The daughter of a weather station family at the Ket River, Siberia, stands in the smoke of a fire to avoid the swarming mosquitoes. Photo: Emile Ducke.
Here’s to you, A Handful of History - 5 creative things on history I thought were worth sharing. Enjoy!
The amazing German photographer Emile Ducke has portrayed some of the (few) residents of the area of the KET RIVER IN REMOTE SIBERIA: The “Old Believers” - a religious group that split from the Russian Orthodox Church in the 17th century - workers at the lumber mills, and - not least - descendants of political and revolutionary prisoners who once were sent to this deserted corner of the country - one of which was Joseph Stalin himself.
The book AN ATLAS OF EXTINCT COUNTRIES is on its way and I am curious to know some more! “Countries die. Sometimes it's murder, sometimes it's by accident, and sometimes it's because they were so ludicrous they didn't deserve to exist in the first place. This is an atlas of nations that fell off the map. The polite way of writing an obituary is: dwell on the good bits, gloss over the embarrassing stuff. This book fails to do that.” On sale 18 November 2020.
SECRET FEMALE-ONLY LANGUAGE. Nüshu is a women’s-only script that was passed down from mothers to their daughters in feudal-society China. For hundreds - perhaps even thousands - of years the script remained unknown outside of the area where it was invented (which was in the Jiangyong province in the southern part of China). The script helped to give the women freedom of expression which was not often found in many communities of the time. It was only in the 1980s the outside world got to know of it, and these days it is experiencing something of a rebirth.
In 42 episodes the - highly entertaining - CRASH COURSE WORLD HISTORY teaches you all from growing the first crops in the First Agricultural Revolution to global textile production in the 2010s. Each episode only lasts 10-14 minutes and P.S. It’s free! (However, donations are greatly appreciated.)
FEELINGS, AND FEELINGS, AND FEELINGS. The historian of emotions, Thomas Dixon, dives into the history of emotions. Did you know that in the 1930s a condition called ‘Busman’s Stomach’ existed in Great Britain? It was a stress-related disorder that mainly infected bus drivers - a suggested cure was to read the works of Lenin(!) And speaking of emotions…In Japan, they have a service that provides support and a safe space for people to weep. In this video, a tear-teacher says that “these days in Japanese society, it is very hard for people to cry”. With the use of sad films and emotional letters, he claims to have made over 50.000 people break out in tears.
💌 Thanks for reading! This newsletter is free - to show your support please share it with someone who'd like it, thank you 🙏 See links below.
💌 First time you read this? You can subscribe here.
See you next time.
Majken xx
Crash Course World History, ep. 1, in which the host, John Green, investigates the dawn of human civilization. Also, there are some jokes about cheeseburgers.
Comments