What are you reading? ¨C 10 May 2018

A. W. Purdue, visiting professor in history, Northumbria University, is reading Hilary Spurling¡¯s Anthony Powell: Dancing to 바카라사이트 Music of Time (Hamish Hamilton, 2017). ¡°This fine biography of one of 바카라사이트 greatest British novelists of 바카라사이트 20th century adds to our understanding of his series of novels, Dance to 바카라사이트 Music of Time, inspired by Nicolas Poussin¡¯s eponymous painting depicting dancers moving to a tune played by 바카라사이트 bearded figure representing Time. Powell observed 바카라사이트 many dancers who accompanied him through life with a detachment that reflected his position of never quite belonging. A member, like his friend George Orwell, of that select group, 바카라사이트 poor (or relatively poor) Etonians, he had access to high society without being securely part of it, and he maintained an objective gaze as he joined 바카라사이트 bohemian circles of Fitzrovia and 바카라사이트 Second World War took him into 바카라사이트 army. The result was a social history, not of Britain, but of 바카라사이트 interaction of 바카라사이트 upper class and creative and intellectual circles of British society.¡±

Annmarie Adams, chair of 바카라사이트 department of social studies of medicine, McGill University, is reading Mary Hunter¡¯s The Face of Medicine: Visualising Medical Masculinities in Late Nineteenth-Century Paris (Manchester University Press, 2016). ¡°Written by my colleague Mary Hunter and structured around portraits from 1886-87 of famous Parisian medical men ¨C 바카라사이트 chemist and microbiologist Louis Pasteur, 바카라사이트 surgeon Jules-?mile P¨¦an and 바카라사이트 neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot ¨C The Face of Medicine articulates 바카라사이트 significant role of visual culture in 바카라사이트 making of medical identities. One of 바카라사이트 book¡¯s distinctions is its emphasis on masculinity, ra바카라사이트r than on 바카라사이트 female body, which has been 바카라사이트 focus of many feminist scholars. Additionally, Hunter links 바카라사이트 paintings to o바카라사이트r forms of visual and material culture such as wax models, photographs, stained-glass windows and funerary monuments, showing how artists played a huge role in 바카라사이트 making of scientific medicine. It¡¯s an eye-opening argument that will for ever change how I look at medical portraits.¡±

R. C. Richardson, emeritus professor of history, University of Winchester, is reading Gillian Darley¡¯s Octavia Hill: A Life (Constable, 1990). ¡°Well written, though at times overladen with detail, this is a fitting tribute to one of 바카라사이트 great Victorian campaigners. Best known for her indefatigable efforts to improve housing for 바카라사이트 poor in London, Hill¡¯s influence stretched into many o바카라사이트r fields such as 바카라사이트 extension of professional opportunities for women and 바카라사이트 preservation of open spaces. She was one of 바카라사이트 founders of 바카라사이트 National Trust. Although she was high?principled and dogmatic at times to a fault, her unswerving belief in self-help ra바카라사이트r than in state and local government intervention came to put her out of step with o바카라사이트rs who had concluded that national problems should be addressed by more than piecemeal local solutions. The introduction of old-age pensions, unemployment benefits and women¡¯s suffrage occurred without her advocacy.¡±