askhistorians

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How well known was Ross Perot to the American public before he launched what would turn about to be one of the most successful independent US presidential campaigns in 1992?	9
As cars became a thing in the early 20th century, did legislatures quickly update outdated traffic laws meant for horses and carriages, or did they dally, perhaps thinking cars were just a passing fad that would be a waste of time to legislate on?	9
Blackbeard, Captain Kidd, Captain Morgan... It seems all the big names of the Golden Age of Piracy are British. Was Atlantic piracy in the late 18th/early 19th c. really overwhelmingly British, or has an Anglo-Americentric view of history obscured the participation of pirates from other nations?	9
Where and when (if ever) were the spiked black leather bracers of black metal musicians actually used, historically speaking?	9
There seem to be a lot of rumors (some substantiated and some not) of homosexual activity by famous English Shakespearean actors of the 20th century. Was there genuinely strong overlap between 20th-c. English theatre culture and gay culture, and if so, how and when did this come about? (3rd attempt)	9
Is it true that John Cabot rather than Columbus was popularly considered as the Western "discoverer of America" in the US until Italian-Americans strongly lobbied for Columbus to be treated as such to cement their place in the American national tradition?	9
We all know the clothes of well-off Western European men in the 18th c. (variations of wigs/long hair, jacket, vest, cravat, knee breeches, stockings, etc.). How far east could you go in Europe in the 18th c. and still find some variant of this outfit among men of status?	9
Why does British conservatism seem to be much less religiously oriented than its American counterpart?	9
How did Chinese opera get to be so called in the West despite, AFAIK, having an entirely separate (and earlier) origin with regard to Western opera? Has the West's linguistic equating of the two been criticized in China? Also, do they have any similarities deeper than both being "sung theatre"...	9
How and/or why did marijuana become illegal almost worldwide? Did it happen mostly after the US de facto banned it in 1937?	9

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