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Posted by /u/Asleep_Wealth5602

We are historians of childhood and food, authors of 'First Helpings: A History of Children and Food'. Feel free to AMA.

Our names are Dr Deborah Albon and Dr Amy Palmer and we are the authors of ‘First Helpings: A History of Children and Food’ published by Reaktion Books. This book explores the relationship between children and food in history, drawing on a rich variety of social records, cookery…

Posted by /u/Wooden_Airport6331

I am an American conscript in Vietnam. I refuse to continue. What happens to me?

In this hypothetical, there is a moral and/or psychological reason that I won’t continue, like PTSD, perhaps witnessing or participating in civilian casualties. Perhaps I believe that my death is already inevitable. I feel that have nothing to lose by deserting. Could I be execu…

Posted by /u/RedlineFan

In an episode of "WKRP in Cincinnati", Dr. Johnny Fever is paranoid that the "phone cops" are after him. Did the Bell System have any actual phone cops or was this a total fantasy?

I'm also asking this based on telephony historian Evan Doorbell's recollections of investigators employed by the Bell System coming after him and other early phone phreaks in the NYC area.

Posted by /u/optiplex9000

I've been watching Ken Burn's WW2 Documentary and it shows an American news reel from the 40s with footage from the Germans setting up the Atlantic Wall defenses. How did Americans get their hands on this footage from the Germans?

Posted by /u/OfficialAli1776

Why are Egyptian ruins so well preserved compared to Greco-Roman ones, despite being older?

Obviously a major exception being a Pantheon, but I went to Greece and Rome and the ruins were, well, ruins. The Athenian Acropolis was in really sorry shape, the Parthenon is barely being held together as just an exoskeleton of its former self (I know about the Venetians blowin…

Posted by /u/MagisterMystax

Why did the Reformation largely end up dividing Europe between a protestant north and a catholic south?

When you look at the countries that ended up going protestant during the Reformation, it's mostly the northern half of Europe: Scandinavia, the Netherlands, Britain (though I am aware Scotland stuck with Catholicism far more than England), and Germany ended up largely divided al…

Posted by /u/Thundertushy

What was life as a diabetic like in Rome in 2nd Century AD?

Aretaeus of Cappadocia described life with diabetes as short, disgusting and painful. What would life as a 2nd Century AD person with diabetes have been like? Let's assume that the person is wealthy enough (i.e. prosperous merchant or landowner) to have a physician on staff to s…

Posted by /u/Sea-Situation-6758

Where do lawns come from?

Trying this again since Reddit filters removed my last post: Do historians have theories for why lawns are so common in the United States? Why do we waste so much time and money taking care of grass around our houses when they dont produce anything useful or seem to serve any pu…

Posted by /u/Storkiest

What is the history of the "Love Spell/Wish/Potion gone terribly wrong" trope in fiction? What are the earliest examples?

Obsessed with Obsession. Certainly not the first film to take on the concept of "wished for love and it backfired horribly", what was the first? Have approaches to the concept changed over time?

Posted by /u/emote_the_salute

Why where bows used instead of slings in medieval times?

Why were bows used instead of slings? Benefits i see with slings: Easier to learn how to use. Warbows needed way more training and strength. Cheaper. Against fully armored foes piercing weapons become useless. People stopped using spears and swords and used polearms instead. So…

Posted by /u/SadMongoos

Jesus fasted 40 days and 40 nights.

Just a quick question, I can’t seem to find if this was a water fast or a dry fast. Obviously for any mere human 40 days without water is impossible, but it never mentions water to the best of my knowledge.

Posted by /u/Serious-Musician4235

According to Martin van Creveld (Fighting Power: German and U.S. Army Performance, 1939–1945), Max Hastings (Overlord, Their Wehrmacht Was Better Than Our Army) and Trevor N Dupuy, the German army was vastly superior to the Allies on a tac…

So, this is quite interesting. I don't think any other army in history has garnered as much of a 'following' among analysts and historians as the German army of WW2 (Heer). Decentralized command structure (Auftragstaktik) is often named as one of its main advantages, as is its s…

Posted by /u/Crvknight

What would the iconography surrounding wizards (comics, movies, posters, book covers, costumes, etc) have looked like circa 1943?

I'm not a huge history buff, and the most classic representations of a wizard that I know of are the standard "Old man wears blue cloak of stars and matching pointy hat" images that you see printed on posters from the 60s and airbrushed on the side of the occasional unfortunate…

Posted by /u/utxjanelle

understanding the bible

Hi, i’m 15 and trying to better understand the Bible! I’ve tried quite a few translations (esv, csb, nkjv) and resources like enduring word, but I still struggle with some of the language and wording. i also have some big gaps in my education which i think contribute to finding…

Posted by /u/hellyeboyz

Was/is Confucianism A Religion?

I am largely referring to the dominant interpretation of Confucianism/Ruism as “a school of thought” or “philosophy,” the same way I sometimes see people frame Buddhism. I often find that people are even more rigid about Confucianism being non-religious (especially in China) com…

Posted by /u/soupnear

How did average citizens deal with property damage in WW2?

How did the average man who, in one way or another, experienced some kind of property damage pay for it to be repaired or otherwise continue their life? I’m thinking in particular of the blitz, but this could apply to many circumstances. If my home got bombed and was completely…

Posted by /u/GoMustard

Can Adam Hamilton (D) win the Kansas Senate Race?

I haven't heard much noise about this, but it seems like a strong sleeper. Adam Hamilton is the pastor of the largest United Methodist Church in the country, the Church of the Resurrection, just outside Kansas City. He's a very popular national leader in mainline protestant circ…

Posted by /u/joet889

Is there any consistency between Nolan's moral interpretation of the Odyssey and that of the Ancient Greeks?

I really enjoyed Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, this is not a critique of it. I think there's no reason we can't re-interpret the story for our own time and our own morality. As I was watching it, though I enjoyed it, my assumption was that it's unlikely that the Ancient Greek…

Posted by /u/Raichu4u

Is it reasonable to support political strategies that depend on conditions getting worse before they improve?

Most major policy changes create some degree of short-term disruption, and some groups may bear more of the cost than others. A difficult question is not whether a policy causes any harm, but what kind of harm it causes, how severe it is, how long it is expected to last, and whe…

Posted by /u/Ok-Distribution2498

I’m genuinely trying to find out whether Christianity is true. What convinced you?

Hi everyone, I’m not here to argue or to troll. I’m genuinely trying to figure out whether Christianity is true. At the moment, I would say that I want Christianity to be true, and I probably lean toward believing that God exists. The complexity of the universe, the apparent fin…

Posted by /u/EffectiveBonus779

Why, during the Victorian period in Great Britain, was US dominance seen as a foregone conclusion?

I've been reading 'The Decline and Fall of the British Empire' by Piers Brendon, and it is mentioned a few times that people in Victorian Britain foresaw that the United States would come to overshadow the British Empire. One extract from the Economist written in 1851 says that…