AskHistorians

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J. Edgar Hoover was FBI director for almost 37 years, serving under 5 presidents. Since then, the longest an FBI director has ever served is 9 years, with most serving anywhere from a few months to a few years. Why did Hoover last so long and why hasn't anyone done the same since?	8
Though now known most often as a method of fortune-telling, tarot cards were originally used for actual card games like tarocchini. How did they go from ordinary playing cards to instruments of supernatural divination?	8
Why are certain beliefs, like those of the Greeks, Romans and Norse, almost exclusively referred to as "mythology" rather than "religion"?	8
Was a time or place in history when people didn't know that pregnancy was caused by sex, or has this always been generally understood?	8
Why did Georgism more or less vanish?	8
How much did the Mongol Empire know about Rome and its history?	7
Have retail workers in America ever been allowed to sit while working? If so, how did this stop being the case? If not, why?	7
In a scene from the Sopranos, Tony Soprano dismisses the idea that the Chinese invented noodles, saying "Why would people who eat with sticks invent something that you need a fork to eat?" Is there any truth to his reasoning?	7
Are there any records from ancient times of people like Jean-Dominique Bauby who had "locked-in" conditions that left them conscious but unable to move? Were such people pretty much doomed, or did any of them manage methods of communication like he did? How were they viewed culturally?	6
Why does it seem like anchorites, stylites, mendicants and other forms of asceticism have largely died out as a part of Christianity? Have they, and if so, why?	6

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