We'll be helping with an AMA on Monday for Dr Hannah Newton, alternately known as @17thCenturyMum on Twitter. She's just published the first book devoted to the history of recovery from illness, Misery to Mirth, and is an expert on the histories of medicine, emotion, and childhood, particularly early modern England.

Ask her anything about sickness, illness, death, and recovery in this period, and about her innovative Twitter project, tweeting based on the diary entries of a mother with a dangerously ill child.

I remember, very faintly, the fall of a meteorite in South Texas, many years ago. I was about four years old at the time, and was at the house of an uncle, in a little town about forty miles from the Mexican Border; a town which had recently sprung up like a mushroom from the wilderness and was still pretty tough. I remember waking suddenly and sitting up in bed, seeing everything bathed in a weird blue light, and hearing a terrific detonation. My uncle — an Indian — had enemies of desperate character, and in the excitement it was thought they had dynamited the house. There was a general leaping up and snatching of guns, but nothing further occurred. Next day it was learned that a meteorite had fallen. People who saw it described it as being about the size and shape of a barrel, and averred it burst twice before striking the ground, making a loud explosion and shedding that strange blue light over everything. No trace of it was ever found.

• Robert E. Howard to H. P. Lovecraft, Aug 1931

I envy you your sight of a meteorite's fall—or rather, the blaze and report incidental thereto. Visitors from outer space always fascinate me, and I always pause reflectively in the hall of the American Museum in N.Y., where many giant specimens are ranged about on pedestals. It is enthralling to the imagination to lay actual hands on a piece of material substance from Outside.

• H. P. Lovecraft to Robert E. Howard, 12 Sep 1931

Even though I personally am mostly interested in ships of the 15th and 16th century period, I stumbled on this wonderful collection of images of shipbuilding from late 17th, earliest 18th century Netherlands, and I thought it might be interesting to share as they provide very nice insight into various stages of the ship building process

First sould be this stand alone amazing image by Jan Luyken from 1697, showing a shipyard with ships under construction in several stages, and below a standalone launching of a boat from the beached dry dock to the water. It's a really nice illustration of the whole process.

More detailed is a series of 16 images called Navigiorum Aedificatio or The construction and the fate of a ship by printer Sieuwert van der Meulen made around 1690 - 1710.

Images show in order:

1) Laying of keel and posts
2) Expanding the bottom part
3) Raising the sides
4) Preparing half complete ship for launching
5) Launching the ship in water for completion
6) Putting up the masts via a crane
7) Placing the rigging and ropes
8) Careening and caulking one side
9) Careening and caulking the other side
10) Provisioning the ship
11) Participating in combat
12) Sailing in high seas
13) Destruction in combat
14) Crashing on rocks in storm
15) Trashed on beach
16) Salvaging parts from old worn-out ship

Here's the collected full album of all above images plus some additional ones.

All images are taken from Amsterdam Rijksmuseum online collection which features many other interesting stuff!

Is there a rule that, when a history book provides a map, they are required to leave out some places mentioned in the text?

After a rotten start this morning I actually had a pretty good day work wise. Wanted to write 750 words of my MA thesis and actually wrote 1,800, plus I had one of those genuine moments of inspiration when you have a fantastic idea for research that is all your own. I'm definitely feeling a lot more confident about finishing my thesis now!

Could someone recommend a book about the Scythians? Either about their general history or some specific aspect/period of it. Already found some books but am interested in the opinion of an expert.

So as it turns out trying to summarise most of a 400-page book in 10,000 characters is very very hard. For my First Opium War showcase series I had hoped to be able to progress on Imperial Twilight in tandem with the writeups. Turns out almost all of Imperial Twilight is spent covering the period between the end of Part I and the end of Part II, so I had to basically cram all of the book's most pertinent content into one Reddit comment's worth of text (so as to have space for all the quotes). Still, I'm close enough to done that it'll be up for tomorrow. Don't forget to check out /u/klesk_vs_xaero's regular series as well!

Found this tidbit in Peter R. Mansoor’s GI Offensive in Europe;

The Intelligence Division of Army Group B prepared a lengthy report dated 23 November 1944 detailing the Germans’ view of the Allied combat divisions they faced on the Army Group B front. The following excerpts are taken from that report:

1st American Inf. Div.: Exceptionally good, good source of officers and men, temporarily weakened through losses.

2nd American Inf. Div.: Appears to be good, apparently good officer corps.

4th American Inf. Div.: Until the most recent replacements good.

8th American Inf. Div.: Judged as good.

9th American Inf. Div.: Very good, according to press reports one of the best American divisions.

28th American Inf. Div.: With the exception of the newest replacements, good. Temporarily hampered due to high losses.

29th American Inf. Div.: Good, good training and fighting spirit.

30th American Inf. Div.: Battle value high before the battle for Aachen, the younger replacements are partially poor.

83rd American Inf. Div.: Battle value good.

84th, 99th, 102nd, 104th American Inf. Div.: Few details available.

Does anybody know if Mircae Eliade is a good source? Is it worth it or just old mystic driblle?

Despite a fairly major setback at the museum, (the city decided to cancel the exhibit we've been working on for six months out of the blue) research is going splendidly. I located a plantation journal for one of the largest in our county and it covers everything from 1853-1857, names of slaves, birth and death dates, overseers and livestock, probably one of the most fascinating antebellum sources I've had the opportunity to look at in some time. In addition to that, i've finished transcribing the 1850 Slave Schedule and now figuring out what to do with that information is the next step.

How many treaties has the US government signed with foreign powers and what’s the ratio of treaties the US honored to treaties the US violated?

Do we know if ancient humans were afraid of rain or did they frolic in it? Barring thunderstorms and barring those in the Pacific Northwest or other parts of the world where rain is the common weather.

And I’m not excluding more modern, but I’m curious about ancient humans to premodern era.

Do we have any records of rain and what they thought about it?

Were people shut ins when rain came or did they do things similar to us like sitting on a porch and watch a storm?

Hey guys! I’m trying to learn about the rise of copper and iron, and how these resources affected civilization. Can anyone recommend a good starting point?

Yes FFFA!

u/Tiako and all the other Rome smarties:

I'm taking a grad certificate class on Roman Republic and Empire, and reading Potter's book made me think of a comparison to the 1900s. What is the 'type' of history called when you compare two civilizations (yep, using that word...sorry) at vastly different times, especially focusing on the results of diplomatic and political attempts for peace? Is this World History?

My actual question is whether comparisons like this are useful to historians, and if any thinkers have considered the parallels between the 1st Punic War and last century's WW1; it seems like both conflicts had problems with the way they implemented peace treaties. From Ancient Rome: A New History:

Catulus [...] had learned from Regulus's fate, taking advantage of his victory [in 241 BCE by the Aegates Islands] to offer remarkably generous terms with Carthage so that the war would end. [...] imposed a relatively moderate financial indemnity --a payment seemingly intended as both an admission that Carthage had been in the wrong and to hamper rearmament--without compelling Carthage to submit to Roman control of its affairs. (Potter 69)

This reminded me of the Versailles Treaty, post-WW1. Germany resented this, and WW2 happened. Carthage likely resented this, and more Punic Wars occurred. Is this an interesting idea to anyone?

TL;DR - war reparations and how they lead to more war, especially with Carthage/Rome and Germany/Allies.

I've bought the game Europa Universalis 4 on discount on Steam yesterday. It seems loaded with historical information. Has anyone else here played it? Any comments on the historical facts as presented in the game?