I'm over 30 and probably know as much or less about history, politics/ gov, and current events as my 7 year old niece. Now, I want to be aware and don't know where to begin. I've tried just "merging in" but the references, terms, and names are lost on me. I need a starting point that will give me a framework or bird's eye view to start from and build on.
[more inside]
posted by anonymous
on Jul 24, 2005 -
27 answers
Inspired by Ken Livingstone's
remarks here, I would like to read a good historical account of US-Mideast relations from WWI to the present; a good comprehensive primer which covers the various US-backed dictators, oil relationships, arms deals, elections and so forth. Of the books you've read on this topic, what's the best, most sober & objective book covering the last century of US-Mideast relations?
posted by highsignal
on Jul 22, 2005 -
15 answers
When, how, where did the distinction between commissoned and non-commissioned officer in the military originate?
[more inside]
posted by IndigoJones
on Jul 21, 2005 -
9 answers
JewishHistoryFilter : Can anybody recommend a good book that dissects the common Jewish conspiracy theories and discusses their history? Extra points for readability.
[more inside]
posted by afroblanca
on Jul 16, 2005 -
21 answers
German Culture circa 1850. Where on-line can I find information about daily life for a German child born 1847?
[more inside]
posted by LadyBonita
on Jul 5, 2005 -
3 answers
Each year I try to teach some computer history to my 5th graders, just to put all the technology into a little bit of context. It would be tremendously helpful if I could show them actual screenshots of what computer programs used to look like. Specifically, I've looked for screenshots of Viscalc (some success, but lousy shots), early amber-on-black word processing, and pre-www internet (PINE, Usenet, etc.) Anybody know of a good place for this stuff? Other related suggestions welcome.
posted by carterk
on Jun 11, 2005 -
20 answers
Do you think you are a smarter person than the average upper-middle class person of 300 years ago?
[more inside]
posted by ashbury
on Jun 7, 2005 -
37 answers
I'm looking to buy a book on history to read for pleasure. My interest is mainly in American history and especially Lincoln, but I'm open to suggestions on other areas too. Does anyone have a good suggestion or two?
posted by flexxer
on May 20, 2005 -
23 answers
What's the best history of the British Empire you've ever read? I'm looking for something reasonably scholarly but still very readable.
posted by transona5
on May 20, 2005 -
14 answers
Curiosity struck and I'm looking for a year-by-year breakdown of the number of times the filibuster has been used. A chart with further breakdowns of senator, state, party, duration, cause, and whether the filibuster was ended via cloture would be even nicer.
[more inside]
posted by rudyfink
on May 17, 2005 -
7 answers
Any legal historians out there? Can you tell me, historically, what's the deal with punitive damages?
[more inside]
posted by IndigoJones
on May 17, 2005 -
9 answers
I want to make a mix CD based on educational songs that still sound good. Any subject - biology, chemistry, grammar, history, you name it. What songs should I add to my collection?
posted by Newbornstranger
on May 14, 2005 -
45 answers
I live in a "Bing and Bing" building. People seem to think it's a big deal so I tried to Google them: the only thing that comes back is expensive apartments for sale in New York highlighting that they are in "Bing and Bing" buildings. Does anyone know who "Bing and Bing" where (I'm assuming they were real estate developers)? Why their building are considered so interesting/important? What is their history? I'm also assuming that they disappeared from the scene sometimes between the late 20s and today? What happened? Were they wiped out by the great depression? Any New York historian out there willing to help?
posted by TNLNYC
on May 12, 2005 -
4 answers
A few months ago I came across an animated movie documenting the development of a wiki page. Essentially it was made up of screen grabs generated by going through the edit history of a document. Much googling and MeFi/Boingboing searching hasn't amounted to much. Anyone know where this is? Am I imagining this? Also: Does anyone know of an easy way to create a similar animation with a PMWiki page?
posted by aladfar
on May 9, 2005 -
8 answers
On the eve of Sir Ridley Scott's new Crusader epic
Kingdom of Heaven I'm looking for an introductory history of the Crusades.
[more inside]
posted by TetrisKid
on May 5, 2005 -
16 answers
SensitiveFilter: This question might be construed as offensive. It deals with physical features of peoples from different parts of the globe.
[more inside]
posted by yonation
on May 2, 2005 -
31 answers
What sort of guns (by model) were issued to United States soldiers in the first world war? Smaller guns in particular.
posted by dagnyscott
on Apr 26, 2005 -
10 answers
What should we do for our honeymoon? The soon-to-be Mr. Supafreak and I are planning to get married in summer '06. We have somewhat limited funds, speak only English, and want to learn about the world when we travel.
[more inside]
posted by croutonsupafreak
on Apr 21, 2005 -
22 answers
I'm interested in picking up an annotated Bible--something that treats it as a cultural document rather than the revealed word of God.
[more inside]
posted by adamrice
on Apr 21, 2005 -
16 answers
I've got some Chinese paintings from my late grandfather, and I'm having trouble finding more information about them.
Here's what he had to say about them (image, transcript inside) and
here's a scan I made of one of them (image). I don't know enough about this subject to make educated guesses, and the information from my grandfather is either inaccurate or just a dead-end. So basically, I'd like to know anything that you know about this. I'd be happy to scan more of the prints as well if someone needs additional information.
[more inside]
posted by j.edwards
on Apr 19, 2005 -
6 answers
Is it widely accepted that The Gulf of Tonkin Incident was an outright fabrication?
posted by Kwantsar
on Apr 18, 2005 -
5 answers
Did Henry Morton Stanley actually say "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?" when he first met him in the heart of Africa? If there's no other sources than Stanley himself, is it likely that he did say it?
posted by klue
on Apr 12, 2005 -
9 answers
I'm going to be visiting Glasgow, Scotland, and I wonder if anyone has a walking-tour guide or guide company that they like and would recommend. I'm interested in finding out about Scottish history, Glasgow architecture, etc. Google gives me tons of results and it's hard to choose one, so I'm hoping someone has recommendations they'd like to share. Thanks!
posted by beaverd
on Apr 4, 2005 -
6 answers
German scholars, historians, copyeditors, and anyone else: Can someone explain to me why an author whose book I'm editing has cited Hitler's Mein Kampf as "Mien Kemp"? Google doesn't elicit much in English, and I'm unilingual, alas. As far as I know, American English is my author's native language. Is he just a lousy speller? (Looks like it could be Dutch, but that's just a guess.)
posted by scratch
on Apr 4, 2005 -
13 answers
Have perceptions of time changed in the last few hundred years? Did people used to speak more casually about periods of time? I'm reading Jane Eyre, and Charlotte Bronte uses "ten minutes" in an odd way. I suspect she means (by today's standards) 30 seconds. Is this sloppy writing, cultural difference or what?
[more inside]
posted by grumblebee
on Mar 28, 2005 -
20 answers
Is there an easy way to get all the versions of a file from the history in Microsoft SourceSafe 6.0?
[more inside]
posted by hootch
on Mar 22, 2005 -
2 answers
Anyone know of any good books, plays, or other material about
Suzanne Le Peletier de Saint-Fargeau, a.k.a. "Mademoiselle Nation"? She was an eleven-year-old girl adopted by the French revolutionaries after her father's murder by a royalist. Her portrait by
Jacques-Louis David is currently on display at the Getty in Los Angeles, and as the book blog
Romancing the Tome says the story of her life would make for excellent reading. Surely she's found her way into print by now?
posted by Asparagirl
on Mar 18, 2005 -
3 answers
Normally, I'm not a big fan of historical or period films, but lately I've been enjoying a few. Recently, I watched
Braveheart and
Gladiator, and now I'm wondering if anybody has any suggestions. I do enjoy epics, and I don't mind older films, so any ideas would be welcome. What historical hero movies do you recommend?
posted by MrZero
on Mar 18, 2005 -
39 answers
NovelFilter: I just finished
Romola, by Eliot, and didn't love it, but want to learn more about Florence in the era--a very interesting time, to put it mildly--with the Medicis, Savanarola, etc. Any good novels or
non-boring non-fiction on Florence in the late 1400s-early 1500s?
posted by amberglow
on Mar 18, 2005 -
11 answers
Does anyone have some good info on writer Langston Hughes, aside from obvious Google sources? Any information gotten off the beaten path? I'd love to get some relatively unknown info on him, if anyone has it, or some particulary good access sites/books. Writing a paper and am tired of following everyone elses footsteps with information access.
posted by codeofconduct
on Mar 12, 2005 -
15 answers
Are there any serious scholars of Russian history who buy the "increased US military spending bankrupted the USSR" theory of the Soviet Union collapse?
[more inside]
posted by bonecrusher
on Mar 3, 2005 -
11 answers
Can someone provide a good overview and possibly some links explaining what the difference was between the American colonies and the Maritime Provinces that led to their separation?
[more inside]
posted by Mayor Curley
on Mar 3, 2005 -
9 answers
I'm trying to learn about the Edwardian era especially (but not exclusively) in England, Ireland, and Canada. What excellent materials (fiction and non-fiction books, movies, websites, etc.) have you read and seen about this period?
posted by orange swan
on Mar 1, 2005 -
17 answers
Has data ever been assembled showing the religous convictions of Americans over time, starting at the countries conception? A sort of compendium of the religious history of the United States... It seems as though such a thing should certainly exist, but I've yet to find it.
posted by phrontist
on Feb 23, 2005 -
8 answers
The abbreviation R.I.P. stands for the Latin "Reqiescat in Pace." I'm trying to get past the insensitivity of not bothering to spell out the epitaph on someone's tombstone and instead concentrate on understanding why and how this convention originated.
[more inside]
posted by Jeff Howard
on Feb 23, 2005 -
25 answers
The British have the histories and diaries of Churchill and Lord Alanbrooke. Whose are the most important
American memoirs for the Second World War, shedding light on the American view of events and their opinions of their Allies?
[more inside]
posted by alasdair
on Feb 19, 2005 -
6 answers
What was the first image posted on the internet? I'm sure it was research related, but what was it?
posted by gtmcknight
on Feb 17, 2005 -
15 answers
When I was a kid, my dad had framed photos of the ships he'd served on during his time in the Royal Navy. Both he and the photos are long gone, but I've decided I'd like to put something similar together.
First problem is getting hold of his service history - I've only got a vague idea of the time he served (he was involved in Korea and Suez I think). Second is getting the photos.
Any ideas on either?
posted by monkey closet
on Feb 16, 2005 -
3 answers
I'm looking for books and\or films about the rise of Nazism and fascism. [+]
[more inside]
posted by sanko
on Jan 23, 2005 -
29 answers
Where
archive.org fails: I'd like to research the development of news websites - specifically those established by traditional media companies (CNN, The New York Times, etc). While archive.org is a valuable resource, many of the sites I'd like to look at block the automated scripts (robots) that make archiving possible. What's more, some of the sites archived are woefully incomplete and are missing images, etc. Is there an alternative to archive.org or another resource that I might use?
[more inside]
posted by aladfar
on Jan 22, 2005 -
4 answers
Out of curiousity (I'm not trying to be political), has it been the standard MO of popularly elected dictators, or any dictator, to tout the freedom of their people? Was the subject of liberty just ignored by leaders of Germany, Italy, Spain, et. al?
posted by borkingchikapa
on Jan 21, 2005 -
13 answers
MuseumGeeksinDCFilter: Looking for offbeat, trivia-intensive experiences in Washington, DC for a group of maritime history museum geeks. Special Exhibit inside.
[more inside]
posted by Miko
on Jan 18, 2005 -
8 answers
SinoFilter: I'm looking for a scholarly-but-accessible book (or books) about Chinese history and culture. (Web site recommendations also welcome.) I have done some Googling and poking around amazon.com, but frankly my ignorance is so deep that I have no good way of evaluating the quality of what I'm finding.
posted by enrevanche
on Jan 8, 2005 -
16 answers
