A weekly thread about the past
Happy Pride Month! The History Thread kicks off this month’s celebration of LGBTQ history by asking Who are your favorite LGBTQ historical figures? It can be people you admire for their achievements, or people you consider personal heroes or role … Continue reading The History Thread Celebrates Pride Month
No Triangles, Bermuda or otherwise in this week’s header. Enjoy a rhombus instead. Discuss what you will. Continue reading A Basic History Thread
Welcome back to the Bermuda Triangle, that mysterious zone where planes, ships, people and who knows what else supposedly vanish into thin air! Of course, most disappearances likely have rational explanations, just ones that are difficult to prove due to … Continue reading History Thread: Triangle Tidbits, Part II
I’ve spent the past few days in my old stomping grounds, the Bermuda Triangle. I’ve written about the place where the world’s ships, planes and sailors go to vanish into thin air in a few articles; it’s a story more … Continue reading History Thread: Triangle Tidbits
On February 16, 1837 the House of Lords convened in the former Painted Chamber of the Palace of Westminster. The Houses of Parliament, destroyed in an 1834 fire, were still in the process of rebuilding its interiors when they oversaw … Continue reading History Thread: Of Black Bottles, Depraved Duelists and Legal Legerdemain
Today, April 23rd, is generally celebrated as the birthday of playwright William Shakespeare. Generally considered one of, perhaps the greatest English-language playwright ever, Shakespeare likely needs no introduction to anyone reading this. And whatever a few cranks and Roland Emmerich … Continue reading History Thread Celebrates Shakespeare’s Birthday
After a long, work-mandated hiatus, the History Thread returns, as if on a sealed train from Switzerland. I’ll try to make this a weekly thread again, at least for the foreseeable future, but I can’t guarantee I’ll have time to … Continue reading The Triumphant Return of the History Thread!
The History Thread discusses a cave-diver from Kentucky who knew a thing or two about hired goons. Continue reading The History Thread honours Floyd Collins
I’m polishing off my work presentation on the Underground Railroad for next month, so I’m deep into research when I have time. I thought I’d shoutout the work of Wilbur Henry Siebert, the Ohio educator who spent nearly six decades … Continue reading The Wilbur Henry Siebert History Thread
On this day in 1948, the Star Tiger, a Tudor IV passenger aircraft of British South American Airways, disappeared during a routine voyage between the Azores and Bermuda. The aircraft was carrying 31 passengers and crew, among them Air Marshal … Continue reading The History Thread Disappears
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
The History Thread re-examines the life of controversial Roman Emperor Elagabalus. Continue reading The History Thread reconsiders Elagabalus
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
