Where would, for example, newly freed slaves get their Lares from? Would they just go see a craftsman and have one made? Were they a common present for new freedmen from their old masters? If a family died out completely, where would their Lares effigies go? Would they be buried with them, or would they be sold or gifted to mourners? I realise they were mostly inherited as they were passed down a family tree, but I'm mostly curious about scenarios where the person in question wouldn't have a family with Lares to pass down.

What are the primary differences between the late Medieval English state (14th-15th century) and the Tudor state of Henry VII and Henry VIII? What did the early Tudors introduce that was objectively brand new? (Other than the Act of Supremacy) The late Medieval English state had significant power over the church in England and, when in the hands of a great ruler like Edward III or Henry V, could call upon a considerable tax yield to support their endeavors.

Henry VII made significant moves to subordinate the nobility to him, but the nobility had no need of subordination when competently led. (Again under Edward III or Henry V)

Henry VII and Henry VIII (due to the Dissolution of the Monasteries) increased the crown’s revenue, but it had waned significantly due disastrous reign of Henry VI the Wars of the Roses. Revenue paled in comparison to that of what Edward III was able to raise in 1337-1338, some £500,000 from Parliament-levied taxes accord to Mark Ormrod.

What was the day to day, nitty gritty, bureaucratic differences between early Tudor government and that of the late medieval state? To put it simply, could Henry VII or Henry VIII command a stronger royal government than that of Edward III or Henry V? The English state had been on the more centralized end of government compared to the other major European states, what did the early Tudors add to that?

My questions stem from a BBC podcast I recently listened to about the Tudor state. Points were made that most of the administrative and political policies of Henry VII and Henry VIII had been done before (apart from the Act of Supremacy of course), implying the early Tudor state was not so “un-medieval” as is generally thought or asserted by Geoffrey Elton.

I've recently been learning about Grant and he has quickly become one of my favorite figures in history. I've already know (a lot) about his military achievements and his ability as a commander and I think he was the best general of the Civil War.

But I'm not curious about his ability as a commander, but as a president.

I've heard that Grant was one of the worst presidents in US history with a corrupt cabinet and inefficient way of governing. However, the more I learned about what he did in office the more the claims that he was corrupt and not a good president just becomes moot. I mean the dude literally had the 15th amendment signed and even crushed the Ku Klux Klan so hard that they didn't come back until the 1920s.

However, I'm not sure about his other achievements, nor on how actually involved he was in the corruption scandals. I feel like there's just a lot a more I just don't know about his time in presidency.

So does Grant really deserve the reputation of the corrupt, drunkard president or was he really much better than the narrative suggests? What were some of his other achievements?

I've recently become interested in the Khmer Rouge and one thing that I'm struggling to make sense of is exactly where I would put them on the political landscape. On one hand, I know they were allied with the USSR and certainly self-identified as communist, however, a lot of their stated beliefs seem a lot more like fascism - ethnic nationalism, nostalgia for a lost great past, focus on agricultural production as opposed to industry, and other things that I typically associate more with the far Right then the far Left.

They weren't exactly singing "Workers of the World."

It seems like, in many respects, they combine the worst of state-communist and fascist ideologies. How do historians and political theorists talk about this? I always learned that Pol Pot was just another communist dictator, but it seems like there's a bit more going on than that.

If anyone has any interesting readings on the Khmer Rouge as an ideological movement, or a good biography of Pol Pot, I'd take a recommendation. Most of what I can find is first-person accounts of things like the Killing Fields. Tragic, but more personal narratives and autobiographies than political.

(Preface: I know basically nothing about medieval history and the geographical distribution of lions, forgive any dumb stuff I say lol)

From what I can tell, lions are animals native to sub-Saharan Africa. Why were they so prevalent in Europe? Like, you have the three on the Royal Arms of England, one on the Royal Banner of Scotland, one on the Coat of Arms of Finland, and even Richard I of England was called "the Lionheart". I get that the Romans brought them up to fight gladiators but did that really influence later medieval culture so much?

Again, forgive my ignorance, I'm just really curious as to why an African animal would be so important to the heraldry and culture of medieval Europe.

I recently was afforded the opportunity to watch a picture called U-571, and was gutted by this film, if you can call it as much. It, to be quite frank, was an affront to us real sailors who actually took part. Where do I even begin?

The story loosely, AND I DO MEAN LOOSELY IN THE MOST EXTREME SENSE, follows a top secret mission now known as "Operation Primrose", which involved lifting a Jerry U-Boat for its encryption code. I knew things were bad right from the start, my first clue was the name of the U-Boat itself- the U-571. The ACTUAL name was the U-110, but that is only the begining. Jonathan Mostow, the director of this pathetic excuse for a film, had the AUDACITY, the... the GALL to have the AMERICANS running the show! THE BLOODY YANKS WERENT EVEN IN THE BLOODY WAR! Operation Primrose went down on MAY 9TH of 1941! The Yanks didn't bother to JOIN the war till DECEMBER of that year! DECEMBER! The bloody POLES did more for the entire operation! Yet here we are. The wayward colonies leading the way, saving the world once again. They've had some "hero" complex ever since the 18th century, I tell you.

Next, these they went about the whole operation wrong. They picture these "heroic" Americans going undercover as a bunch of German Kriegsmarine, posing as the crew of another U-Boat dropping off the bloody mail. Thats not what happened. We depth charged the blighters from two very BRITISH destroyers, the HMS Bulldog and HMS Broadway. Once we forced it to surface, the jerry in charge of the U-boat thought we would RAM the thing, so he ordered an evacuation, and we boarded the thing before he realized his mistake and tried swimming back to scuttle it himself. We totally didn't shoot him before he got there. Nope. Drowned for sure, no matter what those other germans said. That would be a crime.

Speaking of crimes, towards the beginning of the movie the German sailors are seen machinegunning helpless survivors in a lifeboat, when in fact U-Boat crews were known for providing food and water for those adrift at sea up until Donitz ordered such action to stop AFTER AMERICANS BOMBED GERMAN SUBMARINES FLYING RED CROSS FLAGS WHILE ACTIVELY GIVING AID TO WOMEN AND CHILDREN WHO HAD FOUND THEMSELVES WITHOUT LIFEBOATS. WAY TO RUIN IT FOR EVERYONE.

The film shows these brave "sailors" taking part in a daring cat and mouse chase between other U-boats, with a ridiculously climatic showdown between the captured U-boat and a destroyer. this is wrong on two parts.

FIRST, only ONCE in the WHOLE WAR did one submarine sink another while both were underwater, ALSO BY BRITISH SAILORS.

SECONDLY, Jerry destroyers never went that far out to sea, or at least rarely did. Not to mention, HOW MANY DEPTH CHARGES DID THAT THING HAVE?! There is no way a destroyer would have had that many. Unbelievable. The U-boat is damaged beyond repair and sinks, the survivors boarding a liferaft with all the secret documents and enigma machine itself, before being rescued and probably going on to win the whole bloody war if the Yanks were to tell that part too.

In reality, after the capture of U-110, we simply collected the prisoners from the pond like drowned rats and tried to tow the blasted thing all the way back home. It sunk on the way, but everything we took off her helped us to crack the code and turning around the war at sea.

A terrible film, even if it did feature Bon Jovi. I do not recommend this rubbish at all.

Instead of watching this absolute war crime of a film, watch something better, like A Bridge Too Far, Bridge Over River Kwai, Zulu, or some other proper British military film. Longest Day is another well worth the watch.

Just stay away from this. It deserves to be keeled and hauled and forgotten at the bottom of the sea.

Greetings all, c'est moi, your longest known monarch in all of history. It is me, King Louis XIV of France. But you may call me le Grand, or if you prefer, le Roi Soleil, the Sun King. I have seen these movies about me, and they portray me oh so poorly. One focuses around my death, others trying to create lies out of my court. How about a grand movie about me from my own perspective?

I began as a small child, suddenly ruling France at the age four. It was rough, my childhood. Growing up was brutal. I felt neglected, scared, yet I was the King. How dare the people treat me like that? Then at age nine, it got worse. A long civil war. I will never forgive Paris. 

Once I was of age, I was a magnificent soldier on the battlefield. But I also fell in love, with the beautiful niece of Mazarin. It was a forbidden love, my dearest Marie. But as king, I could not pursue it, so I married Marie-Thérèse of Austria. This marriage secured the peace we needed with Spain. 

After Mazarin died, I truly began my reign. I swore that I would bear responsibility for the entire realm. This was my divine right, as King Louis XIV of France. Everything belonged to me. 

I made France beautiful. I supported the arts. I made France the most glorious place in Europe. No small detail escaped me. Look at the Palace of Versailles. It is proof of all my hard work at glory. I also have many children, and my heir, Louis, though he died before me, his son, Louis XV, long may he reign. I pray that my dynasty lives on. 

I also did start a few wars here and there, expanded French lands, but no need to focus on that. It seems I got carried away here. My film, my glorious film will be managed by me. It must show the struggle of a small boy, given the throne at the age of four, the pain he felt, to the glorious battlefield, to my forbidden love, to my dearest Palace of Versaille. I want my film to focus on me and my glory. 

After all, you have probably seen a portrait of me. I must be in charge of everything for my film. It is absolutely mine. Now that this "film pitch" is done, how is my dearest descendant King Louis XXV doing? 

Did they have some ad-hoc temporary corpse storage? A small back-up pyramid?

Hello,

I'm looking to find a primary source that depicts why Athens was in its golden age(Around the 5th century BCE.) It would be great if it was by Thucydides, Xenophon, or Plutarch. Thanks!

Hello,

Most of the books I have come across have been focused on the political side of the USSR such as an analysis of the communist party, the leaders or the fall of the iron curtain etc.

I'm trying to find nonfiction books (or textbooks) discussing what everyday life was like for the 'proletariat' or memoirs by people who actually lived within the Soviet Union who can tell me of their experiences.

Are there any books you'd recommend focused in this way?

Thank you!

PS. I'm also interested in other European communist block nations. If you know of any books not focused on the Soviet Union please share them, I'll likely move onto them after the USSR. (I'll move to Asia/Cuba later).

Forgive me if this has been asked many times before, but it always confused me why Nazi Germany would align with the Japanese given their white supremacists views. I have a few questions about this. Was there ever any infighting between the Germans and the Japanese during WW2?
What did Hitler and Nazis think of Japan and Asians? In an alternate history do you think Hitler would make an exception for aligning with other types of non white countries like he did Asian people if they were in a similar situation of power and held similar views like Japan was, like a Latino country or an African country for example?

We are pleased to now present our additions and replacements to Act II of "Hamilton" to reconcile this work of fiction with the Hamilton we all knew and the events which actually took place.

Note: In the spirit of bipartisan cooperation and compromise that I initiated to save the Republic, I also enlisted the aid of a number of Democratic Republicans for their opinions on the bastard brat of a Scotch Pedler of a musical that I watched under duress and disclaim any and all responsibility for their contributions. They and other performers will remain anonymous until appearing on stage for their scenes.

Besides, if you're reading this Hamilton, nowadays nobody of worth considers you a real Federalist anyway.

(To the Sound of Silence)

Hello Alex my old friend
It's time to try to shut you up again
You never could do so while alive
And now you've gotten revivified
And the whinging that you do on the stage
It makes the truth fade
And my head ache
So lets encourage you...to silence

THE POLKA WAY!

(To Weird Al's King George Scene)

Reputations rise, and they fall
And some bear no basis to reality at all
You didn't like what was said
And got the courts to jail journalists instead
And when that wasn't enough
You would have invaded Virginia with an army to remind it
Of your love!

Da da da da da, da da da da dai ya da, da da da da da da yai da da!

ELECTION SEASON HAS STARTED!

(To New York, New York)

Start spreading the cash!
'Cause Burr's turned out white trash!
All those people you think should never vote
Well they just did!
And now we've lost New York
And any real hope
Of winning 1800's Presidential brass ring!

YOU CAN'T EVEN WIN YOUR OWN STATE YOU INCOMPETENT NINNY!

[Hamilton appears on stage.]

(To You Oughta Know)

I'm so unhappy
Because I'm on the side
And my least favorite moron from Massachusetts
Gets to decide

All the things that I wanted
He wouldn't dance
How can I ever get my war with France!

His Cabinet's all mine
But that's just not fine
Because Hamilton's policies are divine!

11 states and Hamilton it was that made our land
And meanwhile you were eating out of King George's hand
But you won

And it's NOT FAIR
To remind me
Of how GW chose you in my stead

And it's NOT FAIR
To remind me
That it should of been me instead!

You, you, you, gonna lose!

AND I WILL MAKE SURE YOU DO SO! MWAHAHAHAH!

[Cue Bond villain music while Hamilton writes page after page furiously and then raps.]

He's got talents of a certain kind
But they ain't mine
He's unfit for the office of the Chief Magistrate
And I don't want to wait!

The limits to his vanity are unknown
But the real issue is he don't listen to the Cabinet I own!
Washington was modest and sage
Adams would be a terrible leader in any age!

So it's Pinckney, Pinckney all the way
Don't you dare vote for Adams on your election day!

[Hamilton leaves triumphantly with those Federalists on stage stunned. Fast forward to a freezing winter scene in Washington. Bayard appears.]

(To Why Can't We Be Friends)

Hamilton has made us sit here in the cold
35 ballots are getting really old

Why Can't We Be Friends
Why Can't We Be Friends
Why Can't We Be Friends
Why Can't We Be Friends

I'll take the deal for saving the Navy and some grift
I still hate the political party shift

Why Can't We Be Friends
Why Can't We Be Friends
Why Can't We Be Friends
Why Can't We Be Friends

Hamilton put our Constitution and country at risk
So how in the hell does he get away with this!

[Fade out to Why Can't We Be Friends.]

Ave, people of your so-called internet! It is I, Publius Clodius Pulcher, Roman Politician and part-time sex god, here to tell you why you should make a TV series about the shenanigans me and my fellow noble Romans (possibly) got up to.

We Romans did not have your "television" or "internet" but we did have fake news, so it's probably impossible for you people to tell what's true and what isn't. But I'll tell you some of the rumors going around, and you tell me if you think they'd make for entertaining viewing.

Let me put this one to bed right now: I did not, and never have, given my sister Clodia the business. And if I did, you can't prove it. And if you did somehow come up with some evidence, I could send some of my friends from the collegia around to discuss it with you, and maybe you'd come to see my point of view. If you know what I mean. Look, Clodia is hot AF, and I may be about the only guy in Rome that hasn't boinked her, unless you count her husband Metellus - what with her *ahem* busy schedule it's unlikely she has time for him. She won't ever tell me for sure if the poet Catullus ever got there, but if you read his poetry, there she is staring out at you from the page. But no matter what that insufferable nerd Cicero has to say, my relations with my sister have never been of a carnal nature. He's just salty because his wife Terentia thinks HE wants to bang Clodia, which he probably does, and which he possibly even has - it's not like he'd admit it in all those soppy letters he's constantly writing. But Cicero has to talk down Clodia in public because otherwise he'd have trouble at home- have you SEEN Terentia? She could break him in half.

Anyway, did you ever hear about the time when the women had their all-woman party/religious thing at Caesar's house, and I dressed up as a woman and sneaked into it for a little ave-vale with Caesar's wife Pompeia? You wouldn't think he'd mind, since they say he swings the other way - we even call him the Queen of Bythnia because they say he and the King of Bythinia got along very well. Like, REALLY well.Anyway, It didn't work out with Pompeia because they caught me and threw me out, but listen people, I was the biggest name in Rome for MONTHS when they put me on trial. It might not have been the trial of the century - that particular century had a hell of a lot of trials- but it was definitely the event of the year.

I still think Lucullus only wanted to prosecute because of that time he was out east with an army, and I convinced all his soldiers that following orders is lame and that they should try not following them instead. They tried it and liked it so much they wrecked Luke's whole campaign, and he's still salty. Some people just can't let stuff go. Anyway, the jury decided I was innocent (which is nice because the charge carried the death penalty). The fact that so many jurors immediately bought new houses or slaves or threw down such fat stacks at the racetrack was just a coincidence, honestly. They probably found buried treasure under the courthouse.

Let's talk a little more about Caesar. We didn't get along, but the guy was definitely a major stud. So there was this time when there was a debate in the Senate about what to do with some guys who tried to overthrow the government, which at this period of history was happening about every twenty minutes. Caesar was on one side of the debate, and that insufferable twit Cato was on the other, and right in the middle of the debate somebody sneaked into the Senate and handed Caesar a note. "Aha!" says Cato, "you want to play nice with these traitors because you're a traitor yourself!" But Caesar gave the note to Cato and it turned out it wasn't treason, it was a love note from Servilia. That's right, not only did the whole Senate find out that Caesar was clean, it also found out that Cato's sister was putting out for Caesar. Caesar ended up losing the debate, but you got to admit "shut up, I'm doing your sister" is a pretty sick flex. And it got even sicker some years later when everybody was talking about how Servilia was pimping her daughter Junia to Caesar. Nothing like keeping it in the family, I always say.

Wait, I don't always say that and you can't prove I do.

Look, I could go on for months, and if there's any other Rome-ophiles on this internet of yours, they can probably put more examples in the comments. But the point is, you could make a TV show just of sex conspiracy theories from Roman politics go to ten seasons without even trying, and one of the main characters would definitely have to be my beautiful self. What's not to like?

I want to state first off, just in the interest of being totally clear, that this isn't an attempt at Nazi apologia or anything. The question just kind of occured to me while I was writing, and none of my attempts at googling the question really turned up any results. So, yeah I guess I'm just curious if there are any documented incidents of members of the Nazi party who didn't necessarily agree with the party's anti-semitic programs?

I’m from the southwest so I know that somewhere with a more white and hispanic racial breakdown would’ve had schools aligned along those racial lines. But what about like a hispanic person in Georgia? Or an Asian person in Dallas? And what about the major cities like New York that were a hodgepodge?

I’ve always wondered about hispanic, indigenous, arab and asian people during this time.

There have been a few films about me over the years and, to be brutally honest, I’ve been a bit disappointed by them all, and there certainly haven’t been any that, for want of a better phrase, ‘get me’. However, Medraut recommended this one to me, as apparently the filmmakers went to a lot of effort to really capture the reality of my life. He’s a good friend Medraut. Or is it enemy? Well, one of the two. Anyway, I’m sorry to say that King Arthur (2004) is riddled with inaccuracies.

First off, the very title contains an error. I was not, in fact, a king. Or was I? I forget. The film is set in AD 410, but I actually lived in the early sixth century, I think. Speaking of the setting, I was not, as the film suggests, active in the region of Hadrian’s Wall. I was actually fighting battles in Linnius, or possibly Dumnonia, or Alt Clut now I come to think of it? If I’m honest, my memory’s a bit hazy. At the start of the film, the fictional me meets with Bishop Germanus, whose actual visit to Britain took place around 429. And then again 10 years later, unless it was just the one visit? I’m such a scatterbrain. In any case, the central plot of the film revolves around an incursion of Saxons in northern Britain. In reality, Anglo-Saxons did not invade Britain north of Hadrian’s Wall, apart from the ones who did, of course.

One thing the film does get right is portraying me as a cavalry commander. We Britons use a lot of cavalry in battle, possibly. Whereas the Saxons invariably fight on foot, except when they don’t, that is. Another thing they get spot on is by having me as the British leader at the Battle of Badon Hill. That was definitely me. Or was it Ambrosius? Hmm, not sure on that one. You know, sometimes it’s a bit hard to remember the specifics of whether you were in Caerleon in 489 or 513, or whether you actually went to Chester. Or York? I’ll check my diary. Damn! I just remembered I’m an illiterate Celtic chieftain who received a classical Latin education at the school in Corinium. Okay, I’ve checked now, and the battle at Chester took place in 616. At least one did, we might have fought a couple actually. I’ll ask Urien, he’s from that part of the world, or at the very least he might be.

All I’ll say is that films like this are very damaging to my mental health. Sometimes I almost feel like I’m not there…

When did modern people stop believing in fairies. I know they were till believed in in the early twentieth century as seen with the Cottingley Fairies, and I know that some people and cultures still believe in them. What I want to know is when did the belief in fairies go from being a socially acceptable belief to being something only children believed in, at least in the Americas.

I don't think that anyone expected Casablanca to become as popular as it did- even when it was released it did well, but not that well, and maybe it was the great timing with Operation Torch and the Allies taking Casablanca that led it to explode and do so well at the Oscars. It is an excellent movie, though, but I'm confused about one thing- where are the Jews?

As a Jew who, myself, came to the United States only a year ago in 1942 against all the incredible odds, and after a long and difficult journey which included time in Casablanca, I found the film to be resonant, but it did get some details wrong. A few smaller things, to begin with- a cafe like Rick's wouldn't have been in a neighborhood near the airport- the airfield was five miles outside of town- and it would have mostly catered to Europeans, as there wasn't as much social mixing with native Moroccans as was shown in the film. There were also almost no Americans left in Casablanca once Vichy took it over, as one of the first things the consulate did was help get them (and other Americans throughout Morocco) out of the country, but interestingly enough, the only African-American in Casablanca was in fact named Sam! (He was a night watchman at the consulate, somewhere where I and my fellow refugees spent many a long day waiting in the hopes of getting a visa.) And speaking of visas, while visas signed by General Weygand (then part of the Vichy army) existed, a visa that was signed by General De Gaulle would have been useless or worse. A blank letter of transit or visa from someone like General Weygand, though... that would have been incredible for someone in our situation, and the intrigue surrounding them in the film, as well as the desperation to have them, rang very true.

But what was strange to me was that there were no Jews mentioned in the film. Of course, there were many refugees in Casablanca from all over Europe, but many of them were Jews due to the tremendous persecutions- and now we're hearing, ever more clearly, the murders- by Hitler's Germany. Perhaps the characters who seemed most likely to be Jewish were the German-speaking couple at the beginning of the film, practicing their broken English with the waiter. That reminded me greatly of myself. I came from Vienna, originally, and left after the Anschluss to Paris, after I saw and experienced the great humiliations and restrictions heaped upon our community by the invading Nazis. Things were difficult in Paris, but I was able to join a refugee community there- and we were doing well until Paris fell to the Nazis in 1940. Then we were set on a long and difficult trip to Casablanca. I was lucky and was able to take a boat from Marseilles; others had to sneak over the border into Spain, something which was incredibly difficult.

The boat from Marseilles was crowded and filthy, and we had to wait days before we were allowed to disembark- and then we were stuck. At first, we were in an internment camp at Ain Chok, where we were helped greatly by the local Moroccan Jewish community, though they themselves were quite poor. They deserve a great deal of praise for their assistance, especially as they themselves were dealing with antisemitic professional and educational restrictions by Vichy France. One of the most important figures for us was Hélène Cazès-Bénatar, who not only was the first female lawyer in Morocco but was the founder of a refugee aid organization that helped us with registering with the authorities, finding housing (including in the homes of local Jewish families!), and even some financial assistance, and they worked alongside the American consulate in terms of helping us with even such seemingly minor things as selling our jewelry and valuables to reputable dealers rather than scammers. Money was important in Casablanca- if you had enough of it, you could keep up your existence for a while, though you had few opportunities (in fact, the number of refugees working at Rick's would have been unusual- the authorities preferred that locals be employed, and we needed hard-to-get work permits to get jobs). Still, it was far better to be in that situation than to be stuck in one of the internment camps, which often included labor, such as building railroad tracks. There were thirty of these camps, twelve of which were specifically for Jews (many of the others were Spanish Republicans).

It was incredibly difficult to get a visa out of Casablanca, and in that regard, as I've said, the movie got it exactly right. People were desperate. The lines outside the US Consulate were everpresent and they did their best to help people not only get US visas (extremely difficult to do given immigration quotas) but even visas for other countries. People were so desperate that I saw them threatening to commit suicide if they couldn't get a visa- and I'm told that one man really did slit his throat after being denied. But even for those who could get that coveted visa (a tortuous process), it was difficult enough to get from Casablanca to Lisbon as the first leg of the trip, with some ship captains double- or even triple-booking spots on their boats and extorting women for sex in exchange for passage. It could cost almost twice as much to get a spot on a boat from Casablanca to Lisbon, sleeping on the deck or in a lifeboat, as it did to sail with a berth in a shared cabin and meals from Lisbon to New York.

While things were very difficult for refugees and those who helped us (Hélène Cazès-Bénatar had her organization officially dissolved by the Vichy government and had to continue it on her own, and was nearly interned), there was often sympathy for us among the local police, even as many did what they could to conform and keep their jobs. In fact, Renault is depicted as much less altruistic than his real life counterpart, Maurice Heviot, who was one of Hélène Cazès-Bénatar's staunchest supporters who worked tirelessly in various ways to undermine the Vichy regime. And, of course, this reminds me of the scene in which Victor Laszlo led everyone in a chorus of La Marseillaise. It was deeply resonant, though technically speaking it wasn't illegal to sing it in Vichy France (though it was in occupied France)- however, the lyrics were changed, and it was obligatory to sing a song in honor of General Petain immediately afterward. But indeed, the scene expressed many of the hopes of not only refugees but also many of the French in Morocco.

I was one of relatively few fortunate enough to be able to obtain an exit visa through the consulate and to leave Morocco even before the Allies invaded. I left Casablanca to Lisbon by boat and then sailed to New York, where I arrived just in time to see the new film. And I was confused- where were all the Jews? There were so many of us! And I've been told by people here that the people who made the movie were Jewish (the Warner Brothers), the people who wrote the screenplay were Jewish (the Epsteins), and a lot of the actors playing refugees were actually refugees themselves, and mostly even Jewish refugees! It is just so strange to me.

If I asked a Roman "what year is it?" what would they tell me? Were years standardized across vast areas? Was the year in India much different from China or Greece? Thanks!