askhistorians

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Was there an anti-vaccine movement before Andrew Wakefield's fraudulent study in 1998?	169
Why was pederasty so (relatively) common in past societies given that sexual attraction to children is so rare?	132
Several of Roy Lichtenstein's most famous pieces, including Drowning Girl, Sleeping Girl and Whaam! are traced directly from existing comics. Did Lichtenstein face any controversy, backlash or consequences for his plagiarism? Did the artists whose work he copied ever seek compensation?	84
In 1965 the FBI investigated the lyrics of the song "Louie Louie" for alleged obscenity. What legal grounds did this investigation have? Doesn't the First Amendment protect obscene and offensive material in art? People certainly wrote swears, blasphemy, sex and so forth in books at the time.	79
If "Dark Ages" is a dubious term to use historically, shouldn't "Classical" be too?	77
William Hope Hodgson's 1912 horror/fantasy novel The Night Land attempts to recreate 17th-century prose, but the book is now seen as being almost unreadable as a result. What would Hodgson have likely looked to for a historical basis, and does the final product actually resemble 17th century works?	61
Christ's birth is usually given as somewhere between 2-7 BC, with the consensus apparently being 4 BC. Why was Christ born Before Christ at all, rather than at the same year where that era ended, given its name? What is the dating system based around if not his birth?	54
Whenever I see a depiction of a legendarily beautiful person such as Helen of Troy, Adonis or Xi Shi, they don't look especially distinct from anyone else in art of the same period/style. Is this intentional or is their beauty lost in translation from then to now?	46
A satiric death certificate for the Confederacy describes it as having "died of a chronic attack of punch." I would guess this is a reference to being "punch-drunk," but as far as I can tell that term emerged in the 1920s. So what did this mean at the time?	45
How did European leaders in the early modern period go about hiring mercenaries?	44

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