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Pick the Next Extra History Series! "Animal Instincts"
🕑 Added 2024-10-15 19:45:25 +0000 UTC
It's time for our Extra History poll! Where you get to vote on what our next Extra History Series is about!
These four topics were selected from our "Animal Instincts" Patreon Suggestions and are listed in no particular order below.
History of Cats: Fabulous Felines
It's arguable that instead of us taming cats, cats tamed us. They've never been quite as malleable as the dog, which was easily drafted for different kinds of work. Cats, by contrast, can only be bred for aesthetics rather than for specific jobs. But despite that, they've been living with us a long time. Archaeologists found a grave in Cyprus that's 9,500 years old, where a child was buried along with—presumably—a pet cat. They've been gods in ancient Egypt, familiars of Satan in early modern Europe, and rodent control for thousands of years. They are the tigers of our homes, the sleepers on our sill, and the murderers of native wildlife—they are cats.
Barnum's American Museum: Fire and Fur
Where can you find a cage with a bald eagle, anteaters, a turtle, cats and dogs, seven monkeys and a very angry anaconda? At Barnum's American Museum of course! Even better, next to it is a real mermaid, and there are two beluga whales in the basement. Barnum's American Museum stood from 1841 to 1865, when a spectacular fire destroyed the building—but by then, it had already shaped American culture in ways both small and great. A dizzying array of exhibits, it included human oddities, real historical artifacts, scientific lectures, theatre performances and many, many animals. Ruled over by the larger-than-life huckster and showman P.T. Barnum, it would educate, titillate, and often deceive the public in equal measure. In doing so, Barnum became an innovator in American entertainment and advertising, while also commoditizing the bodies of both people and "exotic" animals—eventually leading to his venture into the traveling circus.
American Whaling: Soon May the Wellerman Come
Whales were central to 19th century life in Europe and America. Not only was whale oil the petroleum of its day, but baleen was the plastic. And the industrial center that dominated that trade was the tiny island of Nantucket, which sent its fleets globally. Yet they didn't originally have to go that far. In the 1690s, the whale hunts were barely offshore, carried out by white settlers harpooning whales in rowboats driven by Native American oarsmen, but the extinction of nearshore whales within a couple generations meant that by the 19th century fleets were hunting in Hawaii and the Arctic. In an age when many people did not believe in extinction, the public began to ask whether whale stocks were really as inexhaustible as industry figures—including Herman Melville—claimed. But though the years of whaling were numbered, it would change America forever—from serving as America's unofficial exploration fleet to helping establish American control over Hawaii.
War Beasts: A History of Animals at War
Mankind has long drafted animals to fight for them in wars. From Hittite chariots and mounted knights, to Cortez's attack dogs, to Thai war elephants and WWI carrier pigeons, we've made animals into soldiers. This series will look at the changing face of animals at war, from transportation and communication, to hunting and guarding, to serving as weapons themselves. And along the way we'll meet a few famous nonhuman soldiers, such as Cher Ami the heroic WWI carrier pigeon, to Wojtek, the famous soldier-bear who helped Polish soldiers carry ammunition crates in WWII. But enlisting animals in conflicts has always come with moral quandaries—if animals do not understand war, is it ethical to subject them to it?
Our Current Schedule is:
Nazi Occultism: Oh It Gets Weirder! - Starting 10/19 -> The Pazzi Conspiracy -> The Unholy Roman Emperor Frederick II vs. The Papacy -> Your Vote!
***Friendly reminder: The poll will end at 11:59 PM PT on Monday the 21st. You can vote for as many choices as you want! This style of voting helps us see what people are most interested in without having to make tough decisions between a couple of close favorites. ***
Comments
Joshua Evans-Lowell
I was really hoping for whaling! This is one of the most disappointing election results of the last month!
Extra History
The Vote is so close!
Michael Truscott
I am happy my idea of the cats was good!
Jaziem
I know History of Cats is probably going to win, but I kinda hope Animals at War also do well.
Jacob White
Egypt is with you on that one, Glory be to Bastet.
Jacob White
You're right about that one, unfortunately not every animal story has a happy ending and as I've told many people many times, "History isn't supposed to make you feel warm and fuzzy inside. If it does, you're not reading history, you're reading propaganda".
Jacob White
No matter how "Greatest Showman" might portray Barnum himself, he himself was NOT a great person.
Martin Verran
My 11 year old Labrador won't care if the cats win as long as you remember to offer him lots of dog biscuits! I've just been doing a dog agility course with a 5 month old Golden Retriever puppy who belongs to a friend while planning to buy Goat Simulator 3 later on in the year, probably around Christmas time. Mind you, personally I'd be interested in war beasts and in Barnum as well. [since he has BAAAA literally in his name, is there any chance at all he was a sheep in a previous incarnation?]
Martin Verran
They are uncomfortable, speaking as an animal lover, but these stories need to be told. You can't airbrush out the bits of history you don't like.
Matt Ries
Let's be honest, History of Cats is going to win...EC's mascot is Zoe after all. BUT I wanted to make sure I voted for Whaling and War Beasts for the potential of seeing them in the future.
Joshua Evans-Lowell
Comic SMBC said that Moby Dick is the Most American book because it's about a violent man who has a confusing revenge fantasy against a cheap source of oil. Enough said
General Luigi
The Internet is for cats! The Internet is for cats! One reason for the Net, and that's Cats, cats, cats!
Paul Ackerman
Please no animal injury stories.
Drunk Captain Crunch
My votes are for whaling and cats. Whaling seems like it would not only be a cool series on animals but can also have a nice environmentalist angle to it. Then with cats, it’s obviously relevant to our feline overlord, Zoey. But also, it reminds me a lot of some other series like the history of beer and coffee, or even the recent series on Secret Societies that cover one specific topic over a vast amount of time. Thus I find it allows the series as a whole to act as a sort of anthology of various episodes all themed around the topic and possibly gives more flexibility in what to put in each episode.
Dancing Fox
Whaling in Japan and how that interacted with contemporary whaling by Europeans expanding into the same seas is very interesting, if still a bit modern-day fraught. There's a nice overview of it in the History of Japan podcast episodes 438 and 439.
Hawkeye Pierce
Having spent time in New Bedford, I'm a fan of the whaling topic.
Ida Hagen
I hope that if you do the whales, you can also mention the other countries that were heavily involved in this, like Norway. In fact before Norway found oil, we used whale oil and were one of the leading nations in whale and seal hunting.
Lexi Lunarpaw
History of Cats!!!!
