{"id":10,"date":"2025-12-18T01:19:23","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T01:19:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mouthwash.blog\/?page_id=10"},"modified":"2026-03-08T03:52:33","modified_gmt":"2026-03-08T03:52:33","slug":"resources-for-the-curious","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/mouthwash.blog\/?page_id=10","title":{"rendered":"Resources for the Curious"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>(IJ Curry) I love the world, which means I also love history. Here are a few recommendations of sites, databases, and other nifty tools that I use to better my understanding of the world. This page is always under construction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">For those based in Washington D.C.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Getting a library card<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dclibrary.org\/attend-event\">DCPL Events<\/a>: get out of your apartment.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/libbyapp.com\/interview\/welcome#doYouHaveACard\">Libby<\/a>: audiobooks and ebooks through your library card.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kanopy.com\/\">Kanopy<\/a>: film and TV through your library card.  If you study the GDR, Kanopy is wonderful, as it has a large selection of <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/DEFA\">DEFA films<\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Library Database, Magazine, and Newspaper List (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dclibrary.org\/research-and-learn\/new-york-times-digital\">Read the New York Times for free with a library card<\/a>)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Attend events at think tanks!  They&#8217;re great for students, and there are often bagels: <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Category:Think_tanks_based_in_Washington,_D.C.\">Wikipedia&#8217;s Masterlist of DC Think Tanks<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cfr.org\/event\">Council on Foreign Relations<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.brookings.edu\/events\/\">Brookings Institute<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.csis.org\/events\">Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.atlanticcouncil.org\/events\/\">Atlantic Council<\/a>.  To the bane of anyone who plans more than a week in advance, these think tanks are terrible at posting their events.  Sometimes, you only find out about them a week, or a few days before they happen.  Except for you, Atlantic Council.  Praise be.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Soviet and Post-Soviet States:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/bearmarketbrief.substack.com\/\">Bear Market Brief<\/a>: One of my personal favorites.  They go beyond the generic high-level Russia analysis and look at individual industries and local politicians.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebarentsobserver.com\/\">Barents Observer<\/a>: My go-to when checking in with the Arctic.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wilsoncenter.org\/program\/cold-war-international-history-project\">Wilson Center&#8217;s Cold War History Project<\/a>: Now this has to be my favorite corner of the internet.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/aseees.org\/\">ASEEES<\/a>: If you want to keep up with the cool cats in academia, it&#8217;s worth attending ASEEES&#8217; yearly conference.  <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.radiogdrpodcast.com\/\">Radio GDR<\/a>: If you&#8217;re interested in the GDR\/DDR, but don&#8217;t speak German, this will give you huge access.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/coldwarconversations.com\/\">Cold War Conversations<\/a>: A great resource if you&#8217;re looking for oral histories.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@EasternBlocDisco\">Eastern Bloc Disco<\/a>: The best place for niche Soviet\/Warsaw Pact music from the late &#8217;60s to the early &#8217;90s.  Unmissable audio ephemera. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">China:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/triviumchina.com\/research\/\">Trivium<\/a>: These folks generally provide a balanced look at what goes on at a policy level, taking into account local Chinese contexts and not just foreign affairs.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wilsoncenter.org\/program\/kissinger-institute-china-and-united-states\">Wilson Center&#8217;s Kissinger Institute on China and the United States<\/a>: The Trump Administration gutted the Wilson Center, but its research up until Mar. 2025 is still up on their website.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">USA:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thisamericanlife.org\/\">This American Life<\/a> (NPR): If the soul of the USA is on the airwaves, then its center is this program.  <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/podcasts\/g-s1-84651\/sources-and-methods\">Sources and Methods<\/a> (NPR): For bite-sized overviews of American foreign policy.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Databases:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/support.jstor.org\/hc\/en-us\/articles\/115004760028-How-to-Register-Get-Free-Access-to-Content\">JSTOR free account<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(IJ Curry) I love the world, which means I also love history. Here are a few recommendations of sites, databases, and other nifty tools that I use to better my understanding of the world. This page is always under construction. For those based in Washington D.C. Soviet and Post-Soviet States: China: USA: Databases:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-10","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mouthwash.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mouthwash.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mouthwash.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mouthwash.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mouthwash.blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/mouthwash.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":75,"href":"https:\/\/mouthwash.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10\/revisions\/75"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mouthwash.blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}