Category: Uncategorized

“Still Alice” reminds us to remember the challenges facing the caregiver

Guest post by Laura Wayman,  The Dementia Whisperer In the film Still Alice, Alice Howland is a linguistics professor who endures, at the unusually young age of 50, dementia symptoms caused by a form of young onset Alzheimer’s that runs in her family. Although this type of Alzheimer’s is rare, the dementia symptoms are the same…

Should we bring historians to the movies?

Guest post by Thomas Leitch Why do otherwise intelligent and discriminating people routinely come away from movies like Selma, American Sniper, The Imitation Game, and The Theory of Everything under the impression that their fictionalizations of history are true? Can’t they tell the difference between real life and the movies? In a word, no, they…

Should we bring historians to the movies?

Guest post by Thomas Leitch Why do otherwise intelligent and discriminating people routinely come away from movies like Selma, American Sniper, The Imitation Game, and The Theory of Everything under the impression that their fictionalizations of history are true? Can’t they tell the difference between real life and the movies? In a word, no, they…

Valentine’s Day crush: heartthrobs and pinup picks for Jane Austen’s characters

Guest post by Janine Barchas If Lydia Bennet hung celebrity pinups above her bed, whom might she have singled out among the rich and famous from the Georgian era? The following speculations are rooted in historical truth.  Celebrity culture was in full swing when Jane Austen was born in 1775.  Although hers was the age…

Valentine’s Day crush: heartthrobs and pinup picks for Jane Austen’s characters

Guest post by Janine Barchas If Lydia Bennet hung celebrity pinups above her bed, whom might she have singled out among the rich and famous from the Georgian era? The following speculations are rooted in historical truth.  Celebrity culture was in full swing when Jane Austen was born in 1775.  Although hers was the age…