Today:
You know the drill: this is the thread for all your history-related outpourings that are not necessarily questions. Minor questions that you feel don't need or merit their own threads are welcome too. Discovered a great new book, documentary, article or blog? Has your Ph.D. application been successful? Have you made an archaeological discovery in your back yard? Did you find an anecdote about the Doge of Venice telling a joke to Michel Foucault? Tell us all about it.
As usual, moderation in this thread will be relatively non-existent -- jokes, anecdotes and light-hearted banter are welcome.
HAPPY NEW YEAR to an absolutely incredible community. How was your new years? Got any fun traditions you or your family carry out?
At about 5 to I was ceremoniously booted out of the house to wait outside. For family tradition celebrates the first person coming in the house to be tall and good natured. I also got to carry in a piece of coal and silver, plus bread and salt. A tradition my mums family has been doing for generations.
So I'm a historic interpreter for a local park system in Missouri. I work at the final home of a pioneer that is erroneously famous for a coon skin cap.
I just gotta rant at how many people I have to explain to that white people in america werent slaves. It seems like once per shift. And that by the late 18th century, slaves in the US were solely of African descent.
I also wish more stuff was written about frontier slavery. It often feels the narrative skips that part of the history.
With the turning of the new year, my understanding is that questions related to events from 2001 are now fair game.
Just browsing through a list of events, obviously 9/11, but also the US withdrawal from the Kyoto Protocol, Roy Moore's 2 ton Ten Commandments monument, The Patriot Act, Enron's collapse, and China getting MFN status are all things I lived through but that I'd like to learn more about from the sub's historians this year.
The amount discovered about prehistoric America in the last five years—Esquimau “ivory culture”, “basket-maker” race, pueblos timed by tree-rings, &c.—is truly astonishing.
— H. P. Lovecraft to Elizabeth Toldridge, 14 Dec 1932 (LET 223)
The goal this year (like last year) is to finish my book manuscript on Lovecraft and race, and this little snippet strikes me as something not a lot of people grok. Lovecraft was an avid newspaper reader, and several of his correspondents sent him cuttings of articles they thought he would find of interest. This didn't exactly keep him on the cutting edge of research in anthropology, but it did mean that his worldview was influenced by the popularized vision of anthropology that made it into the press—right and wrong. Some of that made it into his fiction, but most of it is limited to his letters where he goes into great and sometimes surprising detail.
Anyone else read Volker Ullrich’s new (to Anglophones at least) 2 part Hitler biography- The Ascent and The Downfall- and was surprised when in the conclusion he said that allowing Germany to once again become a world power today is a grave mistake?
This surprised me.
I originally made a post about this (like the idiot I am). But, my current new year’s resolution is to read one book from each section of the AskHistorian book list! I’m starting with “A people’s tragedy”. And have made a excel spreadsheet for each book I’m looking for!
First time posting! I posted this on the main thread but was told to put it here :) I have a radio show that turned into a podcast about history's changemakers (aptly called Changemakers Without Borders), where I interview intellectuals on important events or people who've made a big difference in society. I create these episodes to hopefully inspire others (and especially young people) to be leaders in their own lives, and try to ask questions that bring both sides of an issue.
I have no political agenda, and I do not make one ounce of money on this. This is an endeavor to bring alternative education in an enlightening/interesting way through this audio medium.
Some of my recent episodes talk about the 1918 pandemic (with Prof. Kandace Bogaert), Alexander Solzhenitsyn and the Gulag Archipelago, history of women's rights, and others. Are there any people who have expertise in certain fields in history, or about people who've made significant changes in the world, like to talk on the show?
Your Weekly /r/askhistorians Recap
Friday, December 25 - Thursday, December 31
###Top 10 Posts
| score | comments | title & link |
|---|---|---|
| 18,375 | 348 comments | Is it possible with ancient cultures that we are falsely misled to think they took their beliefs entirely seriously? I.E similar to someone in 3000 years discovering all our Santa decor... |
| 8,367 | 235 comments | I'm an "untouchable" at the bottom of the Hindu caste system in say, 1600. What stops me from simply going to a far away town where nobody knows me and claiming to be Brahmin, at the top of the caste system. Or at least, anything higher than untouchable. |
| 8,066 | 369 comments | [Meta] Can there please be some flair added to a title when a question is answered? |
| 5,557 | 75 comments | When did the idea of strippers dancing on metal poles become such a common practice in the industry and why? |
| 3,467 | 85 comments | During WWII, was it common for german soldiers to address their spouses with male nicknames in letters, and if it so why did this happen? |
| 3,212 | 44 comments | In Netflix's new show, Bridgerton, Lady Daphne Bridgerton marries at the age of 21 not knowing what sex is or where babies come from. Is this accurate or likely? |
| 3,091 | 129 comments | A U.S. Civil War veteran writing about the conflict remarked that even "[i]n peace the South was a semi-military camp." What were conditions like in the South that would lead him to make this comment? |
| 2,798 | 53 comments | What is the history of the Presidential Pardon? Why was it created and what was it expected to be used for? |
| 2,470 | 59 comments | Great-grandfather's discharge papers from U.S. Army in California, late 1800s, raise several questions |
| 1,802 | 45 comments | How do ruins end up covered? |
###Top 10 Comments
What's the proper name for the art style found in the murals in Neuschwanstein castle and the Procession of Princes in Dresden?
My assumption would be German Romanticism but the Google machine isn't really sending me good examples of anything and seems to be too early.
I'm looking for that mid to late 19th century stuff.
