Whatcha reading?

[dr. t]

2 hours ago, ashiepoo72 said:

I bet your prospectus was lovely. Do you have a favorite book that you discussed in the state of the field section?

My prospectus isn't exactly, uh, what's the word, done? I ended up in Europe three weeks earlier than I had planned on about 3 weeks notice, so some things got dropped.

But yeah, really liked a couple pieces. Michael Dietler, Archaeologies of Colonialism: Consumption, Entanglement, and Violence in Ancient Mediterranean France (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2010) was a particularly good one.

[urbanhistorynerd]

Just started Jackie Wang's Carceral Capitalism. I'm only a few pages in, but so far this little book of essays about the interconnection between the modern carceral state and capitalism is incredibly interesting and illuminating.

[TsarandProphet]

Starting Humboldt and the Modern German University: An Intellectual History by Johan Östling!

[time_consume_me]

Jason Dittmer's Diplomatic Material: Affect, Assemblage, and Foreign Policy, Philip Roth's Portnoy's Complaint (hilarious), and a work on Global History (Historiography) in Japan by an amazing prof at Tokyo University named Haneda Masashi.

[Neist]

Yeah, so, well, I've given up trying to update every read I've undertaken on here because my reading pace has become a bit supercharged.

That said, I'm currently reading The Map Thief: The Gripping Story of an Esteemed Rare-Map Dealer Who Made Millions Stealing Priceless Maps by Michael Blanding. Haven't gotten too deep into the semester yet, so I'm just reading popcorn titles. For the better part of the last month and a half, I've been enduring a painfully close read of the primary sources for my thesis. I need a break.

[TsarandProphet]

I am currently reading a PhD dissertation, actually. Knowledge and Power on the Kazakh Steppe, 1845-1917 by Ian Campbell from Uni of Michigan. It's wonderful.

[Sigaba]

16 hours ago, TsarandProphet said:

I am currently reading a PhD dissertation, actually. Knowledge and Power on the Kazakh Steppe, 1845-1917 by Ian Campbell from Uni of Michigan. It's wonderful.

A reminder. Dissertation and thesis titles should be in quotation marks, not italics.? 

[Neist]

Had to start digging into course reading, despite all of my best attempts to avoid it.

Currently reading Ramon Llull: A Contemporary Life, edited by Anthony Bonner. These medieval autobiographies are so much fun. Fluffed, yes, but fun.

[historygeek]

Finally actually reading history again, thank God! 

Right now, I'm reading Hasia Diner's Hungering for America: Italian, Irish, and Jewish Foodways in the Age of Migration to help with the food chapter of my thesis. 

[WhaleshipEssex]

I'm alternating between The Discovery of Time by Toulmin and Goodfield and Champion's The Fullness of Time: Temporalities of the Fifteenth-Century Low Countries. 

[Neist]

During a medieval science seminar, I recently discovered Magic in the Middle Ages by Kieckhefer. My mind was blown. "Magic" during the period is fascinating. I could see myself easily burying in the topic.

Now I'm digging into Forbidden Rites: A Necromancer’s Manual of the Fifteenth Century by Kieckhefer and Grimoires: A History of Magic Books by Davies.

[dr. t]

13 minutes ago, Neist said:

During a medieval science seminar

You've read Truitt already, right?

[Neist]

9 minutes ago, telkanuru said:

You've read Truitt already, right?

I have not, but Medieval Robots: Mechanism, Magic, Nature, and Art looks fascinating. 

This course is a required survey in my program, but it's far from what I usually study. I mainly study biological sciences in the progressive era United States; anything pre-early modern is pretty outside of my wheelhouse. As an undergraduate, I took a few religious history courses and a dedicated science in medieval Islam course, but I've managed to dodge pretty much any scholarly histories of medieval Europe. 

I was actually quite afraid of this course due to my lack of experience with the period, so I'm glad that I've found something which I find interesting enough to dig my teeth into.

[dr. t]

2 hours ago, Neist said:

I've managed to dodge pretty much any scholarly histories of medieval Europe. 

So has HoS in general. That's why Truitt is so interesting!