Today:
Welcome to this week's instalment of /r/AskHistorians' Sunday Digest (formerly the Day of Reflection). Nobody can read all the questions and answers that are posted here, so in this thread we invite you to share anything you'd like to highlight from the last week - an interesting discussion, an informative answer, an insightful question that was overlooked, or anything else.
Come help yourself to some homebrewed, finely crafted AskHistorians history threads! A truly impressive variety of topics to wow any reader. Take a seat, have a read, and don’t forget to thank the brilliant authors who’ve spent so much time writing awesome answers.
The truly terrific Tuesday Trivia’s continue in TUESDAY TRIVIA: "A woman who cuts her hair is about to change her life" (Coco Chanel)- why don't you change our lives a bit with some fascinating discussion of the HISTORY OF HAIR!
There was a pretty fantastic Friday Free For All this week. From books to soaring Normans and more!
/u/ParallelPain and /u/Klesk_vs_Xaero feature in the Saturday Showcase!
Once more that wraps us up for the week. It’s been a blast, now I’m off to slowly swelter and melt from the heat while my AC’s busted. Have a blast folks, and I’ll see you next Sunday!
Once more we spare a moment to consider some interesting yet overlooked questions that remain unanswered. Take a look at some of the following:
/u/Zeuvembie asked Did Canada Have An Equivalent To The "Old West"?
/u/DrSousaphone asked How have the Chinese historically reconciled their varied and (seemingly) conflicting notions of the afterlife?
/u/arbitr8 asked How popular was Nazi Ideology in WWII Germany?
Welcome back to my series on "the real questions" of /r/AskHistorians! Here, we honor the more atypical questions that get asked here: the bizarre, abnormal, strangely niche or oddly specific, interestingly worded or built on uncommon premises, or otherwise amusing questions that make me say, "Finally, someone is asking the real questions." We look at little-known customs, unexpected historical anecdotes, unusual cultural traits, and other more unique questions that go beyond the regular brand of sociopolitical history that this subreddit so fabulously covers. This week I didn't spend as much time collecting, but I want to highlight:
That's my list this week. What unique questions did you find this week? What do you think was the realest question?
/u/FluidChameleon asked, Before the advent of cars, what range of G-forces would the average person have experienced across a lifetime?
/u/MakinBaconPancakezz asked, In Like Water for Chocolates, Mama Elena claims that it is a tradition for the youngest daughter to take care of her parents and therefor never get married. How true is this?
Some of my own allegedly interesting inquiries:
From the things I've posted a million times file, How did Lee Kwan Yew become so powerful? Are his memoirs known to be accurate? On the one hand, I'm surprised this didn't get much interest, even in the form of upvotes, given that Lee Kwan Yew (totally not typing out his full name, because it's less work than looking up which name order that was...) is one of the most important people in living memory. On the other hand, Southeast Asia doesn't get discussed very much, for whatever reason.
From this week's theme, [Frontiers and Borderlands] What, exactly, was the arrangement between the Cossacks and the Tsar?
From last week's theme, How did public transport fit into the rebuilding of Europe and Japan, following WWII?
From the topical file, To what extent was the killing of Latasha Harlins and sentencing of her killer a motivator/catalyst for the 1992 L.A. Riots?
Good