AskHistorians

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Why are the days of the week named after pagan gods? Was there ever any pushback from the Church on this?	48
Westerns dominated early television and films into the 1970s, at which point they became a niche genre. Were there any cultural trends behind their increasing marginalization?	48
What caused the madness of King George? His illness extended through most of 1789, one of the most consequential years in world history; what were the political consequences? Did it affect British international policies at the time?	48
It seems like 19th century science fiction was concerned with the possibilities of invention, in contrast to the modern form of the genre. Where did the trope of a dystopian, oppressive future come from? How did it become popularized?	47
Through The Odyssey, it's a severe threat to social order should Penelope entertain lovers (as exemplified in the ominous tale of Agamemnon's return), yet Odysseus himself has a string of lovers (Circe, Calypso, possibly Nausicca); was he a special case or indicative of a cultural double standard?	47
50 years on, how sure are historians that James Earl Ray assassinated Martin Luther King Jr, and that he acted alone?	46
Where did "cool" come from, and how did it get to be such a ubiquitous catch-all?	46
What do we know about Shakespeare's two lost plays, Cardenio and Love's Labour's Won?	45
In Mad Men, Sterling-Cooper would rather lose money than advertise to African Americans. Is there any evidence of Madison Avenue firms acting this way as recently as the 1960s?	45
In 1848, Zachary Taylor won the Presidency as a Whig; by 1856, the party was no longer competitive on a national scale. What happened? Was there ever a subsequent point where the US was close to having anything other than a two-party system?	44

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