Recent comments in /f/history

claudiusfoughtawhale t1_j0ak5jc wrote

Reply to How do countries that lack long, ancient histories and myths (or feel they lack it), or have lost all records of them, compensate for this loss or absence? Can these invented ancient myths become as "legitimate" as the truly old histories/myths of countries that have them? by raori921

Here in Canada, I think our school system has traditionally tried to do it by tying us into a story of "Western Civilization". As a kid we started our study of history with ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome, then Medieval Europe, then Renaissance/Enlightenment/Napoleon Era etc. So for a white kid in a mostly-white small town, the stories of Egypt, Greece and Rome were 'our' mythology. We also have some historical events like Vimy Ridge that have become Canadian myths in a sense, but we don't take them very seriously, at least not today.

I've been out of the school system for a while but I know there are much more earnest efforts today to bring in Indigenous stories, history, knowledge etc - we had only a few units here and there when I was a kid. We are also becoming more and more diverse as a country, and that means more people bringing with them the wonderful stories and myths of their own cultures.

Sometimes I do miss the sense of ancient history and I wonder what it would be like to grow up in one of those countries. We're certainly missing out in the museum and art gallery department! But I also feel like I can admire and enjoy the histories and mythologies of all peoples, our shared human heritage.

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elmonoenano t1_j0adquk wrote

Reply to Bookclub Wednesday! by AutoModerator

I finished Eight Days in May by Volker Ullrich. I liked his biographies of Hitler so I thought I'd give this a chance. It's about the 8 days following Hitler's death. It was interesting, especially as a counterpoint to 5 Days in London by John Lukacs. The translator did a good job on this and the it was a quick read. I learned a little bit about Donitz I didn't know, but my overall picture of him as basically uninspired and a mediocre Nazi were confirmed. He was someone who was so surrounded by mediocrity that he didn't realize how mediocre he was himself.

If you want a short book on the last few days of the war in Europe, this would be a good one to pick up. If you're looking for something that would be a nice airplane read, my guess is the book probably takes about 5ish hours total to read at about 270 smallish pages with decent sized borders.

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Co0lie5ter t1_j0a87wm wrote

Reply to comment by Steak48 in How do countries that lack long, ancient histories and myths (or feel they lack it), or have lost all records of them, compensate for this loss or absence? Can these invented ancient myths become as "legitimate" as the truly old histories/myths of countries that have them? by raori921

I'm from the west (Nevada). Everyone is pretty into the local indigenous tribes' stories. More so than our own European ones. Usually the spooky ones like skin walkers and water babies. But little of the European ones except the popularized ones.

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Gabe559 t1_j0a506l wrote

Reply to Simple/Short/Silly History Questions Saturday! by AutoModerator

Do Viking weapons get passed down along Nordic families?

I guess this question can extend to other cultures as well but is it at all common for weapons made during the Viking age to be passed down to Nordic families today? Would also be curious to learn if Samurai swords are passed down within the same family to modern times.

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