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Wrong Side of...
Rats! The Year of the Plague #2
3 weeks ago
History Today Feed
Forgeries, Fakes, and Phantom Time Forgeries, Fakes, and Phantom Time JamesHoare Tue, 01/28/2025 - 08:38
3 weeks ago
Classical Wisdom
How To Eat: An Ancient Guide to Healthy Living Registration *NOW* Open
4 weeks ago
Overcoming Bias
Celebrity v CEO v Politician Why are celebrities, CEOs, and politicians three different types of people who don’t overlap much?
4 weeks ago
Flashbak
The Sun by Frans Masereel, A Story Without Words – 1919 “One discovers the light in darkness, that is what darkness is for; but everything in our lives...
4 weeks ago
65
4 weeks ago
“One discovers the light in darkness, that is what darkness is for; but everything in our lives depends on how we bear the light,” – James Baldwin, Nothing Personal      The Sun (1919) by Frans Masereel (1889–1972) opens with an artist resting his head on his desk beneath an open...
A Collection of...
Gap Week (January 24, 2025) Hey, folks. As much as I hate doing it, I have to pull a ‘gap week’ this week, as the second part of...
4 weeks ago
41
4 weeks ago
Hey, folks. As much as I hate doing it, I have to pull a ‘gap week’ this week, as the second part of the Gracchi series (on the younger brother, Gaius Gracchus) isn’t done yet and I have some academic travel that I need to prepare for which is going to demand most of my …...
A Collection of...
Collections: On the Gracchi, Part II: Gaius Gracchus Last time, we started our retrospective on the Gracchi looking at the elder brother Tiberius...
3 weeks ago
24
3 weeks ago
Last time, we started our retrospective on the Gracchi looking at the elder brother Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus and his term as tribune of the plebs in 133 BCE; this week, we’ll wrap up this look by discussing Tiberius’ younger brother Gaius Sempronius Gracchus and his terms as...
A Collection of...
Collections: The Strange Armor of Dragon Age: The Veilguard This week we’re going to have a bit of fun looking at some of the interesting armor choices for the...
2 weeks ago
21
2 weeks ago
This week we’re going to have a bit of fun looking at some of the interesting armor choices for the recent Dragon Age: The Veilguard. In a way, this is an extension of the post on “The Problem with Sci-Fi Body Armor,” because I think Veilguard provides a pretty exceptional...
Patterns in Humanity
Immigration and crime: Norway Are immigrants overrepresented in crime in Norway? And why?
4 weeks ago
Classical Wisdom
Antigone Storms and Tyrants
4 weeks ago
Trying to Understand...
The Curse Of Zhou Bai Den. Or, masochism for fun and profit.
3 weeks ago
Patterns in Humanity
Are women better at jigsaw puzzles? An analysis of the World Jigsaw Puzzle Championship
3 weeks ago
Open Culture
A 1933 Profile of Frida Kahlo: “Wife of the Master Mural Painter Gleefully Dabbles in Works of Art” Walter Keane—supposed painter of “Big Eyed Children” and subject of a 2014 Tim Burton film—made a...
3 weeks ago
16
3 weeks ago
Walter Keane—supposed painter of “Big Eyed Children” and subject of a 2014 Tim Burton film—made a killing, attaining almost Thomas Kinkade-like status in the middlebrow art market of the 1950s and 60s. As it turns out, his wife, Margaret was in fact the artist, “painting 16 hours...
Open Culture
Coursera Offers $200 Off of Coursera Plus (Until January 27), Giving You Unlimited Access to Courses... A new deal to start a new year: Coursera is offering a $200 discount on its annual subscription plan...
4 weeks ago
16
4 weeks ago
A new deal to start a new year: Coursera is offering a $200 discount on its annual subscription plan called “Coursera Plus.” Normally priced at $399, Coursera Plus (now available for $199) gives you access to 90% of Coursera’s courses, Guided Projects, Specializations, and...
Overcoming Bias
When They Hear Less Than You Say Something must be done.
a week ago
History Today Feed
The Mad Duchess Lives The Mad Duchess Lives JamesHoare Fri, 01/24/2025 - 09:10
4 weeks ago
Classical Wisdom
Weekend Roundup Leadership and the Ancients
3 weeks ago
Open Culture
Benedict Cumberbatch Reads a Letter to a Man Blow-Drying His Balls at the Gym We have featured Benedict Cumberbatch reading letters by Kurt Vonnegut, Alan Turing, Albert Camus,...
3 weeks ago
15
3 weeks ago
We have featured Benedict Cumberbatch reading letters by Kurt Vonnegut, Alan Turing, Albert Camus, and Nick Cave, along with passages from Kafka’s Metamorphosis and Melville’s Moby Dick. It’s all pretty heady stuff. And now it’s time for something completely different. Above, we...
Res Obscura
When the Sackler Brothers studied LSD One of the stranger episodes from the 1950s golden age of psychedelic therapy, and what it tells us...
3 weeks ago
15
3 weeks ago
One of the stranger episodes from the 1950s golden age of psychedelic therapy, and what it tells us about the history of technology
Hundred Rabbits
Summary of changes for January 2025 Hey everyone! This is the list of all the changes we've done to our projects during the month of...
3 weeks ago
15
3 weeks ago
Hey everyone! This is the list of all the changes we've done to our projects during the month of January. Summary Of Changes 100r.co, added a new page: tote. Added Week 8 and Week 9 of the Victoria to Sitka logbook. Tote, released the project on itch.io. Grimgrains, added a new...
Open Culture
Noam Chomsky Defines What It Means to Be a Truly Educated Person There may be no more contentious an issue at the level of local U.S. government than education. All...
4 weeks ago
15
4 weeks ago
There may be no more contentious an issue at the level of local U.S. government than education. All of the socioeconomic and cultural fault lines communities would rather paper over become fully exposed in debates over funding, curriculum, districting, etc. But we rarely hear...
African History...
The Nsibidi script ca. 600-1909 CE: a history of an African writing system Nsibidi is one of Africa's oldest independently invented writing systems.
3 weeks ago
CrimethInc.
It's Safer in the Front : Taking the Offensive against Tyranny Faced with intensifying repression and state violence, there is an understandable inclination to...
3 weeks ago
14
3 weeks ago
Faced with intensifying repression and state violence, there is an understandable inclination to seek safety by avoiding confrontation. But this is not always the most effective strategy. “Counterintuitive though it is, in a confusing situation, often the best, if not safest,...
Open Culture
Warner Bros. Lets You Watch 31 Films Free Online: David Byrne’s True Stories, Christopher Guest’s... It’s Friday, which means that tonight, many of us will sit down to watch a movie with our family,...
2 weeks ago
14
2 weeks ago
It’s Friday, which means that tonight, many of us will sit down to watch a movie with our family, our friends, our significant other, or — for some cinephiles, best of all — by ourselves. If you haven’t yet lined up any home-cinematic experience in particular, consider taking a...
Open Culture
Mahatma Gandhi’s List of the Seven Social Sins; or Tips on How to Avoid Living the Bad Life Image via Wikimedia Commons In 590 AD, Pope Gregory I unveiled a list of the Seven Deadly Sins –...
3 weeks ago
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3 weeks ago
Image via Wikimedia Commons In 590 AD, Pope Gregory I unveiled a list of the Seven Deadly Sins – lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy and pride – as a way to keep the flock from straying into the thorny fields of ungodliness. These days, though, for all but the most devout,...
History Today Feed
‘The Grammar of Angels’ by Edward Wilson-Lee review ‘The Grammar of Angels’ by Edward Wilson-Lee review JamesHoare Mon, 01/27/2025 - 10:34
3 weeks ago
Flashbak
Andy Warhol’s Life After Death: Cards, Posters And Other Post-Warhol Ephemera Andy Warhol’s star shone brighter after his death on February 22, 1987. The artist succumbed to...
3 weeks ago
14
3 weeks ago
Andy Warhol’s star shone brighter after his death on February 22, 1987. The artist succumbed to cardiac arrest while in hospital for gall bladder surgery. Prolific, talented and successful in life, much of Warhol’s work only came to light after his unexpected death, such as early...
Wrong Side of...
What will become of the Sensitive Young Men? Wrong Side of History round-up #59
3 weeks ago
Hidden History
The First Space Launch Everybody knows about the Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union in the 1950s and...
3 weeks ago
13
3 weeks ago
Everybody knows about the Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union in the 1950s and 60s, which began with the Russian Sputnik and ended with the American moon landing. But in reality, the first man-made object to enter outer space was not Russian, and not...
Wrong Side of...
Our philanthropists and their oligarchs Some foreign billionaires seem to be welcome in British politics
4 weeks ago
Flashbak
Manuel Orazi’s Occultist Magic Calendar Mil DCCCXCVI, 1895 This French occultist calendar illustrated in the Art Nouveau style by Italian artist and designer...
4 weeks ago
13
4 weeks ago
This French occultist calendar illustrated in the Art Nouveau style by Italian artist and designer Manuel Orazi (1860 – 1934) was printed in an symbolic edition of 777 copies to commemorate magic for the coming year of 1896. Each double page uses the Christian calendar (name...
Open Culture
How Erik Satie’s ‘Furniture Music’ Was Designed to Be Ignored and Paved the Way for Ambient Music Imagine how many times someone born in the eighteen-sixties could ever expect to hear music. The...
3 weeks ago
13
3 weeks ago
Imagine how many times someone born in the eighteen-sixties could ever expect to hear music. The number would vary, of course, depending on the individual’s class and family inclinations. Suffice it to say that each chance would have been more precious than those of us in the...
Overcoming Bias
Federal Futarchy Futarchy is a new financial-market-based form of governance.
3 weeks ago
African History...
On the spread of Traditional African religions during the pre-colonial period. Among the corpus of terracotta figurines discovered in the Greco-Egyptian city of Alexandria dating...
2 weeks ago
13
2 weeks ago
Among the corpus of terracotta figurines discovered in the Greco-Egyptian city of Alexandria dating back to the 2nd century BC is a fine clay vessel in the form of a Nubian priestess of Isis of Philae, who is depicted in a kneeling position while performing a Greek-type mortuary...
Classical Wisdom
Epicurus and The Pursuit of Happiness Tasting the Perfect Tomato
3 weeks ago
Open Culture
How Frank Lloyd Wright Became Frank Lloyd Wright: A Video Introduction Frank Lloyd Wright is unlikely to be displaced as the archetype of the genius architect anytime...
3 weeks ago
12
3 weeks ago
Frank Lloyd Wright is unlikely to be displaced as the archetype of the genius architect anytime soon, at least in America, but even he had to start somewhere. At nine years old, as architecture YouTuber Stewart Hicks explains in the video above, Wright received a set of blocks...
History Today Feed
How Does History Judge Prime Ministers? How Does History Judge Prime Ministers? JamesHoare Thu, 01/30/2025 - 09:19
3 weeks ago
Wrong Side of...
Britain’s Project 2029 Can you just do things? We shall find out
3 weeks ago
Hidden History
Cloud Gate, Chicago’s “Bean” This futuristic sculpture in Millennium Park has become an icon of Chicago. In 1997, the city of...
2 weeks ago
12
2 weeks ago
This futuristic sculpture in Millennium Park has become an icon of Chicago. In 1997, the city of Chicago was making plans for a patch of land near Grant Park on the shore of Lake Michigan that had previously been a parking lot and a railroad yard. At first, there was talk of...
Open Culture
Where Do You Put the Camera? Every Frame a Painting Presents Insights from Famous Directors Whether or not we believe in auteurhood, we each have our own mental image of what a film director...
4 weeks ago
12
4 weeks ago
Whether or not we believe in auteurhood, we each have our own mental image of what a film director does. But if we’ve never actually seen one at work, we’re liable not to understand what the actual experience of directing feels like: making decision after decision after decision,...
Classical Wisdom
Marcus Aurelius' Stoic Paradoxes Contradictions that Rewire Us
3 weeks ago
Trying to Understand...
Stories We Tell Each Other. Because contingency frightens us.
a week ago
African History...
On the history of the Bantu expansion: old misconceptions and new evidence The southern half of the African continent is populated by speakers of about 550 closely related...
a week ago
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a week ago
The southern half of the African continent is populated by speakers of about 550 closely related languages that are referred to as the Bantu languages.
Open Culture
How Robert Frost Wrote One of His Most Famous Poems, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” Several generations of American students have now had the experience of being told by an English...
3 weeks ago
12
3 weeks ago
Several generations of American students have now had the experience of being told by an English teacher that they’d been reading Robert Frost all wrong, even if they’d never read him at all. Most, at least, had seen his lines “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— / I took the...
Wrong Side of...
Travels in Vietnam In my father's footsteps
2 weeks ago
Wrong Side of...
Journey to the Imperial City Travels in Vietnam, Part 2
2 weeks ago
Classical Wisdom
One Spot Left: In Search of Homer Book Now to join me on Cephalonia
3 weeks ago
Open Culture
Google Unveils a Digital Marketing & E‑Commerce Certificate: 7 Courses Will Help Prepare Students... Several years ago, Google launched a series of Career Certificates that will “prepare learners for...
3 weeks ago
11
3 weeks ago
Several years ago, Google launched a series of Career Certificates that will “prepare learners for an entry-level role in under six months.” Their first certificates focused on Project Management, Data Analytics, User Experience (UX) Design, IT Support and IT Automation. And they...
Open Culture
The Nature of Human Stupidity Explained by The 48 Laws of Power Author Robert Greene It’s practically guaranteed that we now have more stupid people on the planet than ever before. Of...
3 weeks ago
11
3 weeks ago
It’s practically guaranteed that we now have more stupid people on the planet than ever before. Of course, we might be tempted to think; just look at how many of them disagree with my politics. But this unprecedented stupidity is primarily, if not entirely, a function of an...
Flashbak
The Seven Deadly Sins Under Death’s Dominion by James Ensor, 1904 “…the eternal black night, death under the colourless earth” – James Ensor on his dread of death    ...
3 weeks ago
11
3 weeks ago
“…the eternal black night, death under the colourless earth” – James Ensor on his dread of death     Belgian painter and printmaker James Ensor (13 April 1860 – 19 November 1949) etched his Seven Deadly Sins in 1904. To hammer home the message of human foolishness, malice and the...
Classical Wisdom
The Goddess of Spring Flora and the Floralia Festival
2 weeks ago
Global Inequality...
Gold, volk and IQs Hayek’s fatal conceit
2 weeks ago
Open Culture
Hear an AI Chatbot, Masquerading as a Clueless Grandmother, Waste the Time of an Internet Scam... And now for a good use of AI. The UK-based telecom company O2 has developed a chatbot (“named...
a week ago
11
a week ago
And now for a good use of AI. The UK-based telecom company O2 has developed a chatbot (“named Daisy”) that performs a noble task. Impersonating an elderly grandmother, the chatbot engages with internet fraudsters and then systematically frustrates them and wastes their time. As...
Trying to Understand...
Stone, Scissors, Paper. Or, Europe after Ukraine.
2 weeks ago
Res Obscura
The familiar loneliness of the Kinetoscope One other way that the 2020s resemble the 1890s
2 weeks ago
Open Culture
When Charlie Chaplin Entered a Chaplin Look-Alike Contest & Came in 20th Place Charlie Chaplin started appearing in his first films in 1914—40 films, to be precise—and, by 1915,...
2 weeks ago
11
2 weeks ago
Charlie Chaplin started appearing in his first films in 1914—40 films, to be precise—and, by 1915, the United States had a major case of “Chaplinitis.” Chaplin mustaches were suddenly popping up everywhere–as were Chaplin imitators and Chaplin look-alike contests. A young Bob...
CrimethInc.
Eight Things You Can Do to Stop ICE The Trump administration is paving the way for mass deportations by building new prison camps and...
a week ago
10
a week ago
The Trump administration is paving the way for mass deportations by building new prison camps and invoking the Alien Enemies Act, which was used to justify the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. Motivated by nativism and white nationalism, Steven Miller and...
Overcoming Bias
UFO As Aliens Odds, Spending The following are some (lognormal fit) median estimates from some X polls I just ran.
2 weeks ago
History Today Feed
‘The Brothers Grimm: A Biography’ by Ann Schmiesing review ‘The Brothers Grimm: A Biography’ by Ann Schmiesing review JamesHoare Mon, 02/10/2025 - 11:03
a week ago
Flashbak
Finding Ourselves on Ward 81, 1976 “They are the women we might have been or one day become” – Ward 81 by Dr Karen Jacobs and Mary Mark...
3 weeks ago
10
3 weeks ago
“They are the women we might have been or one day become” – Ward 81 by Dr Karen Jacobs and Mary Mark Ellen   In 1976, photographer Mary Ellen Mark and her friend, the sociologist Dr. Karen Folger Jacobs, documented the lives of women living in the high-security, all-female wing...
Classical Wisdom
What’s in a name? Is Re-labeling a distraction or disruption?
2 weeks ago
Open Culture
Carl Sagan Predicts the Decline of America: Unable to Know “What’s True,” We Will Slide, “Without... Image by Kenneth Zirkel, via Wikimedia Commons There have been many theories of how human history...
2 weeks ago
10
2 weeks ago
Image by Kenneth Zirkel, via Wikimedia Commons There have been many theories of how human history works. Some, like German thinker G.W.F. Hegel, have thought of progress as inevitable. Others have embraced a more static view, full of “Great Men” and an immutable natural...
CrimethInc.
The Day the Émigrés Struck Back : Remembering May Day 2006 In 2006, students around the United States engaged in spontaneous walkouts protesting the repression...
2 weeks ago
10
2 weeks ago
In 2006, students around the United States engaged in spontaneous walkouts protesting the repression of undocumented people, culminating on May Day in the first great general strike to take place in the US in the 21st century. Today, as students are once again staging walkouts...
Flashbak
Loving Couples Posing For Studio Portraits in the 1970s Before the ubiquitous smart phone and achieving physical perfection through fillers and filters,...
3 weeks ago
10
3 weeks ago
Before the ubiquitous smart phone and achieving physical perfection through fillers and filters, anyone seeking a professional look hired a studio photographer. These portraits of couples from the 1970s are a release from all that narcissism. The lovers paid for these pictures...
History Today Feed
Following Threads to Colonial Barbados Following Threads to Colonial Barbados JamesHoare Wed, 01/29/2025 - 09:40
3 weeks ago
Open Culture
When Neapolitans Used to Eat Pasta with Their Bare Hands: Watch Footage from 1903 Even if you don’t speak Italian, you can make a decent guess at the meaning of the word...
3 weeks ago
10
3 weeks ago
Even if you don’t speak Italian, you can make a decent guess at the meaning of the word mangiamaccheroni. The tricky bit is that maccheroni refers not to the pasta English-speakers today call macaroni, tubular and cut into small curved sections, but to pasta in general. Or at...
History Today Feed
‘Augustus the Strong’ by Tim Blanning review ‘Augustus the Strong’ by Tim Blanning review JamesHoare Mon, 02/03/2025 - 10:16
2 weeks ago
Overcoming Bias
My Status Circles Most of us have circles of concern, where we care more about folks from our inner circles than our...
2 weeks ago
9
2 weeks ago
Most of us have circles of concern, where we care more about folks from our inner circles than our outer circles.
Open Culture
Jean-Luc Godard Shoots Marianne Faithfull (RIP) Singing “As Tears Go By” in 1966 Note: Yesterday, Marianne Faithfull passed away at age 78. In her memory, we’re bringing back a...
3 weeks ago
9
3 weeks ago
Note: Yesterday, Marianne Faithfull passed away at age 78. In her memory, we’re bringing back a favorite from deep in our archive. It originally appeared on our site in June 2012. When you want to learn a thing or two about Jean-Luc Godard, you turn to New Yorker film critic...
History Today Feed
Doing Business with Russia Doing Business with Russia JamesHoare Thu, 02/06/2025 - 09:24
2 weeks ago
Open Culture
Explore a Digitized Edition of the Voynich Manuscript, “the World’s Most Mysterious Book” A 600-year-old manuscript—written in a script no one has ever decoded, filled with cryptic...
3 weeks ago
9
3 weeks ago
A 600-year-old manuscript—written in a script no one has ever decoded, filled with cryptic illustrations, its origins remaining to this day a mystery…. It’s not as satisfying a plot, say, of a National Treasure or Dan Brown thriller, certainly not as action-packed as...
Flashbak
Magic Reality: The Eyes of Arthur Tress – in Pictures “A photographer could be considered a kind of magician. As a trained observer he can foretell the...
2 weeks ago
9
2 weeks ago
“A photographer could be considered a kind of magician. As a trained observer he can foretell the potential movements of his subjects and perhaps even by some mental intimidation… actually cause them to happen.” – Arthur Tress   Arthur Tress (Nov. 24, 1940- ) was born in...
History Today Feed
The Englishman Who Cried ‘Let Ireland Go’ The Englishman Who Cried ‘Let Ireland Go’ JamesHoare Wed, 02/05/2025 - 09:31
2 weeks ago
Open Culture
How Japanese Masters Turn Sand Into Swords: The Art of Traditional Sword Making from Start to Finish We made sand think: this phrase is used from time to time to evoke the particular technological...
2 weeks ago
9
2 weeks ago
We made sand think: this phrase is used from time to time to evoke the particular technological wonders of our age, especially since artificial intelligence seems to be back on the slate of possibilities. While there would be no Silicon Valley without silica sand, semiconductors...
Flashbak
Émile-Allain Séguy’s Insectes, 1925 – A Hymn To Nature In 20 Beautiful Illustrated Plates “Everything is determined, the beginning as well as the end, by forces over which we have no...
2 weeks ago
9
2 weeks ago
“Everything is determined, the beginning as well as the end, by forces over which we have no control. It is determined for the insect, as well as for the star. Human beings, vegetables, or cosmic dust, we all dance to a mysterious tune, intoned in the distance by an invisible...
Open Culture
Behold Harry Clarke’s Hallucinatory Illustrations for Edgar Allan Poe’s Story Collection, Tales of... As you’ve probably noticed if you’re a regular reader of this site, we’re big fans of book...
2 weeks ago
9
2 weeks ago
As you’ve probably noticed if you’re a regular reader of this site, we’re big fans of book illustration, particularly that from the form’s golden age—the late 18th and 19th century—before photography took over as the dominant visual medium. But while photographs largely...
Open Culture
See Vivaldi’s Four Seasons Visualized in Colorfully Animated Scores Music is often described as the most abstract of all the arts, and arguably the least visual as...
2 weeks ago
9
2 weeks ago
Music is often described as the most abstract of all the arts, and arguably the least visual as well. But these qualities, which seem so basic to the nature of the form, have been challenged for at least three centuries, not least by composers themselves. Take Antonio Vivaldi,...
Hidden History
The Sobibor Rebellion In October 1943, inmates at the Nazi extermination camp in Sobibor, in Poland, organized an uprising...
a week ago
9
a week ago
In October 1943, inmates at the Nazi extermination camp in Sobibor, in Poland, organized an uprising that destroyed the camp and led to the escape of hundreds of prisoners. In January 1942, a group of fifteen Nazi government officials met in the Wannsee suburb of Berlin with...
Open Culture
Watch the First 2+ Hours of MTV’s Inaugural Broadcast (August 1, 1981) Not everyone on August 1, 1981 had a VCR at their disposal, and not everybody stayed up until...
2 weeks ago
9
2 weeks ago
Not everyone on August 1, 1981 had a VCR at their disposal, and not everybody stayed up until midnight. But fortunately at least one person did, in order to tape the first two hours of a new cable channel called MTV: Music Television. Did they know it would be historic? MTV...
Flashbak
The Brilliant Paper Bag Hats Made by Self-Taught Artist moses of Hawaii Born Murray Odessky on October 16, 1931, the artist who would eventually change his name to “moses”...
a week ago
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a week ago
Born Murray Odessky on October 16, 1931, the artist who would eventually change his name to “moses” moved to the Big Island of Hawaii and began to create 255 brilliant paper bag hats – sculptures that he donated to the Mingei Museum in San Diego, CA. Until he died in 2015, moses...
Classical Wisdom
Why Do We Love Violence? The Tainted Glory of the Gladiator
a week ago
Classical Wisdom
Weekend Roundup Quiz Time!
2 weeks ago
Open Culture
Has SpaceX Done Anything NASA Hasn’t? Neil deGrasse Tyson Explains His “Feud” with Elon Musk One would count neither Elon Musk nor Neil deGrasse Tyson among the most reserved public figures of...
2 weeks ago
9
2 weeks ago
One would count neither Elon Musk nor Neil deGrasse Tyson among the most reserved public figures of the twenty-first century. Given the efforts Musk has been making to push into the business of outer space, which has long been Tyson’s intellectual domain, it’s only natural that...
History Today Feed
On the Spot: Geoffrey Parker On the Spot: Geoffrey Parker JamesHoare Tue, 02/11/2025 - 08:25
a week ago
History Today Feed
‘The Price of Victory’ by N.A.M. Rodger review ‘The Price of Victory’ by N.A.M. Rodger review JamesHoare Tue, 02/04/2025 - 09:31
2 weeks ago
Flashbak
The Will Eisner M-16 U.S. Army Rifle Maintenance Booklet, 1968 The M-16 U.S. Army Rifle Maintenance Booklet was distributed to every U.S. soldier from 1968-1972...
2 weeks ago
8
2 weeks ago
The M-16 U.S. Army Rifle Maintenance Booklet was distributed to every U.S. soldier from 1968-1972 during the Vietnam war. Originally sealed in plastic to accommodate weather concerns, and for jungle distribution, the 32 page M-16 booklet featured art by Will Eisner Studios. The...
Wrong Side of...
The case against child voters Votes at 16 is the most cynical of politics
a week ago
Flashbak
All Aboard for A Bus Tour of 1970s England “As a photographer, my principal subject was – and remains – the British people, I’m not interested...
2 weeks ago
8
2 weeks ago
“As a photographer, my principal subject was – and remains – the British people, I’m not interested in celebrities, just ordinary folk” – Daniel Meadows   In 1973, Daniel Meadows toured Britain in his 1948 Leyland Titan PD1 double-decker bus. He met he met circus performers,...
A Collection of...
Fireside Friday, February 14, 2025 (On Grant Funding) Hey folks! Happy Valentine’s Day. Fireside this week and then hopefully next week we’ll start into...
a week ago
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a week ago
Hey folks! Happy Valentine’s Day. Fireside this week and then hopefully next week we’ll start into our look at the Siege of Eregion in Season 2 of Rings of Power and also the larger Tolkien legendarium. I confess, watching the show, my suspension of disbelief fell much faster...
Flashbak
Malice In Wonderland – the Trippy Cartoon Inspired by Lewis Carroll’s Story, 1982 “These days, it’s, ‘Dude, what the fuck is that shit?’ Whereas back then, it was, ‘You are...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
“These days, it’s, ‘Dude, what the fuck is that shit?’ Whereas back then, it was, ‘You are exploiting women, you filthy sexist pig!'” – Vince Collins on his shot animation Malice In Wonderland     When Vince Collins made Malice in Wonderland in 1982, his hallucinatory,...
Classical Wisdom
Weekend Quiz Plus Roundup of Resources
a week ago
Wrong Side of...
‘I say the Americans really won the war’ Vietnam’s victory over communism
2 weeks ago
Res Obscura
Happy Lupercalia A special discount on subscriptions in honor of the Roman wolf holiday
a week ago
Flashbak
Painted Backgrounds for Early 20th Century Photographers, 1908 Before image filters and digital backdrops added depth and interest to photographs, placing subjects...
a week ago
8
a week ago
Before image filters and digital backdrops added depth and interest to photographs, placing subjects in exquisite settings, there were hand-painted backgrounds for photography studios. Beginning in the mid-1800s, decorative backgrounds worked at the intersection of traditional...
Open Culture
Tracing English Back to Its Oldest Known Ancestor: An Introduction to Proto-Indo-European People understand evolution in all sorts of different ways. We’ve all heard a variety of folk...
a week ago
8
a week ago
People understand evolution in all sorts of different ways. We’ve all heard a variety of folk explanations of that all-important phenomenon, from “survival of the fittest” to “humans come from monkeys,” that run the spectrum from broadly correct to badly mangled. One less often...
Global Inequality...
Trump, the state and the revolution To say that Trump in his new incarnation is different from the Trump No.
a week ago
Open Culture
Watch 10 Great German Expressionist Films: Nosferatu, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari & More In 1913, Germany, flush with a new nation’s patriotic zeal, looked like it might become the dominant...
a week ago
7
a week ago
In 1913, Germany, flush with a new nation’s patriotic zeal, looked like it might become the dominant nation of Europe and a real rival to that global superpower Great Britain. Then it hit the buzzsaw of World War I. After the German government collapsed in 1918 from the economic...
Open Culture
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We can all remember seeing images of medieval Europeans wearing pointy shoes, but most of us have paid scant attention to the shoes themselves. That may be for the best, since the more we dwell on one fact of life in the Middle Ages or another, the more we imagine how...
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Before the word processor, before White-Out, before Post-It Notes, there were straight pins. Or, at least that’s what Jane Austen used to make edits in one of her rare manuscripts. In 2011, Oxford’s Bodleian Library acquired the manuscript of Austen’s abandoned novel, The...
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These wonderful illustrations of a broad variety of fora fauna are from German naturalist Lorenz Oken’s huge atlas of living things, the Allgemeine Naturgeschichte für alle Stände atlas (1833-1834) (General natural history for all classes). Published over seven instalments, its...
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In a letter dated May 31, 1960, Flannery O’Connor, the author best known for her classic story, “A Good Man is Hard to Find” (listen to her read the story here) penned a letter to her friend, the playwright Maryat Lee. It begins rather abruptly, likely because it’s responding to...
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The Wangara chronicle, one of West Africa's oldest surviving historical texts composed around 1650, contains an interesting account explaining the migration of a group of scholars from medieval Malī against the wishes of its ruler:
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Ex Libris is a Latin phrase that translates as “from the books”. Also known as bookplates, Ex Libris were first used in Germany in the 15th Century. These designs are pasted into a book’s inside cover or endpaper as a sign of ownership. The first books were highly valuable and...
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At least since The Canterbury Tales, the setting of the medieval tavern has held out the promise of adventure. For their customer base during the actual Middle Ages, however, they had more utilitarian virtues. “If you ever find yourself in the late medieval period, and you are in...
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THERE ARE DECADES WHEN possibility is constrained in a narrow frame. The terrain has been surveyed, boundaries have been laid, and rules have been established. In such an age there is still room for high drama: The decisive round of a boxing match draws the eye despite the...
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This is the first part of our [I don’t know; a few?] part series looking at the Siege of Eregion sequence from the second season of Amazon’s Rings of Power and what we can learn by pointing out its missteps. And I’m not going to bury the lede here: this entire sequence is a mess....
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As Donald Trump and Elon Musk subordinate the United States government to their pursuit of totalitarian power, Democrats remain in a defensive posture, accusing them of lawlessness. But neither courts nor laws will suffice to halt the descent into autocracy. Massive numbers of...
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Christy Rupp: Rat Patrol in New York City, 1979 In 1979, American artist Christy Rupp (born 1949) created a street poster of a prowling, life-sized...
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In 1979, American artist Christy Rupp (born 1949) created a street poster of a prowling, life-sized rat. With a keen interest in animal behaviour and habitat, Rupp’s popster coincided with a three-week strike by NYC sanitation workers. As the rubbish bags piled up on the city’s...
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A Week Off And A New Language See you again soon
a year ago
Res Obscura
Simulating History with ChatGPT The Case for LLMs as Hallucination Engines
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CrimethInc.
2024: Out of the Frying Pan, into the Fire : The Year in Review It’s time to take stock of the year have just lived through and get oriented for the year ahead....
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117
a month ago
It’s time to take stock of the year have just lived through and get oriented for the year ahead. Here, we review the events of 2024 and our own contributions to the fight for a better world. A year that began amid genocide in Palestine and war in Ukraine and Sudan is concluding...
Trying to Understand...
The Rise of Extractive Politics It's about having small expectations.
a year ago
Classical Wisdom
Weekend Roundup Sacred Flames and Divine Philosophers
a year ago
Open Culture
Binge-Watch Classic Television Programs Free: The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Lone Ranger, Dragnet, That... Earlier this week, we featured the 99-year-old Dick Van Dyke’s performance in Coldplay’s new music...
2 months ago
94
2 months ago
Earlier this week, we featured the 99-year-old Dick Van Dyke’s performance in Coldplay’s new music video, full of visual references to the sitcom that made him a household name in the early nineteen-sixties. And a household name he remains these six decades later, though one does...
Classical Wisdom
Should We Follow Silly Laws? And what happens when we don’t?
a year ago
Open Culture
Francis Ford Coppola Picks His Favorite Criterion Movies & Gives Advice to Filmmakers Upon stepping into the hallowed Criterion Closet, stocked with hundreds of that cinephile video...
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87
a month ago
Upon stepping into the hallowed Criterion Closet, stocked with hundreds of that cinephile video label’s finest releases, Francis Ford Coppola speaks of a director who “believed in a film he wanted to make, and used his entire fortune, because the financing system of the time...
Open Culture
The New York Times Presents the 100 Best Books of the 21st Century, Selected by 503 Novelists, Poets... For longtime readers of American book journalism, scrolling through the New York Times Book Review’s...
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86
a month ago
For longtime readers of American book journalism, scrolling through the New York Times Book Review’s just-published list of the 100 best books of the twenty-first century will summon dim memories of many a once-unignorable critical fuss. At one time or another over the past 25...
History Today Feed
How Did Christianity Change the Roman Empire? How Did Christianity Change the Roman Empire? j.hoare Thu, 12/07/2023 - 09:29
a year ago
Open Culture
Benedict Cumberbatch Reads Kurt Vonnegut’s Letter of Advice to People Living in the Year 2088 There was a time when a company like Volkswagen could commission various luminaries to write letters...
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81
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There was a time when a company like Volkswagen could commission various luminaries to write letters to the future, then publish them in Time magazine as part of an ad campaign. In fact, that time wasn’t so very long ago: it was the year 1988, to be precise, when no less an...
Classical Wisdom
Can We Choose NOT to Be Harmed? How can we train Resilience?
a year ago
African History...
A history of the Rozvi kingdom (1680-1830) From Changamire's expulsion of the Portuguese to the ruined cities of Zimbabwe.
a year ago
Open Culture
Read J. R. R. Tolkien’s “Letter From Father Christmas” To His Young Children (1925) J.R.R. Tolkien is best known for the sweeping fantasy landscapes of Lord of The Rings and The...
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78
2 months ago
J.R.R. Tolkien is best known for the sweeping fantasy landscapes of Lord of The Rings and The Hobbit. Apart from being a celebrated author, the Oxford University professor of Anglo-Saxon was also a devoted father who doted on his children. In 1920, a few short years after Tolkien...
A Collection of...
Collections: How to Roman Republic 101, Addenda: The Socii This week, as an addendum to our series on Roman civic governance (I, II, IIIa, IIIb, IIIc, IV, V),...
a year ago
75
a year ago
This week, as an addendum to our series on Roman civic governance (I, II, IIIa, IIIb, IIIc, IV, V), we’re going to take a look at how Rome handles those parts of Italy it controls but which it does not inhabit. These are Rome’s ‘allies’ (socii), a euphemistic label for the...
Trying to Understand...
A Short Essay About A Long-Playing Record One I bought fifty years ago.
9 months ago
Open Culture
Explore the Newly-Launched Public Domain Image Archive with 10,000+ Free Historical Images We’ve often featured the work of the Public Domain Review here on Open Culture, and also various...
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a month ago
We’ve often featured the work of the Public Domain Review here on Open Culture, and also various searchable copyright-free image databases that have arisen over the years. It makes sense that those two worlds would collide, and now they’ve done so in the form of the just-launched...
Trying to Understand...
Things Are Falling Apart ... And the centre's not looking too good, either.
a year ago
Classical Wisdom
Weekend Roundup Mothers of the Ancient World
9 months ago
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Do You Listen Well? Lessons on Listening from Plutarch
a year ago
Wrong Side of...
The Terrible Loneliness of Genius The Canon Club: Vincent van Gogh
a month ago
weird medieval guys
Explore medieval life and death with these 5 brilliant interactive maps! Travels, murders, and......eels?!!
a year ago
A Collection of...
Collections: On the Reign of Alexander III of Macedon, the Great? This week, in part as a follow-on to our series on the contest between Hellenistic armies and Roman...
9 months ago
72
9 months ago
This week, in part as a follow-on to our series on the contest between Hellenistic armies and Roman legions, I wanted to take the opportunity to talk about Alexander III, who you almost certainly know as Alexander the Great. But I want to discuss his reign with that title, ‘the...
A Collection of...
Collections: On the Reign of Alexander III of Macedon, the Great? Part II This is the second and final part of our look at Alexander III of Macedon (Part I), who you almost...
9 months ago
71
9 months ago
This is the second and final part of our look at Alexander III of Macedon (Part I), who you almost certainly know as Alexander the Great. Last week, we looked at the sources for Alexander’s life, the historiography (that is, the history-of-the-history) of his modern reception and...
Res Obscura
LLM-based educational games will be a big deal For the first time, digital games can make qualitative assessments of learning. Here's what that...
9 months ago
71
9 months ago
For the first time, digital games can make qualitative assessments of learning. Here's what that might look like.
Open Culture
How Leonardo da Vinci Painted The Last Supper: A Deep Dive Into a Masterpiece When Leonardo da Vinci was 42 years old, he hadn’t yet completed any major publicly viewable work....
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71
2 months ago
When Leonardo da Vinci was 42 years old, he hadn’t yet completed any major publicly viewable work. Not that he’d been idle: in that same era, while working for the Duke of Milan, Ludovico Sforza, he “developed, organized, and directed productions for festival pageants, triumphal...
Trying to Understand...
Into the Waste Land Nothing connects.
a year ago
History Today Feed
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a month ago
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War Is Complicated. And not just the fighting bit.
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History Today Feed
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Open Culture
99-Year-Old Dick Van Dyke Sings & Dances in a Touching New Coldplay Video, Directed by Spike Jonze There’s one thing right with our world, and it’s Dick Van Dyke. Appearing in a new Coldplay music...
2 months ago
70
2 months ago
There’s one thing right with our world, and it’s Dick Van Dyke. Appearing in a new Coldplay music video, Mr. Van Dyke dances barefoot and sings knowingly a little off-key—before reflecting on a century of life on this planet. What is love? Is he afraid of dying? What does luck...
Open Culture
What’s Entering the Public Domain in 2025: Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms, Faulkner’s The Sound and... Each Public Domain Day seems to bring us a richer crop of copyright-liberated books, plays, films,...
a month ago
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a month ago
Each Public Domain Day seems to bring us a richer crop of copyright-liberated books, plays, films, musical compositions, sound recordings, works of art, and other pieces of intellectual property. This year happens to be an especially notable one for connoisseurs of Belgian...
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9 months ago
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9 months ago
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Honesty: What's In It For Me? First, do lots of harm.
a year ago
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Centuries of Childhood The history of childhood is one of multiplicity — so why do we tell parents such simplistic stories...
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67
8 months ago
The history of childhood is one of multiplicity — so why do we tell parents such simplistic stories about it?
Trying to Understand...
China And Russia Walk Into A Room. And don't say a word about Europe.
8 months ago
African History...
A history of the Majeerteen Sultanate: 1700-1927. Maritime trade and diplomacy in the northern Horn of Africa.
a year ago
weird medieval guys
Why did medieval people invent so many collective nouns? A pride of lions, a paddling of ducks, and....a herd of harlots?
a year ago
Trying to Understand...
Useless in Gaza As always, if you don't know what you're doing.
a year ago
A Collection of...
Gap Week: December 27, 2024 (Year in Review) Hey folks! Year is coming to a close, so once again I’m going to offer a bit of an end-of-year...
a month ago
65
a month ago
Hey folks! Year is coming to a close, so once again I’m going to offer a bit of an end-of-year reflection on the state of the project, along with a brief ‘what’s on the stove’ coverage of what may be coming up. Also, here’s a cat picture: In terms of the project itself, 2024 was,...
Classical Wisdom
Are Protests the Best Way to Say Nay? Can Mobs Make the Change They Want to See?
9 months ago
Classical Wisdom
Do We Need Dress Codes? Are standards elevating or elitist?
a year ago
A Collection of...
Collections: Coinage and the Tyranny of Fantasy ‘Gold’ This week on the blog I want to take a brief detour into discussing historical coinage, particularly...
a month ago
65
a month ago
This week on the blog I want to take a brief detour into discussing historical coinage, particularly in the context of modern fantasy and roleplaying settings. In particular, the notions I want to tackle are first how did ancient currency systems work in terms of value (what...
Trying to Understand...
Too Much of Not A Lot Winning the day and losing the war.
a year ago
African History...
Persian myths and realities on the Swahili coast: contextualizing the 'Shirazi' civilization. Why geneticists found what archeologists and historians had failed to locate.
a year ago
African History...
a brief note on Ethnicity and the State in Africa the evolution of the Tutsi/Hutu dichotomy in the precolonial Great Lakes.
9 months ago
African History...
A complete history of Abomey: capital of Dahomey (ca. 1650-1894) Urbanism in the forest region.
a year ago
Res Obscura
Before psychedelic therapy for wartime trauma, there was narcosynthesis Notes on using AI to analyze three World War II-era films about drugs and PTSD
a year ago
African History...
a brief note on contacts between ancient African kingdoms and Rome. finding the lost city of Rhapta on the east African coast.
8 months ago
Trying to Understand...
Teach Your Children .... Not to be afraid of moral relativism.
a year ago
A Collection of...
Collections: Ancient Greek and Phoenician Colonization Davis senatum consuluit a.d. III Idus Octobris apud aedem Patreontis; de colonis Graecis et Punicis...
a year ago
63
a year ago
Davis senatum consuluit a.d. III Idus Octobris apud aedem Patreontis; de colonis Graecis et Punicis verba fecit… This week we’re taking a brief look, by ACOUP Senate request, at Greek and Phoenician colonization in the ancient Mediterranean. In particular, the focus requested was...
Flashbak
Liverpool Kids: Surviving Inner City Life In 1975 Paul Trevor’s photographs of Liverpool in 1975 formed part of The Survival Programme, which featured...
9 months ago
63
9 months ago
Paul Trevor’s photographs of Liverpool in 1975 formed part of The Survival Programme, which featured pictures, interviews, drafts and other materials made by member of the Exit Photography Group – Nicholas Battye, Chris Steele-Perkins and Paul Trevor. Created between 1974 and...
Trying to Understand...
Let's Hear It For The "Underlying Causes." Here's the answer. What was the question again?
a year ago
African History...
A history of the Buganda kingdom. government in central Africa.
a year ago
Trying to Understand...
We Are All Civilisational States It's just that some people don't realise it.
a year ago
Patterns in Humanity
Immigration and crime: Denmark Are immigrants overrepresented in crime? If so, which immigrants? And why?
6 months ago
History Today Feed
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9 months ago
weird medieval guys
An 800 year prayer book that's decorated with puns Plus a little history of manuscript illustration
a year ago
Res Obscura
Why did clothing become boring? An investigation into when, how, and why everyone started dressing the same — and what it was like...
2 months ago
61
2 months ago
An investigation into when, how, and why everyone started dressing the same — and what it was like when they didn't
Patterns in Humanity
Sweden's immigration taboo Immigration data kept behind closed doors
6 months ago
Trying to Understand...
The Year's Midnight. Kindness can be a revolutionary act.
over a year ago
Trying to Understand...
One Way Or Another .... We're going to get you.
a year ago
weird medieval guys
The Medieval Monks Who Lived on Top of Giant Pillars A history of the monastic high life
a year ago
Global Inequality...
The life of Maynard K. A review of Zach Carter’s “The Price of Peace”
8 months ago
Trying to Understand...
The Threat of Back to Normal Global power has always been distributed.
a year ago
Flashbak
A Book of Dreams: 25 Vintage Visions To Awaken Your Mind We’re dreaming today with collector Robert E Jackson. Triggered by the undertow of memory and fed by...
9 months ago
60
9 months ago
We’re dreaming today with collector Robert E Jackson. Triggered by the undertow of memory and fed by desire, our dreams are visions of other lives, possible clues to the future. “The interpretation of dreams is the royal road to a knowledge of the unconscious activities of the...
Trying to Understand...
Let's Be Enemies Since it seems to be the fashion these days.
a year ago
African History...
Guns and Spears: a military history of the Zulu kingdom. Popular history of Africa before the colonial era often divides the continent’s military systems...
a year ago
60
a year ago
Popular history of Africa before the colonial era often divides the continent’s military systems into two broad categories —the relatively modern armies along the Atlantic coast which used firearms, versus the 'traditional' armies in the interior that fought with arrows and...
African History...
on the Nubian priests of Rome and the Moors of Spain When the 12th-century West African scholar Ibrahim al-Kanemi moved to the city of Seville in Spain...
2 months ago
60
2 months ago
When the 12th-century West African scholar Ibrahim al-Kanemi moved to the city of Seville in Spain and became one of the most celebrated Andalusian poets, he wasn't the first from his region to visit the Moorish kingdom.
Trying to Understand...
Understanding What's Happening in France. The kinetic phase may come next.
a year ago
A Collection of...
Collections: Nitpicking Gladiator II, Part II Last week, we started our nitpicking of Gladiator II (2024) by looking at the problems with the...
2 months ago
60
2 months ago
Last week, we started our nitpicking of Gladiator II (2024) by looking at the problems with the films chronology and its portrayal of the Roman army of the early third century, both in its equipment and in its battle tactics. This week, we’re going to move forward to the main...
African History...
Life and works of Africa's most famous Woman scholar: Nana Asmau (1793-1864) On the contribution of Muslim women in African history.
9 months ago
A Collection of...
Gap Week: April 19, 2024 (Manor Lords First Impression) Hey folks, this week is a bit of a gap week as I am heading out to the annual meeting of the Society...
10 months ago
60
10 months ago
Hey folks, this week is a bit of a gap week as I am heading out to the annual meeting of the Society for Military History (and, indeed, by the time you read this, I will be there). Normally, I post the abstract of my conference talk for these sorts of things, but since I …...
African History...
The myth of Mansa Musa's enslaved entourage "Stories about his [Mansa Musa's] journey have numerous anecdotes which are not true and which the...
a year ago
60
a year ago
"Stories about his [Mansa Musa's] journey have numerous anecdotes which are not true and which the mind refuses to admit".
Open Culture
Compare the “It Ain’t Me Babe” Scene from A Complete Unknown to the Real Bob Dylan & Joan Baez... A Complete Unknown, the new movie about Bob Dylan’s rise in the folk-music scene of the early...
a month ago
60
a month ago
A Complete Unknown, the new movie about Bob Dylan’s rise in the folk-music scene of the early nineteen-sixties and subsequent electrified break with it, has been praised for not taking excessive liberties, at least by the standards of popular music biopics. Its conversion of a...
History Today Feed
An Exhibition on Rational Dress for Victorian Women An Exhibition on Rational Dress for Victorian Women JamesHoare Sun, 05/19/2024 - 00:00
9 months ago
Global Inequality...
2x2 geopolitics Wars and ideology simplified
7 months ago
Classical Wisdom
Tolkien and the Classics Plato, Cicero... Bilbo?
a year ago
A Collection of...
Collections: How to Roman Republic, Part V: The Courts This is the fifth part of our five part series (I, II, IIIa, IIIb, IIIc, IV) on the structure of the...
a year ago
59
a year ago
This is the fifth part of our five part series (I, II, IIIa, IIIb, IIIc, IV) on the structure of the Roman Republic during the third and second centuries BC, the ‘Middle Republic.’ Last time we looked at the odd but very important role played by the ROman Senate as the central...
History Today Feed
Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin and the Making of Stars Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin and the Making of Stars JamesHoare Tue, 05/07/2024 - 12:09
9 months ago
Patterns in Humanity
The case for prisons The purpose of prisons, and the evidence of their efficacy
5 months ago
Trying to Understand...
Ukraine In NATO Would Be A Disaster ... But not necessarily for the reasons you think.
a year ago
Trying to Understand...
Another Of My Essays In French And some odds and ends.
7 months ago
Res Obscura
Why I love etymologies Telephones popularized "hello," "lox" is 8,000 years old, and other reasons why the history of words...
9 months ago
59
9 months ago
Telephones popularized "hello," "lox" is 8,000 years old, and other reasons why the history of words matters
Flashbak
A Shagtastic Tour of Swinging Britain in 1967 Among British Pathé’s newsreel films made for UK cinemas up until 1970 vis this wonderful time of...
9 months ago
59
9 months ago
Among British Pathé’s newsreel films made for UK cinemas up until 1970 vis this wonderful time of Swinging Britain capsule from 1967. Shot on 35mm film and backed by the lilting holiday camp music, a narrator these videos are not a little kitsch. In Swinging Britain we take an...
Trying to Understand...
The Third World War Has Been Cancelled. It was all too difficult, finally.
8 months ago
Trying to Understand...
Games Nations Play. But they forget the people and the Street.
9 months ago
weird medieval guys
Medieval Muslims loved their cats so much Cat shelters, cat shoes, cat jewellery, and more from the Islamic Middle Ages
a year ago
A Collection of...
Fireside Friday, July 12, 2024 Fireside this week! I had hoped to have the start of the Imperator Teaching Paradox series ready for...
7 months ago
58
7 months ago
Fireside this week! I had hoped to have the start of the Imperator Teaching Paradox series ready for this week, but it has been a bit stubborn and I do not want to derail my book writing/revising schedule in order to push it out before it is ready. So that will almost certainly...
African History...
A history of the south-western Saharan towns of Tichitt, Walata, Wadan and Chinguetti (800-1912) Trade and civilization on west-africa's desert frontier
a year ago
Open Culture
Watch The Insects’ Christmas from 1913: A Stop Motion Film Starring a Cast of Dead Bugs Kind Reader, Will you do us the honor of accepting our holiday invitation? Carve five minutes from...
2 months ago
58
2 months ago
Kind Reader, Will you do us the honor of accepting our holiday invitation? Carve five minutes from your holiday schedule to spend time celebrating The Insects’ Christmas, above. In addition to offering brief respite from the chaos of consumerism and modern expectations, this...
Classical Wisdom
Essential Classics Memorial Sales Ends
9 months ago
Classical Wisdom
The Tragedy of Ajax Greece's Second Greatest Soldier?
9 months ago
African History...
A history of the Loango kingdom (ca.1500-1883) : Power, Ivory and Art in west-central Africa. Africa's past carved in ivory
a year ago
weird medieval guys
Why is medieval art so weird? Listen now (73 min) | In this inaugural episode of the Weird Medieval Guys podcast, Olivia and Aran...
a year ago
58
a year ago
Listen now (73 min) | In this inaugural episode of the Weird Medieval Guys podcast, Olivia and Aran discuss why medieval art is so intriguing to modern viewers and what makes so much of it so weird. Also discussed are Galaxy Quest, Mel Gibson's crimes against the Middle Ages, and...
Trying to Understand...
Service to what nation? Why people should stop talking about conscription.
7 months ago
History Today Feed
Catching Nessie on Film Catching Nessie on Film JamesHoare Thu, 05/16/2024 - 09:41
9 months ago
African History...
A history of the Damagaram sultanate of Zinder: ca. 1730-1899. Politics, Guns, and Trade in the pre-colonial Sahel
a year ago
Dr Alun Withey
The Troublesome Gibbet of John Haines, the ‘Wounded Highwayman’ of Hounslow. For this post, I am going to wander into the world of crime in the late eighteenth century, and the...
a year ago
57
a year ago
For this post, I am going to wander into the world of crime in the late eighteenth century, and the grisly fate that befell many who committed the heinous crime of highway robbery. (Full disclosure: I’m not an historian of crime, gibbets or highwaymen…perhaps the case I’m about...
Global Inequality...
The end and the beginning of history Three ways of thinking about Lea Ypi’s Free
7 months ago
Open Culture
The Sinking of the Britannic: An Animated Introduction to the Titanic’s Forgotten Sister Ship We all know about the Titanic. Less often do we hear about the Britannic—the sister passenger liner...
2 months ago
57
2 months ago
We all know about the Titanic. Less often do we hear about the Britannic—the sister passenger liner that the British turned into a hospital ship during World War I. Launched in 1914, two years after the Titanic sank in the North Atlantic Ocean, the Britannic featured a number of...
Classical Wisdom
Should We Own Stuff? The Wealth and Gold of Ancient Georgia
a year ago
African History...
a brief note on the history of Music in Africa plus an overview of Ethiopian musical traditions
a year ago
Open Culture
Hunter S. Thompson Remembers Jimmy Carter’s Captivating Bob Dylan Speech (1974) 51 years ago, Hunter S. Thompson wrote Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ’72, which “is still...
a month ago
57
a month ago
51 years ago, Hunter S. Thompson wrote Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ’72, which “is still considered a kind of bible of political reporting,” noted Matt Taibbi in a 40th anniversary edition of the book. Fear and Loathing ’72 entered the canon of American political...
Open Culture
How A Charlie Brown Christmas, and Its Beloved Soundtrack Album, Almost Never Happened A Charlie Brown Christmas uses a cast of amateur child voice actors, deals with the theme of...
2 months ago
57
2 months ago
A Charlie Brown Christmas uses a cast of amateur child voice actors, deals with the theme of seasonal depression, and culminates in the recitation of a Bible verse, all to a jazz score. It was not, safe to say, the special that CBS had expected, to say nothing of its sponsor, the...
Classical Wisdom
Who’s in the Tomb? A Macedonian Mystery: The Tombs of Aigai
9 months ago
African History...
Kingdoms at the forest's edge: a history of Mangbetu (ca. 1750-1895) The northern region of central Africa between the modern countries of D.R.Congo and South Sudan has...
9 months ago
57
9 months ago
The northern region of central Africa between the modern countries of D.R.Congo and South Sudan has a long and complex history shaped by its internal cultural developments and its unique ecology between the savannah and the forest. Among the most remarkable states that emerged in...
Trying to Understand...
If We Had More Than a Hammer ... We might not be in this mess.
a year ago
Dr Alun Withey
Cuts, Rashes & Chatter! The Pain of the 18th-century Shave! Unless there are particular reasons, for example a skin condition, or a faulty razor, shaving today...
over a year ago
57
over a year ago
Unless there are particular reasons, for example a skin condition, or a faulty razor, shaving today is usually a pretty mundane – if not a pleasant – experience. Indeed, the rise of traditional barbershops over the past few years, offering shaving as an experience, together with...
Classical Wisdom
12 Ancient Greek Terms that Should Totally Make a Comeback Eudaimonia, Arete, and much more...
a year ago
A Collection of...
Collections: How to Raise a Tribal Army in Pre-Roman Europe, Part I: Aristocrats, Retainers and... For the next few posts, I want to take a look at how some ‘tribal’ peoples raised armies, in...
8 months ago
57
8 months ago
For the next few posts, I want to take a look at how some ‘tribal’ peoples raised armies, in contrast to the way that ancient (or later) states raised armies. As moderns, we are so familiar with the way that states function that the far older systems of non-state organization and...
African History...
a brief note on themes in African art. Cartography, Culture and History in the artwork of the Bamum kingdom.
7 months ago
Classical Wisdom
Why Did Rome Fall? & Which Lesson Should We Take Away?
a year ago
Classical Wisdom
Does FREE WILL Exist? And if not, what are the consequences?
2 months ago
A Collection of...
Collections: Phalanx’s Twilight, Legion’s Triumph, Part Ib: Subjects of the Successors This is the second part of the first part of our four part look at the context between the...
a year ago
56
a year ago
This is the second part of the first part of our four part look at the context between the Hellenistic army and its Macedonian phalanx and the Romans with their legions. Last week, we looked at the weapons, organization and fighting style of the Macedonian phalanx, the infantry...
Flashbak
New York City’s NIGHT Magazine – 1978-79 Launched in September 1978, Anton Perich’s self-financed NIGHT magazine showcased New York City’s...
7 months ago
56
7 months ago
Launched in September 1978, Anton Perich’s self-financed NIGHT magazine showcased New York City’s mix of fashion, art, and music at clubs like Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager’s Studio 54 and Howard Stein and Peppo Vanini’s Xenon, where nightlife and performance met. Distribution...
Classical Wisdom
The Two Trojan Wars Secret Origins
a year ago
Res Obscura
When technology follows art From optics to machine learning, artists have played an important, if underrated, role in the...
a year ago
56
a year ago
From optics to machine learning, artists have played an important, if underrated, role in the history of technology
Trying to Understand...
Peter Pan goes to Ukraine Some people never grow up.
over a year ago
Res Obscura
How well can AI imitate a 17th century doctor? Arcadio Huang is ill in 1710s Paris. Can GPT-4 and Gemini find a cure?
a year ago
History Today Feed
Robert the Bruce: Born To Be King? Robert the Bruce: Born To Be King? JamesHoare Mon, 06/17/2024 - 11:11
8 months ago
History Today Feed
‘Hitler’s People’ by Richard Evans review ‘Hitler’s People’ by Richard Evans review JamesHoare Tue, 08/27/2024 - 09:31
5 months ago
African History...
The pyramids of ancient Nubia and Meroe: death on the Nile and the mortuary architecture of Kush a complete history of an African monument
over a year ago
Flashbak
Evelyn Richter’s Street Photography Reveals the Reality of Life in East Germany For photographer Evelyn Richter (1930–2021) East Germany was not computers being towed by the...
6 months ago
56
6 months ago
For photographer Evelyn Richter (1930–2021) East Germany was not computers being towed by the bikini-clad proletariat, Western holidaymakers, badly disguised secret police and being on the wrong side of the Berlin Wall. A self-described “documentarian and historian”, Richter...
A Collection of...
Fireside Friday, June 28, 2024 Fireside this week! My hope in terms of the upcoming schedule is to have my usual July 4th post next...
7 months ago
55
7 months ago
Fireside this week! My hope in terms of the upcoming schedule is to have my usual July 4th post next week (we’re discussing political philosophy in an election year, so I am sure everyone will be very chill; regardless let me repeat you will be civil) and then after that to dive...
Flashbak
American Noir: Mugshots And Crimes From A Small Pennsylvanian Town (1930s – 1950s) Small Town Noir is a study of life and crime in New Castle, western Pennsylvania. The site compiles...
9 months ago
55
9 months ago
Small Town Noir is a study of life and crime in New Castle, western Pennsylvania. The site compiles the mugshots of criminals who lived in the town in the 1930, 40s and 50s, with notes on their offences. The mugshots were pulled from the rubbish when the town’s police department...
Classical Wisdom
Weekend Roundup Origins of Stoicism
7 months ago
African History...
The heroic age in Darfur: a history of the pre-colonial kingdom of Darfur ca. 1500-1916. The political marginalization of the Darfur region since the creation of colonial Sudan has resulted...
7 months ago
55
7 months ago
The political marginalization of the Darfur region since the creation of colonial Sudan has resulted in one of the continent's longest-standing conflicts, which threatens to destroy the country's social fabric and its historical heritage. Just as the plight of modern Darfur...
Trying to Understand...
Their Enemies The Russians But what about the rest of us?
a year ago
CrimethInc.
News from the Front: The Reflections of a Russian Anarchist in Rojava : On the Collapse of Assad,... The toppling of the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria was many years overdue. Yet the tragedies in...
2 months ago
55
2 months ago
The toppling of the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria was many years overdue. Yet the tragedies in Syria are not over. Israel has bombed hundreds of locations around the country and seized a considerable amount of land in the southwest, while Turkish proxy forces are threatening...
Classical Wisdom
The Mysterious Phaistos Disk And the Palace where it was found...
a year ago
History Today Feed
‘Spice’ by Roger Crowley review ‘Spice’ by Roger Crowley review JamesHoare Tue, 06/18/2024 - 09:03
8 months ago
African History...
Roads and wheeled transport in African history. Why the kingdoms of Kush and Dahomey used wheels while Asante did not.
a year ago
Classical Wisdom
Why Read Modern Books? Now Available: Night Drew Her Sable Cloak
a year ago
Open Culture
How Medieval Islamic Engineering Brought Water to the Alhambra Between 711 and 1492, much of the Iberian Peninsula, including modern-day Spain, was under Muslim...
2 months ago
55
2 months ago
Between 711 and 1492, much of the Iberian Peninsula, including modern-day Spain, was under Muslim rule. Not that it was easy to hold on to the place for that length of time: after the fall of Toledo in 1085, Al-Andalus, as the territory was called, continued to lose cities over...
Trying to Understand...
How About a Victory for the Left Occasionally? Here are a few modest ideas.
over a year ago
A Collection of...
Collections: How to Raise a Tribal Army in Pre-Roman Europe, Part III: Going To War With the Army... This is the third and final part of our three-part (I, II, III) look at how some ‘tribal’ or more...
8 months ago
55
8 months ago
This is the third and final part of our three-part (I, II, III) look at how some ‘tribal’ or more correctly, non-state agrarian peoples – particularly the Celtiberians, Gauls and also many Germanic-language speaking peoples on the Rhine and Danube- raised armies to fight the...
Trying to Understand...
So They Want Negotiations, Now. Have they any idea what they are talking about?
a year ago
Classical Wisdom
Plato On Knowledge What is True?
10 months ago
A Collection of...
Collections: On Bread and Circuses Coming off of some of the discussion of Gladiator II (I, II), this week I want to discuss the place...
2 months ago
55
2 months ago
Coming off of some of the discussion of Gladiator II (I, II), this week I want to discuss the place of ‘bread and circuses’ in the narrative of Roman decadence and decline. This is one of those phrases which long ago entered the standard lexicon, but which gets used and...
Open Culture
How Keith Jarrett Played on a Broken Piano & Turned a Potentially Disastrous Concert Into the... Nearly fifty years ago, the celebrated young pianist Keith Jarrett arrived in the West German city...
2 months ago
55
2 months ago
Nearly fifty years ago, the celebrated young pianist Keith Jarrett arrived in the West German city of Köln (better known in English as Cologne). Having just come off a 500-mile-long road trip from Switzerland, where he’d played a concert the previous day, he was left with barely...
History Today Feed
Doc Holliday: The Perennial Sidekick Doc Holliday: The Perennial Sidekick JamesHoare Tue, 10/29/2024 - 09:42
3 months ago
African History...
The intellectual history of Ethiopia and Eritrea: Ge'ez manuscripts and scholars (ca. 200-1900CE) The unique manuscript collections of Ethiopia and Eritrea written in the Ge'ez script are arguably...
2 months ago
55
2 months ago
The unique manuscript collections of Ethiopia and Eritrea written in the Ge'ez script are arguably the best-known works of literature produced in pre-colonial Africa.
Flashbak
‘Look at Me’: Scot Sothern’s powerful photographs of life on LA’s streets In amongst the crowds drifting along Hollywood Boulevard there’s an old guy sitting on an orange...
9 months ago
55
9 months ago
In amongst the crowds drifting along Hollywood Boulevard there’s an old guy sitting on an orange bucket. He’s wearing dirty jeans and a grey hoodie. The guy’s in his seventies. Weather-worn. Grizzled beard. Walking stick. Back trouble caused by “old spinal injuries and bad...
Classical Wisdom
Weekend Roundup The Best of the Best
a year ago
Trying to Understand...
They Say They Want Rearmament .... We-ell, you know ....
over a year ago
Dr Alun Withey
Creams, Clothes and Cases: The material culture of pre-modern travel. I am currently on study leave, getting on with research for my new project on the history of travel...
a year ago
54
a year ago
I am currently on study leave, getting on with research for my new project on the history of travel preparations. One thing that I’m particularly interested in is the material culture of travel, and what sorts of things were available for travellers as they got ready for their...
Trying to Understand...
Round Two? There Is No Round Two. Game pretty much over in Ukraine.
a year ago
A Collection of...
Collections: On the Gracchi, Part I: Tiberius Gracchus This week, we’re going to talk a bit about the brothers Tiberius (trib. 133) and Gaius (trib. 123-2)...
a month ago
54
a month ago
This week, we’re going to talk a bit about the brothers Tiberius (trib. 133) and Gaius (trib. 123-2) Gracchus, the famous Roman reformers of the late second century. There’s actually a fair bit to say about both of them, so we’re going to split this treatment over two weeks,...
Res Obscura
Historical maps probably helped cause World War I On cartography as historical argument
a year ago
Res Obscura
Simulating History with Multimodal AI: an Update Generative AI offers a new, more engaging (and, hopefully, more empathetic) way of teaching history....
a year ago
54
a year ago
Generative AI offers a new, more engaging (and, hopefully, more empathetic) way of teaching history. But how to use it?
Dr Alun Withey
Should I Stay or Should I go?: Encouraging travel in the early modern period. Travel today is often portrayed as a healthy activity, good for body, mind…and what’s left of the...
8 months ago
54
8 months ago
Travel today is often portrayed as a healthy activity, good for body, mind…and what’s left of the spirit!  A good holiday is generally viewed as a tonic, and holiday company advertisements extol the virtues of ‘getting away’, encountering new places, people and cultures and (if...
Classical Wisdom
Weekend Roundup Plato Vs Aristotle
9 months ago
African History...
The Swazi kingdom and its neighbours in the 19th century: from the rise of Zulu to the British an island in the maelstrom
over a year ago
African History...
The radical philosophy of the Hatata: a 17th century treatise by the Ethiopian thinker Zara Yacob the historical context of the Hatata in African philosophy.
10 months ago
Flashbak
Arnaldo Putzu and His Fabulous Hand-Painted Covers for Look-In Magazine And Movie Posters You might not know the name Arnaldo Putzu (1927 – 2012) but chances are that if you grew up in the...
7 months ago
54
7 months ago
You might not know the name Arnaldo Putzu (1927 – 2012) but chances are that if you grew up in the 1960s and 1970s you’ve seen his work on movie posters and magazine covers. Born in Rome, Putzu studied at the Rome Academy and discovered a love of portrait painting. After...
Trying to Understand...
Will it Bend or Will it Break? The international system, that is.
over a year ago
Trying to Understand...
And Now for Something Completely Different. Am I me? Are You you? ?
over a year ago
Dr Alun Withey
Finding Your Beard Style in the 19th Century In the previous post I noted the variety of facial hair styles that were worn by men in the...
over a year ago
54
over a year ago
In the previous post I noted the variety of facial hair styles that were worn by men in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, depending on factors including status, location and age. Rather than each age having one particular style of facial hair that was ubiquitous, the...
Trying to Understand...
Little People With Agency. No, not that Agency.
5 months ago
Trying to Understand...
Reality Would Like A Word. Paging Tom and Daisy Buchanan
a year ago
African History...
The complete history of Kano (999-1903) journal of African cities chapter 9
a year ago
A Collection of...
Collections: How to Raise a Tribal Army in Pre-Roman Europe, Part II: Government Without States This is the second part of our (planned) three part (I) look at how some ‘tribal’ or more correctly,...
8 months ago
53
8 months ago
This is the second part of our (planned) three part (I) look at how some ‘tribal’ or more correctly, non-state agrarian peoples raised armies to fight the Romans (and others) in the third through first centuries BC. Last time, we looked at the subsistence basis of these societies...
Trying to Understand...
The Evils Of Professionalism In politics, anyway.
8 months ago
Classical Wisdom
Socrates' Wayward Student ...and the Philosophy of Pleasure
a year ago
African History...
A history of Women's political power and matriliny in the kingdom of Kongo. In the 19th century, anthropologists were fascinated by the concept of matrilineal descent in which...
a year ago
53
a year ago
In the 19th century, anthropologists were fascinated by the concept of matrilineal descent in which kinship is traced through the female line. Matriliny was often confounded with matriarchy as a supposedly earlier stage of social evolution than patriarchy. Matriliny thus became a...
African History...
The desert town of Southern Africa: A history of Khauxanas 1780-1906 A view of pre-colonial Namibia from the khoisan town of ||Khauxa!nas.
a year ago
Classical Wisdom
Do We Need Passports? Or Borders? Watch now (23 sec) | Crossing with Radiohead
a year ago
Trying to Understand...
Books To Help Us Understand The World? Well, a few, anyway. And a bit.
a year ago
Flashbak
Vanity Fair’s Bifurcated Girls: The Article That Introduced America To Girlie Magazines, 1903 Bifurcated Girls is a salacious illustrated story that first appeared in the June 1903 issue of...
9 months ago
53
9 months ago
Bifurcated Girls is a salacious illustrated story that first appeared in the June 1903 issue of Vanity Fair magazine. That’s not the glossy publication we know today, rather the a short-lived pulp magazine published by the Commonwealth Publishing Company of New York City...
Flashbak
Edmund Dulac’s American Weekly Covers – 1924-1951 Edmund Dulac is remembered today as one of the founding fathers of the Golden Age of Illustration,...
7 months ago
53
7 months ago
Edmund Dulac is remembered today as one of the founding fathers of the Golden Age of Illustration, roughly from 1875-1925, writes Albert Seligman. His luxurious Gift Books of the early 20th century were covered in vellum and issued in signed limited editions with tipped-in color...
Flashbak
Photos of Iggy Pop And The Stooges Playing NYC Club Ungano’s in 1970 In August 1970, American photographer Bud Lee (1940-2016) took photographs of Iggy Pop and the...
8 months ago
53
8 months ago
In August 1970, American photographer Bud Lee (1940-2016) took photographs of Iggy Pop and the Stooges performing at brothers Nick and Arnie Ungano’s basement club on New York’s West 70th Street between Amsterdam and West End Avenues. The ban were celebrating the release of their...
Trying to Understand...
Can't Do, Won't Do! But striking poses is fun and easy.
a year ago
A Collection of...
Fireside Friday, May 31, 2024 (Academic Departments) Fireside this week! I am spinning up to write a Teaching Paradox series on Imperator later this...
8 months ago
53
8 months ago
Fireside this week! I am spinning up to write a Teaching Paradox series on Imperator later this week, but not quite ready to get started yet. I’m also thinking, perhaps before that, of doing a short post or set of posts on the organization of non-state ‘tribal’ societies in...
Trying to Understand...
Everything is (Somewhat) Connected. But some things are more connected than others.
over a year ago
African History...
a brief note on African travel literature in history a Swahili document on south-central Africa.
9 months ago
Trying to Understand...
Don't Give Peace Too Many Chances. Nothing is more dangerous than a flawed peace treaty.
over a year ago
Global Inequality...
Marx Truncated A review of Shlomo Avineri’s “Karl Marx”
8 months ago
Trying to Understand...
It's War, Josep, But Not As We Know It Trying to understand what Ukraine is all about.
over a year ago
Flashbak
The Months: Gardens of Art by Eugène Grasset In 1894, Eugène Grasset (25 May 1845 – 23 October 1917) received a commission from the French...
2 months ago
53
2 months ago
In 1894, Eugène Grasset (25 May 1845 – 23 October 1917) received a commission from the French department store La Belle Jardinière to create 12 original works of art to be used as a calendar. Grasset’s woodcuts show women in fashionable costumes of the period each bearing a sign...
African History...
a brief note on Africa in 16th century global history. the international relations and manuscripts of Kongo
11 months ago
Dr Alun Withey
News Just In: Dr W Joins TikTok – @dralun7 Yes, it’s true – I’ve finally joined the 21st century and decided to try something new. I am still...
2 months ago
53
2 months ago
Yes, it’s true – I’ve finally joined the 21st century and decided to try something new. I am still only setting things up, so please be patient with the extremely cheesy and clunky vids as I try to work out what I’m doing! I’ve only got a couple of videos up at the moment too, …...
History Today Feed
‘The Wild Men’, ‘The Men of 1924’ and ‘A Century of Labour’ review ‘The Wild Men’, ‘The Men of 1924’ and ‘A Century of Labour’ review JamesHoare Tue, 01/30/2024 -...
a year ago
History Today Feed
Radical Conservatives and the Federal Union Radical Conservatives and the Federal Union JamesHoare Tue, 08/13/2024 - 09:21
6 months ago
Trying to Understand...
The Modern World Is Boring. Where are the heroes and the adventures now?
8 months ago
Classical Wisdom
Weekend Roundup Plutarch and Pleasure
a year ago
Classical Wisdom
Religion in the Olympics The Olympics: Do they Unite or Divide Us?
6 months ago
A Collection of...
Collections: How to Roman Republic 101, Addenda: The Provinces This is the second and (in theory) last addendum to our series on Roman civic governance (I, II,...
a year ago
53
a year ago
This is the second and (in theory) last addendum to our series on Roman civic governance (I, II, IIIa, IIIb, IIIc, IV, V, A1). Having discussed how Rome handles those parts of Italy it controls but which were not part of the Roman Republic itself, we now look at how the Romans...
History Today Feed
‘Age of Wolf and Wind’ by Davide Zori review ‘Age of Wolf and Wind’ by Davide Zori review JamesHoare Wed, 05/29/2024 - 10:27
8 months ago
Open Culture
The Engineering of the Strandbeest: How the Magnificent Mechanical Creatures Have Technologically... Life evolves, but machines are invented: this dichotomy hardly conflicts with what most of us have...
2 months ago
53
2 months ago
Life evolves, but machines are invented: this dichotomy hardly conflicts with what most of us have learned about biology and technology. But certain specimens roaming around in the world can blur that line — and in the curious case of the Strandbeesten, they really are roaming...
A Collection of...
Gap Week: December 29, 2023 (Year In Review) Hey folks! I had planned to do a Fireside for this week with a sort of ‘year-in-review’ musing, but...
a year ago
52
a year ago
Hey folks! I had planned to do a Fireside for this week with a sort of ‘year-in-review’ musing, but between the holidays and the whole pedant household coming down with a nasty cold, I’m a bit short of the time and energy to put together a full fireside with...
History Today Feed
The Scandalous Success of the Daily Mail The Scandalous Success of the Daily Mail j.hoare Mon, 01/01/2024 - 13:07
a year ago
Classical Wisdom
Sparta and… Scotland? Laconic wit through the centuries
a year ago
Trying to Understand...
People, States and Borders. And other dubious ideas.
6 months ago
Classical Wisdom
Weekend Roundup Blindspots and Biographies
a year ago
Flashbak
Waiting For A Miracle: Kiev in 1998 In 1998, Juri Nesterov was in Kiev, the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It was a city of...
9 months ago
52
9 months ago
In 1998, Juri Nesterov was in Kiev, the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It was a city of hope. In 1991, After 57 years as the capital of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic of the Soviet Union, the city became the capital of independent Ukraine. In the picture...
Classical Wisdom
Weekend Roundup Constantine and the Queen of Carthage
a year ago
Classical Wisdom
Emotions: Better Out or In? Can Catharsis Help... or Harm?
9 months ago
Flashbak
Armand Henrion: The Artist Who Always Painted Himself As A Clown Armand Henrion (1875 – 1958) was a Belgian-born artist. He contributed to the Expressionist...
7 months ago
52
7 months ago
Armand Henrion (1875 – 1958) was a Belgian-born artist. He contributed to the Expressionist movement, worked in France and became a French citizen. And he liked to paint self-portraits – hundreds of them – in which he is dressed as a clown (more Pierrot than Bozo).     Pierrot...
Open Culture
An Illustrator Creates a Kindle for Charles Dickens, Placing 40 Miniature Classics within a Large... For a design class project, Rachel Walsh, a student at Cardiff School of Art and Design, set out to...
2 months ago
52
2 months ago
For a design class project, Rachel Walsh, a student at Cardiff School of Art and Design, set out to explain the concept of a Kindle to Charles Dickens. Recognizing that Dickens, a 19th-century author, wouldn’t understand modern terms like ebooks, downloads or the internet, she...
A Collection of...
Collections: Phalanx’s Twilight, Legion’s Triumph, Part IVb: Antiochus III This is the second part of the fourth part of our four(ish) part (Ia, Ib, IIa, IIb, IIIa, IIIb, IVa)...
10 months ago
52
10 months ago
This is the second part of the fourth part of our four(ish) part (Ia, Ib, IIa, IIb, IIIa, IIIb, IVa) look at the context between the Roman military system based on the manipular legion and the Hellenistic military system structured around the Macedonian sarisa phalanx in the...
Trying to Understand...
Macron is Safe for the Moment But the future worries me.
a year ago
Classical Wisdom
Artemisia of Caria Commander, Queen, and Eva Green
a year ago
Trying to Understand...
A Fistful of Clockwork Oranges What's it going to be, then?
a year ago
Classical Wisdom
Art of the Etruscans Romans before the Romans
10 months ago
Global Inequality...
Trump and the Rise of Asia My interview with "Atlantico"
2 months ago
Classical Wisdom
Events Listing Ancient Women, Marcus Aurelius, Economics and Resilience...
a year ago
Classical Wisdom
Jews in the Roman Bathhouse Is it time to rethink the relationship between Judaism and Greco-Roman society?
a year ago
Classical Wisdom
Weekend Roundup The Story of Thebes
a year ago
Classical Wisdom
Empedocles The Philosopher God?
a year ago
African History...
a brief note on the intellectual contributions of African scholars in the diaspora the biography of a West African mathematician in Cairo.
10 months ago
Dr Alun Withey
Medicine on the Move: Early Modern Travel and Remedies As my new project on the history of travel, health risk and preparation begins to get underway, one...
a year ago
51
a year ago
As my new project on the history of travel, health risk and preparation begins to get underway, one of the things that I am thinking about is the place of travel within early modern medical remedy culture. What kinds of conditions could befall travellers? What did early modern...
History Today Feed
Challenging the ‘Ugliness’ of Anne of Cleves Challenging the ‘Ugliness’ of Anne of Cleves JamesHoare Fri, 03/22/2024 - 09:20
11 months ago
A Collection of...
Collections: The Philosophy of Liberty – On Liberalism It is once again the week of July 4th and so, as is customary here, I am going to use this week’s...
7 months ago
51
7 months ago
It is once again the week of July 4th and so, as is customary here, I am going to use this week’s post to talk about the United States or more correctly this week about the political philosophy the United States was founded on: liberalism. Now an immediate clarification is...
African History...
A history of the west African diaspora in Arabia and Jerusalem before 1900 The legacy of west African travel to Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem.
a year ago
Dr Alun Withey
Barbers and (the lack of!) Polite Advertising Over the past few years, I have spent much time looking at ‘polite’ advertising in the 18th century....
over a year ago
51
over a year ago
Over the past few years, I have spent much time looking at ‘polite’ advertising in the 18th century. During this period, a whole range of retailers advertised their goods and services to appeal to ladies and gentlemen of taste. Without discussing anything so base as price or...
Open Culture
Bob Dylan Reads “ ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas” On His Holiday Radio Show (2006) Allow me to name just a few of the people I want to hear hosting and curating radio shows—former Sex...
a month ago
51
a month ago
Allow me to name just a few of the people I want to hear hosting and curating radio shows—former Sex Pistols’ singer John Lydon, former Clash frontman Joe Strummer, former Woody Guthrie impersonator Bob Dylan.… Luckily for me, this ain’t just fantasy baseball; at various times,...
Trying to Understand...
You And Whose Army? NATO would do well to stay out of Ukraine.
a year ago
Open Culture
Watch the Surrealist Glass Harmonica, the Only Animated Film Ever Banned by Soviet Censors (1968) The Soviet Union’s repressive state censorship went to absurd lengths to control what its citizens...
2 months ago
51
2 months ago
The Soviet Union’s repressive state censorship went to absurd lengths to control what its citizens read, viewed, and listened to, such as the almost comical removal of purged former comrades from photographs during Stalin’s reign. When it came to aesthetics, Stalinism mostly...
History Today Feed
The Prophecies of Merlin The Prophecies of Merlin JamesHoare Mon, 04/22/2024 - 11:22
10 months ago
African History...
The forgotten ruins of Botswana: stone towns at the desert's edge. At its height in the 17th century, the stone towns of the ‘zimbabwe culture’ encompassed an area the...
8 months ago
51
8 months ago
At its height in the 17th century, the stone towns of the ‘zimbabwe culture’ encompassed an area the size of France. The hundreds of ruins spread across three countries in south-eastern Africa are among the continent’s best-preserved historical monuments and have been the subject...
African History...
A complete history of Jenne: 250BC-1893AD Journal of African cities chapter 6
a year ago
Trying to Understand...
The Year of Failing To Understand. Not your usual end-of-year review.
2 months ago
Trying to Understand...
I Hate My Job And I Want To Cry. Tried chopping wood and carrying water?
a year ago
Trying to Understand...
NATO's Phantom Armies. And the ghost of Carl von Clausewitz.
9 months ago
African History...
Join me on Notes "On the Zanzibari envoy to 11th century china and the recent Swahili-Persian DNA study"
a year ago
Classical Wisdom
Dido: Queen of Carthage Doomed Lover of Ancient Myth
a year ago
Classical Wisdom
Weekend Roundup Lost and Found
a year ago
African History...
The Dahlak islands and the African dynasty of Yemen a complete history of a cosmopolitan archipelago in the red sea (4th-19th century)
over a year ago
Global Inequality...
To be young, perchance to dream A review of Miloš Vojinović's “The political ideas of the Young Bosnia”
a month ago
Classical Wisdom
Origins of Latin Literature ...and the Master of Roman Comedy
a year ago
Res Obscura
The leading AI models are now very good historians Three case studies with GPT-4o, o1, and Claude Sonnet 3.5, and what they mean
a month ago
Open Culture
Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” Performed by a Choir of 4,000 Singers Throughout the years, we’ve featured performances of Choir!Choir!Choir!–a large amateur choir from...
a month ago
49
a month ago
Throughout the years, we’ve featured performances of Choir!Choir!Choir!–a large amateur choir from Toronto that meets weekly and sings their hearts out. You’ve seen them sing Prince’s “When Doves Cry,” Soundgarden’s “Black Hole Sun” (to honor Chris Cornell), and Patti Smith’s...
Open Culture
The Junky’s Christmas: William S. Burrough’s Dark Claymation Christmas Film Produced by Francis Ford... Back in 1993, the Beat writer William S. Burroughs wrote and narrated a 21-minute claymation...
2 months ago
49
2 months ago
Back in 1993, the Beat writer William S. Burroughs wrote and narrated a 21-minute claymation Christmas film oddly produced by Francis Ford Coppola. And, as you can well imagine, it’s not your normal happy Christmas flick. Nope, this film – The Junky’s Christmas – is all about...
History Today Feed
Sex Before Sex Education Sex Before Sex Education JamesHoare Thu, 12/19/2024 - 12:10
2 months ago
Trying to Understand...
The West is Weak Where it Matters ... ...and some of the consequences are not obvious.
over a year ago
Global Inequality...
Devant la guerre On E. H. Carr's "The twenty years' crisis 1919-39"
2 months ago
Classical Wisdom
[Video] Roundtable Discussion with Mary Naples Watch now (60 min) | Cult of the Capture Bride: How Ancient Women Took Power
a year ago
Trying to Understand...
The Past Is Another Country. A book review from the future.
7 months ago
Open Culture
A Simple, Down-to-Earth Christmas Card from the Great Depression (1933) The Smithsonian sets the scene for this Christmas card sent in 1933, a few years into the Great...
2 months ago
48
2 months ago
The Smithsonian sets the scene for this Christmas card sent in 1933, a few years into the Great Depression. They write: Despite the glum economic situation, the Pinero family used a brown paper bag to fashion an inexpensive holiday greeting card. They penned a clever rhyme and...
Trying to Understand...
Don't Confuse Me With Facts. They know what they think.
a year ago
Open Culture
Famous Architects Dress as Their Famous New York City Buildings (1931) On January 13, 1931, the Society of Beaux-Arts Architects held a ball at the Hotel Astor in New York...
a month ago
48
a month ago
On January 13, 1931, the Society of Beaux-Arts Architects held a ball at the Hotel Astor in New York City. According to an advertisement for the event, anyone who paid $15 per ticket (big money during the Depression) could see a “hilarious modern art exhibition” and things...
Global Inequality...
“To the Finland Station” Trump as a tool of history
a month ago
Dr Alun Withey
Packing the Essentials!: Preparing to Travel in the 18th Century. Now that Covid restrictions have finally been lifted, and summer is at least theoretically here –...
over a year ago
48
over a year ago
Now that Covid restrictions have finally been lifted, and summer is at least theoretically here – it’s raining outside as I write! – many people are returning to travel and undertaking the holidays that have had to be postponed over the past couple of years. The pandemic aside,...
Wrong Side of...
Will the last young professional to leave Britain turn off the lights? 'Get out as early as you can, And don’t have any kids yourself’
2 months ago
History Today Feed
The UN Declaration of Human Rights The UN Declaration of Human Rights JamesHoare Tue, 12/10/2024 - 09:05
2 months ago
Res Obscura
Why Early Modern Books Are So Beautiful Three theories
a year ago
African History...
The kingdom of Ndongo and the Portuguese: Queen Njinga and the dynasty of women sovereigns... The effects of early colonial warfare in central Africa
over a year ago
Dr Alun Withey
How Much?! Barbers & the Price of Shaving. One of the central themes of my new book is how the practice of shaving has changed over time and,...
over a year ago
47
over a year ago
One of the central themes of my new book is how the practice of shaving has changed over time and, more importantly, who has been responsible for it. From the second half of the eighteenth century, individual men began to take more responsibility for shaving themselves, helped on...
History Today Feed
The Death of Caspar Hauser The Death of Caspar Hauser j.hoare Sun, 12/17/2023 - 00:00
a year ago
Dr Alun Withey
The Health Risks of Travel in Early-Modern Britain As I start to make some progress on my new research project on travel, health and risk I am turning...
over a year ago
47
over a year ago
As I start to make some progress on my new research project on travel, health and risk I am turning my attention to the sorts of things that early modern travellers were fearful of. As a bit of a nervous traveller myself, it’s quite comforting to know that there is actually a...
Classical Wisdom
Have We Become Anti-Human? Is this a problem? And Can/Should it be Helped?
a year ago
Trying to Understand...
A Short Service Announcement. From this week, and on an experimental basis, I’m enabling paid subscriptions for those who may be...
a year ago
47
a year ago
From this week, and on an experimental basis, I’m enabling paid subscriptions for those who may be interested. The essays themselves will continue to be entirely free, and I don’t have plans to produce subscriber-only material. I’ve also set up a Buy Me a Coffee cup.
Classical Wisdom
The First Biographers ...and the Surprising Legacy of Ancient Literature
a year ago
Classical Wisdom
Aristotle on Luck Do You Feel Lucky?
a year ago
African History...
A muslim kingdom in the Ethiopian highlands: the history of Ifat and Adal ca. 1285-1520. During the late Middle Ages, the northern Horn of Africa was home to some of the continent's most...
8 months ago
47
8 months ago
During the late Middle Ages, the northern Horn of Africa was home to some of the continent's most powerful dynasties, whose history significantly shaped the region's social landscape. The history of one of these dynasties, often referred to as the Solomonids, has been...
African History...
a brief note on new discoveries in African archeology and the stone ruins of Cameroon. Among the first ancient Egyptian accounts on its southern neighbors is an old kingdom inscription...
6 months ago
47
6 months ago
Among the first ancient Egyptian accounts on its southern neighbors is an old kingdom inscription that describes a trading expedition to an unspecified region called the land of Punt. Egyptologists had long debated about the location of this mysterious territory before recent...
African History...
The complete history of Gondar: Africa's city of castles (1636-1900) Journal of African cities chapter 8
a year ago
African History...
a brief note on the long history of African diplomacy. historical links between west africa and the Maghreb.
7 months ago
Trying to Understand...
The Machine Stops. And fiddling won't fix it.
5 months ago
Dr Alun Withey
Are Beards Over? A Historical Perspective. Recently I spoke with the Guardian journalist Tim Dowling for an excellent article he was writing...
over a year ago
46
over a year ago
Recently I spoke with the Guardian journalist Tim Dowling for an excellent article he was writing (published last week) about whether beards are finally ‘over’, and I thought it would be interesting to reflect on some of this. Since re-emerging around 2014, gaining popularity...
Flashbak
High-Class Erotic Illustrations by Édouard-Henri Avril (NSFW) In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, pornography was the preserve of the well to...
6 months ago
46
6 months ago
In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, pornography was the preserve of the well to do. Smut was published in  shot-run books of a couple of hundred copies. These books were full of stories and poems, but the highlights were the explicit erotic illustrations drawn...
Classical Wisdom
Marcus Aurelius VS Diogenes Comparing the Stoics and the Cynics...
a year ago
Patterns in Humanity
Global crime How do crime rates vary around the world? And how reliable is the data?
2 months ago
African History...
How Africans wrote their own history: Debates and dialogues between four west African historians in... Facts, myths and royal propaganda.
a year ago
Trying to Understand...
Ukraine and the end of "Europe." Nation-states were the problem: supranationality was not the answer.
over a year ago
Classical Wisdom
Five Reasons Why Socrates Was A Terrible Husband Should you meet your heroes?
9 months ago
Trying to Understand...
The Sense Of An Ending. But right back where we started from.
6 months ago
A Collection of...
Fireside Friday, January 10, 2025 Hey folks, Fireside this week! I’m currently working on a post “On the Gracchi” taking a somewhat...
a month ago
46
a month ago
Hey folks, Fireside this week! I’m currently working on a post “On the Gracchi” taking a somewhat darker look at everyone’s favorite Roman reformers (though hardly the same black takedowns Alexander and Cleopatra got) , which will hopefully be ready for next week. Before we dive...
Dr Alun Withey
Beard Fashions and Class Over the past few centuries, fashions in facial hair have changed substantially. In the mid...
over a year ago
46
over a year ago
Over the past few centuries, fashions in facial hair have changed substantially. In the mid seventeenth century many men wore the ‘Van Dyke’ style of a small, pointy beard and moustaches. By the end of the 1600s, beards were in decline, leaving many men with just moustaches. The...
History Today Feed
James I: A Foreign King on the English Throne James I: A Foreign King on the English Throne JamesHoare Tue, 05/21/2024 - 08:46
9 months ago
History Today Feed
Habsburg Prague, Capital of the Renaissance Habsburg Prague, Capital of the Renaissance JamesHoare Fri, 12/20/2024 - 09:47
2 months ago
Flashbak
The Boston Years: On The Streets 1972-75 In 1972, Philip Flip Collier was in Boston. Philip, who has previously shared his terrific...
5 months ago
45
5 months ago
In 1972, Philip Flip Collier was in Boston. Philip, who has previously shared his terrific photographs of 1970s NYC, enrolled at the city’s New England School of Photography where he studied for the next two years with the hope of becoming a commercial photographer, but I could...
weird medieval guys
The coolest medieval woman you've never heard of Christine de Pizan on Circe, Medusa, and other virtuous ladies
a year ago
History Today Feed
How the South Became Republican How the South Became Republican JamesHoare Thu, 08/29/2024 - 09:34
5 months ago
Wrong Side of...
The Indian-American century On the Anglo-Indo-sphere
a month ago
Overcoming Bias
Feels Gone Wrong The films A Complete Unknown, on Bob Dylan, and In Restless Dreams, on Paul Simon, make vivid to me...
a month ago
45
a month ago
The films A Complete Unknown, on Bob Dylan, and In Restless Dreams, on Paul Simon, make vivid to me the huge emotional appeal of becoming a musician like them.
Open Culture
Arthur C. Clarke Predicts the Rise of Artificial Intelligence & Questions What Will Happen to... We now live in the midst of an artificial-intelligence boom, but it’s hardly the first of its kind....
2 months ago
45
2 months ago
We now live in the midst of an artificial-intelligence boom, but it’s hardly the first of its kind. In fact, the field has been subject to a boom-and-bust cycle since at least the early nineteen-fifties. Eventually, those busts — which occurred when realizable AI technology...
African History...
A social history of the Lamu city-state (1370-1885) Journal of African cities chapter 5
over a year ago
Classical Wisdom
Weekend Roundup Last Chance!
a year ago
African History...
The pre-Islamic civilizations of west Africa While West Africa has been part of the Muslim world since the late Middle Ages, as famously...
a month ago
45
a month ago
While West Africa has been part of the Muslim world since the late Middle Ages, as famously demonstrated by the golden pilgrimage of Mali's Mansa Musa in 1324, Islam had only arrived in the region at the close of the 1st millennium.
History Today Feed
What is Modernity? What is Modernity? JamesHoare Thu, 01/02/2025 - 09:09
a month ago
Patterns in Humanity
Age and infertility Facts and misconceptions about maternal age-related infertility
a month ago
Hidden History
The Great Horse Flu Epidemic of 1872 An epidemic of “Horse Flu” in 1872 virtually shut down the US economy and paralyzed the entire...
2 months ago
44
2 months ago
An epidemic of “Horse Flu” in 1872 virtually shut down the US economy and paralyzed the entire country. By the 1870s, the once-rural agrarian United States was beginning to emerge as an industrial power. The Civil War had spurred the rapid development of industry such as iron...
Res Obscura
How well can GPT-4 simulate an acid trip in 1963? An experiment with historical simulation
a year ago
Flashbak
Eugene Von Bruenchenhein And His Wife Marie: A Love Story Eugene Von Bruenchenhein (1910–1983) was an American self-taught artist from Milwaukee, Wisconsin....
2 months ago
44
2 months ago
Eugene Von Bruenchenhein (1910–1983) was an American self-taught artist from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He left a vast archive of poetry, apocalyptic paintings, paintbrushes made with his wife’s hair, drawings, notebooks, audio tapes and hundreds of sculptures made from chicken bones,...
Patterns in Humanity
2024 in writing A brief recap of my 2024 posts
a month ago
Classical Wisdom
[Ebook] The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius The Meditations (or Things to One’s Self) of Marcus Aurelius...
a year ago
44
a year ago
The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius The Meditations (or Things to One’s Self) of Marcus Aurelius (121-180 AD) gives you a prescribed way in which you can actually reduce genuine suffering in your life because Rome’s great “philosopher king” lays out a very compelling, very...
Trying to Understand...
No Cheers for Authoritarianism Remind me what it was, exactly ....
over a year ago
History Today Feed
Death of the King of Siam Death of the King of Siam JamesHoare Tue, 10/01/2024 - 10:26
4 months ago
History Today Feed
The French Resistance: Fantasy and Failure The French Resistance: Fantasy and Failure JamesHoare Tue, 09/17/2024 - 06:00
5 months ago
Open Culture
Laurie Anderson’s Mind-Blowing Performance of C. P. Cavafy’s Poems “Waiting for the Barbarians” &... In the video above, Laurie Anderson describes C. P. Cavafy’s poem “Waiting for the Barbarians” as...
a month ago
44
a month ago
In the video above, Laurie Anderson describes C. P. Cavafy’s poem “Waiting for the Barbarians” as being “set in ancient Rome.” That’s a reasonable interpretation, given that it contains an emperor, senators, and orators, though Cavafy himself said that none of them are...
Trying to Understand...
Externalising Our Hatreds. It's Ukraine and Gaza. Again.
a year ago
Trying to Understand...
No End Of A Lesson. If we can only learn it.
5 months ago
African History...
A complete history of Zeila (Zayla): ca. 800-1885 CE. Journal of African cities: chapter 14
5 months ago
Classical Wisdom
The Myth of the Minotaur Journey Into the Labyrinth
a year ago
Global Inequality...
Would Lenin have approved of the IMF? An indispensable organization
3 months ago
A Collection of...
Collections: Teaching Paradox, Imperator, Part I: Divisa in Partes Tres This is the first part of a three-part (if I can keep it) series, examining the historical...
7 months ago
43
7 months ago
This is the first part of a three-part (if I can keep it) series, examining the historical assumptions of Imperator: Rome, a historical grand strategy game by Paradox Interactive, set during the rise and collapse of the Roman Republic from 304-27 BC and covering the broader...
A Collection of...
Collections: Teaching Paradox, Imperator, Part IIa: Pops and Chains This is the first half of the second part of our three part look at Paradox Interactive’s...
7 months ago
43
7 months ago
This is the first half of the second part of our three part look at Paradox Interactive’s Hellenistic-era grand strategy game Imperator: Rome. I had hoped to do this part in a single post, but my book writing schedule intervened and so it became necessary to split it up. Last...