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Any other history buff's on the forum?


Dwayne Brown
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On 8/17/2021 at 9:29 PM, PineSong said:

History of medicine, e.g. "Scurvy: how a surgeon, a mariner and a gentleman solved the greatest medical mystery in the age of sail" by Stephen Bown

If you ever want to take a trip way up in the Adirondacks in upstate NY, visit to Seranac Lake and go to the tuberculosis museum. That whole town used to be a location for people fighting TB because the only treatment they knew of was fresh air. They’d put them on the porches in the middle of winter on lounge chairs bundled up in blankets a foot thick. A scientist there was instrumental in discovering that TB was caused by a bacteria and that antibiotics (once they were discovered) could fight it. The entire town was shaped by the “industry” of treating the sick. Almost every house has multiple porches.

Ooo and I would also recommend reading No Time To Lose, a life in pursuit of deadly viruses, by Peter Piot. He was on the team that first identified and named Ebola. Later he helped identify the HIV virus and went on to found and direct UNAIDS. This was written long before COVID, though I could see how it might be a little too close to home to read it now. 😅

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On 8/18/2021 at 10:38 AM, Hobbit said:

Ooo and I would also recommend reading No Time To Lose, a life in pursuit of deadly viruses, by Peter Piot. He was on the team that first identified and named Ebola. Later he helped identify the HIV virus and went on to found and direct UNAIDS. This was written long before COVID, though I could see how it might be a little too close to home to read it now. 😅

Thanks for the recommendation!

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I love history! 

For military, I like all of it from the earliest records right up to where gunpowder starts to play a serious role.  Then it gets real boring, real fast for me.  With the exception of the Eighty Years' War, which when I first learned about it crystalized the trajectory of European History through World War II for me. 

I've recently been diving deeper into Classical Antiquity, which is a combination of my military history interests and my cultural history interests.  I've been focusing on the early Roman Republic and its fall to Imperial government, as well as, the reach and causes of the acceptance of Hellenism to such a wide extent (who knew that the Greeks in India ended up influencing Chinese Buddhism?!). I've also been exploring the end of Classical Antiquity, and the role that the religious shift had in ending Rome's hegemony.  Just really interesting stuff! 

I'm also into the history of early, modern science, which is the time period where Europe was reintroduced to classical science, then propelling European society to global dominance.  The synergy there is fascinating, as are the efforts to try to understand "why then" and "why there".  It's interwoven with the enlightenment, the rise of human rights, democratic ideals, and colonialism. 

I think I like history because there is so much to know and so many perspectives.  Humanity has done some horrible, and also amazing things!  Those two are not always mutually exclusive either.  Sometimes, they are one and the same outcome.

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@OnlyGenusCaps The 1750s-1870s are in my opinion some of the most interesting and periods in modern history. I never knew that there were Greek Buddhists that long ago! I would say that the eighty years war had a big impact on Europe to. But really the Napoleonic war had an even bigger one. It was the first time there was mass conscription, and Napoleon was a tactual genius. The if you think that the era around the 1810-1820s to be boring I would definitely recommend you check out the awesome history of the Napoleonic wars. The youtube channel kings and generals had a great series about it, and there's an excellent biography about napoleon.

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This is a great thread.  Thanks for starting it @Dwayne Brown!

On 8/26/2021 at 12:51 PM, Dwayne Brown said:

I never knew that there were Greek Buddhists that long ago!

It was a complete surprise to me as well until I started diving into the reaches of Hellenic influence.  I don't quite understand why so many cultures seem to have immediately, and willingly latched onto aspects of it.  Especially when you realize it didn't happen to a similar extent for some other older and more established cultures, like Egypt.  Very intriguing to me!

On 8/26/2021 at 12:51 PM, Dwayne Brown said:

The if you think that the era around the 1810-1820s to be boring I would definitely recommend you check out the awesome history of the Napoleonic wars. The youtube channel kings and generals had a great series about it, and there's an excellent biography about napoleon.

So, I have checked the era out.  It's interesting enough, just not my jam.  I do find the Prussians a curiosity.  Who was it that said something a kin to: the Prussians were the empire no one asked for?  But, that's about the extent of it more me. 

There is just something about blade eras that attract me attention.  Always have.  Can't be sure why.

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@OnlyGenusCaps Thanks for sharing. 

I agree the prussians are something of a novelty when you look at them as as a geographic country. However when you look at there culture and late 1800s history you seee that they were simply a small country with a well trained army and unique culture. Apparently what we often times see as german culture is actually Prussian culture that swept across after otto von Bismarck unified Germany. 

 

 

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