I think it's worth noting that, while I appreciate Said's influence, I'm interested in the difficulties faced by the field, more than specific issues with his work. Any insight there is of course still welcome, but it would be nice to know its relation to the field more generally (i.e, is it an issue only applicable to Said, is it a widespread danger of the field, or is it a problem that seems fundamental to/resultant from the idea/nature of the field itself, etc).

I finished reading the Count of Monte Cristo and am now reading the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and it seems like their standard response to shocking things was to faint. Was this reaction customary of the times?

What I mean is, a conference or collection of countries' that came together to discuss whatever was relevant at the time? And (not meaning to incite discussion about the current UN's effectiveness) did it work?

I apologize in advance if this is too controversial of a question, but I was flipping through some photo books of WWII during my lunch break at the book store today, and different books had different statistics. Some had only the 6 million Jews, and others included the other ethnic groups and that total was closer to 12 million (can't remember the exact number). That got me wondering, what do historians consider the Holocaust, and is there any debate on which victims to include in it? I checked Wikipedia, and it said there is still debate on whether or not to include the Romani genocide in the Holocaust. It seems strange to me that those victims wouldn't be considered part of it as well, so I was hoping you guys could clear it up.

Also, were political prisoners considered part of the Holocaust, such as communists, or is that considered separate as well?

I enjoy reading about the Mongols, but (at least in English) the authors heavily rely on just a few texts like the Secret History, Marco Polo, Rashid al-Din. Surely there is more out there in China, just waiting to be translated, right?

I have Mein Kampf as a source, but I need books that would be helpful for my research paper topic of Hitler and the Reichstag. I need 4 more book sources. Thanks for the help!

As far as I can tell, it is faster and easier to reload a lever action rifle than a bolt action, and they saw widespread use in the American frontier. Why is the rifle market dominated by bolt action rifles these days? Do they confer some advantage I don't see?

I was talking about this with my history teacher today. Surely, periods of hundreds of years, such as the renaissance or the world war eras, aren't recognized as these until much later. As for the middle ages, when did people realize that society was staying pretty much the same for extended periods of time, and what jumpstarted the cultural revolution known today as the renaissance?

I will admit to not having a great deal of knowledge on the period in question and the western United States so I would like to become better informed. As silly as it sounds, after watching the HBO show Deadwood I thought it would be worthwhile to read up on mining towns and the social impact of westward expansion. Are there any particular authors that I must read? For other periods and regions that I read about it is usually the social histories that get my attention because they are often interdisciplinary in their impact. I hope I can get some great recommendations! I should also say that I am looking for academic books, not popular reading- and I say that because half the books specifically on deadwood that I have found are written by fiction writers or those without serious pedigree.

Topics of interest:

Gold Rush, Frontier Towns and governance, Rural agricultural production, Native American-white relations

Thanks everyone!

What the hell were all those Germans doing?

I have a crazy question for all of you. My book about the Oracle of Delphi is about to go to press and I think I may have a major error in it. Most accounts of the battle at Thermopylae say the battle started August 8th or September 8th. I think I may have gotten confused by the fact that the different city-states use different calendars. If I understood Robert Hannah in his book Greek and Roman Calendars, then their calendar starts at the summer equinox and therefore August would be Boathoos...but now I'm not so sure. Any thoughts anyone??? I could really use your help.

I assume that for the vast majority of human history the wealthy distinguished themselves primarily by the clothes they wore, as it's an easy, immediate way to gauge the spending power of that person. Once clothing was made through machine processes, decreasing costs, were the less wealth sects of society able to dress in a more "sophisticated" manner? If that is the case, how, if at all, did it affect perceived relations between social classes? Did the wealthy freak-out in that they couldn't immediately tell who was a member of high society? Also, how does this play into the rise of marketing as a tactic to distinguish high end clothing?

Particularly in contrast to when battles were fought in closer proximity before the modernization of warfare. Did soldiers ever know names of opposed combatants, or had war become an anonymous affair by then? In particular I have historical epics like The Iliad in mind where soldiers appear to have fair knowledge of opponents and familial histories.

Judaism has a plethora of rules and commandments revolving around cleanliness. In following these rules, one would think that they minimized their chances of infection. Were they more likely to not catch the diseases of the Black Death than their non-Jewish peers? If that is the case, did significantly fewer Jews (by percentage of population, obviously not by raw number) die during the Black Death?

I'm going to a toga party tomorrow night. I'd like to be recognizable as Caesar, and alternatively my buddy would like to dress as Marcus Aurelius. Any historians able to give me a few hints as to how either man would have dressed?

Which countries were most effected by this flow weapons?