what time period(s) fascinate you?

[Guest Gnome Chomsky]

For me, it's the Wild West and the Great Depression. People were just tough back then.

[MsDarjeeling]

I've always been fascinated by the 40s.  The fashion, how people would dress up to go places, the music, train travel, and the manners.  It just seems like an interesting time to have been a fly on the wall.

[RedPill]

Mediaeval times. The way back when. BC era.

 

 

That and the 60s.

[ratlab]

400s and 500s BC Rome/Greece.

Edited January 18, 2014 by ratlab

[LittleDarlings]

The 50s everything seemed colorful and bright and happy. Also the Medieval Times

[St Andrews Lynx]

The Icelandic Saga Age. 

[microarray]

50s/60s every one/thing was so dang classy. I wish I could have grew up then without all of the sexism.

[Guest Gnome Chomsky]

The 50s everything seemed colorful and bright and happy. 

That explains your views on marriage. 

[juilletmercredi]

The late 1930s into the late 1960s - World War II, the Red Scare/Cold War, the Vietnam War and social upheaval.  It's because I'm a social psychologist and I think society's conflicts and social movements say a lot about us as people, and there was so much change going on worldwide at that particular time.

[legan]

The late Edwardian Era, and early 1920s. I always felt like the 1920s bridges a really interesting gap. It's the end of an era, but also when the 20th Century really got started. I think it's really exciting.

[beyondaboundary]

The 100 years from 1870 - 1970...shaped the world as we know it.

[complexbongo]

The late Edwardian Era, and early 1920s. I always felt like the 1920s bridges a really interesting gap. It's the end of an era, but also when the 20th Century really got started. I think it's really exciting.

This. I love the time period between the two World Wars. A lot of smart, tough men and women came out of this period. To me, this is the generation that defines the United States as we all imagine (or wish) it to be (minus racism and other issues). Who wouldn't want to party with Jay Gatsby?

[legan]

This. I love the time period between the two World Wars. A lot of smart, tough men and women came out of this period. To me, this is the generation that defines the United States as we all imagine (or wish) it to be (minus racism and other issues). Who wouldn't want to party with Jay Gatsby?

 

Exactly! The art and literature that came out of this period is among my favorite. Also, I should be partying with Gatsby.

[fancyfeast]

I'm really young so the 70s and 80s seem cool to me. The 1500s have always interested me, but realistically I think anything before modern medicine would have been too unsanitary for me to really appreciate haha.

[barnardbonnu]

The Hellenistic Greek world would be pretty cool.

[Sarah Bee]

Renaissance 

[TakeruK]

I think this depends on how you interpret the question! I think of it as 3 different questions:

 

1. What time periods do I enjoy learning about / reading about / seeing stories about etc.

I think the first half of the 1900s, particular the years just before and just after World War II, really fascinate me. I think that was a crucial time period where we were inventing dangerous things (tanks that worked, nuclear weapons, submarines) very quickly and I think our technological ability might have been growing faster than our ability to comprehend what the consequences of our actions could be. In modern times, we can easily reflect back and say well, X was a good decision, but Y wasn't etc. However, we don't really know what it was like to actually grow up in that time, and stories or documents like old letters that can immerse us in that time really fascinate me. There are also other periods of history that are interesting too, but I like this one the best because it's more recent and thus more artifacts are saved!

 

2. What time periods would I like to "visit" as an disembodied being / fly on the wall?

For this version, I think I would have liked to be in France during its revolutionary periods. I think the big shift from power of the monarch to "power of the people" is really important and I see some parallels between the rule of a monarch and the rule of big corporations today. The American revolution was earlier and while that is also interesting, I think the revolution of a faraway colony is pretty different from the revolution of the subjects of a monarchy in the capital city, for example. I would want to hear the speeches and rhetoric of people that believed in some principles so strongly that they would die for them.

 

3. What time periods would I want to actually time travel to and visit in person? 

I would interpret this part as on a permanent basis, because if I can just go home whenever I want, it's a lot like #2 but a bit less safe. For this actual question, I don't think I would want to do it at all. There are tons of problems in the world still, but I do think our current state is the best humanity has ever achieved and that we will continue to improve ourselves in the future! Maybe that's too optimistic

[Munashi]

My avatar might help answer this question.  Very interesting thread, I've enjoyed reading the replies!

[DropTheBase]

The first 10^-11 seconds of the universe! Where did all the antimatter go???

[Porshyen]

Late 1920s through early 1950s Soviet Union - basically the Stalinist Era. 

[PhDerp]

I've always been fond of the future.

[NuclearFlea]

Anything to do with the romans, also America in the colonial/revolution times. Ancient greece. Native American civilizations.

[seeingeyeduck]

Age of exploration when the new world was "discovered," Gold Rush and era of Manifest Destiny, and NOW!

[pears]

I have a big soft spot for the American Paleoindian (11 kya and earlier), namely because we're barely crawling towards beginning to understand how and when people first arrived here.. and yet, their descendents seem to have a better grasp on it all than we non-Native scientists and researchers do. If you want your brain to melt, look up Haida stories that explain how Haida Gwaii separated from the mainland. They have a way of explaining a series of major geologic events that happened thousands of years ago in a manner consistent with their traditional worldview. Also, a colleague of mine recently co-authored a huge paper; the primary author sequenced the DNA of the only confirmed Clovis individual — Clovis being one of the earliest "cultures" (technologies?) in the Americas — and, in short, found that he is related to contemporary Native and First Nations groups. It's just amazing to me that we have only the foggiest "scientific" understanding of human migration in the last 25k years, yet we have so many "unscientific" explanations for it all.

 

Also, the mid- to late 1800s and the 1920s. Dem foofy dresses and saloons.

[CageFree]

Oh boy, this is a tricky question when you're a historian.

 

I am a 20th century historian but I am also fascinated by Tudor England and the Roman Empire.