Today:
Welcome to this week's instalment of /r/AskHistorians' Day of Reflection. Nobody can read everything that appears here each day, so in this thread we invite you to share anything you'd like to highlight from the last week - an interesting discussion, an informative answer, an insightful question that was overlooked, or anything else.
/u/Reedstilt worked many wonders this week in his quiet unassuming way: dispelling the myths surrounding the Lewis and Clark expedition, explaining that the Iroquois didn't know about the Aztecs and why one Native American tribe would go to war with another. The Stilt always takes his time to carefully research his answers and as a consequence they are rarely read by a wide audience, as the thread will have dropped off the hot page by the time he comments. So, go give him some love.
Our up-and-coming Italian expert /u/MarcelloD gave us a fascinating insight in how common homosexual relationships were in Early Modern Florence.
/u/estherke drew a picture of Fat Jacques, a Jew collaborating with the SS, that is both chilling and fascinating
Given my propensity for run on posts, I really appreciated /u/alfonsoelsabio's excellent summary of Why it took Castile and Aragon 200 more years to reclaim Granada and complete the Reconquista?
The subreddit tends to fill with awesome on Sundays after this thread gets posted and therefore, those questions can get less than their due. Currently hot off the press:
/u/idjet on the history of human dissection from 1209 onwards;
/u/Legendarytubahero on uti possidetis juris in the decolonization of Latin America; and
/u/MootMute on the causes and consequences of American newspaper strikes in 1978
I got some great answers this week from /u/XenophonTheAthenian and /u/Tiako on Where did the Greeks go to see plays
/u/texpeare also delivered a great post and nice followup on Who was Shakespeare's competition.
I had fun organizing the panel discussion about Alaska disasters, but I was kind of disappointed at the number of questions that were asked. It's somewhat discouraging when one sees the number of warfare questions.
/u/Imazagi well written response to my late question regarding Wehrmacht troops surrendering to the Allies deserves noting here. Included was a chilling BBC recording of troops surrendering and a pdf with many excellent photographs.
/u/ZedekDavies on Athens and Sicily.
http://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/20nkoc/z/cg55lrr