When did European states move from decentralized lands ruled by nobles to a centralized country under 1 figurehead

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One of the coolest moments in Harlan County USA is the original creator of Which Side Are You On from the Harlan County War (Florence Reece) singing it in support of the 70s strike.

Indeed. The world will be better with it gone, but that doesn't mean everybody wins.

Because polytheism doesn't scale, and shamanism really doesn't scale.

Just started reading Sarah-Beth Watkins' Lady Katherine Knollys. Interested in reading this as I believe(?) there is debate about whether Henry VIII was indeed her father of not.

This is my thought as well. The Normans/Plantagenets were nuts and their lives make good stories.

Recently i have finished the memories of a napoleonic soldier, i like very much this type of book. Anyone knows another example of soldier who wrote his memories? Does not matter the time. Thanks.

I'm writting here because i dont know how post in the main subreddit

Finished Witchfinders: A Seventeenth-Century English Tragedy by Malcolm Gaskill

>3/5 stars, decent overall but not for me.

>Surprisingly in-depth and clearly well researched with a large number of individuals and cases covered. But I found it a bit boring to read and tried to read it quickly so I could move on to something else. There are only so many times you can read about women being searched for weird body parts and confessing to being suckled by imps before it gets a bit repetitive. The book argues that the chaos of the English Civil War, with the seemingly natural order of things going wrong allowed the witch hunt craze to begin. Prior to the civil war the paranoia was there but most witch trials went nowhere due to the legal demands for proof. The main witchfinders Matthew Hopkins and John Stearne are presented as catalysts that turn the paranoia into a witch hunt. The main reason presented for the witch hunts is genuine belief combined with guilt, as many of the accused witches were poor older women who had been refused aid. There is a lot of old woman asks for something, is refused, then bad things happen to the person who refused them (such as family or livestock getting ill or dying) which leads to the accusation. One thing I did like about the book was the financial side of things, as it turns out witch hunts were very expensive which is one of the reasons why they declined.

Now reading A Fiery & Furious People: A History of Violence in England by James Sharpe. About a third of the way through it and I am really enjoying it, so despite it being over 600 pages I am reading it fairly quickly and should have it finished by the end of the week.

I tried both the show/movie and the first few books, but it just didn't match the things I know so far. Real bummer bc there's a ton of those stories these days.

Well I’m a writer so that might be for me then lol

Dont know about movies but maybe the prairie book series by Laura Ingalls Wilder? Could probably find lots of books if you are willing to read.

It's designed for writers looking to create an authentic setting for a novel. But you might want to check out The Writer's Guide to Everyday Life in the Middle Ages. There are several books in this series, including Regency and Victorian England, and Renaissance England.

Not to mention it was profitable for the kingdom’s leaders. Tithe’s were built into the Christian religion and and many took kickbacks from the church for protection. That and things like “the meek shall inherent the earth” persuaded the peasantry to a certain content with being poor, which contributed to subduing uprisings. Not to mention the security that came with converting to Christianity. When kingdoms around you convert and are actively encouraged and supported to convert other pagans and attack if they resist, it starts to become a safer option for your people to just convert to avoid bloodshed.

So true. A lot of how we look at pre Christian "pagans" comes from the romantics of the 1800-ish era. For pagan leaders Christianity's best selling point was its hierarchical structure. By adopting Christianity you also brought its leadership structure into your society. Pope/king, Cardinal/Baron, priests/sheriffs. It showed how to divide up a country, who shows fealty to who. Volodymyr I of Kyiv openly stated this was one of the main reasons he chose Christianity... he liked the way the church was run. He mapped it's structure onto civil society.

For anyone who's read The Search for Modern China by Jonathan Spence and Making China Modern by Klaus Mühlhahn, how would you compare them?

Looking for cinema/documentaries about 1910-1929 farming

I'm learning a ton about 1929+, but I'd like to know how my grandmother lived in the 00s-20s. They had a farm in NE Oklahoma, moved from Southern Kansas In 1902.

The TV/Movie Christy (90s) covers some of what I've heard regarding poverty, shoes, rural ethics, etc, but they're set in Tennessee. Tv/movie Sarah Plain and Tall (90s) shows some small farm life. I couldn't find much about how common this storyline was in real life- advertising for a wife.

Been watching docs about Tulsa, other cities, during that time, but can't find good stuff about basic farm life.

I've dug out everything possible so far from my tree on ancestry.com, and I'm still working through the Oklahoma historical websites.

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I found The Civil War in 50 Objects at a thrift store for cheap and picked it up. It's from the New York Historical Society. It's got a good selection of artifacts. B/c so many people go through New York and b/c NYC has some unique historical events during the period it's an especially good collection to pull objects from. The book is actually printed on pretty high quality paper and the images of the objects are full color and well done. I think I paid $5 for it, which is a total steal. This is a book that'll probably last, with minimal image fading for at least a few decades.

One of the objects that are specific to New York City is a pamphlet with the mayor at that time, Fernando Wood who was famously corrupt even by NYC machine standards, calling for NYC to succeed from the Union and the State of New York, to become a free city. It was apparently a ploy to try and force Lincoln and Congress to grant NYC some kind of benefits in trade. Lincoln immediately shut it down and after Ft. Sumter it was quickly forgotten.

> This of course enrages William so much that depending on the sources he either went inside the Flanders castle and beat up Matilda or he saw her attending church and pull her of her horse by her pigtails and threw her into the mud.

Ngl, I always thought that was an euphemistic way to hint at marriage by rape.

^^^Gritty ^^^reboot?

There's one called The Big Oyster about the development of New York and its relationship to oysters that came out a few years ago. It's by the same author as Salt and Cod.

The BBC had a podcast a few years ago called The History of the World in 100 Objects that they did with the British National Museum. They put out a book of it, which is nice b/c you can actually see the objects. The book is by Neil McGregor and I know he as some similar ones. I think there's one on Shakespeare's England in 50 objects.

That series spun off a whole bunch of other similar books. I'm reading one right now from the New York Historical Society about the history of the US Civil War in 50 objects, there's one on the history of the US in 100 documents, there's one on India.

Usually there's an explanation in the introduction or an author's note in the opening pages about what's changed.

William Dalrymple has a series of books and a podcast. The Anarchy has gotten solidly good reviews. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/sep/11/anarchy-relentless-rise-east-india-company-william-darymple-review

His podcast is called Empire and he does it with Anita Anand who's written books on Sophia Duleep Singh and the Jallianwallah Bagh massacre. https://twitter.com/EmpirePodUK

Spot on. I always thought if I ever won the big lottery like that big 1 billion one id build something there. A start. Wouldnt fix anything, but a start. There was once talk of a textile (sock) factory, a few other smaller ones since, but nothing came of it. I always shouted about tourism but that didnt go anywhere either. Lots of rugged wilderness, trails, even kingdom come park nearby. Hell the AT isnt too terribly far. Probably too far but still. Place needs a refocus and advertising. Its hard to see my old neighborhood gone on google earth. Our house is still there but isnt in the best shape. Im never going to be gone because practically an entire side of resthaven is family. Always going back.

A History of the world in 6 glasses, by Tom Standage is a fun read. Covers the development of culture and technology through the lense of 6 drinks.

At Home, by Bill Bryson is another great read. Covers the development of all the material and technology that goes into a modern home. Bryson's writing is also a lot of fun to read.

Maybe a bit off topic, but you might enjoy Longitude, by Dava Sobe. More of a biography of the inventor, but it covers the development of the clock that is the origin of pocket watch, and its role and importance for navigation at sea.