I just received the referee reports on an article I've submitted for publication, and I was very fortunate this time (no crazy reviewers or people with large axes to grind). All the comments were helpful and constructive, but one reviewer in particular is helping me see how I can finally fix things that have bothered me about this article for months, but which had become so tangled up in my head that I couldn't make sense of them anymore. This is an incredible blessing, and I wish I could thank her/him in person.

At the same time, having to rewrite this article again before (hopefully) seeing the last of it is so incredibly exhausting. I'm accutely aware right now of how 'good news' in academia (your paper is accepted! ...if you make all these changes.) is so often just code for 'congratulations, just do this one last thing, and then I promise that's it!'

I am finally home-home after nine weeks of research followed by the African Studies Association annual meeting in sunny San Diego. I hate coming back to cold and rain after an antipodean late-spring, but it's nice to be home, and to have seen so many friends at ASA. SD is stupid expensive, though. What's up with that?

Otherwise, I had my first real news exposure this last week, in South Africa; the book got a couple of articles in Transvaal (well, Limpopo and Mpumalanga) regional papers, which was pretty cool. My editor said that within the series my book is selling very well, which for self-supporting academic presses means "more than a few hundred." We're still trying to find an African press to take on a low-cost non-export version, but it's a struggle. But on Amazon, they've classed the book as "real estate / investment" instead of "history" which is just plain bizarre. In that category, however, I am in the top 100, so I'm not sure how to feel about that.

Free-for-All? Well all righty then, reposted question coming up.

I asked this about a month ago & didn't get an answer, so maybe better luck this time. ;)

I remember reading (a few decades ago) about Sir Walter Scott's mother having an inherited disease that her family called "the curse." As I recall the story, it stiffened the entire body, and she was on the estate grounds when it struck her.

She fell as she was trying to return to the house, and they thought she was dead. Her husband placed a valuable ring on her finger before burial, and some grave robbers later tried to steal it, when she summoned all her remaining strength to moan loud enough for them to hear (and be frightened off). The commotion brought her family who realized that she was only paralyzed.

My questions: am I remembering the story right, and what was her diagnosis? Obviously the story has stayed with me for a long time. My deepest apologies if the this is wrong sub; thanks in advance!

Inspired by Is there a difference between Helots and Slaves?:
Is there usually a noticable difference between helots/perioikoi and slaves in mainstream popular media (historical fiction books, series, movies)?

Okay I made a post about this, and dying to know (if there are good books to read, please let me know!): is there any indication as to how Antony would've ruled over Rome if he had won the civil war?

Been hesitant to make a thread for this; I don't know if it's too broad of a question. If it warrants it's own thread though let me know and I'll make one for it.

Curious about mysterious people in history. For example, Jack The Ripper and the Zodiac killer being serial killers with unknown identities. But were there people who were more considered heroes that kept their identities a secret? Maybe not necessarily a hero as in a real life Batman fighting crime, but in a more general sense.

Today I posted a new blog post about members of the atomic bomb program that got somewhat written out of history: Women, minorities, and the Manhattan Project

If there are any lawyers on this subreddit that had history degrees in undergrad (major or minor), I'd love a PM from you. I have some questions.

Who made the first cordials?

Advertising /r/JewishHistory once again, currently there's a thing on the founder of Esperanto, so anyone interested in Esperanto or artificial languages, come and head on over!

Aside from that, I'm looking forward to watching HIGNFY and struggling to buy secret Santa presents.

What is the history of Chainmaille?

Was the first documented instance from a viking gave 400bc?

I tried asking this question once here, but it's too broad ("throughout history..."). I tried /r/History, but they thought I was trying to get them to finish my homework assignment! So let's try again. I'm hoping for some discussion, resources I can use, anything to help me better understand:

How did authoritarian dictatorships become and remain successful?

I don't really know a lot about this topic. If I recall correctly, Hitler leveraged animosity over provisions in the Treaty of Versailles that damaged Germany's economy. I know fear has been a big asset for authoritarian dictatorships, such as under Stalin and Ivan the Terrible. But one thing I've always wondered is why people don't resist more often, or more effectively. What specific techniques do dictators use to keep people from revolting? Historically speaking, does fear or fervor work better to keep people in line?

To give some context, I'm working on a novel (fiction) that takes place in an isolationist, dystopian society similar to that of 1984. (inb4 dystopia is overdone! I don't care, I love it.) Knowing more about historical dictatorships will help me better understand the society I'm working with, and the characterization of the people running it.

I did try Google last time I asked this, but it's hard to know exactly what to search for. I guess I'm looking for a place to start that isn't Hitler or Stalin.

I am looking for a good podcast or similar to learn about the Crusades. I recently watched the Kingdom of Heaven movie, and want to learn more about all of it. Preferably something more entertaining or engaging than dry and analytical, though I value historical accuracy. I've heard people speak highly of "Wrath of Khans", so something similar to that might do the trick. Does anyone have suggestions?

One more thing, I started to listen to this podcast http://historyofthecrusades.podomatic.com/entry/2012-10-04T23_55_15-07_00 which was the first result on Google, but I'm a bit doubtful of one claim made in the first few minutes. It is said that people in Western Europe in 1090 usually died between 35 to 50 years of age, which I believed to be a common myth, as life expectancy in the Middle Ages was skewed due to very high infant/childhood mortality, but once someone became an adult they stood a good chance to live into relatively old age.