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In one painting, a Dutch military officer leans toward a laughing girl. In another, a woman at a window weighs pieces of silver. In a third, fruit spills from a porcelain bowl onto a Turkish carpet. The officer's dashing hat is made of beaver fur, which European explorers got from Native Americans in exchange for weapons. Beaver pelts, in turn, financed the voyages of sailors seeking new routes to China. There - with silver mined in Peru - Europeans would purchase, by the thousands, the porcelain so often shown in Dutch paintings of this time.
Vermeer's haunting images hint at the... more In one painting, a Dutch military officer leans toward a laughing girl. In another, a woman at a window weighs pieces of silver. In a third, fruit spills from a porcelain bowl onto a Turkish carpet. The officer's dashing hat is made of beaver fur, which European explorers got from Native Americans in exchange for weapons. Beaver pelts, in turn, financed the voyages of sailors seeking new routes to China. There - with silver mined in Peru - Europeans would purchase, by the thousands, the porcelain so often shown in Dutch paintings of this time.
Vermeer's haunting images hint at the stories behind these exquisitely rendered moments. As Timothy Brook shows us in Vermeer's Hat, these pictures, which seem so intimate, actually open doors onto a rapidly expanding world. less 
Jonathan HealeyThis is a way of unpicking particular remnants from the past — in this case fantastic paintings — and looking at the bigger picture that they tell. (Source)
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This classic study of a single community in early modern England has had a major influence on the interpretation of the social dynamics of the period. It opens with a chapter establishing this small Essex parish in the national context of econmic and social change in the years between 1525 and 1700. Thereafter the chapters examine the economy of Terling; its demographic history; its social structure; the relationships of the villagers with the courts of the church and state; the growth of popular literacy; the impact of the reformation, and the rise in puritanism. The overall process of... more This classic study of a single community in early modern England has had a major influence on the interpretation of the social dynamics of the period. It opens with a chapter establishing this small Essex parish in the national context of econmic and social change in the years between 1525 and 1700. Thereafter the chapters examine the economy of Terling; its demographic history; its social structure; the relationships of the villagers with the courts of the church and state; the growth of popular literacy; the impact of the reformation, and the rise in puritanism. The overall process of change is then characterized in a powerful interpretive chapter on the changing pattern of social relationships in the parish.
This revised edition has a new chapter, 'Terling Revisited' which addresses the debate occasioned by the book, notably over kinship relations in early modern England, and the impact of puritanism on local society. In both cases a new interpretive synthesis is attempted and the argument of the first edition is defended, elaborated, and advanced in the light of subsequent research.
less Jonathan HealeyIt takes the anthropological approach of people like Robert Darnton and melds it with this very English tradition of local history. (Source)
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“A coisa mais engraçada que aconteceu na gráfica de Jacques Vincent, segundo um operário que testemunhou o fato, foi um sedicioso massacre de gatos.” Assim principia o estudo realizado por Robert Darnton sobre os violentos rituais praticados por artesãos franceses em meados do século XVIII. Em uma série de ensaios primorosamente redigidos, Darnton descerra as estranhas e maravilhosas visões de mundo das pessoas que povoavam as cidades, aldeias e campos da França durante o Iluminismo.
Abrangendo vários temas, desde o sinistro folclore do campesinato francês até as sensibilidades... more “A coisa mais engraçada que aconteceu na gráfica de Jacques Vincent, segundo um operário que testemunhou o fato, foi um sedicioso massacre de gatos.” Assim principia o estudo realizado por Robert Darnton sobre os violentos rituais praticados por artesãos franceses em meados do século XVIII. Em uma série de ensaios primorosamente redigidos, Darnton descerra as estranhas e maravilhosas visões de mundo das pessoas que povoavam as cidades, aldeias e campos da França durante o Iluminismo.
Abrangendo vários temas, desde o sinistro folclore do campesinato francês até as sensibilidades românticas que ligavam Rousseau a seus leitores burgueses da província, Darnton transmite modos de pensar e sentir dos franceses do século XVIII geralmente mal compreendidos. Assim, convida o leitor a considerar os motivos que levaram um grupo de artesãos parisienses a achar tão engraçado um massacre de gatos, e como o humor era trabalhado pela classe operária do Antigo Regime. Em “Um inspetor de polícia organiza seus arquivos”, relato sobre um agente de polícia do rei que espionava as atividades de escritores franceses, temos a oportunidade de perceber como o Antigo Regime lutava para entender uma nova e perigosa espécie de franceses: o intelectual freelancer.
Outros ensaios nos permitem visualizar uma França urbana em rápida transformação pelos olhos de um burguês de Montpellier, e observar Diderot e D Alembert entregues ao planejamento de uma sistemática organização de todo o conhecimento humano, a famosa Enciclopédia.
O grande massacre de gatos é uma visão caleidoscópica de uma cultura ao mesmo tempo familiar e estranha. É leviano achar que podemos pressupor o que os europeus pensavam e sentiam há dois séculos. Precisamos despertar de uma falsa familiaridade com o passado. Neste livro, Robert Darnton administra uma necessária e inesquecível dose de choque cultural. less Jonathan HealeyHe takes a source which is quite tricky and clearly not true and looks at what cultural world it tells us about, how it reflects peasant society. (Source)
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5
Natalie Zemon Davis | 3.95
The clever peasant Arnaud du Tilh had almost won his case, when a man with a wooden leg swaggered into the French courtroom, denounced du Tilh, and reestablished his claim to the identity, property, and wife of Martin Guerre. This book, by the noted historian who served as a consultant for the film, adds new dimensions to this famous legend. more The clever peasant Arnaud du Tilh had almost won his case, when a man with a wooden leg swaggered into the French courtroom, denounced du Tilh, and reestablished his claim to the identity, property, and wife of Martin Guerre. This book, by the noted historian who served as a consultant for the film, adds new dimensions to this famous legend. less Jonathan HealeyIt’s such an intricate story of very ordinary people, and yet Natalie Davis uses it to draw out these big themes about sixteenth-century Europe. (Source)
Suzannah LipscombThis book tells the fascinating story of Martin Guerre: a mysterious tale of imposture, love, and honour among sixteenth-century French peasants. It is a brilliant bit of historical detective work and a captivating read that plunges the reader deep into the world of the past. (Source)
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