What did you get for Christmas, AH?

For those of you that subscribe to The Economist, you may have seen in their most recent edition this article about the conquest of Hernan Cortes.

The entire article, while interesting in its discussion of the modern state of Cortes' trail, seems a bit...well, it's almost like the author is overly sympathetic to the conquistador, and kind of dismissive of modern concerns about the legacy of colonial rule.

I was wondering if some of our South Americanists might give their opinion of the article, I'm just wondering if someone more learned thinks this is as blasé as I did.

I just made ölsupa!

Some time ago, /u/vonadler shared a recipe for an old, Swedish breakfast gruel largely composed of milk, beer, and flour. They asked me to report back if I ended up trying it, so I figure I might as well share with everyone else as well while I'm at it. While it was pointed out that it isn't actually a Christmas thing, I didn't end up having time to do it until now anyway.

The short version is it was...interesting. I don't really have any experience with gruel in general, so I can't do a comparison. But basically, it was very thick and rich, fairly sweet, with a mostly smooth but slightly grainy texture. Not sure if I'll end up making it again, as there are far too many things that provide far more deliciousness with far less effort. Another strike against it is that I am not a lumberjack or a King, so this much nutrition in one place would probably be a bit dangerous on a regular basis. But it wasn't bad.

I did make some tweaks to the recipe as presented, for convenience. The only spice I ended up using was nutmeg (I skipped the ginger due to a mild allergy), but it might have been better if I had thrown in some cinnamon or something. I divided all the amounts in half, since the original recipe would have been waay too much. I ended up using 2% milk, since I wasn't even sure where to look for natural milk. And I couldn't find a good approximation for small beer, so I ended up using a home-brewed milk stout instead.

All in all, a worthwhile experience. Thanks again to /u/vonadler!

Alcibiades is one of my favorite historical personages, but all I really see on him most of the time is Cracked articles. Anyone have any decent sources/info/commentary on him?

What is your favourite historical fiction? Be it full film or series.

Does anyone have any recommendations for a book that would provide a good introduction to the different Native American groups of North America, hopefully with some focus on New England? My mom has expressed interest a few times, but I don't know too much about the topic either so I'm not sure where to start. I'll point out that she is not normally very interested in history, so I don't think she would like anything too in-depth.

Where does the phrase "Deaf as a doornail" come from? I can't find sourced info on the origination, or the related phrase "deaf as a post".

Also, looking for info on related phrase "dumb as a doornail" and the change between deaf/dumb in the phrasing.

What do you guys think of Dan Carlin?

I believe I have enough knowledge on a specific topic that I could get flair if I applied and met the conditions. Trouble is, questions on these two topics don't come up that often that I often miss and as such, I don't meet the qualification of having 5 quality comments on each topic.

The first topic in this case is American Imperialism, which I guess would be under North American History flair. The second would be the Cold War which is Military flair I think.

what is your favorite popular "historical" movie?

How exasperated are you guys (historians) with World War II? Seems like half the questions on the front page of this subreddit are always about World War II, especially Hitler. Has there ever been discussion about making a subreddit for non-WWII questions, or vice versa?

I know I'm a little late but I was wondering what the History of the use of Depression through music was, how this type of music evolved & society's perception of mental illness & music in general. Would anyone be able to shed some light on this please?

What is the earliest record of a dedicated fire department?