AGreatDivorce

ACOUP - The Fremen Mirage, Part IIIb: Myths of the Atreides

Continuing on from Part IIIa, Bret now outlines how the Mirage developed beyond its ancient sources. How was the Mirage adapted to the nationalist leaders and thinkers of post-Enlightenment Europe (hint: the answer contains a lot of racism)? And what were some other, different traditions of viewing history and how did they compare to the popular concept of the Mirage (with special focus on Ibn Khaldun and his concept of asabiyah)?
The text for this recording is from A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry, the blog of history professor, Bret Devereaux, whose work you should absolutely support with your eyes, your clicks, and, if you are able, your bucks.
Anyone wishing to engage with Bret, check out these links:
Original post for this recording - https://acoup.blog/2020/02/14/collect...
Dr. Devereaux’s blog, A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry - https://acoup.blog
Dr. Devereaux’s Twitter - https://twitter.com/BretDevereaux
Dr. Devereaux’s Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/user?u=20122096
Episode on Youtbe - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4aVvy7Gdvw
 
And if you wish to support me, please like, share, and subscribe!

ACOUP - The Fremen Mirage, Part IIIa: ...By the Princess Irulan

In this post, Bret begins a two part analysis of the actual use of the Fremen Mirage in literary sources, starting with the historical sources of the Mediterranean world. How was the trope used by writers like Herodotus and Tacitus? How accurate was it to the “Fremen” of their time that they were describing? And was the purpose of the mirage to tell readers something about those Fremen... or about the writers’ own society?
The text for this recording is from A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry, the blog of history professor, Bret Devereaux, whose work you should absolutely support with your eyes, your clicks, and, if you are able, your bucks.
Anyone wishing to engage with Bret, check out these links:
Original post for this recording - https://acoup.blog/2020/02/07/collect...
Dr. Devereaux’s blog, A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry - https://acoup.blog
Dr. Devereaux’s Twitter - https://twitter.com/BretDevereaux
Dr. Devereaux’s Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/user?u=20122096
Episode on Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlczYF44HqU
 
And if you wish to support me, please like, share, and subscribe!

ACOUP - The Fremen Mirage, Part II: Water Spilled on the Sand

To assess how well the Fremen Mirage’s tenants of strong, hard, non-state peoples and weak, soft states hold up, Bret takes a look at Roman history and breaks down its military track record against the various “Fremen,” non-state peoples it came into conflict with, as well as the nature of its decline and how well that decline maps to the idea of “decadence” in the Fremen Mirage.
EDIT: I made a mistake with the slides at 26:58. The image Bret posted was of detail on the relief of a Celtic cauldron, but I accidentally inserted a map intended for use elsewhere. I apologize for this mistake. I cannot easily add the slide back in, but here is the original image: https://i0.wp.com/acoup.blog/wp-conte...
The text for this recording is from A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry, the blog of history professor, Bret Devereaux, whose work you should absolutely support with your eyes, your clicks, and, if you are able, your bucks.
Anyone wishing to engage with Bret, check out these links:
Original post for this recording - https://acoup.blog/2020/01/30/collect...
Dr. Devereaux’s blog, A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry - https://acoup.blog
Dr. Devereaux’s Twitter - https://twitter.com/BretDevereaux
Dr. Devereaux’s Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/user?u=20122096
Episode on Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZYd1TAs4yk
 
And if you wish to support me, please like, share, and subscribe!

ACOUP - The Fremen Mirage, Part I: War at the Dawn of Civilization

Back this month with the next narrated series, and it is one that, in a way, builds off the myth of Sparta from the “This. Isn’t. Sparta” series. In this series, Bret uses the Fremen from Frank Herbert’s Dune as a metaphor for a set of pop-historical assumptions he collectively calls “The Fremen Mirage.” Put briefly, this is the idea that societies which are less specialized, less complex, and poorer in resources tend to be militarily stronger than more specialized, structured, and wealthy societies. Or as the meme puts it: “Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. Weak men create hard times.”
How much does this view of history hold up to scrutiny, and where does it come from? Bret starts off the analysis in this post with a look at the formation and spread of agriculture and states, the two primary concepts at the heart of the idea of a divide between “hard” and “soft” peoples, and looks at how that spread reflects on the accuracy of the Fremen Mirage.
The text for this recording is from A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry, the blog of history professor, Bret Devereaux, whose work you should absolutely support with your eyes, your clicks, and, if you are able, your bucks.
Anyone wishing to engage with Bret, check out these links:
Original post for this recording - https://acoup.blog/2020/01/17/collect...
Dr. Devereaux’s blog, A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry - https://acoup.blog
Dr. Devereaux’s Twitter - https://twitter.com/BretDevereaux
Dr. Devereaux’s Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/user?u=20122096
Episode on Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOZdFMTPWqE
 
And if you wish to support me, please like, share, and subscribe!

ACOUP - Why Military History?

Here is the second one-off while I continue working on the Fremen series. This one is a post that discusses the scope and importance of military history. Like the Practical Case for the Humanities post, I feel this is a very valuable assessment of a field overall, as Bret outlines both what military history is and what it does, as well as argues why the field is important and why it should be studied by civilians and veterans alike.
The text for this recording is from A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry, the blog of history professor, Bret Devereaux, whose work you should absolutely support with your eyes, your clicks, and, if you are able, your bucks.
Anyone wishing to engage with Bret, check out these links:
Original post for this recording - https://acoup.blog/2020/11/13/collect...
Dr. Devereaux’s blog, A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry - https://acoup.blog
Dr. Devereaux’s Twitter - https://twitter.com/BretDevereaux
Dr. Devereaux’s Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/user?u=20122096
Episode on  Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGgG34gumwQ
 
And if you wish to support me, please like, share, and subscribe!

ACOUP - Meet a Historian: Robin S. Reich on Making Sense of Medieval Medicine

This past month has been quite busy, and I have had less time to work on the Fremen recordings, so that one is still in the pipeline. Sorry for the delay! To make up for the break, I wanted to bring a couple of one-offs forward. Today, I’m putting up a recent one featuring Bret’s first guest writer on ACOUP, Robin S. Reich. Robin gives us an interesting analysis of medieval medicine, what its focus was, the difference between theory and practice, and how our pop culture perspective of it tends to misunderstand the philosophy behind medieval medical practice. I wanted to go ahead and bring this one forward to help signal boost Robin and her work, so make sure to check her stuff out!
The text for this recording is from A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry, the blog of history professor, Bret Devereaux, and the content is provided by Robin S. Reich of Robin Writes whose works you should absolutely support with your eyes, your clicks, and, if you are able, your bucks.
Anyone wishing to engage with Bret or Robin, check out these links:
Original post for this recording - https://acoup.blog/2021/05/20/meet-a-...
Dr. Devereaux’s blog, A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry - https://acoup.blog
Dr. Devereaux’s Twitter - https://twitter.com/BretDevereaux
Dr. Devereaux’s Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/user?u=20122096
Robin’s Blog - https://robinwrites.blog/
Robin’s Twitter - https://twitter.com/RedBirdWrites
Episode on Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-P6Kh2DuKg
And if you wish to support me, please like, share, and subscribe!

ACOUP - This. Isn’t. Sparta. Part VII: Spartan Ends

It’s time to close the curtain on Sparta, both in terms of Bret’s analysis and, historically, the Spartan state itself. Here, Bret goes over Sparta’s operational effectiveness: how well did it achieve its strategic objectives and oversee its operations and logistics. And, what ultimately became of the Spartan state.
My plans now that Sparta is done is to take a short break to finish up some very important, truly meaningful projects (finally beat Metal Gear Solid V), before recording the next series. Now that we're done with Bret's deconstruction of the supposedly best warrior society in history, the series I plan to record next is focused on the myth of "hard times create great men." And spice. Which must flow.
The text for this recording is from A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry, the blog of history professor, Bret Devereaux, whose work you should absolutely support with your eyes, your clicks, and, if you are able, your bucks. 
Anyone wishing to engage with Bret, check out these links:
Original post for this recording - https://acoup.blog/2019/09/27/collect...
Dr. Devereaux’s blog, A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry - https://acoup.blog
Dr. Devereaux’s Twitter - https://twitter.com/BretDevereaux
Dr. Devereaux’s Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/user?u=20122096
Bret’s reference post for Spartan terminology - https://acoup.blog/2019/08/16/miscell...
Episode on Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdeYj-QggwQ
 
And if you wish to support me, please like, share, and subscribe!

ACOUP - This. Isn’t. Sparta. Part VI: Spartan Battle

We finally come to the spicey center of Sparta’s reputation: its reputation as the best military force in the ancient world. Bret breaks this reputation down into component parts and assesses each aspect of that reputation to see how well it holds up to scrutiny and, when it doesn’t, where that reputation comes from.
Pronunciation note: This post is heavy with a lot of ancient names, some of which I could not find good pronunciation guides for. I am attempting to stick as close to the correct pronunciations as I can, but again, I apologize for any shortcomings here, especially if my butchery proves distracting. 
The text for this recording is from A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry, the blog of history professor, Bret Devereaux, whose work you should absolutely support with your eyes, your clicks, and, if you are able, your bucks. 
Anyone wishing to engage with Bret, check out these links:
Original post for this recording - https://acoup.blog/2019/09/20/collect...
Dr. Devereaux’s blog, A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry - https://acoup.blog
Dr. Devereaux’s Twitter - https://twitter.com/BretDevereaux
Dr. Devereaux’s Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/user?u=20122096
Bret’s reference post for Spartan terminology - https://acoup.blog/2019/08/16/miscell...
Episode on Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUtu7dnKmiU
 
And if you wish to support me, please like, share, and subscribe!

ACOUP - This. Isn’t. Sparta. Part V: Spartan Government

This time, we move into an overview of Sparta’s government. What were the governing institutions, how did they relate to and impact each other, how did they compare to other Greek poleis, and, most importantly, why were they so thoroughly unable to address the existential crises slowly destroying the Spartan state?
The text for this recording is from A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry, the blog of history professor, Bret Devereaux, whose work you should absolutely support with your eyes, your clicks, and, if you are able, your bucks. 
Anyone wishing to engage with Bret, check out these links:
Original post for this recording - https://acoup.blog/2019/09/12/collect...
Dr. Devereaux’s blog, A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry - https://acoup.blog
Dr. Devereaux’s Twitter - https://twitter.com/BretDevereaux
Dr. Devereaux’s Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/user?u=20122096
Bret’s reference post for Spartan terminology - https://acoup.blog/2019/08/16/miscell...
Episode on Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZrN-uJv4_U
 
And if you wish to support me, please like, share, and subscribe!

ACOUP - This. Isn’t. Sparta. Part IV: Spartan Wealth

This week, Bret zooms us one level out to examine wealth disparities between spartan classes, including between rich and poor spartiates. This analysis touches on some pretty important factors to the stability and cohesion of Spartan society and what those factors mean for the community’s long-term health. Of course, you should know by now, there is rarely good news in Sparta!
The text for this recording is from A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry, the blog of history professor, Bret Devereaux, whose work you should absolutely support with your eyes, your clicks, and, if you are able, your bucks. 
Anyone wishing to engage with Bret, check out these links:
Original post for this recording - https://acoup.blog/2019/09/05/collect...
Dr. Devereaux’s blog, A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry - https://acoup.blog
Dr. Devereaux’s Twitter - https://twitter.com/BretDevereaux
Dr. Devereaux’s Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/user?u=20122096
Bret’s reference post for Spartan terminology - https://acoup.blog/2019/08/16/miscell...
Episode on Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s53hcZ79FTs
 
And if you wish to support me, please like, share, and subscribe!