Edited by Joan Thirsk (NHC Fellow, 1986–87) Chapters from The Agrarian History of England and Wales, volumes IV and V part II, now appear for the first time in five paperback volumes, designed primarily for a student readership. Dealing respectively with pieces, wages, profits and rents; estate management and the condition of the farm labourer; … Continued
By Joan Thirsk (NHC Fellow, 1986–87) People like to believe in a past golden age of "traditional" English countryside, before large farms, machinery, and the destruction of hedgerows changed the landscape forever. Yet crops from the past like flax, hemp, rapeseed, and woad are gradually reappearing in the "modern" countryside. Thirsk reveals how the forces … Continued
Edited by Lilian R. Furst (NHC Fellow, 1988–89) and Peter W. Graham This book explores the various manifestations of eating disorders in literature, including cannibalism, the magic attributes of food, religiously motivated fasting, and children's eating problems, from the classical period to Toni Morrison, in American, British, and European texts. The underlying, unifying theme is … Continued
Edited by Matthew Morse Booker (Vice President for Scholarly Programs; NHC Fellow, 2016–17) and Charles C. Ludington What we eat, where it is from, and how it is produced are vital questions in today’s America. We think seriously about food because it is freighted with the hopes, fears, and anxieties of modern life. Yet critiques … Continued
19th century Americans generally ate locally. While luxuries like coffee, tea, and sugar connected them to the global economy, refrigeration, transportation, and income forced most people to eat seasonal and regional foods. Farmers recycled human and animal waste. The rise of the industrial city, with its immigrant populations, networked economies, and steam-powered workplaces, profoundly challenged … Continued
Roman daily life deepens our understanding of the ancient Roman world as it was experienced by most of its inhabitants. Our students are excited by social history. They are drawn to understand the everyday activities and interests of ordinary people. In this webinar, we will focus on 3 topics of daily life that are among … Continued
An early encounter with muckraking American novelist Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle exposed Kristen Shedd to issues surrounding human rights and animal rights in the early 20th century. For Shedd, the 1906 novel exposed the intersections of fiction, policy, history, and social justice. Sinclair’s story prompted her to seek answers to questions: How did this novel … Continued
Caitlin Patton discusses how the work of Ted Fischer, an anthropologist focused on food culture, specifically the cultivation of broccoli in Guatemala, inspired her choice to study at Vanderbilt University. Fischer’s book, Broccoli and Desire, spotlights an anthropological case study of food culture: the surprising webs of connection between American consumer culture and the traditions … Continued