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.
Welcome one and all to another delightful Sunday Digest, crammed full of awesome history threads and amazing writers. We’ve got yet another fantastic week of stuff to go over, so grab your comfy chair and beverage of choice, then dive in!
Don’t forget to check out our usual weekly features, and some particularly awesome special events!
The first AskHistorians Conference Roundtable, 'Making History in 2020: Contemporary Issues in Historical Practice' is now available on Youtube and as a Podcast episode which is a great follow up to the conference.
Normally I spend this time shouting out the AMA’s we host, but thanks to the great mods of r/Fantasy some of our best folks got to give one! Go check out the phenomenal r/AskHistorians Enter Stage Right - Ask Them Anything!
Then check out the ever popular Thursday Reading and Rec.
A super fun Friday Free For All!
And thus we come to a close once again. I’m sure you’ll find plenty of exciting things in the comments below. Enjoy the threads, have yourselves a fantastic week, and I’ll see you next Sunday!
Take a moment to have a look at some overlooked questions that caught our eye this week. Perhaps an expert will see and take note!
/u/Commustar asked Why is purple such a popular color for NBA team uniforms?
/u/Kegaha asked How "aware" of Chinese and Indian philosophy was the medieval Middle East?
/u/Zeuvembie asked What Is The History of Friendship Bracelets?
Every week I like to identify some of "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.
A common trope among Real questions—as well as the questions I don't wind up including here—is asking how accurate a piece of fiction portrays history, or how similar a speculative fiction work is to real history. Over in /r/fantasy, we got a whole bunch of these kinds of questions in an AMA thread by AskHistorians flairs.
Below are my entries for this week! What do you think were the realest questions?