PS: is it called a "harem" in the Chinese context in more academic settings? Always felt strange to me to use an Arabic transliteration to describe a Chinese phenomenon in English.

Czechia differs significantly culturally from the rest of Europe in this respect. It's interesting that Slovakia is far more religious given that these two countries share a lot of culture (including similar languages) and history. Its neighbour Poland remains highly religious. This sets the Czech Republic apart culturally from many Eastern block countries and you can see the difference when surveyed on issues such as same sex marriage or abortion. I do understand religion was suppressed in the Warsaw Pact countries, and religious people couldn't normally join the party or make a career. But many Eastern block countries still have high rates of religious persons today, while Czechia doesn't. What set them apart?

I've been interested in this topic for a while, I know a bunch of general's names from that period and it's piqued my interest quite a bit. I'm a total amateur on Japan history but I'm an avid reader! Do you have any good book recommendations on this topic? Thanks in advance!

Sorry if you've had this question before.

Edit: it should say women not woman

While reading a modern history book, and flipping back and forth to the endnotes, I became curious about whether Medieval and Renaissance scholars cited their sources, and if so, how did they do it. I know that in Medieval Europe, footnotes were generally written as a response to the text by a scribe, not by the author, so if the scholars cited sources, how did they do it? And what about during the Renaissance? I know, of course, that Europe wasn't a monolithic culture, so the more information from various areas, the better. Thank you.

Whenever I read about the (motorized) washing machine, there is always a comparison to women doing their laundry at home, and often a mention of the washboard.

I know steam laundries existed in cities (as small as a couple thousand, at least) as far back as the late 19th century, at least. I can understand that rural people wouldn't really be able to use them.

I have seen prices of $.05 or $.06 per pound for rough dry in the first decade of the 20th century in the US, but I don't really know how much that was for most people.

And when they were used, would it be for all washing or just for linens and such?

I guess I'm interested in what percentage of urban women (though I know the world has increasingly urbanized, as a rule) went directly to a washing machine from hand-washing her own family's laundry v. how many used some sort of service prior. And how the costs compared.

Hi all! I’m doing a project for school on child development and decided to pick post World War II era, but I can’t find any good articles or journals online about such. I’m looking for anything on child development and child rearing between 1944-1964. Thank you!

Note: This is a repost from my question that has yet to be answered.

If I understand the events of Midway correctly. The Americans set a trap for the Japanese by asking those stationed at Midway to sent a faux request for a fresh water tanker. When the Japanese reported this, the Americans knew for certain that the Japanese were targeting Midway.

"A.F is short on water"?

Why would the Japanese have transmitted refer to Midway using the US designated A.F? Why wouldn't they have used their native language making it harder for the Americans to know what they were referring to?

Malcolm X has a speech where he equates certain members of the African American population with house slaves and his sentiment towards them is decidedly negative.

And in Django Unchained, Samuel L. Jackson's character is a villainous house slave.

I wonder if both these are related to lingering resentment towards house slaves or if something more recent.

I understand that during this time period the Christian faith was quite fractitious. There were multiple councils called during this time period with the intent of setting forth a clear doctrine. I am interested in how recognizable the Christian faith of this time period would be to a modern person.

Thank you so much for any insight into this question.

I realize that a lot of the information about Hitlers occult tendency is fiction. However I was wondering if there is any actual credible sources on what he actually thought and if he did actually attempt to seek artifacts.

If so, what are those sources?

The disastrous Confederate offensive at the Battle of Gettysburg known as Pickett's Charge was undertaken by 3 divisions led by Generals Pickett, Trimble & Pettigrew. Why was the offensive later named after Pickett and not Trimble or Pettigrew?

What I'm trying to ask is, when nation states were forming, why wasn't there a big movement to modernize Latin by making the grammar simpler like in modern Romance languages and using more modern vocabulary that could be used as a sort of national language for all the countries that make up the former Roman territory? Also, do you think it's still possible to create and enforce such a supranational language?

You practically can’t mention Donald Trump or Joe Biden without their children and their ways of life coming up.

I know the Kennedys were quick to remove Rosemary from the spotlight, but that was the sister, not daughter, of J.F.K. I also remember seeing minor digs at the daughters of Bush Jr. & Obama, but overall I feel pressure on the kids of the Commander in Chief has increased tenfold in the last couple of years.

Perhaps this has more to do with most of Trump and Biden’s children already being grown by time they reached office? How far back does intense media pressure on the children of officeholders go and who are notable examples?

To be clear, I am not asking about legal prohibition, but about cultural prohibition. Many countries in the Middle East today report >90% lifetime abstinence from alcohol*. How did the transition from alcohol using to alcohol abstaining cultures proceed? Was there resistance? Bootlegging? Strife?

*this according to a recent map on r/mapporn

Hi /r/AskHistorians,

I was reading about Mafia today and wondered what made Italy so special in the regards of organized crime. As far as I am concerned, there is an organized crime in every society, but there is a few countries with so severe and strong organized crime as Italy. I would be glad for any reading on the topic. Thank you :)

We hear tons about Alexander's holdings in Egypt after his death and the Ptolemaic dynasty, but how did the other territory holdings fare? How long did they fall under Greek control or at least maintain ties with the Greek homeland? Which lasted the longest and how did they ultimately fail?