Thank you for this! My family emigrated to America from Germany around the time of unification and I've always wondered what might have prompted them to do that. This book might have some insight into what my ancestors were going through!

Currently Reading two history books and while I'm not finished with either, I can say they're pretty great so far:

• These Truths: A History of the U.S. By Jill Lepore - A really great history of the United States that also analyzes said history, especially in regards to the values that made the Declaration of Independence so powerful. The self-evident truths and how it's possible a nation could believe in them while also believing in slavery, oppressing women and so on. It also touches on whether or not we have lived up to said truths and so far I'm enjoying it. I've read another of Lepore's books, and I find her style and skill as a writer engaging and lively. Not dry at all, which is great for a book that's over 900 pages.

• Military Necessity and Civil Rights Policy: Black Citizenship and the Constitution, 1861–1868 by Mary Frances Berry - Less a book and more of a....study? An analysis? An argument? I'm not exactly sure what to call it but it's well written and informative. It's primarily about the views and opinions of white people in Colonial America regarding whether or not blacks, both free and enslaved, should serve in the military. It's also so much more than that. It talks about how the prevailing thoughts were that slaves were less than human, less than white people, and undeserving of citizenship, yet when times became desperate enough blacks could be granted their freedom and much more by proving valor in combat. It also touches on civil rights policies and I presume (like I said, I haven't finished it yet), will show that there was a correlation between when white people recognized the usefulness of blacks in the military and when they began passing laws giving blacks more and more freedoms. I expect to see the Civil War and how blacks fought there mentioned greatly, and to see the link forged and explored. Really fascinating stuff, I also like how Berry explores the concept of citizenship and its relation to military service.

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"Blood and Iron" by Katja Hoyer is a wonderful description of the Bismarck-Wilhelmite period during which Germany unified, militarized and emerged as a superpower.

Considering how much is in it, it is amazingly short. Vital background for those interested in the World Wars and how they came about.

This is kind of a terrifying idea in my opinion, current ai will create fake sources for information and convince itself that they’re legitimate, even with a lot of advances I don’t think I’ll ever want to trust ai to digitize, translate or compile information

Would it make sense for a medieval squire/man-at-arms to wear a leather vest+skirt combo over a full chainmail suit? Or would it be more common to just wear some clothes over the mail if they wanted to show the colors of their master?

Yes, the bodies would not be there.

was the warring states period before or after the 3 kingdoms?

Mmm, yes, aren’t we all

TIL my high school buddies and I were symbolising (arguably celebrating?) fertility all along. Sure, that’s the reason. I’ll go with that.

Thank you for your erudite reply.

Blue plaques are all over the uk, kinda glad theres one in the us now

How do you feel about trees and logs underwater? Those also freak me out tbh

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Caution -- satirical rant -- don't bother unless you know what I'm referring to: Another MLK memorial is welcome, but it's never complete without one of his best, most iconic quotes (that fit within the requisite space using our limited selection of templated fonts). Like the famous "I have a dream that we'll be judged by our character!" Or "It really doesn't matter, because I've seen the mountaintop!" Or "Give us the ballot and we will fill our legislative halls with ... benches!" Remember, above all MLK was known for his oratory, so what matters on the memorial is not so much the specific words, but just that there are words.

No easy way to share hours and hours of footage to the world, easily and cheaply, in 1986.

"Peace" in this case was entirely relative. There were multiple civil and foreign wars as well as a couple of outright conquests during that time. For example, the Battle of the Tuetoberg Forest (3 legions more-or-less wiped out), the Great Jewish Revolt (up to 350k killed, Jerusalem sacked, the Jewish Temple destroyed, etc.) and the conquest of Britain (hundreds of thousands killed, plus conquered a lot of territory) all happened during the Pax Romana.

Compared to the period of civil wars and purges that started with Marius and Sulla and eventually ended with Octavian and Anthony, or the Crisis of the 3rd Century, the Pax Romana was pretty peaceful for the Empire as a whole, but there was not an absence of war.

Yes! Thank you!

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Any books on the impact of geography on history? I know Jared Diamond wrote one, however are there any other books tackling a similar subject?

I don't understand why people always associate wood with splinters. The people of that era used a ton of wooden tools, furniture, etc. yet we don't hear of splinters being a bigz daily issue.

Yes, splinters can happen, but it's a problem that's quite minor. Going so hard on splinters is like thinking that anyone that handles paper is at a big risk of getting a paper cut at all times.

The Internet was supposed to help humanity gain knowledge. Instead a wooden penis goes viral. Sad

I was surprised to see a bust of MLk carved on Westminister Abbey and a statue of Abraham Lincoln in London.

Rasputin?

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