ahhhhh /r/askhistorians, I need a place to gush and hopefully you will understand: because I've been in the archives all week! and I'm having fun! yes, fun! I'm having so much fun that after a truly awful slog of a year in my PhD program, I am suddenly excited about my project again! I'm looking forward to writing my dissertation proposal this fall/spring! I'm not even bothered that the new material I'm finding means that the seminar paper I wrote last semester is wrong and/or grossly oversimplified! instead I actually want to sit down and revise it!

ok but seriously exclamation points aside. I've been struggling to find motivation in the program, but being away from department politics, being back in the archives, looking at new sources, seeing how my project is developing— I didn't know how much I needed this, until I realized that this is what it's like to be engaged with my work again.

Before 1997, were there any fan movements that supported the Galactic Empire from Star Wars over the Rebel Alliance, similar to today's r/EmpireDidNothingWrong?

My uncle says Tivoli Gardens was Walt Disney’s number one influence for Disneyland. Is this true? And if Tivoli Gardens wasn’t Disney’s number one influence, how big of an influence was Tivoli? Thanks.

My grandpa was telling us a story how is step-uncle used to teach other Finnish miners English so that they would not be taken advantage of by the mining companies. He had to do this "underground" because if the companies found out he was teaching these people English and not leaving them linguistically impaired, he would have been fired and then probably beaten by company men. Who knew such things went on in Michigan's copper country?

Would Britain and France still intervened if Hitler had declared war on Poland and the USSR at the same time? Would they have simply let their two enemies battle it out?

Hi! Since i recently moved to Spain, I'd like to read up on the history of Spain. I am a layman, so the more accessible and entertaining it is, the better.

I am particularly interested in la requonquista, el siglo oro and the civil war. But ideally I'd like to read an overview, starting from pre-roman until present times.

Any recommend?

So what do you all think of the lecturers on The Great Courses? I remember listening to a bit of Rufus Fears and liking it- but my current lecture about Events That Changed History seems a bit simplistic. Gary Gallagher's Civil War was in depth but he seemed a bit focused on knocking out other historian's (notably Ken Burns' muse Shelby Foote) narratives.

Does anyone think it might be a good idea to have a regular book recommendations thread? I know there's already a list of books in the resources section, but I think it could be helpful to have a regular threads where experts can recommend books on specific topics and give guidance on what books and authors are generally regarded as authoritative on particular subjects. Or maybe such a thing already exists. Any thoughts?

trying something new: /u/Ozymandias1818 asked a question about presidential Facial hair about a month ago. https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/6ce0dq/the_first_15_and_previous_18_presidents_of_the/

I recently stumbled upon the fact that a newly minted PhD from Berkley specialized in 19th century Hair.

My research focuses on the social and cultural history of the United States in the nineteenth century. My dissertation examines the social meanings of hair in the U.S. before the early twentieth century.

Going off of her CV

I can find a few publicly available works.

https://theconversation.com/when-americans-thought-hair-was-a-window-into-the-soul-53260

http://ushistoryscene.com/article/beards/

neither of these fully answer the question but they do go some way and if you're interested in the subject it might be worth flagging the author with a google alert.

edit: her personal page

http://sarahgoldmcbride.com/

has a longer rundown of her findings and the outline of her dissertation

might as well ping /u/TheGreatLakesAreFake and /u/The_Alaskan who asked and gave a good answer to a question like this. [I flagged the question a long time ago when, I think, no one had yet responded]

Historically, why were Republics so focused on trade?

Is there something inherently about being a Republic that would require this?

I was surprised to find the Communist Manifesto and Doctrine of Fascism to be just thick pamphlets.

What are some of the heftier Fascist works? Excluding Mein kampf as that's specifically about Nazism.

i'd like some book recommendations to prep me for my grad program, that I can read while abroad next year. I'm focusing on ethnic conflict and ethnonationalism, to that extent I'd love it if anybody has some history book recs on the subject of Serbian nationalism, African decolonization, and anything more theoretical or conceptual on genocide/crimes against humanity.