Thursday Reading and Research is intended as an academic free-for-all, for the discussion of all issues historical, or tangentially so. Suggested topics include, but are by no means limited to:
New developments or discoveries in the field
Recent book releases, old book reviews, reading recommendations, or just talking about what you're reading now
Historiographical discussions, debates, and disputes
Your current research interests or projects
The goings on within the academy
...And so on!
Regular participants in the Thursday threads should just keep doing what they've been doing; newcomers should take notice that this thread is meant for open discussion only of matters historical discussion, not just anything you like -- we'll have a thread on Friday for that, as usual.
I've fallen into a number of really wonderful and deep-diveable archival sources for late 19th century Yiddish theater, in particular theatrical posters from theaters on New York's East Side. (The downside is that I know no Yiddish nor Hebrew whatsoever, not even the Hebrew alphabet, and I keep trying to scroll in to read the text before reminding myself I can't.)
And in general I'm trying to do some reading about 19th and early 20th century Yiddish drama. I'm familiar with a grand total of two works of Yiddish-language theater from this period (God of Vengeance and The Dybbuk) so the proliferation and diversity of works, including tons of Shakespeare and Shakespeare-influenced works, is a really cool surprise.
Any experts at paleography, specifically for that style of tight, fine, and (to poor ol'me, indecipherable) cursive of the 18th century...?
I recently got a scan of a letter from Dr. Thomas Tucker to his brother St. George Tucker, and unfortunately am unable to make sense of even 1/4 of the words, let alone read it coherently! If anyone has the interest and a little free time, I'd certainly appreciate some assistance! I'm not in need of the whole damn thing being transcribed, only the specific part where Thomas is describing his duel with Mr. Ralph Izard. Any help is appreciated :)
Anyone have any recommendations on books about cold war era Soviet radar systems? I know it's probably a niche subject but there's always a chance.
I take it this is also the place to ask for book recommendations?
I've been reading a bit about the history of medieval mentalities - Le Goff, Gurevich, Mollet's book on poverty, Miri Rubin and so on. However, with the exception of Rubin's works, these are all slightly dated, and not being an historian myself, it is difficult to keep up to date. So what is the latest news on medieval mentalities?
Specifically, I'm hoping to read more about the birth and development of the quantitative mentality described by Alexander Murray and Alfred Crosby.