A weekly thread about the past
This week’s prompt: How and when do you pass moral judgment on historical figures and people? There’s always a tricky balance between presentism (impressing modern moral views on the past) and just lazily excusing bad beliefs and behavior as “the … Continue reading The Judgmental History Thread
This week’s discussion topic, courtesy of Dino Ironbody: What historical villains weren’t hypocrites? There’s a weirdly common tendency, both among pop historians and the general public, to assume that disreputable historical figures don’t actually believe the awful things they express, … Continue reading The Honest History Thread
Welcome back to the History Thread! Had a decent vacation, whose historic highlight beyond much book buying, was visiting the Museum of Civil War Medicine in Frederick. They had an extremely detailed and enjoyable (as much as you can enjoy … Continue reading The History Thread Returns
This week’s prompt: What are your favorite historical documentaries? Or if you want to have fun, least favorite historical documentaries. Programming note: I’ll be on vacation next week, so I won’t be able to post the History Thread. If someone … Continue reading The Documentary History Thread
Had a few ideas for this week’s thread I was bouncing around, but they probably deserve more focus than throwing them together before work. This week we can return to an old History Thread favorite: bad history takes that you’ve … Continue reading The Bad Take History Thread
Pope Francis passed away this week, the first Jesuit and first man from the Americas to assume the Papacy. His death triggers a new election for the position – a conclave, named for the practice of locking the cardinals in … Continue reading The History Thread Prays for a Short Conclave
Sailors can be a superstitious lot, and literature abounds with tales of ships cursed with ill-fate. Some curses, like the bad luck which supposedly befalls anyone who kills an albatross, are simply folklore passed down half-believed to generations. Others, like … Continue reading History Thread: The Case of the Jinxed Germans
This week’s History Thread is inspired by an exchange in yesterday’s Day Thread. Suggested topic: what do you know about your family history? Have you done any research into your family’s history, and are there any interesting stories to share? … Continue reading The Personal History Thread
In honor of April Fools’, let’s remember some of our favorite historical jokes – whether from or about history. In 1340, the British and French navies fought the Battle of Sluys which proved one of the decisive battles in the … Continue reading The History Thread Laughs It Up
The History Thread has been late in acknowledging that March is Women’s History Month. For today’s prompt: who are your favorite women in history? Or a bonus question, favorite women historians? Continue reading History Thread Celebrates Women’s History Month
This week’s History Thread asks: What kind of history-based games do you/did you play? I’m sure all of us have played some historical games, from first person shooters like Medal of Honor or the turn-based agonies of Sid Meier’s oeuvre. … Continue reading The History Thread Dies of Dysentery
I’ve got another pressing engagement this week, so I’ll be popping in and out irregularly today. Here’s a weird cartoon of William Howard Taft (sheep) and Teddy Roosevelt (Little Bo Peep), apropos of recent readings. Continue reading The History Thread
This week marks the centenary of the Helium Act, signed by Calvin Coolidge and designed to encourage “the conservation, production, and exploitation of helium gas”. Continue reading The History Thread is Up, Up and Away!
Throughout the 19th Century, Spain’s fortunes precipitously plummeted from the world’s largest empire to a second-rate European power. After enduring occupation by Napoleon, the loss of its Latin American colonies and a series of internecine wars, the Spanish lost the … Continue reading History Thread: The Bogeyman is Coming!
I’ve had a few ideas for more in-depth history threads lately, many inspired by my readings in Russian history, but still not in a place apparently to sit down and do the necessary writing, research and footnotes. Lots of work … Continue reading The History Thread WANTS To Write
This week’s History Thread celebrates the All-Joking, All-Drunken Synod of Fools of Jesters. Peter the Great established this drinking club-cum-social satire as a way to ridicule what he considered the outdated practices of the Russian Orthodox Church, as a unique … Continue reading The All-Drunken History Thread
It has been a long, cold January and how appropriate that I’ve spent most of that time reading about Russian history. This week’s main read was Daniel Beer’s The House of the Dead: Siberian Exile Under the Tsars (2017) which … Continue reading The COLD History Thread
Welcome to this week’s History Thread! I’m not sure why Russia’s long history of absolute rule by ennobled dunderheads and god-anointed psychopaths comes to mind so readily on this particular Tuesday. Probably just because I’m reading a lot of books … Continue reading The History Thread Used to Be Bizarre
Welcome to 2025, as we stand on the precipice of what promises to be a…momentous period in American history. Rather than think about all that, the History Thread asks: What are you hoping to learn more about this year? Whether … Continue reading Time Enough at Last for the History Thread
In medieval England, Christmas was an elaborate twelve day long celebration, from Christmas Day (December 25th) through Epiphany (January 6th). Christmas itself was referred to feasting on a surfeit of regional delicacies, from beef to venison to the inevitable lampreys, … Continue reading The Hoggling History Thread
Putting up a quick History Thread this week in honor of I. challengeri, a South American cousin of the Spinosaurus known to paleontology as The Irritator. This annoying creature is so-named because the original (indeed, to date the only) specimen … Continue reading The Irritating History Thread
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