Holly Tucker's Blog, page 98
April 20, 2011
An Update on the Book Tour
By Holly Tucker Hi everyone. I thought I'd pop in and give you a quick update. The book tour has made things busy, really busy. But I'm so delighted by all of the interest in Blood Work! I was in my university's radio studios this past week to talk about the book. I promise: my [...]
April 13, 2011
The Confession of Katherine Howard
By Suzannah Dunn Katherine Howard is the wife of Henry V111′s about whom we know the least – in all but one respect. We know absurdly little of the girl who was, for a time, Queen of England – but ironically, and sadly for her, we know more of one part of her life than [...]
April 11, 2011
History, Medicine and Science on GOODREADS
Calling anyone who loves History, Medicine and Science! I have just started a new book group over at Goodreads – and would love to have you join us! In addition to chatting about our favorite books (nonfiction and fiction), we're also starting a book group. We'll be diving into our first book together beginning May [...]
April 9, 2011
How Bismarck Got Some Sleep
By Jonathan Steinberg Ernst Schweninger, a handsome young Bavarian doctor, was sentenced in 1879 to four months in prison for 'an atrocious act in a public place' against the widow of his best friend at the grave, to which she was bringing flowers. In spite of this past Schweninger got to Bismarck and told a [...]
April 8, 2011
Reviewing the Reviews, or Why I Love Adjectives
Reading the reviews of your book can be a little scary. At least at the beginning. The first review of Blood Work that came out was from Publishers Weekly, which is read pretty much by anyone who is anyone in the publishing business. It was a starred review–which is the equivalent of a huge double [...]
March 29, 2011
E Pluribus Unum, or Why the Founding Fathers Used Latin
By Simon Price and Peter Thonemann How to write a wide-ranging history of the ancient world which does more than just rehash the old narratives? We decided at the outset that the book must have a good chronological and narrative frame, after all it was going to run from the time of palaces at Mycenae, [...]
March 22, 2011
Discoverers of the Universe
By Michael Hoskin Caroline Herschel, the first salaried female astronomer in history, was buried in 1848 in a graveyard in Hanover, Germany, in the same grave as her parents. In the inscription, which she had composed herself, she records the presence below of the body of her father Isaac, but of her mother Anna she [...]
March 21, 2011
Linking the Past and the Present
By Sue Macy In April 2010 I found myself at an auction house that was packed with old bicycles. There were Schwinns from the 1950s and 60s, but they were in the minority, and they were the new kids on the block. More numerous were the really old models, the high-wheelers from the 1880s and [...]
Interview with Deborah Harkness, A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES
By Holly Tucker I have long been impressed by Deborah Harkness' work. Deborah is a historian at the University of Southern California and – like me – works in early-modern science. Her work on Renaissance alchemy is thoughtful, detailed and fills a vital gap in scholarship on this important but at times seemingly impenetrable subject [...]
March 17, 2011
A Signature Move: John Hancock and the Fight for Freedom
By Harlow Giles Unger John Hancock never set out to found a new nation. He was quite happy with the old one, which had made him the wealthiest, most powerful merchant in North America and certain to become the first Lord Hancock. So John Hancock was the least likely man in Boston to start a [...]
