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Vote on an Extra History Topic!

🕑 Added 2017-08-12 18:05:47 +0000 UTC

Comments

Extra History

Yep, it automatically tallies your vote as soon as you click the box (or boxes) of your choice!

Dapper Woof

Thatt's all you have to do actually! You can vote for as many as you like as well.

Van Butler

Wow, this is close. As of casting my vote just now 8 votes covers the tallies between first and third. Hoping for Chandragupta since I know almost nothing about the topic.

Joey's Family

How do i cast my vote? I don't see a cast now button. I have Temujin selected but it did not increase the vote count button?

Pavel Yakushevich

All topics indeed are really interesting. At the very least, it shows EH crew doesn't try to manipulate the outcome by including intentionally boring topics.

General Luigi

With how close it currently is (193-241-234-238 as of this post), a runoff vote may be a wise decision.

Nessf

While I voted for someone else - do bear in mind that not everyone watching is American. I'm from up north for example, and know the name Teddy Rosevelt but not much else. Just because you're familiar with him doesn't mean everyone else is.

Duster

I voted Teddy, but if i had to pick another off this list it'd be Chandragupta. Of course they all seem quite fascinating.

Martin Verran

Too many good Suggestions to Pick One Topic here. Temujin because, hey, he's Temujin; Ptolemy, Copernicus and Kepler because Astronomy is absolutely Fascinating; Chandragupta because it is a chance to learn something new; and Teddy because I Voted for him last Time and he didn't win but mostly because when I saw that he was there, a Terrible Thought came into my Head: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owTPZQQAVyQ" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owTPZQQAVyQ</a>

Kieran Elliott

Sometimes I vote for the area I know the least about, so Chandragupta it is! Though with all respect to the great Teddy, Temujin's is an incredible story. Looks like it'll be a close one though.

Marco Honrade

Damn another set of good topics and such a close three-way race between Genghis khan, the History of Astronomy, and Chandragupta. Come on EC community, let's make the first three-way. We were close with the 14th vote where Bolivar beat the Wars of the Roses and the Seven Years' War, 528 to 527 and 527. I know I could vote of all of them but I think I'll pick Teddy since he is one of my favorite US President and Chandragupta, since I know little of Ancient Indian history. That topic is woefully underrepresented in Western secondary World History curriculum.

Jonathan Dowding

I want Temujin, because as interested in all the other options i am, i believe Genghis Khan's story to be one of the most incredible in all of history. I can't say i'd be disappointed if any of the others win the vote though!

Sara Samaletdin

A great blog. And why also want and don't want this series to win. It's very interesting subject and important that the myths are corrected but at the same time I think the creators here could just fall to repeating the same things and it's all quite difficult to explain.

Will Linden

Michael Flynn's blog has a thorough and delightful treatment of "The Great Ptolemaic Smackdown". <a href="http://tofspot.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-great-ptolemaic-smackdown-table-of.html" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">http://tofspot.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-great-ptolemaic-smackdown-table-of.html</a>

Alexander Vornoff

Admittedly, I picked Teddy simply because I find his life an amazing story. But if not him, definitely Evolution of Astronomy.

FizzPlease

Wow, it's close. India is my choice, I have no idea about it and I want to know. (Also write-in ballot for the history of Archeology, at some point!)

Chris Spencer

This is going to be a real close race.

Jonathan Becker

India, because it's unfamiliar. Astronomy, because I greatly enjoyed your work on writing.

Russell Deans

I voted teddy, but all of these are awesome.

Calvin McClory

When I say science I mean a history of Science at large, like the scientific method: what it is, how it came to be, what challenges did it face and what affects it has had. I voted for Astronomy because if eh can make Early Christian Splitters interesting, Astronomy would be easy. Sorry if it seemed like I was disrespecting Astronomy not my goal. What I'm relay looking for is an argument why Astronomy is more interesting than what else is listed. That said I'm a fan of Crash Course World History, and I would love to learn more about the Mongolian emperor, hands down my top pick.

Pavel Yakushevich

You can technically get as many accounts and vote as many times as your money allows you. $5 per month per vote.

Christina Maria Jessen

Astronomy is science. You still get astronomers in universities doing things like studying the cosmic microwave background radiation or using gravitational lensing to study galaxies that formed billions of years ago. It's not some odd precursor, it's an actual field of science. It's also tied up with several ancient cultures, most notably the Mayans, in ways providing foundation for their cultures. There's also a political and religious component in Europe and a Timurid sultan who was one of the premier astronomers of the 15th century. It touches on a lot of things, not just naming stars and constellations. And, yes, a lot of it comes down to how it teaches about other things. Because most things do, few are intrinsically interesting without showing how they influenced the world around them.

Falcon02

While I appreciate Extra Credits having these polls and taking recommendations. I do think it would be good if they also mix in more topics they want to do (beyond the few shorter topics). This way they can fill in areas like this they might want to expand, even if they don't win the polls. I do think there's a lot of topics out there people may not know they want to know about. For example I'm not that familiar enough with Chandragupta or Temujin to know how interested I'd be in their stories. Similarly I didn't know anything about Ned Kelly before the series and greatly enjoyed it.

Calvin McClory

A lot of your argument depends on an interest in other things. I like exploitation and science, but I would rather have 4 episodes on one of them with a astronomy one off. What is there to learn from this topic, and why dose it need 4 to 6 episodes? P.S. thank you, I decided to vote for it.

Ted Trost

I hope teddy wins!

Christina Maria Jessen

It was the first real science and the one that modern physics largely grew out of? It was also vital in the record keeping and planning on numerous civilizations, particularly ones reliant on irrigation for their agriculture, and in developing better navigation. Today it is one of the two fields, along with particle physics, really pushing the boundaries of our understanding of reality. And, of course, it's the one that's not just political history about a noted dead man, which is appealing to a lot of people.

Christina Maria Jessen

I can supply a list women people might not have considered. Wu Zetian, actually a fascinating and complicated ruler despite the later propaganda when the Tang Dynasty was restored. Margaret I, possibly the greatest diplomat of medieval Europe. Himiko, probably only good for a one shot due to scarce evidence, but still can be used to go into some ancient Japanese and Korean history and the shaman queen is just a fascinating title in general. Mary Wolstonecraft, the original feminist, as well as a person whose life will seriously raise some questions about premodern society. Julie d'Aubigny, the most ridiculous historical badass I know of, she was the bisexual star of the Paris opera, as well as one of the most accomplished duelists of the 17th century and pretty much the protagonist of a picaresque novel. And then there are all the classics, Queen Elizabeth I, Jeanne d'Arc, Boudicca and so on. I also tried to avoid women who are hard to find something admirable about. I don't feel like there's much gained by making one of the scarce women Cixi, the woman who destroyed an empire, or Xenobia who put the Middle East aflame failing to create one.

Matt Skelcher

Also, can i buy votes to get Teddy in the lead :)

Matt Skelcher

Please do Napoleon!

Dani McKenzie

@Sara -- There's plenty of non royal women who did cool stuff -- <a href="https://www.bustle.com/articles/60583-12-fascinating-women-in-history-who-deserve-their-own-biopics-like-yesterday" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.bustle.com/articles/60583-12-fascinating-women-in-history-who-deserve-their-own-biopics-like-yesterday</a>

Daniel R.

As for why more American female figures haven't been suggested, I think everyone is trying to get more history from the rest of the world. May or may not be true, but that's how I've been voting

Joshua Blanchard

For nearly the entirety of human society, women have been marginalized. When we look at the body of written history, this is even more pronounced, as it reflects not only the reality of the marginalization in society but also the bias of the history writers. The episodes highlighting women have been some of my favorites, and I want more. We have to examine every scrap of historical knowledge to understand the contributions of those who weren't at the forefront of the history books. And it does take effort: Even the most important women in history often have very little written about their lives. And there is only so much time; James is already splitting that time heavily to cover other groups that are marginalized in a Euro-centric view of world history. I pray that the future is egalitarian, but the past was most certainly not. And I hope that we see more far female representation in future episodes. But considering the source material (world events in patriarchal societies and the remaining documentation), I could never suggest that James is doing anything but far exceeding the existing standards of illuminating female contributions to history.

Zoe Alleyne

Excellent, so despite my assertion I was thinking of quitting I have now updated to give more to see if I can scream the name of enough ladies loud enough for long enough to get them to this stage.

Calvin McClory

Can anyone make a strong argument for Astronomy?

Sara Samaletdin

The Mary's were short series and Justinian was the main person of that series.

Belinda Zoller

My understanding is that most of this is on the patrons themselves--if the $8+ patrons aren't suggesting historical women, then they aren't going to be in the poll for us $5 plebians, unfortunately. With the exception of one-offs that Extra History themselves comes up with (like the awesome Mary Anning video), the vast majority of content seems to be determined by patrons or sponsors. I feel like this reflects more on the culture of "history fandom" on the internet more than on Extra History themselves.

Sara Samaletdin

Also I think women occasionally will be just more variety since they are different types of stories. Although its kind of boring that before 19th century almost all interesting enough women for full series tend to be roalty.

Elijah Nelson

Evolution of Astronomy. I'm really curious how they handle science history.

Stephen Watson

Chandragupta! Just 'cause he has an awesome name!

Zoe Alleyne

Harriet Tubman was a previous one but she was considered too "overdone" by the commenters, but now Roosevelt is leading and he is pretty. . . Done? That's why I think the occasional all lady poll would be worthwhile, to ensure we don't continue to erase women from history.

Drew Jenkins

Along with that, they were given far less opportunity to show off their greatness than their male counterparts. This means that even when women were able to do something great, they were often prevented from doing it, like they mentioned when they did Mary Anning.

Zoe Alleyne

Oh yeah, definitely more difficult to find ladies, but not impossible obviously. I know some I'd love to hear extra history have a crack at.

Ken Kostyo

I always loved X Cred history for taking "a different look" at history. Teddy was a super rich Harvard grad who got his uniform tailored at Brooks Brothers before he shipped out to massacre innocent poor foreigners ... I think we had enough of that back at school!

Joey's Family

Mary Seacole - Catherine the great - Mary Anning - Theadora. All awesome keep it up. Anecdotally men do dominate history because history has been patriarchal, which makes it even more amazing when a women does succeed, since they have to battle society in addition to the whatever cause they are fighting. But it might be nice to have a female option when we vote.

Jacob Ashton

Mine are for Temüjin and Teddy

Paws

I'm having a hard time not voting for all of them...

Antti Björklund

My vote goes to Temüjin and Chandragupta

Iain Docherty

I suspect part of the problem is women in history often weren't credited with work they did do, plus (and maybe this is stereotyping a little) they tend to suffer in votes from being in with huge names (often male, because again, women rarely got credit in history) Somebody like Joan of Arc or Boudicca could probably stand a good chance in a vote though

Zoe Alleyne

Oh, more great man history full of testosterone. . . Honestly I'm thinking of giving up this patron, I've been here since the beginning but other than one promise to try and include more ladies. . . You haven't.

Extra History

The other topics are picked by whoever will be writing the series (James, in this case). We try to get a good balance of different countries/time periods with our selections!

Extra History

If you go to the Community tab you can start a new post!

Aaron Neumann

"The name's Theodore Roosevelt..."

Nicholas Kosky

I voted for TR. He is by far America's most awesome president!

David Burdon

More science based topics, please!! We've seen so much war stuff

Andrew Schneider

Really great topics! I really hope we get to learn about all of these!

Sara Samaletdin

Does anyone know how the other suggestions are picked? Is it just random what James likes or what has been suggested often before or some concerns like trying to get different countries and time periods?