How common was illegal drinking during the prohibition era? Would the "average joe" have been frequenting speakeasies or was this something mainly done by an already more criminal crowd? (old.reddit.com)
How much do you think politics would change if politicians were held personally and financially responsible for damage caused by their lies? (old.reddit.com)
In his famous "Brahmin Left vs Merchant Right" paper, Thomas Piketty showed that across the developed West there was a steady shift of college educated voters from right to left from 1950s with left parties winning majorities amongst them later. What are historical reasons for this dramatic shift? (old.reddit.com)
Is it weird that I didn't decided who I want to be even tho I'm 15? My parents seem pretty upset that I'm still thinkinhg about my future profession. (old.reddit.com)
What has influenced so many Americans to call the Confederacy their "heritage" despite it only existing for 4 and a half years? Nazi Germany existed for 13 and very very few Germans consider it as their heritage. (old.reddit.com)
As the .su top-level domain was introduced just over a year before the dissolution of the USSR, did the Communist Party of the Soviet Union have an internet webpage? If so, who made it? (old.reddit.com)
I'm Dr. Scott Johnston, author of THE CLOCKS ARE TELLING LIES: SCIENCE, SOCIETY, AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF TIME. Ask me anything about the history of global timekeeping! (old.reddit.com)
We generally consider names such as "Tyrone", "Deonte" or "LaToya" as distinctly African-American. When and why did such names become prevalent among the African-American ethnic group? (old.reddit.com)
How do you feel about the “lock & key” analogy that men often use about women’s body count and the double standard that comes along with it? (old.reddit.com)
Native Americans and horses were both in America before horses went extinct and were reintroduced by Europeans. Do any Native American groups "remember" horses through something like an oral tradition? Is there archaeological evidence of Native Americans hunting, taming, making art of horses, etc? (old.reddit.com)
During WW2, were there people who thought the war was a hoax? I don’t mean holocaust denialism, but people who insisted that things like rationing and war bonds were politically motivated and unnecessary because there was no actual war? Asking particularly about Americans but also curious globally. (old.reddit.com)
In 2012, a gay couple sued a Colorado Baker who refused to bake a wedding cake for them. Why would they want to eat a cake baked by a homophobe on happiest day of their lives? (old.reddit.com)
Islam is famously aniconic, especially of the prophet Muhammad. In the early 14th-century, a manuscript, Jami' al-Tarwarikh, was completed by a Muslim author, Rashid-al-din Hamadani. It depicts an image of Muhammad receiving a revelation from Gabriel. Why was this allowed? (old.reddit.com)
have guns killed more people than swords? swords have been around for a really long time, but guns have been widely used around a world that has a way bigger population (old.reddit.com)
Why did widowed Medieval Queens often "retire" to a convent? And did they actually become/live as nuns? What was their life like there? (old.reddit.com)
Why can I see the wheel spokes on a car as it goes by if I'm not looking directly at it, but if I try to follow the wheels with my eyest hey are all blurred together ? Does the the brain only sample vision outside the center periodically so I get a strobe type affect? (old.reddit.com)
Early episodes of "Seinfeld" often include scenes of relatively well-off characters going to communal laundromats. Was it uncommon for New Yorkers in the 1990s to own their own washers/dryers? If so, is that something specific to New York or a wider trend? (old.reddit.com)
Robert Evans said that Shanghai's revolutionary history is one of the lost (in the West) stories of the 20th century. What happened and why is it historically significant? (old.reddit.com)
The ancient Christian writer Justin Martyr (~150 AD) argued that skeptics should just go to Bethlehem and look at the tax records. Would the Roman government have reasonably retained tax / census records that long? (old.reddit.com)
The Soviet Union had various programs and policies intending to protect and promote minority ethnic and culture groups. Did they work? Or was there also de facto or de jure Russification happening at the same time, particularly in the East? (old.reddit.com)
why is it that it takes so much effort to make myself shower, even though I know full well that I always feel good after a proper shower? (old.reddit.com)
Buddhism flourished in India for hundreds of years during and following the death of Siddhartha Gautama through the reign of King Kanishka in 150 CE. But after that it was essentially subsumed into Hindu/Brahman and mysticism in India. How was it so utterly wiped out? (old.reddit.com)
I've heard that the majority of cuneiform tablets have never been studied by a trained expert due to the sheer number of them discovered. How do historians prioritize which tablets should be studied and translated first in large collections like that? (old.reddit.com)
Does anyone actually want the Metaverse to happen? Or is it just being pushed on us so that companies can make money off of selling things inside it? (old.reddit.com)
I have seen many people blaming Newt Gingrich and GOP led Congress in 90s for the rise of modern political partisanship and "extreme" polarisation in US. Is this true? To what extent did they actually break with past norms? (old.reddit.com)
The Ancient Persians ruled over diverse empires - did their cities reflect this? At Ctesiphon or Susa, would one have seen Greeks, Egyptians, and Indians intermingling? (old.reddit.com)
Does anyone else think that the worst part of a dream, is when you have a companion within said dream, have a great time with them, but when you wake up you can't remember what they look like? (old.reddit.com)
Can a politician just lie at being a democrat or a republican ans then when he gets elected as president be like "ha I was actually x all along" (old.reddit.com)
How did New York City, thought to be in irreversible decline in the 1970s (captured by films like Taxi Driver), by 9/11 once again become one of the most vibrant and livable cities in the world? What motivated this immense turnaround? (old.reddit.com)
Many ancient polytheist religions are presented today as having a single widely accepted pantheon, mythology, etc. in their heyday like modern religions. Is this accurate, or were they more like disjointed and inconsistent local cults whose stories were merged and codified after the fact? (old.reddit.com)
why was the battle of Moscow not a key turning point in the eastern front? why was stalingrad considered to be more of a turning point? (old.reddit.com)
The mayor of San Francisco alleged the cult members known as the Death Angels could be responsible for over 70 murders. The suspects are known today to have killed 15 and wounded 8 others in their six months of activity - has any progress been made linking them to more deaths? Or was this spurious? (old.reddit.com)
AskScience AMA Series: We're Human Exploration Research Analog mission experts researching the effects of isolation on astronauts to help prepare the agency for deep space exploration. Ask Us Anything! (old.reddit.com)
It's the 1880s. I'm a Russian school teacher and I want to buy a copy of The Brothers Karamazov. How much does it cost? Do I need to travel to a large city to find a bookstore? How easily can I find this (or any) particular book for sale? (old.reddit.com)
If I jumped from the Golden Gate Bridge and regretted my decision as soon I did, what would the best possible thing to do to survive the fall and the aftermath? (old.reddit.com)
Does anyone else want to move to a small village somewhere in the middle of nowhere, far away from modern society and just live without internet? (old.reddit.com)
Are there any theories regarding why and when humans decided that their genitals shouldn't be publicly exposed? Were there any ancient civilisations that preferred to be completely naked? (old.reddit.com)
I either drink enough water before sleep and end up needing to wake up to urinate; or I don’t drink enough and wake up because I’m thirsty. What am I doing wrong? I have tried stopping drinking at specific times before bed to find the middle ground but always end up one way or the other. (old.reddit.com)
To all cat people: Your cat scratches you to the point of no return, to the point where you’re in the ER. You have had this cat for 4 years. What do you do? (old.reddit.com)
Why do Western historians use 'dynasty' to refer to political phases in certain regions (China especially), but not as often when referring to European or other regional history? (old.reddit.com)
Are cultures that are more comfortable with nudity such as Scandinavian and Japanese cultures with their saunas and onsens respectively less likely to body shame uncontrollable things such as breast and penis size? (old.reddit.com)
In the TV show 'Seinfeld' which takes place in the '90s, the titular character who is a small-time stand-up comedian live 129 West 81st Street which is really close Central Park. Could an artist like Seinfeld afford such a place in the NY in the '90s? (old.reddit.com)
I read that the USS Texas was able shell farther inland on D-Day because the captain flooded the ballast on one side of the ship. Was this a brand new tactic or an old trick that everyone knew about but never needed to use? (old.reddit.com)
If slavery in Japan was banned by Toyotomi Hideyoshi (according to Wikipedia), then what was the legal status of girls sold by their families to brothels, panders or pimps? What transaction actually took place when money was exchanged if it wasn't transfer of human property? (old.reddit.com)
The Viking leader Rollo the Walker (Göngu-Hrólfur) was supposedly called that because he was too big to ride a horse. How large would this have made him, considering the horses he would have had access to? (old.reddit.com)
Evidence for Biological Age Acceleration and Telomere Shortening in COVID-19 Survivors. What does this mean for the general population? (old.reddit.com)
Serious: If in the US you can legally require women to carry unwanted pregnancies, why can’t the US legally require people to get an unwanted shot? (old.reddit.com)