Tim Reinke-Williams reviews a collection of essays examining definitions of blood in late medieval and early modern Western Europe, and contemporary literary references to blood in descriptions of the human condition.
Review Archives
Provincializing Global History: Money, Ideas, and Things in the Languedoc, 1680-1830
Janine Lanza reviews a look at deep economic change in the long eighteenth century and ‘how modernity came to small, out of the way places’.
Politics and ‘Politiques’ in Sixteenth-Century France
Tom Hamilton reviews two recent, and complementary books on the intellectual history of sixteenth-century France, which break down ‘disciplinary distinctions between the history of literature, philosophy, and politics’.
Public Opinion in Early Modern Scotland, c.1560-1707
Julian Goodare reviews Karin Bowie’s book on the rising prominence and changing dynamics of Scottish opinion politics in the tumultuous period of Protestant reform and regal union.
The Press and the People: Cheap Print and Society in Scotland, 1500-1785
Laura Stewart reviews this first full-length study of cheap print in early modern Scotland, finding that it opens ‘rich new seams of material’, expanding our ‘understanding of Scottish society and culture in the pre-modern age’.
In the shadow of Enoch Powell: Race, locality and resistance
Over half a century ago, Enoch Powell made national headlines with his ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech, warning of an immigrant invasion in Wolverhampton. Shirin Hirsch’s book bring a rich local history focus to a key moment in British history; Saffron East reviews.
The Crisis of the Meritocracy
Before the Second World War, only about 20% of the population went to secondary school and barely 2% to university; today everyone goes to secondary school and half of all young people go to university. How did we get here from there? David Civil reviews a work that positions ‘education at the interface between the citizen and the post-war state’, exploring and questioning tension between meritocracy and democracy.
Four Nations Approaches to Modern ‘British’ History: A (Dis)united Kingdom
Sara Caputo reviews this edited volume, which ‘begins to tear down the disciplinary boundaries imposed by geographical specialisation’ and increase ‘dialogue and connection among historians of different areas’.
Sex, Law, and Sovereignty in French Algeria, 1830–1930
Charlotte Legg reviews an ‘exceptional contribution to historical understanding of the colonial legal regime’ in Algeria, which sets out to explain ‘how “the Muslim question” became a sexual question’.
Masculinity and Danger on the Eighteenth-Century Grand Tour
Michèle Cohen reviews ‘a provocative and fascinating book which asks fresh questions and offers ground breaking insights into the ever intriguing Grand Tour’.