Sam Willis

James Daybell

"In this fascinating and original new book, Sam Willis and James Daybell lead us on a journey of historical discovery that tackles some of the greatest historical themes - from the Tudors to the Second World War, from the Roman Empire to the Victorians - but via entirely unexpected subjects. You will find out here how the history of the beard is connected to the Crimean War; how the history of paperclips is all about the Stasi; how the history of bubbles is all about the French Revolution. And who knew that Heinrich Himmler, Tutankhamun and the history of needlework are linked to napalm and Victorian orphans? Taking the reader on an enthralling and extraordinary journey through thirty different topics that are ingeniously linked together, Histories of the Unexpected not only presents a new way of thinking about the past, but also reveals the everyday world around us as never before."--Publisher's description.

How Everything Has a History

Histories of the Unexpected

Histories of the Unexpected not only presents a new way of thinking about the past, but also reveals the world around us as never before. Traditionally, World War II has been understood in a straightforward way but the period really comes alive if you take an unexpected approach to its history. Yes, battles, bombs and bravery all have a fascinating history... but so too do handkerchiefs, furniture, Mozart, insects, blood, mothers, suicide, darkness, cancer and puppets! Each of these subjects is equally fascinating in its own right, and each sheds new light on the traditional subjects and themes that we think we know so well.

Histories of the Unexpected: World War II

Storia imprevedibile del mondo. Tutto ha una storia, anche quello che non ti aspetti, e tutte le storie sono collegate

Andrew Gordon

Women and Epistolary Agency in Early Modern Culture, 1450–1690 is the first collection to examine the gendered nature of women’s letter-writing in England and Ireland from the late-fifteenth century through to the Restoration. The essays collected here represent an important body of new work by a group of international scholars who together look to reorient the study of women’s letters in the contexts of early modern culture. The volume builds upon recent approaches to the letter, both rhetorical and material, that have the power to transform the ways in which we understand, study and situate early modern women’s letter-writing, challenging misconceptions of women’s letters as intrinsically private, domestic and apolitical. The essays in the volume embrace a range of interdisciplinary approaches: historical, literary, palaeographic, linguistic, material and gender-based. Contributors deal with a variety of issues related to early modern women’s correspondence in England and Ireland. These include women’s rhetorical and persuasive skills and the importance of gendered epistolary strategies; gender and the materiality of the letter as a physical form; female agency, education, knowledge and power; epistolary networks and communication technologies. In this volume, the study of women’s letters is not confined to writings by women; contributors here examine not only the collaborative nature of some letter-writing but also explore how men addressed women in their correspondence as well as some rich examples of how women were constructed in and through the letters of men. As a whole, the book stands as a valuable reassessment of the complex gendered nature of early modern women’s correspondence.

Women and Epistolary Agency in Early Modern Culture, 1450–1690

Assistant Professor in Medieval and Early Modern History James Daybell

Presenting a comprehensive study of women's letters and letter-writing in early modern England, this text draws on over 3,000 manuscript letters, showing that letter-writing was a large and socially diversified area of female activity.

Women Letter-Writers in Tudor England

"Concentrating on the years 1512-1635, this book represents the first major socio-cultural study of manuscript letters and letter-writing practices in early modern England. It examines a crucial period in the development of the English vernacular letter before Charles I's postal reforms in 1635, one that witnessed a significant extension of letter-writing skills throughout society. Early modern letters can only be fully understood by paying attention to the 'materiality' of the texts: in others words, to the physical characteristics of manuscripts as well as to the social contexts and material conditions in which they were produced, disseminated and read. This study aims to enhance our understanding of the process of early modern letter-writing in all its nuanced complexity, as it is traced from the preparation of epistolary materials and the textual production of letters, through their subsequent delivery and circulation, to the various ways in which letters were read and latterly preserved."_Contracub.

Manuscript Letters and the Culture and Practices of Letter-Writing, 1512-1635

The Material Letter in Early Modern England

The letter is a powerfully evocative form that has gained in resonance as the habits of personal letter writing have declined in a digital age. But faith in the letter as evidence of the intimate thoughts of individuals underplays the sophisticated ways letters functioned in the past. In Cultures of Correspondence in Early Modern Britain leading scholars approach the letter from a variety of disciplinary perspectives to uncover the habits, forms, and secrets of letter writing. Where material features of the letter have often been ignored by past generations fixated on the text alone, contributors to this volume examine how such elements as handwriting, seals, ink, and the arrangement of words on the manuscript page were significant carriers of meaning alongside epistolary rhetorics. The chapters here also explore the travels of the letter, uncovering the many means through which correspondence reached a reader and the ways in which the delivery of letters preoccupied contemporaries. At the same time, they reveal how other practices, such as the use of cipher and the designs of forgery, threatened to subvert the surveillance and reading of letters. The anxiety of early modern letter writers over the vulnerability of correspondence is testament to the deep dependence of the culture on the letter. Beyond the letter as a material object, Cultures of Correspondence sheds light on textual habits. Individual chapters study the language of letter writers to reveal that what appears to be a personal and unvarnished expression of the writer's thought is in fact a deliberate, skillful exercise in managing the conventions and expectations of the form. If letters were a prominent and ingrained part of the cultural life of the early modern period, they also enjoyed textual and archival afterlives whose stories are rarely told. Too often studied only in the case of figures already celebrated for their historical or literary significance, the letter in Cultures of Correspondence emerges as the most vital and wide-ranging material, textual form of the early modern period. Contributors: Nadine Akkerman, Mark Brayshay, Christopher Burlinson, James Daybell, Jonathan Gibson, Andrew Gordon, Arnold Hunt, Lynne Magnusson, Michelle O'Callaghan, Alan Stewart, Andrew Zurcher.

Cultures of Correspondence in Early Modern Britain

Sonia Augusto

Gerson Ferracini

Os historiadores ingleses Sam Willis e James Daybell encontraram uma maneira original para falar sobre fatos importantes da história do mundo: por meio de assuntos inusitados. Se olharmos para as mãos como um "objeto" histórico, por exemplo, veremos que elas estão completamente conectadas com a pré-história. Foi através delas, com as pinturas rupestres, que nossos antepassados nos deixaram indícios da vida naquele tempo. As mãos também estiveram ligadas ao poder dos reis, até mesmo de curar, já que durante a Idade Média acontecia o chamado "toque real", para acabar com doenças. Já o relógio tem uma ligação mais óbvia com o passado; afinal, muitos eram deixados como herança ao longo de inúmeras gerações. Mas essa peça também está conectada ao naufrágio do Titanic, à bomba de Hiroshima e ao ataque ao World Trade Center, em Nova York. Como? Relógios que sobreviveram às três tragédias mostram o momento exato em que elas aconteceram. Quando falamos em gatos, logo nos vem à mente o Egito Antigo, onde esses animais eram venerados. Mas aqui você vai descobrir como e por que eram alvos de crueldade na França do século XVI. Esses são apenas alguns dos trinta temas tratados neste curioso livro escrito pelos criadores do podcast Histories of the unexpected. Prepare-se para se surpreender com o fato de tudo estar conectado. MÃO * LUVAS * PERFUME * BOLHA * SOMBRAS * BARBAS * NUVENS PÓ * RELÓGIOS * ARTE COM TECIDOS * COCEIRA * BURACOS * CAMA * SONHOS * CABELO * CLIPE DE PAPEL * CARTAS * CAIXAS * CORAGEM * MONTANHAS * CHAMINÉS * LÁGRIMAS * LEÕES * LIXO * NEVE * GATOS * SORRISO * CICATRIZ * DESAPRUMO * ASSINATURA

Tudo tem uma história - Da barba ao clipe de papel, como os mais inesperados assuntos estão conectados a grandes acontecimentos do mundo

Svante Norrhem

Gender and Political Culture in Early Modern Europe investigates the gendered nature of political culture across early modern Europe by exploring the relationship between gender, power, and political authority and influence. This collection offers a rethinking of what constituted ‘politics’ and a reconsideration of how men and women operated as part of political culture. It demonstrates how underlying structures could enable or constrain political action, and how political power and influence could be exercised through social and cultural practices. The book is divided into four parts - diplomacy, gifts and the politics of exchange; socio-economic structures; gendered politics at court; and voting and political representations – each of which looks at a series of interrelated themes exploring the ways in which political culture is inflected by questions of gender. In addition to examples drawn from across Europe, including Austria, the Dutch Republic, the Italian States and Scandinavia, the volume also takes a transnational comparative approach, crossing national borders, while the concluding chapter, by Merry Wiesner-Hanks, offers a global perspective on the field and encourages comparative analysis both chronologically and geographically. As the first collection to draw together early modern gender and political culture, this book is the perfect starting point for students exploring this fascinating topic.

Gender and Political Culture in Early Modern Europe, 1400-1800

Histories of the Unexpected not only presents a new way of thinking about the past, but also reveals the world around us as never before. Traditionally, the Tudors have been understood in a straightforward way but the period really comes alive if you take an unexpected approach to its history. Yes, Tudor monarchs, exploration and religion have a fascinating history... but so too does cannibalism, shrinking, bells, hats, mirrors, monsters, faces, letter-writing and accidents! Each of these subjects is equally fascinating in its own right, and each sheds new light on the traditional subjects and themes that we think we know so well.

Histories of the Unexpected: The Tudors

Histories of the Unexpected not only presents a new way of thinking about the past, but also reveals the world around us as never before. Traditionally, the Vikings have been understood in a straightforward way - but the period really comes alive if you take an unexpected approach to its history. Yes, ships, raiding and trade have a fascinating history... but so too do hair, break-ins, toys, teeth, mischief, luck and silk! Each of these subjects is equally fascinating in its own right, and each sheds new light on the traditional subjects and themes that we think we know so well.

James Daybell

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