Is this a colonial coincidence, is there something catnippish about gold that appeals to us or something slightly more obvious?

I have an interest in the history of oppressed groups, the common people, workers rights etc. I was going to pick up Zinn's book, but I am discouraged after seeing some less than savoury reviews of the book in this subreddit.

Thank you

Where in history did early Christians start to associate Mary with extra-biblical power? Throughout the history of the Catholic church, how has this worship fluctuated and why?

I'm wondering if when the US school systems were segregated, were yearbooks segregated as well? Or, if they had like separate schools completely, did people of color even get a yearbook? And upon integration, were colored and non-colored students even featured on the same page in the yearbook?

Was it not used extensively throughout the Roman empire? How did the "concrete" with its many applications become "lost" in the first place?

I know there are many places where we can find irony within Shakespeare's plays, but off the stage, do we know how prevalent irony and sarcasm was in common speech during that time?

I heard today Truman and FDR rarely, if ever, communicated or consulted one another. To what extent is this true? Was it just due to personal differences or was it more?

I read the Wikipedia article, but I found it lacking so I don't know if someone here could explain it a little clearer.

Were there regional concentrations?

I feel like I've picked up the view that Egypt and Syria were particular hotbeds of Christianity in the 2nd century, but I can't claim a source.

I've heard the city of Rome had a particularly high population of Christians since the 1st century- were other cities in the west home to large number of Christians?

How Christianized was the interior European hinterland compared to the Mediterranean basin by Constantine's Edict?

I've got a bazillion other awkwardly framed questions on this topic, but really any information would be nice.

Just read a Facebook post claiming Ishtar (pronounced similar to easter) worship is the original source of easter and that the bunnies and eggs are symbols of sex and fertility due to her being a sex and fertility goddess. Seems a very neat explanation to have withstood so much time. Is there any / how much truth is there to this story?

why did citizens of the German states(what is now Germany) immigrate to America in the 1600s? My mom researched her ancestral history a while back, and found that a branch of her family is german instead of irish, and came to America in the 1600s.

My US History teacher recently mentioned an uncertified story which basically said that when the CIA was spying on Cuban military bases, they noticed that they built a new soccer field, which was strange because Russians played soccer not Cubans. The CIA became knew something was up, and quickly noticed the construction of the missile sites.

Is this at all true? And if so is there a picture?

Moreover, why was it so seemingly dysfunctional? It's goal was to maintain world peace, but it obviously failed in that regard (WWII and the events leading up to it.)

Furthermore, are current multi-national organizations doomed to failure as well? Is it feasible to say that the UN is likely to follow suit and fail in maintaining world peace? If not, how does the UN differ from the League to make it a stronger organization than the League?

Can we consider the military campaigns in the 13th century (i.e. Albigensian crusade, Baltic crusade, spanish reconquest) a crusade in the same way that earlier crusades (the first four crusades) were thought of as crusades?

What's the different in mindset here, and how did we get that change?

Were there counties that shut down their courts in order to prevent the marriages? Did the federal government ever have to get further involved in enforcing the ruling?