The AskHistorians Podcast

New interview episode on Friday! For now, enjoy an AH Aloud episode! I often hear people say that the Irish Potato Famine was more a genocide than a true famine. How accurate is this claim?

Link to answer.

Today on AskHistorians Aloud, hillsonghoods answers the question : Is the concept of mental ilness a modern phenomenon?

Link to question and answer: here.

In this episode of AskHistorians Aloud, we talk about conscription in the Ancient Greek world. Iphikrates answers "I'm a farmer in 500 BC in a typical Greek city-state. How often will I get called to mobilize for a battle?"

Link to answer: here.

Update: Someone has pointed out that a bit of the outro got recorded over the answer! Terribly sorry about that. Here is the missing text:

How much of the time was wartime is an open question. But even during the Peloponnesian War, there were several uneventful years, in which Sparta did not call out the levy of the Peloponnesian League and Athens had only men from the Lists in various expeditionary forces. In such times you, as a regular farmer, might escape military duty altogether. And if your city-state wasn't a member of the League or a subject of the Athenian Empire, you might be fighting your own petty wars, but otherwise you'd be left mostly alone.

It is anyone's guess how often you would actually be involved in a battle. Given all the factors I've mentioned, regardless of your city-state's foreign policy, I am of the opinion that the answer is probably closer to "once or twice in a lifetime" than "every year". However, given the lack of comprehensive source coverage, and the fact that historical accounts sometimes casually mention several battles in the course of a single campaign, my guess may well be wildly off the mark.

This week we are thrilled to have the host of EdHistory 101 podcast, and great AskHistorians flaired member UrAccountabilityBuddy, who is better known as Jenn Binis! In this episode we literally trace the entire history of education in America, diving deep into some weeds of discussion. I think you will enjoy it greatly. Please do go and subscribe to Ed History 101 wherever you get your podcasts and also please support us on patreon.com/askhistorians as it really does help to keep this show going

Join us here for a discussion thread.

© 2019 Brian M. Watson

Today we're talking with fellow mod u/Georgy_K_Zhukov about dueling in the 19th century United States.

Today, a history of the condom from /u/AnnalsPornographie / @HistoryOf Porn. Link to answer.

© 2019 Brian M. Watson

Today we are joined by AskHistorians user /u/mimicofmodes, flaired in the History of Western Fashion. She is better known to her friends and family as Cassidy Percoco, an independent historian of fashion, textiles and material culture. She is the author of Regency Women's Dress: Techniques and Patterns 1800-1830, the host of A Most Beguiling Accomplishment podcast, and a collections manager at the St. Lawrence County Historical Association and talks to us today about some aspects of history in public life--what it is like to work in a museum and to teach history to the public

You can also catch her on Episode 45 talking about Regency Era Fashion and on Episode 100 talking about AskHistorians under the hood, as in what it is like to moderate and run an academic history subreddit on the internet.

© 2019 Brian M. Watson

In this episode of AskHistorians Aloud, sunagainstgold answers "Were women voters subject to vote suppression campaigns in the 1920s like those forced on African-Americans after Reconstruction?"

Link to question and answer: here.

Today we talk with Dr. Timo Schaefer, author of Liberalism as Utopia The Rise and Fall of Legal Rule in Post-Colonial Mexico, 1820–1900 (Cambridge University Press, 2017), about how Liberal projects and ideals affected the legal system in 19th century Mexico.

You can find him on Twitter as @TimoHSchaefer

You can find his book here.