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Jan 6, 2025 | 
acoup.blog | Bret Devereaux
This week on the blog I want to take a brief detour into discussing historical coinage, particularly in the context of modern fantasy and roleplaying settings. In particular, the notions I want to tackle are first how did ancient currency systems work in terms of value (what could you buy with how much) and then second how often were people likely to use physical currency at all?
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Dec 6, 2024 | 
acoup.blog | Bret Devereaux
This week we’re covering the winning topic from the latest ACOUP Senate poll, which is a look at some of the odd designs and mechanics for futuristic science fiction body armor, particularly rigid ‘hardsuits.’ Naturally, this post isn’t going to cover every variety of armor that appears in science fiction, so I want to be clear that I am generally limiting my scope here to rigid non-powered armor.
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Nov 26, 2024 | 
foreignpolicy.com | Bret Devereaux
Perhaps no moment better sums up the theme and purpose of Gladiator II than when the film’s hero, Lucius “Hanno” Verus (Paul Mescal), needing courage and inspiration, seeks it at a literal altar to the first film’s hero, Maximus, inscribed with his catchphrase over a display of his iconic armor.
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Nov 8, 2024 | 
acoup.blog | Bret Devereaux
This week we are taking a look at what ended up being the ‘runner-up’ in the latest ACOUP Senate poll (we’ll also do the winner, “The Problem with Sci-Fi Body armor” before year’s end, worry not), the “Afterlife of the Roman Republic,” which is to say a look at the continued existence of the various institutions of the Roman Republic in the imperial period.
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Oct 27, 2024 | 
thevitalcenter.com | Bret Devereaux
Now the response from some folks is going to be anger that I am even asking this question and demands for me to “stay in my lane.” To which I must remind them that the purpose of history and historians is, as Thucydides put it, to offer “an exact knowledge of the past as an aid to the understanding of the future, which in the course of human affairs must resemble if it does not reflect it” (Thuc. 1.22.4). This is my lane.
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Aug 24, 2024 | 
acoup.blog | Bret Devereaux
Fireside this week! I find I have my thoughts more or less together for the last part of the Imperator series, but I have not yet gotten them into a satisfying order – a common hazard of writing – so they will have to wait for next week. It’s not yet clear to me if Part III will be split up.
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Jul 5, 2024 | 
acoup.blog | Bret Devereaux
It is once again the week of July 4th and so, as is customary here, I am going to use this week’s post to talk about the United States or more correctly this week about the political philosophy the United States was founded on: liberalism. Now an immediate clarification is necessary, because in the United States especially, the word ‘liberalism’ has come to mean more broadly the left half of the political spectrum and (with no small amount of irony) ‘big government’ solutions to problems.
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Jun 20, 2024 | 
thedispatch.com | Jonah Goldberg |Jonathan Schanzer |David Daoud |Bret Devereaux
The Real Housewives of Constitution Avenue. Published June 20, 2024 Remnant mainstay Matthew Continetti, director of domestic policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, joins Jonah for a trip to think-tanklandia. Rank punditry abounds: Joe Biden’s identity crisis is discussed, the vibes of theAmerican electorate are analyzed, immigration policy is considered, and laughs are had all around.
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Jun 20, 2024 | 
thedispatch.com | Bret Devereaux |Brian M. Riedl |Declan Garvey |Mackenzie Eaglen
The Heritage Foundation’s ‘Index of U.S. Military Strength’ leaves tradeoffs and strategy by the wayside. Published June 20, 2024 Is the U.S. military merely a marginal force? If you based your answer on The Heritage Foundation’s latest Index of U.S. Military Strength, you might be tempted to think our armed forces are in disarray. But since 2015, the Index has served less as a strategic look at American security and more as a crude tool to promote slanted media coverage.
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Jun 15, 2024 | 
acoup.blog | Bret Devereaux
This is the second part of our (planned) three part (I) look at how some ‘tribal’ or more correctly, non-state agrarian peoples raised armies to fight the Romans (and others) in the third through first centuries BC.
