askhistorians

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What kept amaranth - a more nutritionally-complete grain that's higher in protein - from supplanting corn in the native American diet?	196
Was it considered inappropriate for Winston Churchill to wear a "Siren Suit" to the White House during his 1943 visit?	194
17th Century Scotland — with its bloody tribal conflicts in the highlands and virtual Calvinist theocracy in the lowlands — was not an obvious contender for the 18th-century Scottish Enlightenment and its economic and educational boom. How did Scotland come so far so quickly?	193
The massive Athenian invasion of Sicily in the midst of the Peloponnesian War Seems like hubris to modern readers, but did the Athenian Assembly, without our hindsight, have reason to think it a rational, strategically-sound move?	192
Guilds were everywhere in medieval/Renaissance Europe. Were they mostly a way to keep out competition and elevate prices, or did they have a legitimately critical regulatory function that central governments hadn't taken up? Both?	189
Why are post 1830s tombstones more resilient than pre 1830s tombstones?	189
Business schools warn about "Persian Messenger Syndrome," an aversion to delivering bad news due to fear of punishment. Did the Persians really kill messengers bearing bad news?	189
René Girard suggested that Christianity was the first religion couched in the perspective of the victim/scapegoat, a large break from pagan religions that promulgated the victor's perspective. Is this true?	187
I'm a poor farmer's child growing up in rural 19th-century America. My mother just taught me the alphabet, and it's time to start reading. She puts me on her knee and opens a copy of....what? What sort of reading material for children was available? The Bible? Plutarch's Lives? Some Shakespeare?	186
Latin was, "the primary language of Europe until it was killed off by renaissance scholars who complained that Modern Latin was nowhere near the strength of classical Latin." How true is this?	186

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