Today:
Saturday Reading and Research will focus on exactly that: the history you have been reading this week and the research you've been working on. It's also the prime thread for requesting books on a particular subject. As with all our weekly features, this thread will be lightly moderated.
So, encountered a recent biography of Stalin that revealed all about his addiction to ragtime piano? Delved into a horrendous piece of presentist and sexist psycho-evolutionary mumbo-jumbo and want to tell us about how bad it was? Need help finding the right book to give the historian in your family? Then this is the thread for you!
Read Down to Earth by EDIT: Ted Steinberg recently. It was fascinating and I really enjoyed it; however, it did have a line at the end of the book that bowled me over.
When discussing appropriate relationship between states and the environment, Hays noted that China had increased its production but had managed to limit its environmental impact. He then wrote, “The Chinese example is living proof that the royal road to consumption—for all its ecological problems—does not necessarily have to be paved with disaster (281).”
I wonder if, looking back at China's current environmental issues, he wishes he could have that sentence back.
*This is in no way suggesting that other states, notably the United States, have stellar environmental records.
Found this tidbit in Selective Service as the Tide of War Turns: The 3rd Report of the Director of Selective Service 1943-1944 that illustrates how the U.S. Army began to confront its manpower problems in the latter part of 1943.
169. Army Inductions, Average Age, Percent Dependents, and Percent Negro, Accumulative and by Month, April-December 1943
| Month | Inductions | Percent with dependents | Average year of birth | Percent Negro |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total: | ||||
| November 1940-September 1943 | 6,124,614 | 35.6 | 1918 | 10.1 |
| November 1940-December 1943 | 6,446,881 | 36.8 | 1918 | 11.1 |
| April | 246,956 | 45.0 | 1923 | 10.9 |
| May | 184,431 | 48.1 | 1922 | 10.8 |
| June | 182,122 | 45.3 | 1923 | 14.6 |
| July | 169,726 | 51.5 | 1921 | 14.5 |
| August | 131,090 | 57.9 | 1919 | 14.5 |
| September | 109,407 | 58.4 | 1919 | 15.0 |
| October | 114,731 | 58.3 | 1919 | 15.4 |
| November | 112,768 | 61.1 | 1918 | 17.4 |
| December | 94,768 | 63.8 | 1917 | 21.9 |
Hi. Anyone have any book suggestions on the history of Khoekhoe societies of South Africa? Particularly, the relationships between Khoe groups and their interactions with the VOC settlement.