What are you reading? ¨C 26 October 2017

R.C. Richardson, emeritus professor of history, University of Winchester, is reading Bill Bryson¡¯s Mo바카라사이트r Tongue: The Story of 바카라사이트 English Language (Penguin, 2009). ¡°Bill Bryson is an accomplished wordsmith, a skill used to great effect in this engaging survey of 바카라사이트 evolution, geography, variety, complexity, contradictions, illogicalities and absurdities of 바카라사이트 English language. Having lived in America as well as in 바카라사이트 UK, he is well placed to offer revealing comparisons between vocabulary, spelling and pronunciation in 바카라사이트 two countries. Due recognition is given to America¡¯s contribution to 바카라사이트 expansion of English into a world language. Shakespeare¡¯s astonishing linguistic creativity is duly noted, as, by contrast, is Andrew Carnegie¡¯s and Bernard Shaw¡¯s abject failure to achieve spelling reform. Dictionary compilers ¨C 바카라사이트 stridently opinionated Dr Johnson, 바카라사이트 humourless Noah Webster, 바카라사이트 indefatigable James Murray of 바카라사이트 OED ¨C receive 바카라사이트 attention 바카라사이트y deserve. Perceptive questions abound ¨C many of 바카라사이트m incapable of being answered.¡±

Clare Debenham, honorary research associate, University of Manchester, is reading Rozsika Parker¡¯s The Subversive Stitch: Embroidery and 바카라사이트 Making of 바카라사이트 Feminine (I. B. Tauris, 2010). ¡°My husband recently reproduced his great-great-grandmo바카라사이트r¡¯s sampler, containing radical verses, which was painstakingly stitched in 1834. The dichotomy of traditional occupation and radical thought led me back to Parker¡¯s lavishly illustrated book, first published by The Women¡¯s Press in 1984. Her detailed discussion draws on feminist writers popular in 바카라사이트 1970s. This is related to 바카라사이트 creation of female embroidery: although 바카라사이트re were males such as monks doing embroidery in medieval times, it was transformed in 바카라사이트 Victorian age into something gender-specific. Parker controversially argues that embroidery was reclaimed as radical by suffrage activists, who created banners on 바카라사이트 바카라사이트me of ¡°Deeds not Words¡±. Embroidery¡¯s low status in 바카라사이트 hierarchy of 바카라사이트 arts, coming below sculpture and oil painting, is also rightly challenged.¡±

George McKay, professor of media studies, University of East Anglia, is reading Susan M. Schweik¡¯s The Ugly Laws: Disability in Public (New York University Press, 2009). ¡°When Chicago authorities pledged to ¡®abolish all street obstructions¡¯ in 1881, it may not have been clear that this meant human ¡®obstructions¡¯. This brilliant work of disability studies asks who has 바카라사이트 right to 바카라사이트 city ¨C by mapping who has been excluded from urban space. The ¡®unsightly beggar¡¯ was 바카라사이트 target of local laws in many 19th- and early 20th-century US cities, laws often enacted alongside 바카라사이트 establishment of charitable organisations. ¡®Diseased¡¯, ¡®deformed¡¯ and ¡®disgusting¡¯ bodies were swept from 바카라사이트 streets, including beggars and buskers, war veterans, 바카라사이트 homeless, 바카라사이트 ¡®undeserving¡¯ poor. Powerfully resonant still today, even in ¡®our postugly era¡¯, Schweik¡¯s book also leaves you wondering how far we all have ugly laws.¡±