AskHistorians

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In Classical Greek statuary, most of the men depicted are hairless. Was men shaving their body hair common at the time, or was it an idealized form?	18
What's the origin of blowing bubbles as entertainment?	18
Smokey and the Bandit portrays a trucker culture as late as the 1970s where drivers display flagrant disregard for public safety and commit dozens of felonies over a 28 hour period. Was this pure fiction, or a heightened version of something you might actually see this late into the 20th century?	17
Given that they had been extinct in the British Isles for hundreds of years, how did English colonists coming to the New World react to the existence of bears?	17
How did the English Reformation go from a single, concrete, seemingly cynical act (the annulment of Henry VIII) to a distinct and deeply considered theology?	17
In 1990, Cape Verde, an island country off the coast of Africa, voted to peaceably institute a multiparty democracy after 15 years as a revolutionary one party state. Given how "revolutionary one party states" usually go when democracy is demanded by people, how did Cape Verde avoid this fate?	16
Was there ever an actual tradition of electing dog-catchers?	16
How was security handled for the Nuremberg Trials, especially against the possibility of external threats and attempted jailbreaks?	16
Modern day Neo-Confederates often have cognitive dissonance around patriotism, flying both American Flags and Confederate Flags simultaneously. Did actual Confederates during the American Civil War ever attempt to display or affirm patriotism to both?	15
When and how did "camo" leave the military and hunting worlds to become a fashion pattern?	15

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