x-posted around some other places, but like last week, I thought folks might be interested in another update on my dissertation!

https://gunlord500.wordpress.com/2015/12/11/gunlords-dissertation-saga-episode-3-a-shadow-looms/

I ended up finding a book that seemed very close to what my dissertation attempts to do, but thankfully Dr. Ericson's approach is different from mine, so I think he might end up complementing my work rather than supplanting it. Still, it is something to tell my committee..

Last week I binge watched The Man in the High Castle on Amazon Prime. Basically, it is an alternate history of the US if FDR had been assassinated and the US had lost WWII. Not bad. Definitely pretty entertaining overall.

The only thing that really bugged me was that at one point a main character tries to buy a bible. Turns out they are illegal. At first I thought this must be the result of Japanese policy (Japan owns the West Coast) since they had anti-Christian policies under the Tokugawa era and possibly saw traditional American culture and religion as a threat. Plot continues for a bit before I find out, no, it is the Nazis who are hunting down and destroying bibles.

I get this is alternate history and a lot of leeway is to be expected, but they don't even take the opportunity to explain when Christianity became verbotten under the Nazis (despite being widely practiced by even highest ranking members of the party during WWII). They could have suggested that the Party evolved and eventually shed religion, since that was Hitler's plan all along or something of the kind. But no, they play into the 'Nazis are Atheists' myth.

Rule-violating poll question:

Should the Komnenian dynasty of the Byzantine Empire be categorized as Middle or Late Byzantine Empire?

Because everyone in here loves a good periodization fight.

Argument for Late: Though less destructive than 1204, the loss at the battle of Manzikert put the empire on the defensive, and there was significant restructuring in both the army, the navy, and the economy due to the loss of the hinterlands, forcing Byzantium to rely more on trade than its own production for funds. 1204 merely sealed the fate of an empire that was alternating between struggling and recovering.

Argument for Middle: It could be argued that it was the sack of 1204 that most decisively ruptured Byzantine political power as well as presence in the Mediterranean. Even after Manzikert, Byzantine position in the eastern mediterranean held fast, and had a couple of messengers arrived a little faster, the crusader states might have been seen as part of the Byzantine Empire, putting the eastern Roman Empire back on the map. So because of that, Manzikert should be viewed as a more of a blip before the more serious flaming disaster of the fourth crusade, putting it in the middle of a periodization rather than the edge of one.

At first I thought I (especially as a moderator) couldn't possibly post a fairly obvious rule-breaking question that I wanted answered, but then I remembered it was friday!

Two recent blog posts of mine that might be of interest to those on here:

• Why spy? looks at the motivations for the scientists who spied on the atomic bomb during World War II

• The curious death of Oppenheimer's mistress looks at the unusual circumstances behind the death of Jean Tatlock, J. Robert Oppenheimer's Communist mistress whom he spent the night with while director of Los Alamos

Forgive me for double-posting, but this literally just happened to me and I figured you guys would be able to empathize. Long story short, I am 200% mad.

So in my previous comment on here, the blog post I linked to that I wrote mentioned I had some trouble finding materials relating to George Fitzhugh in the National Archives. Well, my project also deals with Martin R. Delany (quick recap: I'm comparing the rhetoric of 3 black male abolitionists, Fred Douglass, Henry Garnet, and Martin Delany, to 3 proslavery advocates, R.L. Dabney, George Fitzhugh, and James Henry Hammond), and I had a comparatively recent book on him with what seemed to be comprehensive footnotes that would make finding the right reels easy enough. Specifically, the book is Tunde Adeleke's Without Regard to Race: The Other Martin Robison Delany, published in 2003, and the citations were these:

"Martin Delany, Freedmen;s Bureau Papers. Records of the Assistant Commissioners for the State of South Carolina. Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands (BRFAL), 1865-1870, Microcopy 869.

Martin Delany, Freedmen's Bureau Reports for May 1868. BRFAL, Microcopy 849, roll 32, 773-779."

Sounds good, right? They have the M-number, and the citation for #849 even has the roll number and page numbers right there, should be easy peasy, right?

Oh lord, nothing ever is.

So when I go to the National Archives microfilm room just about an hour ago, I look up both microfilm numbers 849 and 869. 869 shows up as it should, in the Freedmen's Bureau section. All good so far. But 849, the more specific citation...

That's not in the freedmen's bureau at all. That's in an entirely different dispatches to some other department of state, and moreover, it only has 4 reels, nowhere near 32!

200% mad.jpg

Well, OK, I think to myself, maybe it was a typo and the guy meant reel 869 rather than 849. And there is some mention of Delany in roll 32 of 869. Unfortunately, it's tucked within a TON of other stuff (freedmen's complaints, indices of various correspondents, etc.) so it's very difficult for me to tell if it was what Tunde was actually citing, and how useful to me it might actually be (from a glance the letter in the roll was a request to look into the status of a freedwoman, which might be interesting but might also just be a very brief missive).

Thus, once again, the microfilm has bested me. The staff at the National Archives was really nice and helpful, but Lord, with so much stuff in those reels, you need the most precise citations imaginable to find what you're looking for quickly...and these citations I've been working with recently haven't been all that precise :( I'm starting to believe that there is indeed a God of microfilm, and He has turned His mighty hand against me. :(

Started writing a rough outline of my thesis this week. Have it all sorted out on how it will go, including a title, however I'm starting to feel that can be improved. Would probably start writing more at this point, but I need to look over several books and articles I have back in Canada.

And with just two weeks left until I return home, I'm starting to realise I could have, or rather should have, done a lot more. I didn't get nearly as much research done as I wanted while over here, and my language skills, while definitely improved, are not as high as they should have. But I'll make do with what I have, and still have time to get some more material gathered before I go.

You go back in time. You have to be a warrior/soldier between 600 A.C and 1350 A.C. Where would you like to do it and why?

I have been watching the video lectures for the Yale course 'New Testament history and literature', all of which is available on youtube. Thoroughly recommended for anyone interested in the history of early Christianity - it explores questions such as 'was there an historical Jesus?' or 'what role did women play in the early Church?' or 'why do the gospels sometimes contradict one another?'

It's presented from an agnostic perspective, they make no prejudgements about faith, and it deconstructs the texts from an objective stand point, but it does help to have a some understanding of the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament if you want to follow along.

I've found it quite telling that 'Historical Jesus' gets just one lecture (was he or wasn't he - he probably was) but Saint Paul gets 7 whole lectures.

In other news I have acquired the book 'The Sea and Civilization: A Maritime History of the World' by Lincoln Paine which I am super excited to read soon.

A new site called Shakespeare's World (http://www.shakespearesworld.org/#/) just launched. Anyone can try their hand at transcribing early modern documents and potentially discover new words and word variants for the OED. I think this will be an exciting new way for non-experts to engage with history!

Which nation today do you think is most likely to have a monarch (or their family) restored? Not necessarily to any political power, but to some sort of official status?

Should I use "a" or "an" in front of words that begin with "histor..."

What year are we currently in if we started at the beginning of an unbroken sequence of recorded time?

In other words, when did humans start keeping a written record of the current year? How far back can we trace an unbroken sequence of a written record of years? By "unbroken" I mean, if one calendar system stops but another calendar system begins in another culture, it's not necessarily "broken" if there is a way to correlate the two.

Thanks!

What did early European sailors thought of tropical hurricanes?

Is it true that the Apache and Navajo tribes were not native to the southwest (Arizona, New Mexico)? That native tribes were Hopi, Zuni etc. that lived peacefully in established communities. I was told the Apacheans migrated south along the east side of the rockies, were a waring nomadic society that forced the native population into cliff dwellings and defensible positions?

I've always wondered what the critical/academic consensus (if there is one) among historians is about Daniel Boorstein's "The Discoverers", especially with regard to the quality of the scholarship. I absolutely loved it, but any time I read something like that, I wonder: do scholars agree this is accurate?

Okay, here goes: What did ancient and premodern people believe farts were? It's this weird, smelly, gas that trumpets from the poop chute. Did they have their own explanations for where farts came from?

So, I've been looking for a book or series of books that essentially cover the history of modern civilization. I want something that describes, chronologically, each civilization that has existed and major achievements, wars, internal political events, etc. Like major trivia for each time period. Essentially, whenever this era of this country is brought up, these are the main things to know.

In this realm, I started reading Why the West Rules, For Now but I've gotten really bored with the overarching argument the author is trying to make. I just want facts. Not speculation or subjective rankings.

Any thoughts on where I could start?

Has anyone read the Trial of Temple Anneke, if so what were your thoughts, any other resources for a witch craft trial that took place earlier, ie when divination was not necessarily associated with maleficium. Also a secondary request, any recommendations for docs that are on yt about the early modern period, that pertain specifically to Europe, and not the new world. Thanks

Edit: spelling

I'm sorry if the answer is somewhere in the sidebar, I took a quick look and couldn't find it.

I'm looking for a good ~1-hour recap of ww1 and/or ww2. Text is preferred. What do you recommend? Thank you!

So this would be the place where i can shit post (lack of a better term) ?