Lacey Baldwin Smith (LBS) is one of the “big name” historians, and for good reasons. His research is meticulous and his analysis is often profound. His book on Henry VIII is one of the most cited and significant works on that King. Thus, when he wrote a book about Anne Boleyn I scurried over to… Read more Lacey Baldwin Smith’s book about Anne Boleyn
There’s never a billionaire with a love of Tudor history will to give an author $10 million dollars around when you need him/her. Also, I am having trouble locating 10 million people willing to send me one dollar each. Or even the more modest 5 million people willing to send me two bucks. This makes… Read more I Need a Sponsor
When I found out that Susan Bordo had a book on Anne Boleyn coming out on the 9th of April I did a snoopy dance of happiness. I am an ardent intellectual admirer of Dr. Bordo. As an student in anthropology I read several of her books about the cultural reflections of the body; they… Read more Dr. Susan Bordo’s new book about Anne Boleyn!
I must confess that I am becoming a hardcore fan of Susan Higginbotham. Since I liked Higginbotham’s book, Her Highness the Traitor, so much I thought I would read some more of her work. Her first novel, The Traitor’s Wife, was on sale on Amazon Kindle so I decided to read it next. It had… Read more The Traitor’s Wife
I decided to review Hilary Mantel’s books Wolf Hall and Bringing Up the Bodies together in order to avoid redundant comments. Eschew redundancy and don’t repeat yourself, I always say! I liked both these books much better than I should have, taking into account the things I didn’t like about them. For one thing I… Read more Wolf Hall & Bringing Up the Bodies
I first became familiar with William “Billy the Butcher” Cumberland when I read the first book in Diana Gabaldon’s series, Outlander. The hero is a Scotsman from the late 18th century, so the topic of the Duke of Cumberland comes up. (I can highly recommend the first three books of Gabaldon’s Outlander series, but it… Read more Billy the Butcher’s
I confess. I have not read either of Hillary Mantel’s Booker Prize-winning novels, Wolf Hall or Bringing Up the Bodies. Mea Culpa. I’ve heard that they are excellent (and I am sure that they are), but I freely admit that I am afraid I will not enjoy them because I am not crazy for the… Read more I am not fond of Thomas Cromwell
One of the most notorious and maligned figures of the Tudor Court was George Boleyn’s wife, Lady Jane Rochford. She has been decried through the ages as a horrible, spiteful bitch who got her husband and sister-in-law deliberately murdered by telling Thomas Cromwell lies about George and Anne Boleyn’s supposedly incestuous relationship. Cromwell is often… Read more The Rochford Files
I stumbled upon the concept of Melungeons many years ago when I read Kentucky author Jesse Stuart’s renowned work Daughter of the Legend. In the book, the hero falls in love with a Melungeon heroine, and endures all the prejudice from former friends that comes with following his heart. Melungeons are/were a group of people… Read more Getting My Melungeon On
Authoritative knowledge. I know I have mentioned it before, but it is a very big concept in medical anthropology and thus bears repeating. Basically, cultures imbue some people/groups with the “authority” to decided what “knowledge” is real. These systems of knowledge may even be in competition with one another. An example of this is the… Read more Old Wife’s Tales