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Obituary: John Bossy (1933-2015)
By Fred Smith | @Fred_E_Smith ‘John Bossy, where are you when we need you?’ So wrote Christopher Haigh over a decade ago, expressing the need for ‘big ideas’ to ‘shake up the field’ of early-modern English Catholicism, just as John Bossy had done twenty-five years previously.[1] His words have never rung so true. It was with…
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The emotional impact of war
A perspective from the early medieval west, c.841AD By Robert Evans @R_AH_Evans This week we remember the human cost of military conflict. We think not only of the millions killed and wounded but also about the unseen impact of war on human minds and emotions. The psychological and emotional costs of war are far better known…
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Dressing up and steaming ahead: must-visit museums
There are around 2,500 museums in the UK. Many of the larger ones, particularly in London, contain internationally-renowned collections of great historical and scientific significance, and are always worth a visit. In some cases, however, it is the local and specialist museums that provide the most inspiring, entertaining, and educational days out. In celebration of…
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EEBO, the RSA, and #proquestgate – the open resource debate
By Tom Smith and Alex Wakelam @A_Wakelam Something strange happened last month for members of the Renaissance Society of America (RSA). On Wednesday the 28th October members of the 61-year-old historical society were informed that one of the major benefits of membership –subscription to the research tool EEBO (Early English Books Online) – had been cancelled. The…
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The ‘Re-making’ of Great British Class
By James Dowsett Britain is a nation peculiarly obsessed with social class. And not, perhaps, without reason, as Professor Mike Savage’s new book Social Class in the 21st Century argues: “classes are indeed being fundamentally remade.” [1] Really, one might argue that social class never really went away. Those of us wise to the cynicism of…
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