I'd like to embarrass /u/mikedash by announcing a nomination and acceptance of flair upgrade to Top Quality Contributor. You've more than earned it, dude. Congratulations!

Took a little bit of break lately from writing so that I could dive deep into a primary source and present you all with something this past Tuesday Trivia.

If you've ever asked yourself the question "I'm a homeless dog that gets adopted by a Chilean regiment during the War of the Pacific (1879-1884), what does my life look like?", then you're in luck!

I recently saw an email from the associate dean of Arts and Sciences concerning my summer research project. In it, she commented that she "Didn't know people were still talking about 14th century literature" and "Wasn't aware Chaucer had poets who influenced him." I weep for my discipline. I think I know why my English department lacks a medievalist now.

I haven't blogged for awhile but I have been pretty busy:

• For the last few months I've been helping develop the latest episode of NPR's Radiolab podcast, on the question of the nuclear chain of command and its historical origins: "Nukes"

• A colleague and I I wrote an article in the latest issue of Physics Today on the history of the Soviet H-bomb, arguing that the much-maligned "Sloika" idea of 1953 was not as fruitless or wrongheaded as it is often made out to be by American analysts: "The Secret of the Soviet Hydrogen Bomb"

• I also wrote a review of the video game Civilization VI for a journal of the history of science, looking at the problems I see with Civ's approach to the history of science and technology: "Civilization VI and its Discontents" (pdf

• I had a short "what do youngish scholars think about the seminal 1985 book Leviathan and the Air-Pump" essay in the latest issue of Isis (the journal for the history of science, not the terrorist group). It is about civility and epistemology — "Hobbes was right, the Internet is proof," more or less: "The Epistemology of Civility and the Civility of Epistemology"

Enjoy?

I've accepted the role of [woman who lived in our historic house, wife of a public figure] in the town's Dairy Princess parade this spring! This is exciting because:

a) it gives me an excuse to make something from Regency Women's Dress, from a period that you don't generally see reenactments/dances/teas held (the 1820s-1830s),

b) I get to ride in a carriage through the street, waving at people, and

c) in the future I can say that I have some experience as an interpreter

I'm taking a trip to Scotland in June and want to learn more about its history beforehand. Can anyone recommend a good popular history of Scotland that I can get through before the trip?

Finally getting around to reading a book /u/SunAgainstGold had suggested to me a while back, Before European Hegemony: The World System, A.D. 1250-1350, by Janet Abu-Lughod.

I had only read small bits and pieces before now.

I'm really blown away about how good her book is and was thinking about inviting her on the podcast to talk about it, but Abu-Lughod passed away in 2013.

My point in mentioning this is the following: Amazing people (historians, fiction writers, scientists, etc.) pass away before you know it. If someone's work really impacted you in a positive way, think about sending them a letter or note. It's a nice gesture, especially since you don't know if they're going through something and could use some kind words. I'd also imagine it also happens less in academia than it should.

If this person is easily accessible via social media, all the better!

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to track down Perry Anderson to send him a brief note where I go full fanboy.

Do we have anyone here who's very familiar with the ancient Elamites, or the inhabitants of the Persian plateau more generally? Looking at our flaired users it doesn't seem like it; maybe /u/WedgeHead, /u/husky54, or /u/Daeres? I'm noticing that there seems to be a huge dearth of specific material focusing on the regions east of Mesopotamia, before the Medians at least, which is weird because it was a huge area and comes up all the time in mesopotamian geopolitical texts - it's just always relegated to the sidelines. Obviously, people aren't really inquiring very often about it on here, but maybe that'd be different if people were more aware of it.

I was thinking of doing a pretty simple synthesis/summary of what I can find about the area call Elam (which was really a blanket-term for numerous smaller city polities), but I first wanted to see if there was anyone who actually knows what they're talking about in this regards so I don't waste my time if there is. I'd rather ask questions than research answers, if there are better people to do the answering!

Not sure if it's been mentioned here but I'm loving https://twitter.com/newdawn1997 - an account 'live tweeting' the run up to the pivotal UK General election of 1997, in conjunction with an exhibition with the peoples history museum

It's very surreal in that it's a)such distant political history (and technologically alien!) but b) obviously involves a lot of the same people involved in politics now

It's also a really innovative project, following the 'campaign' day-to-day really gives you a flavour of how it was like

Wow, this is my favorite Sub-Reddit, and I gotta say having always been a avid fan of history(practically only watched History Channel prior to the Dark Ages) you guys are inspiring me to get more knowledgable! I'm thinking of really getting into WW1(way to under-appreciated in my opinion) or the Chess history. Thanks guys and if you all have any book suggestions on either topic I'd be so happy!

I'm currently writing my dissertation on Nero and I'm really struggling to find ways of balancing out the overly hostile writings of Tacitus, Suetonius and Dio. Coins can help support some of their claims, and I'm aware of the way their writings are driven by moralistic teachings and motifs, but my problem is that it's hard to paint a fair picture of Nero.

Could anyone provide some insight into how to deal with particularly hostile sources? Aside from that, hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!

Regarding the gentleman’s ethnic claims (It seems to be a typical Semitic gesture to claim Jewish blood in nearly all the world’s celebrities!)—he’s certainly all cockeyed about Douglas Fairbanks [...] Oddly enough, however, he’s partly right about Charlie Chaplin—who, according to his half-brother Wheeler Dryden, had a Jewish father. Sydney Chaplin is also half-Jewish, though Dryden himself is altogether English.

• H. P. Lovecraft to J. Vernon Shea, 4 Feb 1934, Letters to J. Vernon Shea 228-229

Obscure factoid: H. P. Lovecraft was an acquaintance of Wheeler Dryden, Charlie Chaplin's half-brother; they were both members of the Kalem Club in New York City, a gathering of writers and affiliates.

Well, I love The Beatles and podcasts, so the Anthology Revisited podcast, which chronologically lays out their career only using original audio of interviews, outtakes, whole songs etc. is kind of an amazing thing to have on my commutes. Plus it's not officially available anymore, so it appeals to my hipster side. 28 hour long audio-documentary, absolute masterpiece.

I recently found out that the M4A2 and M4A4 Sherman, often stated to never have been used by the U.S. Army in combat, (U.S. allies and the U.S. Marine Corps are most commonly associated with them) were actually used on a very limited scale in early 1945. After the heavy tank losses during the Battle of the Bulge, the U.S. 12th Army Group received 351 M4A2 and M4A4 from British stock, of which 74 were distributed, mostly to badly beaten units of Patton's Third Army which had been in constant combat for over a month reducing the Bulge.

Sources:

• U.S. Armored Divisions in the European Theater of Operations 1944-45, pp. 30-31, by Steven J. Zaloga

• 761st Tank Battalion after-action report for February 1945

To you what is the most interesting day in history? Not necessarily exciting, but most interesting?

Well, for the first time in a while, I have a day that's theoretically just for writing. But there is so much stuff that has to be done, I'm finding it hard to concentrate. Those of you who write in short swatches (even just a few hours here or there), how do you manage to keep momentum? Honestly, I've only ever been able to write effectively if I have a few days in a row to really get into the gears, but I know some of you manage to use that spare hour or two to produce a few hundred words of text and citations like you're putting on and then taking off a coat. Is there a trick you've found, or is it just a quirk of how different brains function and the ways people habituate over time as they age?

You'd think this would have become a critical point earlier, but the pre-tenure era was one where my array of tasks was far smaller, even if each was more intense--fewer committees, fewer advisees, and a little bit of release time here and there to build up a head of steam for writing. Now, it's year-round with lots of little scattered activities that are ongoing, so I clearly need a new rhythm! What works for you?

I'm really wondering how accurate Edward Ellsberg's books are about his salvage efforts on the Red Sea and in North Africa and work on the Mulberry harbors in WWII. There's a lot of gritty personal detail in them and if they're accurate they're great books in spite of the rather self-serving tone.

Might be seeing the new Richard III visitor's center, any good books on Richard III particularly the archaeology?

Hello all. Long time listener, first time caller.

I'm going to start writing my Masters thesis next semester. However, I've no idea what topic I am going to choose. I've been looking at recent theses from my university's history department (as well as other universities) in a bid to find inspiration, but to no avail. How do you find a topic that is both novel and interesting? Do you just go to the archives and hope to stumble upon sources that haven't been looked at before?

Wrapped up the Sack of Lawrence for the blog a few weeks ago, then took a deep dive into David Rice Atchison's career in the 1850s as a way to ease back into Washington and also recap a year and change of Kansas fairly quickly. That segued into a speech by his buddy Andrew Butler defending Atchison and otherwise giving the national proslavery take on Kansas matters up to early March of 1856.

Butler today became my jumping off point for the next big set piece, because it was Sumner's insults directed at him (including a real low blow dig about Butler's speech impediment, which he got courtesy of a recent stroke) that prompted Preston Brooks to go a-caning. I'm using his speech against the Fugitive Slave Act as a way to introduce Sumner and his style of rhetoric before getting to the main event. And let me tell you, Sumner has a beautiful poison pen:

what act of shame, what ordinance of monarch, what law, can compare in atrocity with this enactment of an American Congress? […] Into the immortal catalogue of national crimes it has now passed, drawing, by inexorable necessity, its authors also, and chiefly him who, as President of the United States, set his name to the bill, and breathed into it that final breath without which it would bear no life.

[...]

Better for him had he never been born! Better for his memory, and for the good name of his children, had he never been President!

Sumner predicted that Millard Fillmore would never be forgotten because he signed the bill into law. Now he's famous as the obscure president everyone has heard of, but none of us had to live with the Fugitive Slave Act.

When Sumner got to Washington, he chose a seat in the Senate between Butler and the author of the Fugitive Slave Act, both of whom he said he got on quite well with. That was 1851, of course. Tried to see if he was still sitting near them in '56. I wouldn't think so since by that point the Republicans are organized and would have their own half of the chamber -Sumner was elected first as Free Soil and basically picked a free desk that happened to put him in the Democratic section- but alas, the Senate seating chart for the Congress of he Caning seems to have been printed after his departure. He's not on it. Would have been great if I could plot out where they wold have been in relation to each other.

Incidentally, Sumner's desk is still in use. The habit of vandalizing the things when you take office didn't come until after his death.

I like this subreddit quite a lot. Commenting to see if I've been shadowbanned. I have a suspicion that I might have been.

Is there a good way to set up alerts for certain topics on this board? I'm getting more and more into math history, but it seems like there aren't a lot of questions about that here. Which makes sense, it's a bit specialized. But it would be nice if there was some way to be notified if certain keywords came up, like "math", "algebra" etc. I got to give one good answer, and certainly like to help if anyone does have questions, although I'm not an expert (especially on certain topics, my lack of good language skills really kills here).

Any books on korean historical figures and/or the history of korea. Ive been looking but im having a hard time. Seems all of the history is focused on the korean war.

Are there any tricks of finding books on the countries history? Ive tried searching choson, three kingdoms, gojoseon etc. And have found very little.

I don't know if this is the appropriate thread for this, but what are some good books about Reconstruction?

Additionally, what do people think about Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin?

(May or may not be on a Civil War binge)

So I've been toying with the idea of producing an podcast specializing in aviation history for while, is this something people would potentially be interested in?

If nobody answers this I guess I'll have to ask on the 14th for the next week, but why is October generally the supernatural month?

Why is it that the Demonic holidays, (Halloween/All Hallow's Eve), or why is the "Veil the weakest" in several cultures in late October?

Is it just coincidence, something to do with the number 10, or am I overlooking something else?