I used NUKEMAP to do some very preliminary analysis of declassified nuclear war targets from 1956, calculating some potential fallout patterns and casualties depending on some input assumptions. I also made a little interactive graphic to go with it. Check it out: Mapping the US nuclear war plan for 1956.

It was also featured on Gizmodo yesterday.

I've been talking to a few reporters who are doing stories on Obama's forthcoming visit to Hiroshima. It will be interesting to see what he says and doesn't say.

Also trying to grade papers and help students with their final projects. Showcased NUKEMAP to a bunch of alumni and donors last weekend. Had a cold, got over it. Cooked a roast. Wrote a short popular article (if it gets published next week, I'll let you know). Busy week!!

I just went to the Department of State for a guided tour! Admittedly it was a lot more touristy and superficial than I would have liked, but it was still worth it to get inside the main building and see all sorts of artifacts connected to the Secretaries of State.

One interesting piece was a china bowl commissioned to commemorate the Battle of Saratoga but due to artisans in China being unfamiliar with European features it depicts Asian looking versions of the key figures.

So, /r/EarlyModernEurope will be doing a monthly movie watch along that we would like to invite everyone to. Join now to help in choosing the inaugural film (I hope it's Barry Lyndon) and discuss the many aspects of the film!

Also subscribe for amazing discussions on the era and pretty art.

Some highs and lows in literature this week...

On Friday the 6th I got a most delightful email -

Hi Friends,

Some of you may have already received a similar email if you're also on the PLATO History Mailing list... this is a message to members of the mailing list on the upcoming book THE FRIENDLY ORANGE GLOW.

It's been a very long time (years!) since I sent out the last email to this list -- so long I bet many of you don't remember you signed up to be on it! Just a quick bit of news... the book is making progress. I recently signed a contract with Pantheon Books, part of the Knopf/Doubleday arm of Random House, to publish THE FRIENDLY ORANGE GLOW.

No word yet on when it will be out but the soonest would be Fall of 2017. I will keep you posted as I learn more, but the finish line is in sight, and I can't wait for it to be in everyone's hands! My hope is it will shed long-overdue light on the whole history and significance of the PLATO project and the amazing cast of characters involved in the story. It will definitely raise some eyebrows and challenge numerous commonly-accepted myths and legends in computer history. Stay tuned. More details will follow in a few months.

Thanks for your continued interest and support!

- Brian

Brian Dear has spent years researching PLATO in various university archives (how I came to know of the book) and this should be a seminal book on the history of the social Internet. I'm so very pleased this work is finally coming out in a book and will bring more attention to PLATO, which is so often forgotten. I will love it, you will love it, you will see me talking about it again sometime 2017.

...But this morning I received news that may finally make me superstitious about Friday the 13th - The Toast Dot Net is closing and my literary life will be 68% less rich on July 1st, for Monks will no longer Invent Things, Byzantine Negging will no longer be brought forth in its proper historical framing, and classic children's movies will remain unreviewed by Ayn Rand. I am honestly quite bereft about this, and have already spent the morning whining at the other mods and my husband and making them consider a certain Robert Frost poem about "Leafs." Those who also have an existential crisis created by The Only Decent Feminine Online Magazine dying, and that we might have to go read garbage like That Awful J-Word Rag or X-NO JANE now, the line to embrace the futility of Leafs starts here.

Minor question:

I've been rereading Lovecraft a lot lately and I've been struck by how many of the protagonists have interest in architecture, history, archaeology, and their personal genealogy. Many stories feature the protagonist remarking on architecture, touring New England and collecting information about their family history, etc. It seems strange to me that it's taken for granted that this is a normal pursuit for the characters.

Is this a reflection of Lovecraft's own interests, or would it have been commonplace for 1910-1930 young upper class men to pursue these interests?

Question for the historians of reddit:

Jobs.

I'm 32 y/o, majoring in history, with a focus on military history. I chose it because I'm interested in it, and know a little about it. Plus, I wasn't honestly expecting to make a career in the field.

I live in East Tennessee, and moving very far isn't really feasible.

Realistically speaking, if I get this degree, are there good jobs out there that aren't teaching? I have a good job now, in insurance, so I'm not hurting or anything. Just generally curious if I can realistically do something with this degree.

So the first week and a half or so of my experiment in question crafting has seen... mixed results. On the one hand, while several of the questions I've posted have gotten some attention, not have garnered an answer. To be sure, some of the questions have been quite forced, but on the other hand, I feel like I've been able to hammer out some legitimately interesting questions, so at least from my own end, I think that I've been doing pretty well with the challenge I've set for myself. The question about how detailed maps were for the Early Modern Middle East seems to have been the most popular, but as for my own judgement, I thought that how Modernization/Westernization influenced the status of women in early 20th century was the most legitimately interesting question that the system set me towards. I've been pretty happy with several other questions as well, but definitely had a few that were obviously quite forced, probably either late-20th century Oceanic agriculture or else Indonesian transportation options.

So anyways, that is my field report for week one (point five). A bit saddened that I have not gotten an answer, but I know well enough that even the best of questions sometimes get passed over, so hardly a deterrence. And more importantly, as I said when initially announced what I was up to, I feel like I have succeeded well in pushing myself to contemplate a wider span of history, and it has been pretty fun doing it.

Denny's pancakes will power me through at least 3000 words of writing today. Or, they'll make me comatose as I struggle to digest the homogenous mass I've ingested. I'm okay with either outcome.

For reasons that violate the twenty year rule, a political ad by LBJ called "Confessions of a Republican" has been dug up and passed around quite a bit. As part of this renewed interest William Bogart, the actor in the ad, appeared in an interview, and one thing that struck me was that all of the mannerisms that I thought were unnatural and evidence of somewhat stiff acting were actually just the guy's mannerisms. Which makes me wonder how many of the "unnatural" affectations of old movies are actually just evidence of changing mannerisms. I mean, if 50% of communication is body language, why shouldn't it change in subtle ways the same as verbal language does?

No point to this, by the way, just a historical shower thought.

My semester is over, and with it several research projects. I had three going on this semester with pretty different scopes- one was about St. Louis from 1890-1910, another about English understandings of Napoleon in the early days of WWI, and the third about Irish lit in WWI (which is ongoing). I have read SO MANY early 20th century newspapers this semester, which was an odd combination of interesting, amusing, and tragic. Reading about the early days of WWI is always rough but the journalism, style, etc. is often really funny to me.

Anyway. Glad to be done for a while, but I've learned a lot! Also, if anybody has any sources on English public opinion regarding Napoleon after ~1840, I would love to hear about it! Or any favorite (lesser-known) Irish writers from the War.

Given how many Dan Carlin and Game of Thrones fans there are around here, I thought I'd post this, since it had me giggling like a loon in places: Alex Berg doing a spookily accurate Hardcore History parody narrating the history of Westeros. First 3 episodes (over 5 hours) are available for free, the rest (5 more) are behind a paywall. The free 3 cover history up until the books start:

Free episodes can be found here: Shadow of the Dragon Pt. I

Are there any books about what happened to Americans veterans of the Spanish Civil War after the conflict was over?

What image or quote some sums up your love of history and why?

So I've been reading Tuchman's A Distant Mirror and I really enjoy it—but apparently it's not-so-good history. That said I like the writing style and don't mind it much. Are there books on high middle ages that are fun to read but also better history?

Could someone help put a date on this photograph of my great-great-great grandparents or direct me to somewhere on the Internet that could help me ?

They were born in the late 1840s early 1850s and still alive around 1920. I don't have a clear date on their deaths though but I would think the picture was not taken earlier than 1915/1920. This is in England, either around London or Bristol.

Thank you.

I am on break from school for the next while, and I want something to do with my time. Does anyone have any suggestions on books about some of the lesser known (or at least less taught) older civilizations? I'm thinking of things like Minoans, Nabateans, Carthagians. I have very little background in history, so if possible, a book that is a somewhat accessible to a layperson would be preferable.

Last Sunday I posted a new article I wrote to my Blog (csphistorical.com - Colonies, Ships, and Pirates) called, Anne Bonny and Mary Read: Female Pirates and Maritime Women. I just posted the second page of it today. It covers not only the two famous female pirates, but what women did in the maritime world in general. The first page is all about Bonny and Read, and busts a bunch of the myths about them (including how those facts that show up all over the place, including wiki, regarding Anne Bonny's parents' names and birth date are all due to a 1960s fiction writer). The second page adds more context to the interactions of pirates and women in the Golden Age of Piracy and of women in the maritime world in general.
Hope you all enjoy!

What are your favorite films set in your chosen historical time period? No need to be accurate, just entertaining.

Can anyone recommend me a good book on life as a medieval Knights and or combat for medieval Knights? Also something about medieval village life?