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Festivity amid the fighting: Christmas on the British Home Front in World War Two.
by Elly Barnett – @eleanorrbarnett By Christmas 1940 almost all of Britain’s major cities had been hit by extensive bombing raids, amongst them the devastating London Blitz of September and the destruction of Coventry in November. 24,000 British civilians had died, and families were displaced as children were evacuated from cities and parents went to…
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Bagging a bargain in the Renaissance: questions surrounding the ethics of shopping and consumption
By Zoe Farrell (@zoeffarrell) In recent rhetoric, the ‘rise’ of consumerism has been challenged. Our throw-away culture has led to a multitude of problems for the environment, as well as issues surrounding body-image, debt and over-corporatisation. In a recent article, George Monbiot, for example, argued that ‘regardless of what we consume, the sheer volume of…
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‘No Stamp Act’: Pots & Politics in Early America
By Evelyn Strope (@emstrope) Although it may come as a shock to a twenty-first-century consumer, tea was once a political brew. The strong, steeped leaves and the teapots, teacups, and silverware that accompanied them were representative of clashes between imperialism and commercialism in the Atlantic world. As tea shifted from luxury to necessity in early…
doinghistoryinpublic.org 