5 ms·

Only read part of the article, but ended up skimming the blog. Definitely saving this! This is the Internet that I love. I would never find gems like this via G

Only read part of the article, but ended up skimming the blog. Definitely saving this! This is the Internet that I love. I would never find gems like this via Google. Partly because it would not appear high in search results, and partly because I'd never go looking for it! Thank you HN, and thank you blog writer.

rocqua 4y ago
I can highly recommend this blog. It does a really good job at presenting academic historical research in a readable way, without silently dumbing things down. The required detail for the argument is given, and the skipped details are called out as being skipped. I think the fact this article is this high up, without having any comments, suggests that plenty of HNers, like me, just upvote uppon seeing the blog name.
- verve_rat 4y ago
  I know I do. I'm happy every time one of today's 10,000 finds it.
  - bravasaurus 4y ago
    What a fantastic blog! I’m very happy to be one of the 10,000.
Swenrekcah 4y ago
I hadn’t heard of this blog until I saw it linked here the day after Russias invasion to Ukraine. At that time there were a lot of people talking about it of course, a lot of different takes and predictions. There was something about the writing that made me read the whole post and it had a large impact on how I interpreted all news coming out of the war and in whole it was incredibly prescient, given it was published less than 24 hours after the first bombings. https://acoup.blog/2022/02/25/miscellanea-understanding-the-war-in-ukraine/ https://acoup.blog/2022/02/25/miscellanea-understanding-the-...
tuatoru 4y ago
I highly recommend the two series, "Bread: How Did They Make It?" and "Iron: How Did They Make It?". (Series are called collections on the blog.) The logistics and economics of the ancient world: fascinating. Many other posts and collections about ancient (European, mostly) and pre-modern statecraft and institutions are also fascinating. The "hook" or lens of looking at these topics through video games (and what they get right and wrong) is a nice way to get into the subject.
- DylanSp 4y ago
  The "Clothing: How Did They Make It?" series is also really good, particularly for conveying how incredibly labor-intensive it was to produce clothing with pre-industrial methods, especially before the spinning wheel.
- dr_orpheus 4y ago
  The hook that got me in to reading acoup was the analysis of the battles in Lord of the Rings. How does book compare to movie compare to actual battle tactics.
- dllthomas 4y ago
  I found "The Roman Dictatorship: How Did It Work? Did It Work?" fascinating. https://acoup.blog/2022/03/18/collections-the-roman-dictatorship-how-did-it-work-did-it-work/ https://acoup.blog/2022/03/18/collections-the-roman-dictator...
ascar 4y ago
The blog also has an awesome series about different battles in Lord of the Rings and their historical accuracy/plausibility in regards to general warfare, logistics, etc. I think I found those via HN too.
- DylanSp 4y ago
  Those series are also really enjoyable, especially because they're not just about picking on implausible aspects of LotR; those posts are also about introducing a lot of different military concepts (premodern army logistics, analyzing decisionmaking at tactical/operational/strategic layers, various different types of military organization and how they can tie into civilian social structures), using LotR as an example.
chongli 4y ago
Be forewarned! This blog is very addictive! The writing and level of detail is incredible! An all-around fun time, if you have the spare time.

rocqua 4y ago

I can highly recommend this blog. It does a really good job at presenting academic historical research in a readable way, without silently dumbing things down. The required detail for the argument is given, and the skipped details are called out as being skipped. I think the fact this article is this high up, without having any comments, suggests that plenty of HNers, like me, just upvote uppon seeing the blog name.

verve_rat 4y ago
I know I do. I'm happy every time one of today's 10,000 finds it.
- bravasaurus 4y ago
  What a fantastic blog! I’m very happy to be one of the 10,000.

Swenrekcah 4y ago

I hadn’t heard of this blog until I saw it linked here the day after Russias invasion to Ukraine. At that time there were a lot of people talking about it of course, a lot of different takes and predictions. There was something about the writing that made me read the whole post and it had a large impact on how I interpreted all news coming out of the war and in whole it was incredibly prescient, given it was published less than 24 hours after the first bombings. https://acoup.blog/2022/02/25/miscellanea-understanding-the-war-in-ukraine/ https://acoup.blog/2022/02/25/miscellanea-understanding-the-...

tuatoru 4y ago

I highly recommend the two series, "Bread: How Did They Make It?" and "Iron: How Did They Make It?". (Series are called collections on the blog.) The logistics and economics of the ancient world: fascinating. Many other posts and collections about ancient (European, mostly) and pre-modern statecraft and institutions are also fascinating. The "hook" or lens of looking at these topics through video games (and what they get right and wrong) is a nice way to get into the subject.

DylanSp 4y ago
The "Clothing: How Did They Make It?" series is also really good, particularly for conveying how incredibly labor-intensive it was to produce clothing with pre-industrial methods, especially before the spinning wheel.
dr_orpheus 4y ago
The hook that got me in to reading acoup was the analysis of the battles in Lord of the Rings. How does book compare to movie compare to actual battle tactics.
dllthomas 4y ago
I found "The Roman Dictatorship: How Did It Work? Did It Work?" fascinating. https://acoup.blog/2022/03/18/collections-the-roman-dictatorship-how-did-it-work-did-it-work/ https://acoup.blog/2022/03/18/collections-the-roman-dictator...

ascar 4y ago

The blog also has an awesome series about different battles in Lord of the Rings and their historical accuracy/plausibility in regards to general warfare, logistics, etc. I think I found those via HN too.

DylanSp 4y ago
Those series are also really enjoyable, especially because they're not just about picking on implausible aspects of LotR; those posts are also about introducing a lot of different military concepts (premodern army logistics, analyzing decisionmaking at tactical/operational/strategic layers, various different types of military organization and how they can tie into civilian social structures), using LotR as an example.

chongli 4y ago

Be forewarned! This blog is very addictive! The writing and level of detail is incredible! An all-around fun time, if you have the spare time.