worldhistory

worldhistory, 4 days ago to history

The modern supplement industry advertises relentlessly and makes impossible promises of health benefits, but it’s simply following a long tradition.

Let’s go on a tour of patent medicines, their history, and the often bonkers advertising that promoted them.

#history @histodons
https://open.substack.com/pub/worldhistory/p/patently-ridiculous

worldhistory, 11 days ago to history

Even in ancient Rome, people hated being ruled by timekeeping devices. Plautus wrote:

Confound him... Who in this place set up a sundial

To cut and hack my days so wretchedly!

Take a look at the devices that have chopped up our lives for millennia:

#history @histodons
https://open.substack.com/pub/worldhistory/p/to-cut-and-hack-my-days

worldhistory, 18 days ago to history

How did horses become war machines — and find themselves amidst the machinery of modern war? This week, a look at the experience of the horses that were shipped around the world and made to fight in our most terrible conflicts.

#history @histodons
https://open.substack.com/pub/worldhistory/p/nobody-asked-the-horses-part-2

worldhistory, 25 days ago to history

Nobody asked the horses whether they’d like to participate in our wars, but they had to do so anyway. This week, we look at the early history of the horses who found themselves at the center of human violence.

#history @histodons
https://open.substack.com/pub/worldhistory/p/nobody-asked-the-horses?r=7ecn0&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

worldhistory, 29 days ago to history

Erastus Salisbury Field was an American folk art painter in the late 19th century.

He painted this delightfully off-kilter depiction of the Garden of Eden (my newsletter subject this week!), but his most famous work was the very complicated “Historical Monument of the American Republic.”
#history @histodons

naked people on a plain with tall trees and some animals. Mountains in the background.