The following articles have been published today in Reviews in History, the IHR’s e-journal of reviews of historical publications and electronic resources.
Review no. 733 (with author’s response)
Danuta Shanzer (University of Illinois) reviews, ‘On Farting: Language and Laughter in the Middle Ages’, by Valerie Allen (New York: Palgrave-Macmillan, 2007).
‘When one is sent such an item to review one inevitably speculates why. Is one a known purveyor of hot air? Or just vulgar and unshockable?(1) Is one being set up for Max Reger’s response to a music critic? ‘Ich sitze in dem kleinsten Zimmer in meinem Hause. Ich habe ihre Kritik vor mir. Im nächsten Augenblick wird sie hinter mir sein.’ (‘I am sitting in the smallest room in my house. I have your review in front of me. In a moment it will be behind me.’)’
Review no. 734 (with author’s response)
Patrick Cosgrove (National University of Ireland, Maynooth) reviews, ‘Land and Revolution: Nationalist Politics in the West of Ireland 1891-1921’, by Fergus Campbell (Oxford: OUP, 2005)
‘Fergus Campbell’s book explores the relationship between agrarian conflict and nationalist politics in the period from 1891 to 1921. Although the study focuses primarily on the five counties of Connaught, with a particular emphasis on east Galway and especially the Craughwell area, provincial and local events are located in a national context. In order to achieve this Campbell adopts what he calls a ‘concertina motion: shifting from the wide-angle shot to the close-up, and then back again’’.
Please send all comments, including suggestions for books you would like to see on Reviews in History to danny.millum@sas.ac.uk or ihr.reviews@sas.ac.uk.