or were they more understanding?

Though separated by about a thousand years, both were quasi-urbanized societies which developed independently, built large stone structures and display evidence of early hierarchical systems, yet didn't develop writing or much in the way of artistic tradition. However, the way they're written about seems very different. Why, exactly? Is it just a bias against or disinterest in West African culture, or am I overlooking characteristics that set them apart?

Edit: I phrased the title in a slightly awkward way; obviously "cradle of civilization" refers to the place, not the culture. But you know what I mean. One is regarded as a fully-fledged civilization and the other isn't.

I just finished listening to Sagan's A Demon Haunted World, and it reminded me of a subject I've been looking to learn more about for a while now. Are there any books that explain how historians conduct their studies, write their books, and generally come to their conclusions on the subject of history?

I tend to disagree a lot with the rest of my family's views on the world, and a big part of that centers around how we know what is and isn't truthfully presented in history. They tend to make the usual contrarian arguments (history is always written by the victors, they've re-written the history of [topic] X number of times so nothing can be trusted, etc etc), while I tend to believe that the majority of history as a science is conducted in good faith with the intent of representing history as accurately as possible. This is a particularly contentious topic with respect to the Soviet Union, Stalin and what atrocities he did/didn't commit, whether Soviet propaganda or Western propaganda is more truthful or misleading, etc.

However, although I generally think that modern history resources are trustworthy (provided that the source in question is considered at least somewhat reliable), I am basically at a loss when trying to explain how I can be sure of that. Do you know of any books that dive into how sources are verified and compared, how source and author bias is addressed or mitigated, and how we can be sure of anything in history? Audiobooks in particular would be awesome to listen to on the commute.

I've found The Landscape of History John Gaddis in my brief search. I appreicate any further suggestions.

As question suggests I'm wondering if we have a rough estimate of the relative prevalence of polytheistic cultures v monotheistic cultures throughout history. Obviously the lines can get quite blurry, but are we talking 50/50? 90/10? 20/80? Majority v minority?

Thanks so much

Forgive a layman if this is an ignorant/misled question, I was neither raised in Christian traditions nor am I knowledgeable about the history of Christianity (or feudalism)!

It seems like there a lot of common references to God as a "Lord", or to the "Kingdom of Heaven", or Christians as His subjects, or other such phrases that evoke feudal-ish social and political relations. Did these ideas originate in medieval Europe?

If so, was earlier Christianity informed by pre-medieval political structures? And are there examples of more recent Christian ideas informed by subsequent political structures?

I know this question is a little different than the more specific questions that usually get asked on this sub, but I'm looking to do an in depth dive into the history of the Protestant Reformation, but am intimidated by the vast scope of the topic. What can I read that will give me a good grasp of the events leading up to the Reformation, it's immediate effects, and it's long term effects on culture and society?

I have become increasingly interested in the Taiping rebellion and in all my readings so far I haven't been able to get a good idea of what engagements during the rebellion looked like from a military strategy point of view. From what I have read, it seems like there were some significant pitched battles between large armies and as a someone with a penchant for American Civil War history, I can't help but wonder about how similar/different the battle would look to say, a major pitched battle during the Civil War. Did either the Qing or the rebels use European style military tactics to match their newly imported/manufactured western style weapons? Did traditional Chinese military doctrine stay?

I'm making a steampunk novel, and the scenario is England (In a fictional city based on London). I'm always searching about the Victorian age, the costumes, jobs, how people lived, what were the jobs, and so on, to make a combination with the real story mixed with steampunk elements. I was searching about how people were treated, police violence, how women were treated in society... But I admit to having some difficulty finding out about these topics in specific, if someone out there can help, thank you very much.

Note: If you want to comment interesting things that's historical accurate and is good to put in a novel, you're welcome, and thanks.

Note 2: Not English native speaker, sorry for any grammar error.

I vaguely recall this fable, I dont think I read it directly but I read about it. The point of the story was that a man had done something bad, but was too pure or innocent or something like that, so instead of being put to death, he got turned into a woman. I am almost certain it was of greco(-roman) origin.

-It is not in the metamorphoses, there is a similar story there where Artemis turns a guy into a deer, close enough, but it is not it

-It may have been several people, at once or over time and not just a one time occurance but I am not sure

-There is a somewhat esoteric legend of a woman so beautiful that any man who looks at her turns into a woman, which sounds pretty close to the story I am looking for, but I am sure it is not it.

I think I read about it on a pretty accessible site or maybe on youtube so I am surprised I cannot find it just via google. Asking if anyone here has an idea

Greetings, I'm new to this sub Reddit and I have a very important question, I'm a Muslim artist who wanted to write a comic book about the Christian crusades, it's supposed to be a historical fantasy showing both the horrors of the crusades yet how it wasn't a war of religions, but rather a political war that used religion as an excuse and that Muslims and Christians should band together as brethren, yet when I did actual research I kept getting mixed answers on the true cause of the crusades, in history class growing up we were always told that the crusades were an unprovoked war, true the Turks were having a conquest on Byzantine territory but it wasn't a religious problem as Christians had their rights within Muslim lands, they were treated as equals and rumors of Muslim prosecution against Christians was mere propaganda, or so I thought since a bunch of people online on both articles, YouTube videos and such say that there WAS actual Christian prosecution in turkey and how islamic tolerance for Christianity was at a decline, I just wanted to fact check what ACTUALLY happened and what was the REAL thing that kicked off the crusades and most importantly, were they actually justified? Or was it a barbaric conquest and a shame for Christianity as most people know it today?

If stances based on individual political topics haven't really changed geographically, how is the South so heavily Republican now?

If I want to get a decent understanding of the Spanish Civil War, like deeper than Wikipedia but not like I'm writing a thesis on it, what are 2-3 books that cover it well? Ideally, something that includes the military angle, i.e. which groups took which cities at which times and so on, but also something that conveys what it was like for regular people living through this. That might be a tall order, I realize, so I thought I'd ask people who know their stuff.

Basically when Ben Franklin or other American delegations were in London, or when British people where in America towards the end of the British colonial era, would their accents have still sounded like generally British English to them, or were they already noting different distinct accents had started developing?

Were they already noting that Americans were actually pronouncing the “r” sound at the end of words and doing weird stuff with “a” sounds by the time they rebellion happened?

It seems especially wild, because according to Wikipedia, The Order of the Dragon was modeled after The Order of Saint George, who famously slew a dragon. Did anybody at the time, or in subsequent years, comment that dragons are an odd or even inappropriate mascot for Christian crusaders?

Wikipedia tells me that the "dragon" in order of the dragon was somewhat like an ouroboros, but I'm not sure that clarifies anything.

Fun fact for lurkers, in case this question goes unanswered: In an ironic twist, The Order of the Dragon went back around to being associated with evil. One of the members was Vlad II, The Prince of Wallachia. He named himself Vlad II Dracul in honor of his membership in the order. His son was of course named Vlad, Son of Dracul, or, in his native Romanian, Vlad Dracula. Or, as you might know him, Vlad the Impaler.

What I’m asking is, was the legal status of the Emperor reduced as such that he had no right to exercise political authority, or did he retain powers that were just unusable because some of the constituents of the empire like the Kingdom of Prussia, Electorate of Saxony, Electorate of Hannover, Electorate of Bavaria etc were as powerful as fully sovereign states and just wouldn’t listen to the Emperor?

Recently I've read about Kilij Arslan visiting Constantinople and being hosted by the emperor Manuel for 80 days. Are there any authors or articles that analyzed this particular event?

I'm investigating the veracity of Gardner's & Crowley's claims. (My bias is that I was raised Mormon and personally feel misled by Joseph Smith's claims.) Below are the sources I plan to use, but I'd like to be directed toward sources that record folk magic traditions to compare what Gardner and Crowley espoused.

In no way do I mean to destroy anyone's faith, as I have great respect for the structure of Wicca and its ability to meet the spiritual needs of neo-pagans. This is more research for my own benefit.

* * *

Asprem, Egil. “Magic Naturalized? Negotiating Science and Occult Experience in Aleister

Crowley’s Scientific Illuminism La Magie ‘naturalisée’? De La Négociation Entre Science et Expérience Occulte Dans L’illuminisme Scientifique d’Aleister Crowley.” Aries (Leiden, Netherlands) 8, no. 2 (2008): 139–165.

Bado-Fralick, Nikki. Coming to the Edge of the Circle a Wiccan Initiation Ritual. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005.

Chase, Christopher W. “Approaching the Sacred Grove: The Orphic Impulse in Pagan Religious Music”. ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 2009.

Clarke, Peter, ed. Encyclopedia of New Religious Movements. Florence:

Taylor & Francis Group, 2005. Accessed October 18, 2022. ProQuest Ebook Central.

Connelly, Michael. "Out of the Broom Closet and into the Fire: Examining how Modern Witches Communicate with each Other and the World at Large." Order No. 22617600, University of Colorado at Boulder, 2019.

Crowley, Aleister The Three Magical Books of Solomon: The Greater and Lesser Keys & the

Testament of Solomon (Mockingbird Press, 2017).

“Crowley, Aleister.” Historical Dictionary of New Religious Movements, 2012.

“Gardner, Gerald Brosseau.” Historical Dictionary of New Religious Movements, 2012.

“Golden Dawn, Hermetic Order of The.” The Columbia Encyclopedia, 2018.

Heselton, Philip. Doreen Valiente: Witch (The Doreen Valiente Foundation, 2016).

Heselton, Philip. In Search of the New Forest Coven (S.l.: Fenix Flames Publishing Ltd, 2020).

Heselton, Philip. Witchfather: A Life of Gerald Gardner (Loughborough, Leicestershire: Thoth

Publications, 2012).

Murray, Margaret Alice, The Witch-Cult in Western Europe: A Study in Anthropology (United States: Wentworth Press, 2019).

Rains, Whitney Leanne. “Journey of the Goddess: Second Wave Feminism and the Evolution of American Wicca”. ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 2013.

Starr, Martin P, and Henrik Bogdan. Aleister Crowley and Western Esotericism: An Anthology of

Critical Studies. Oxford University Press, 2012.

Vyse, Stuart A.. Believing in Magic : The Psychology of Superstition - Updated Edition. Cary: Oxford University Press, Incorporated, 2013. Accessed November 6, 2022. ProQuest Ebook Central.

Would FDR have used a different fiber from Ben Franklin? What about a Dominican monk?