Favorite Historical Periods, Events, Characters

[livius drusus]

I'm a history nerd, of that there is no doubt. Between my studies both at school and at home, and my youth in Rome, I've developed a genuine fondness for all kinds of favorite historical bits and pieces.

Just to name a few:

• Spartacan rebellion - ancient sources include chapters 8-11 of Plutarch's Life of Crassus, chapter 14 of Appian's The Civil Wars. Underdogs kick ass until the hammer falls and 5000 crucifixes line the Via Appia.
• Medieval hagiography - the big miracles are my favorite bits, but conflicts between the individual and society, particularly class and gender-based, are surprisingly prominent and quite fascinating in the lives of saints.
• Marquis de Sade - the fucked up sex is just the bait; his actual life was an amazing slice of the end of aristocracy and birth of revolution in France.
• 1914 Christmas Truce - a touch of humanity amidst brutality.
• Emma Goldman - Outspoken, brilliant, unique, fearless, an all-around great woman.
• Vietnam - not the war, the country.

I can't be the only one with history favorites. Even if I am, do me a favor and make some shit up so I don't feel like a helpless dweeb.

[Ymir's blood]

Let's see...

• Barbarian Europe
• The Vikings and the Dark Ages
• Medieval life especially crime, disease, heresies and the Inquistion
• Colonialism
• Nineteenth Century America including the American Civil War, Gangs and gangsterism, and the Old West
• Turn of the Century (20th) America though the Roaring Twenties and into the Great Depression. (Rise of organized crime, prohibition)

[livius drusus]

Oh yeah! I'm down with the Medieval disease and Roaring 20s too. I have to ask though: are you sure you didn't just pick the periods with the best possible smilie representatives?

[beyelzu]

I love the Roman republic, the might of the legions, the power of Rome. I love how, in contrast to how we view it today, Rome stopped at the edge of the city and people from outside the city were real romans to the romans.

I love roman slavery when contrasted with american slavery. I dont think slavery was a good thing, but I find the idea of the institution of slavery in rome to be incredibly interesting.


I love the age of enlightenment and reason. I love the late nineteenth century, when surely it seemed like anything is possible. Tesla inventing radio and an ac motor.

[wade-w]

The Enlightenment. I'd love to have been able to sit in on the debates in the Salons in Paris.

[beyelzu]

galileo


tesla


newton


some serious badass scientists.


Caesar and Marius from rome.


and my all time favorite, historical event has to be the Battle of Thermopylae

[livius drusus]

I dig the Salons too, particularly since so many of them were held by women. They're fascinating studies in intellectual and women's history.

[LadyXoc]

Heian Japan

14th century Europe

Regency England

most any pervy dead Popes, various Borgias, and I'm a bit of a Lorenzo de' Medici groupie.

[Ymir's blood]

I can't believe I forgot the 'Golden Age of Piracy!'

Oh, for anyone who is interested in the gangs and gangsterism in the Nineteenth Century, Herbert Asbury's "The Gang's of New York" is a hell of a read. Not the most scholarly work but very enjoyable. It is sort of the basis of the recent movie but isn't actually a novel but work of history drawn from newspaper accounts of the times. I haven't seen the movie, but am thankful for it for no other reason than to return the book to print.

Asbury also did books on New Orleans and Chicago. I've got both but haven't read them yet.

Originally Posted by livius drusus

Oh yeah! I'm down with the Medieval disease and Roaring 20s too.

Any interesting books on Medieval disease? I've got "Armies of Pestilence","Disease and History", and "In the Wake of the Plague."

I have to ask though: are you sure you didn't just pick the periods with the best possible smilie representatives?

Why livius, is there any period for which good smilies can't be found in your depository?

[Ymir's blood]

Originally Posted by LadyXoc

most any pervy dead Popes, various Borgias, and I'm a bit of a Lorenzo de' Medici groupie.

I picked up a copy of "The Bad Popes" at Barnes & Noble some time ago. Good read but doesn't go into a lot of detail.

[LadyXoc]

Originally Posted by Ymir's blood

Any interesting books on Medieval disease? I've got "Armies of Pestilence","Disease and History", and "In the Wake of the Plague."

Have you tried "Medicine & Society in Later Medieval England" by Carole Rawcliffe? It's a fun read if you're not squeamish (and I'm assuming you're not, since you have "Armies of Pestilence," etc.)

[livius drusus]

Originally Posted by LadyXoc

I'm a bit of a Lorenzo de' Medici groupie.

Have I got a site for you, LadyXoc. Check out The Medici Archive Project, specifically the document highlights. It's insanely cool.

[LadyXoc]

Originally Posted by livius drusus

Have I got a site for you, LadyXoc. Check out The Medici Archive Project, specifically the document highlights. It's insanely cool.

That is absolutely frabjous and I am embarrassed to admit I squealed like a teenage girl when I clicked on the link. Thanks, liv!

[Roland98]

Originally Posted by Ymir's blood

Any interesting books on Medieval disease? I've got "Armies of Pestilence","Disease and History", and "In the Wake of the Plague."

Marry me.

I haven't read "In the Wake of the Plague." I'll have to put it on my Amazon "to buy when I get some scrilla" list.

To those I'd add (though they don't focus specifically on medieval disease) Crosby's "Plagues and Peoples" and "Ecological Imperialism," as well as Sheldon Watts' "Epidemics and History" and Rosen's treatise, "A History of Public Health" (an excellent read in its own right, and far less boring than the vanilla title makes one think it would be). Edited to add: I also have Zeigler's "Black Death;" a bit dry in some places, but a good overview.

Medieval Europe also fascinates me; I have a ton of books (currently packed away, alas) on that era, focusing mostly on England and Ireland. I also have quite a few on WWII, specifically Holocaust stories and Nazi medicine. I've mostly skipped the 1600s-early 1900s period, except as it pertains to infectious disease. Someday I'll catch up and do more in-depth study...

[Adora]

Napoleon- Doesn't get much better than a crazy short dude who thought there was rats in his jacket.

And then, his nemesis...

Russia- You don't fuck with the motherland. It fucks with you.

Speaking of crazy mothers...

Agrippina II- Mother of Nero. She was one hardass bitch.

Um, anyway, I can usually find something to interest me at some point in time anywhere. I guess I'm just easily amused. Oh, but the Medievil society kids still scare the pants offa me. Someone please tell them that tobacco shop dragon pendants don't make their penises bigger?

[Ymir's blood]

Originally Posted by Roland98

Marry me.

and I thought I had morbid tastes...

I haven't read "In the Wake of the Plague." I'll have to put it on my Amazon "to buy when I get some scrilla" list.

It's by Norman F. Cantor and apart from a minor quibble it was very interesting. The quibble was where he claimed that a crossbow took thirty minutes to reload though perhaps he thinking of the ballista?

To those I'd add (though they don't focus specifically on medieval disease) Crosby's "Plagues and Peoples" and "Ecological Imperialism," as well as Sheldon Watts' "Epidemics and History" and Rosen's treatise, "A History of Public Health" (an excellent read in its own right, and far less boring than the vanilla title makes one think it would be). Edited to add: I also have Zeigler's "Black Death;" a bit dry in some places, but a good overview.

I'm planning to make an Amazon order in the near future and will be sure to check those out.

[Roland98]

Originally Posted by Ymir's blood

and I thought I had morbid tastes...

I'm rarely accused of being normal. Occupational hazard, I guess.

It's by Norman F. Cantor and apart from a minor quibble it was very interesting. The quibble was where he claimed that a crossbow took thirty minutes to reload though perhaps he thinking of the ballista?

Yeah, I was reading the reviews on Amazon (and on a few of Cantor's other books) and it looks like he's smart and a good author but a bit sloppy on the facts sometimes. Still, they have it used for a couple of bucks so I'll most likely pick it up.

[godfry n. glad]

Originally Posted by Adora

Napoleon- Doesn't get much better than a crazy short dude who thought there was rats in his jacket.

And then, his nemesis...

You mean...Arthur Wellesley?

godfry

[livius drusus]

Originally Posted by Adora

Agrippina II- Mother of Nero. She was one hardass bitch.

She sure as shit was. I still can't get over her marrying Uncle Claudius in the first place, never mind her vise-like grip on Nero's nads.

[livius drusus]

Originally Posted by LadyXoc

That is absolutely frabjous and I am embarrassed to admit I squealed like a teenage girl when I clicked on the link. Thanks, liv!

Oh believe me, I was keening when I first stumbled on that site. I even sent them several emails pointing out that despite my total lack of scholarly credentials, they desperately need to hire me. So far they haven't been convinced, but I'm not above begging.

[godfry n. glad]

Ah, liv... You are not alone.

My interests include:

• American women's sufferage movement
• Meiji Japan
• Eugene V. Debs
• Sung/Yuan China
• The Atlantic Celts
• Warring States China and early Chinese philosophy
• 17th Century England - Rule by Divine Right, Commonwealth, Restoration and Glorious Revolution
• The Silk Roads/ancient Old World trade
• The American Revolution and the foundation of the United States
• Roman Palestine, the historicity of Jesus and the development of the early Christian church
• The development of metallurgy (which is probably more anthropological/archeological than historical)
• Environmental thought

I have budding interests in:

• Ancient Persia
• Central Asia
• Cultures at the periphery of the Roman Empire...(who says they're "barbarians"?)
• Development and diffusion of food crops

All over the map, eh?

godfry

[Shake]

Well, I've always been a fan of military history, perhaps influenced by my being a product of a (US) Civil War history buff (Dad's got probably 75 books on events and people relating to that period alone). I enjoy the History Channel's Mail Call show, among others.

I also enjoy the history of science and mathematics. It's just interesting to see how ideas develop over time.

Speaking of which, one of the best series ever, Connections by James Burke, was influential to me growing up. I've also read his book The Pinball Effect. Good stuff!

Dad studied a lot of other history; took a course called Men and their Cultures, which we've talked about extensively. It's fueled my interest in some of the ancient cultures: the Greek city-states, etc.

Medieval times have also held some interest for me.

[Bella]

Three words: Jack the Ripper.

[Farren]

Paris with, and at the time of, the great impressionists. I would have loved to have sat, sipping Absinthe with them and discussing art in a fevered manner.

Any of the Greek city-states in their heyday (as one of the privileged, preferably) aside from Sparta. As Bertrand Russel put it, the greatest achievement of the Romans was the propagation of Greek ideals and culture. They even sent their young gentry to be schooled in Greece.

The late sixties in the US, living in a hippy commune. I've always felt a kind of resonance with the stories of that time and community, especially after my own OTT "summer of love" living in an "anything goes" commune where every weekend was a party gathered round the bonfire in the garden (we felled a huge dead tree that was dead thanks to termites and had a near infinite supply of wood and dope) singing along to tunes ably played by our resident musician on his guitar, the whole weekend long.

[Gawen]

The Romans....all of them.
Ancient Egypt
Romano/Celtic
Celt/Scottish
WW2-more ETO than PTO...but I like the naval side (battles and tactics) of PTO and really love studying the Nazi's.
Pirates. Someone mentioned Pirates. A must read book is Under the Black Flag by David Cordingly.
Medieval (1200-1550) used to be big with me....having spent considerable time and money in the SCA. But no longer floats my longboat. Scottish history is about as far as I delve into it now.
The American French and Indian wars and the Revolution has sparked a bit of interest lately.