AskHistorians

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How were nations able to increase the literacy rate in the early 20th century so effectively?	668
How did Thomas Jefferson reconcile his incredible language in the Declaration of Independence with being a slave owner? How can/could he espouse these incredible ideals and yet hold slaves? Was there ever a stated rationality that he propounded?	263
What is the accepted evaluation of why Europe rose out of the Middle Ages into the Renaissance? Why didn't it happen earlier? Why was there suddenly an interest in old texts?	100
Is Edward Gibbon's "The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" still considered accurate considering historical excavations, findings, and new evidence of the fall of the Roman Empire? Is it considered outdated?	89
Why didn't Constantinople have cannons/gunpowder during the Fall of Constantinople? There are references to western Europe having cannons as early as the Siege of Orléans in 1429.	79
Are there major books and works of literature that have been lost in history that were widely cited? For example, has something on the level of Moby Dick or Pride and Prejudice or Tale of Two Cities been lost? Or are the many books major - but not the biggest of the major ones?	71
Why did the first successful communist revolution occur in mostly agrarian Russia instead of more industrialized countries, such as UK/Germany/France?	62
How did the concept of ownership arise in the world? How was the concept of private property separate from this?	50
Was there homelessness in the Soviet Union?	41
What led to the creation of the Dewey Decimal system? Why hadn't a system existed before then? And why are there so many different types of library systems organized so differently? And why was Dewey's system the most successful? What was unique about his system?	37

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