Tag Archives: Medieval Monks

Previews: History Today Magazine – November 2023

Image

HISTORY TODAY MAGAZINE (NOVEMBER 2023) – This issue features The murder John F. Kennedy 60 years on, the dirty secrets of medieval monks, what the Nazis learnt from the Beer Hall Putsch, Christianity’s bloody history in Japan, and deaf expression in Renaissance art.

What Killed Kennedy?

John F. Kennedy in the presidential limousine before his assassination on 22 November 1963. Kennedy’s wife Jacqueline sits next to him; Texas Governor John Connally and his wife, Nellie, are in front. World History Archive/Alamy Stock Photo.

Was it the mob? A coup? Cuban dissidents? War hawks? 60 years after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the theories are still debated. Do any of them hold up?

The Beer Hall Putsch: What Hitler Learnt

Adolf Hitler in Landsberg Prison following the Beer Hall Putsch, 1924. Shawshots/Alamy Stock Photo.

In the aftermath of the Munich Beer Hall Putsch of November 1923, Hitler was in prison and the Nazi Party banned. But its failure taught him valuable lessons.

The Flies, Fleas and Rotting Flesh of Medieval Monks

Jakob von Wart taking his bath, from the Codex Manesse, Switzerland, c.1305-40. The Protected Art Archive/Alamy Stock Photo

Repulsive revelations of bodily infestations were viewed by some in medieval Europe as proof of sanctity. But for most, parasites were just plain disgusting.

‘Confinement’ by Jessica Cox review

A nursing mother in ‘The Third Class Carriage’ by Honoré Daumier, c. 1862-64. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Public Domain.

Confinement: The Hidden History of Maternal Bodies in Nineteenth-Century Britain by Jessica Cox looks at the engine of the Victorian population boom: motherhood.

Books: The New York Times Book Review – Jan 29, 2023

The New York Times Book Review – January 29, 2023:

Fleeing Slavery in a Top Hat and Cravat

“Master Slave Husband Wife,” by Ilyon Woo, relates the daring escape from bondage in Georgia to freedom in the North by an enslaved couple disguised as a wealthy planter and his property.

Think Screens Stole Our Attention? Medieval Monks Were Distracted Too.

In “The Wandering Mind,” the historian Jamie Kreiner shows that the struggle to focus is not just a digital-age blight but afflicted even those who spent their lives in seclusion and prayer.

‘Age of Vice’: A Lush Thriller Dives Into New Delhi’s Underworld

In Deepti Kapoor’s cinematic novel, a young man from the provinces falls in with a powerful crime syndicate.