A weekly thread about the past
In February 1942, the United States was still adjusting to World War II. Pearl Harbor was only two months past, and Americans entertained fears of an imminent Axis attack on the mainland. Such fears weren’t entirely unjustified: German U-Boats in … Continue reading History Thread: The Los Angeles Terror
On January 5, 1874 the House of Representatives debated a new Civil Rights Act, designed to protect the rights of freedmen as Reconstruction waned in the South. Southern whites, who had never peacefully acquiesced in the first place, were growing … Continue reading History Thread: Robert Elliott and the Rhetoric of Liberty
Henry Brown was born in Virginia in 1815. He grew up in a household that was deeply religious, and like many slaves his Christian faith carried him through the ordeal of bondage. After years of working at a Richmond tobacco … Continue reading History Thread: Henry Brown’s Special Delivery
1905 promised to be a grim and portentous year in the history of the Russian Empire. Russia was entering the second year of its disastrous war with Japan, with the garrison at Port Arthur surrendering after a five month siege, … Continue reading History Thread: Russia’s Bloody Sunday
No prompt this week, but enjoy this picture of Money the Cat. “A real live kitten on the keys, this music-loving feline lends vocal accompaniment to his mistress in Worcester Park, England. As Marion Holland 15, plays the piano, Money … Continue reading The History Thread Sings!
Few images from the Vietnam War, or indeed any war, are as well-known as Eddie Adams’ snapshot of Brigadier General Nguyen Ngoc Loan, the National Police Chief of South Vietnam, executed a suspected Vietcong terrorist. Taken during the height of … Continue reading History Thread: The Shooter in the Photograph
Salutations! The History Thread enters a new year and wants to know, what subjects do you plan/hope to learn more about? Share your prospective interests and perhaps solicit recommendations for books, documentaries, podcasts, etc. as you see fit. I’m hoping … Continue reading The Scholarly History Thread
2022 was a rough year, but at least I got a lot of reading done. Right now I’m curled up with my Library of America edition of Bruce Catton’s Army of the Potomac trilogy, for a cozy, pro-Union narrative history … Continue reading History Thread: Best Books Read in 2022
Today is the anniversary of one of the worst atrocities in modern history, the so-called “Rape of Nanking.” During the Sino-Japanese War, Japanese troops entering the Chinese city behaved with unparalleled brutality towards its residents. I’ll spare you a super-detailed … Continue reading History Thread Remembers the Rape of Nanking
No purpose to the theme but I wanted to use the amazing cover art (courtesy of Josh Kirby, perhaps best-known for his collaborations with Terry Pratchett) from Robert Goulart’s Hail, Hibbler! for a header. I hope I’ll be forgiven. This … Continue reading The History Thread Blasts Off!
Few figures loom larger in America’s liberal demonology than J. Edgar Hoover. In his forty-eight years as Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Hoover transformed a minor arm of the Justice Department into the nation’s most powerful law enforcement … Continue reading History Thread: Beverly Gage’s G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century (2022)
Hello everyone! This week we’ll do a prompt that I’m sure we’ve discussed in the distant past. What are your pet peeves when it comes to historical writing, documentaries, etc.? Is there a tendency among certain historians that annoy you? … Continue reading The Annoying History Thread
Again I didn’t have time to dredge up a racist clown to write about, so let’s settle for a discussion topic (suggested as I recall by uh, clem in last night’s Politics Thread). Optional topic: How is history taught in … Continue reading The Educational History Thread
This week’s History Thread (inspired by a suggestion by Headphone Princess last night) discusses: what historical event would you like to see receive a movie or miniseries adaptation? Who or what would you like to see greater exposure via pop … Continue reading History Thread Presents!
Friday will mark the fifth anniversary of How We Got Here, my first experiment with long-form history writing on this site. I still use the tag occasionally but found it more useful to fold my articles into the History Thread. … Continue reading A Historic History Thread
In the aftermath of World War I, Americans became obsessed with fitness. The sacrifices of the Great War and the catastrophic flu epidemic intermingled with the postwar Red Scare, a fear of radical politics and immigrants in general. Some solutions … Continue reading History Thread: Cho-Cho and the Jester Race
Discuss history. Continue reading History Thread
Since Ken Burns’ documentary The US and the Holocaust made it timely – I decided to consolidate my old posts on the American fascist movements of the ’30s and ’40s under a comprehensive tag. I have been very proud of … Continue reading History Thread: A Brief History of American Fascism
Tales of giant squid and outsized octopuses have haunted mankind since ancient times. The fact that enormous beasts lurk beneath the ocean waves is no secret, and the discovery of a creature with tentacles the length of a football field … Continue reading History Thread: The Squid That Eats Man
In his time, King Edward VIII was a romantic figure who abdicated the British throne in December 1936 for the sake of the woman he loved. For years, this romantic explanation that generally held; he (now reduced to the Duke … Continue reading History Thread: Philip Ziegler’s King Edward VIII (1991)
Richard J. Evans focused primarily on the history of German feminism and social movements before his involvement in David Irving’s libel action against Deborah Lipstadt, where he systematically demolished Irving’s Holocaust denial (an experience recounted in his book, Lying About … Continue reading History Thread: Richard J. Evans’ Third Reich Trilogy
