In August 1945, a nondescript thirty-seven year old woman entered the FBI office in New Haven, Connecticut. It was, or should have been, a momentous occasion. The Second World War was finally ending, with Germany obliterated and occupied and Imperial … Continue reading How We Got Here: Elizabeth Bentley, Queen of the Red Scare
Welcome to this week’s History Thread! It’s the anniversary of Lee’s surrender at Appomattox, the Nazi invasion of Denmark and Norway, and a variety of other historical events. I will declare this another open thread so feel free to discuss … Continue reading The History Thread Surrenders
Welcome to this week’s History Thread! Discussion topic for this week: how much time do you invest in history? Do you work in a history-related field, or study it in school? Is it just a minor hobby or a lifelong … Continue reading The One-Eyed History Thread
In November 1919 the Saturday Evening Post published a short story entitled “Rose Alvaro, Entrante.” It depicts a shy, unsatisfied store clerk named Mayme who desires a drastic life change. “I was sick of myself,” Mayme tells a friend. “I wanted … Continue reading Things That Are Not: Pearl Curran and the Real Ghost
Welcome to this week’s History Thread! Today’s picture: It’s Independence Day in Bangladesh, commemorating the beginning of their bloody struggle for freedom from Pakistan. When India and Pakistan were partitioned by the British, the latter was originally divided into West … Continue reading The Independent History Thread
One of history’s most unbelievable anecdotes involves the “Battle of Karansebes.” It’s a staggering, unbelievable tale cited as the epitome of military incompetence, with an Austrian army massacring itself through panic and drunken misunderstanding. Unfortunately, there’s no evidence that this … Continue reading Things That Are Not: The Army That Killed Itself
Welcome to this week’s History Thread! Today’s picture: On March 19, 1853 forces of the Heavenly Kingdom of Peace seized the city of Nanjing, China and established it as the capital of their Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Their leader, Hong Xiuquan, … Continue reading The Heavenly History Thread
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a good story outruns evidence, plausibility and fact. For two hundred years, readers have thrilled to the dance of the Barbados coffins, a classic ghost story so often repeated that it’s familiar even … Continue reading Things That Are Not: The Case of the Dancing Coffins
Welcome to this week’s History Thread! This week we’ll have an open thread so feel free to discuss what you will. Today’s picture: On March 5, 1770 a group of American rowdies in Boston attacked a small British detachment outside … Continue reading The Weekly History Thread Shoots People
There’s something intrinsically horrifying about man-eating animals. Being bitten a venomous snake or mauled by an angry bear isn’t enough; the idea that humans, Earth’s dominant species, could be laid low by lesser animals, devoured like some mindless fish or … Continue reading Things That Are Not: The Horrors of Ramree Island
Welcome to this week’s History Thread! Our subject this week will be explorers, exploration and their impact. I finally read Charles C. Mann’s 1493 after much prodding from this site’s users, and it seems like a good springboard to discuss … Continue reading The History Thread Explores (and Plots a Coup)!
Welcome to this week’s History Thread! I’ll leave the thread without a discussion question this week, discuss whatever you like. Today’s picture: on February 19, 1807 Aaron Burr, the former Vice President of the United States, was arrested on charges … Continue reading The Weekly History Thread Stands Accused of Plotting to Create an Empire or Something
Welcome to this week’s History Thread! Not going to select a subject this week, but today is the 210th birthday of both Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin, two of the 19th Century’s most consequential figures. Continue reading The Weekly History Thread of Discovery
On February 4, 1919 the Seattle Union Record, a union publication printed by Harry Ault, issued an explosive call to Seattle’s workers. After months of agitation and tensions, it summoned the city’s workers to perform something virtually unknown in the … Continue reading How We Got Here: Revolution Comes to Seattle
Welcome to this week’s History Thread! Today we’ll discuss controlling history, a topic both broad and specific. The presentation of history remains extremely contentious – witness the recent flap in Dearborn over Henry Ford – and there are numerous issues … Continue reading The [censored] Weekly History Thread
Like most politicians, William Warren Scranton disclaimed interest in politics. “I never intended to make public political life a career,” he said, shortly after stepping down as Governor of Pennsylvania in 1967. But Scranton was that rare politician whose reluctance … Continue reading How We Got Here: William Warren Scranton and the Principled Timidity of Moderate Republicans
Welcome to this week’s History Thread! Today’s topic: important historical events that aren’t well known. This topic is inspired by today’s anniversary, the Battle of Đông Bộ Đầu in 1258, where a Vietnamese army led by Trần Thái Tông defeated the … Continue reading An Anti-Mongol History Thread
Here is this week’s History Thread. Post what you will, I’m not sure how much I’ll be contributing to. Continue reading The Last Second History Thread
Welcome to this week’s History Thread! Our discussion question: How do you draw lessons/inspirations from history? Perhaps you’re a creative type who mines history for stories or artistic ideas, maybe you view an historical figure as an inspiration. Maybe reading … Continue reading The Inspired Weekly History Thread
When Orlando Letelier awoke on September 11, 1973, he was Minister of Defense in a democratic Chile. By nightfall, he was a prisoner and his country a dictatorship. A red-haired, chain-smoking economist and diplomat who’d spent two years as Ambassador … Continue reading How We Got Here: The Wrath of Pinochet
Welcome to this week’s History Thread! This week, our discussion question: Favorite works of historical fiction. Favorite can mean a number of things, eg. just personal enjoyment, degree of accuracy, something that shapes your view of specific events or people, … Continue reading The Fictional History Thread
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