Over the past few days in the OT I’d commented on notorious historical figures and their linguistic abilities. I’ll try to compile some of that info into a single post. This was inspired by reading Bertrand Patenaude’s Trotsky: Downfall of … Continue reading History Thread: The Language of Dictators
Apologies for making the History Thread so erratic recently, work plus holidays has made it difficult to create anything substantial for you to examine. I’ll try to get things back to a regularly, hopefully weekly schedule starting the 23rd. Until … Continue reading The Farthest History Thread
The History Thread is back with a special edition. In a recent OT I’d asked posters what their favorite history books were, and it convinced me that we could try putting together a definitive, “official” list. Please comment below with … Continue reading The History Thread Introduces The Avocado History Bookshelf
Hello, I planned to have one more Things That Are Not-type article this week for Halloween. Unfortunately, work has been extremely busy and tiring over the past few weeks, and looks to be for the coming future. I’m doing some … Continue reading The History Thread Prepares for Leave
Charles Francis Coghlan was one of the great actors of the Victorian Era. Born in Paris to Anglo-Irish parents, he graduated from Irish provincial theaters to the London stage, performing both classical works by Shakespeare and Sheridan and contemporary playwrights … Continue reading History Thread: Charles Coghlan’s Coffin Cruise
In 1874, the New York World published an astonishing article. Attributed to one Karl Leche, purportedly a German botanist of some renown, the paper told of a horror lurking on the remote island of Madagascar. It was not the island’s … Continue reading History Thread: The Legend of the Man-Eating Tree
I probably won’t be around too much today, but I wanted to put a thread up to inaugurate the Halloween season. Expect a return of Things That Are Not soon, I’ll be taking a look for historical myths and silly … Continue reading The Spooky History Thread
The post-WWII Red Scare is one of several historical topics I’ve revisited several times for this site. Here’s a chronological list of related columns, most of them written in 2019-2020, back when I was still trying themed series of articles. … Continue reading History Thread: The Avocado History of the Red Scare
Jonathan Eig’s biography of Martin Luther King Jr. comes at a time when his subject, more than ever, is the focus of controversy. Like many historical figures, “King’s life and lessons are often smoothed and polished beyond recognition,” creating a … Continue reading History Thread: Jonathan Eig’s King: A Life (2023)
Came across an old article in The Atlantic which summarizes the problems with the way history is taught in public schools. The thrust of the piece is about how focus on individual narratives and perspectives robs history of its richness: … Continue reading The History Thread Wrestles With History
Two-and-a-half years after their initial teaser announcement, Aniplex finally released a trailer for Puella Magi Madoka Magica: Walpurgisnacht Rising, the fourth (?) movie in the anime franchise, with a vague but promising Winter 2024 release date. It’s been over a … Continue reading Madoka Magica: Walpurgisnacht Rising Trailer Reaction
As the weather (at least in this part of the world) heats back up to barely tolerable levels, I found a fun article by Tasha Marks of the British Museum, exploring the rise of ice cream in the 19th Century. … Continue reading The History Thread Cools Off!
Optional discussion prompt: What history subjects do you consider yourself most knowledgeable about, and how did you first become interested in them? Continue reading What Does The History Thread Know?
From 1912 through 1926, Japan was ruled by Emperor Yoshihito, better known as Taisho. The son of the legendary Meiji, who had “modernized” Japan and built it into a world power, Taisho was a weak man who suffered from chronic … Continue reading History Thread: Ito Noe and Taisho Feminism
Today is the anniversary of Emperor Hirohito’s surrender announcement, ending the Pacific Theater of World War II (although a formal surrender wasn’t signed until September 1st). Japan’s road to accepting defeat in the war was long and torturous, with the … Continue reading The History Thread Surrenders
It’s become a pet peeve of mine that so many historians (particularly, though not exclusively, popular historians) offer German history. Germany itself is a relatively recent creation, of course, with a large number of regional and religious cleavages that endure … Continue reading History Thread: Christopher Clark’s Iron Kingdom (2007)
Few presidents’ reputations have vacillated so wildly as Lyndon Johnson’s. When he died in 1973, he was excoriated for his role in escalating the Vietnam War, a symbol of the Establishment (dubbed “the Creeping Meatball” by Abbie Hoffman) hated only … Continue reading History Thread: Julian E. Zelizer’s The Fierce Urgency of Now (2015)
The History Thread is back! I did not have a chance to write a full review of Revolutionary Spring, Christopher Clark’s new book on the Revolutions of 1848, but hopefully a short write-up (originally posted on Goodreads) will suffice as … Continue reading History Thread: Mini-Review of Christopher Clark’s Revolutionary Spring
It’s common knowledge that fewer people are studying history as a major. There are a lot of reasons for this: the general difficulty in finding jobs in the field, the push towards STEM education over the humanities, the fact that … Continue reading History Thread: One Damn Thing After Another
In 1906, Imperial Germany had gained a reputation as one of Europe’s most belligerent empires. Only recently unified as a nation, Germany was showing impatience with its role under the mercurial Kaiser Wilhelm II. Its increasingly provocative policies had led … Continue reading History Thread: The Kaiser’s Friends
On June 13, 1971 the New York Times began publication of a secret study documenting the history of the Vietnam War. The so-called “Pentagon Papers” revealed that the United States government had systematically deceived the press, the American people and … Continue reading History Thread: The Pentagon Papers
