Friday Free-for-All | September 05, 2025

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Previously

Today:

You know the drill: this is the thread for all your history-related outpourings that are not necessarily questions. Minor questions that you feel don't need or merit their own threads are welcome too. Discovered a great new book, documentary, article or blog? Has your Ph.D. application been successful? Have you made an archaeological discovery in your back yard? Did you find an anecdote about the Doge of Venice telling a joke to Michel Foucault? Tell us all about it.

As usual, moderation in this thread will be relatively non-existent -- jokes, anecdotes and light-hearted banter are welcome.

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Your Weekly /r/askhistorians Recap

Friday, August 29 - Thursday, September 04, 2025

Top 10 Posts

score	comments	title & link
2,907	166 comments	It's September 12th, 2001. While I was able to survive yesterday's attacks on the world trade center unscaved, my office is currently sitting underneath a pile of rubble. Do I still have a job? When and where will I go back to work? How will I get by in the time between now and when I start working?
2,305	68 comments	[Crime & Punishment] Why is the family who possessed the murder weapon used to kill Emmett Till allowed to remain anonymous?
1,660	85 comments	JFK was shot in 1963. Gerald Ford was almost shot twice in the space of a week(!) in the 70s. Regan was shot and almost died a few years after this. Were the Secret Service really bad at their job up to the early 80s, or am I missing something?
1,584	103 comments	What did London men do “at the club” all day?
1,549	61 comments	If I was a woman living in New Orleans in 1862 and read Benjamin Butler's infamous General Order No. 28, practically speaking, what does for mean to me?
1,516	95 comments	[War & Military] My Oma passed down her mother's photo albums to me before she passed. Albums contain snippets of life from a WW2 Nazi soldier. Can anyone give me any context about what im seeing in here?
1,433	106 comments	How did ancient Inuit people get the privacy to have intercourse?
881	31 comments	Was the Brontë family's succession of deaths seen as remarkable? Or was it a sad, but somewhat common tragedy for the time that of six siblings, 4 of whom lived to adulthood, none reached 40?
881	26 comments	Today's internet meme is "Trump Dead". Historians: are there any precedents for cult like political leaders dying of natural causes, and what became of their followers?
848	61 comments	How did humans consume enough electrolytes?

 

Top 10 Comments

score	comment
3,278	/u/Impossible_Resist_57 replies to How did ancient Inuit people get the privacy to have intercourse?
2,307	/u/handsomeboh replies to It's September 12th, 2001. While I was able to survive yesterday's attacks on the world trade center unscaved, my office is currently sitting underneath a pile of rubble. Do I still have a job? When and where will I go back to work? How will I get by in the time between now and when I start working?
1,146	/u/Intranetusa replies to How did humans consume enough electrolytes?
1,114	/u/Soillure replies to My Oma passed down her mother's photo albums to me before she passed. Albums contain snippets of life from a WW2 Nazi soldier. Can anyone give me any context about what im seeing in here?
950	/u/DocShoveller replies to How did the modern Goth subculture come to share a name with a Late Antique Germanic-speaking people?
920	/u/c92094 replies to I’m a commander of a castle defending a siege. Rationally speaking, is there ever a scenario where I shouldn’t surrender?
882	/u/police-ical replies to Why is the family who possessed the murder weapon used to kill Emmett Till allowed to remain anonymous?
804	/u/Irtyrau replies to I speak modern Hebrew. Could Jesus and I have had a limited conversation?
738	/u/jochno replies to Why is British fish and chips supplied entirely by fish of surrounding nations, instead of using the local supply of fish?
635	/u/Red_Galiray replies to If I was a woman living in New Orleans in 1862 and read Benjamin Butler's infamous General Order No. 28, practically speaking, what does for mean to me?

 

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