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At the peak of imperial expansion in World War II, Japan touted itself as a multiracial paradise. Imperial Japan's government, eugenicists,...

Where has the year gone!?

Hello u/AskHistorians! Can we have ever-increasing economic growth on a finite planet? Should we? Why do economists and environmentalists answer...

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Hi Reddit! I’m Dagomar Degroot, an environmental historian based in Washington, DC. I teach Environmental and Climate History at Georgetown...

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There is nothing remotely Elysian about the Phlegræan Fields; nothing sylvan, nothing green. The Fields, which lie on the north shore of the Bay of Naples, are part of the caldera of a volcano that is the twin of Vesuvius, the destroyer of Pompeii, a few miles to the east. The volcano is still active, but, today, its most obvious feature is this barren, rubble-strewn plateau. Fire bursts from the rocks in places, and clouds of sulphurous gas snake out of vents that lead up from deep underground.

In the 1920s-1940s there was considerable scientific work on the effects of ionizing radiation to induce mutations, originally come out of work by H.J. Muller on fruit flies (for which he won the Nobel Prize in Medicine for 1946), but later expanded to all sorts of agricultural breeding programs. It isn't, of course, that radiation makes things necessarily bigger or anything like that, but it can increase the number of mutations far above the normal rate. If you irradiate thousands of fruit fly eggs, you'll end up with a few very bizarre specimens as a result (e.g., flies born without eyes, flies born with weird wings, whatever).

By special request: I did an answer on Medieval ideology and faction that wasn't Medieval enough so now it's here. I changed the wording slightly to fit the context and added a little more to it.

Hello all, We are a group of experts in early American clothing at [Colonial Williamsburg](https://www.colonialwilliamsburg.org/), a...

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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.

Hi Reddit! We’re American Civil War historians Louie P. Gallo and David S. Nolen. Our new book, [*The Memoirs of General William Tecumseh...

This week, Dr. Miranda Kaufmann chats with Mimicofmodes about British heiresses of Caribbean fortunes, and the enslaved people that underwent untold suffering to support their lifestyles. (47 min.) Fi...

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The Portal for Public History. Please read the rules before participating, as we remove all comments which break the rules. Answers must be in-depth and comprehensive, or they will be removed.