“Historical fiction,” observes editor Kathryn Sutherland, “has always been popular, of course, but it rarely enjoys high critical esteem.” While it has drawn its share of readers ever since the days of Walter Scott, historical fiction often suffers by comparison to more academic engagements with the past. But Sutherland thinks that historical fiction has often done better than … More The Virtues of Historical Fiction
It’s the first full week of June, and that can mean only one thing if you’re a history nerd: time to get working on your summer reading list! I’ll be posting my own suggestions this week or next, but in the interim, here are some histories, biographies, and historical novels suggested by NPR, the L.A. … More It’s Summer Reading List Season!
One more post about British TV as I continue to reprise some posts from recent months during this mini-hiatus coinciding with Bethel’s Spring Break: my defense of Downton Abbey against withering criticism from one of Britain’s most popular historians. Downton has been back on my mind of late, after my wife and I watched its antecedent, the … More Best of The Pietist Schoolman: Downton Crabby
Earlier this month the popular British historian Simon Schama took to the pages of Newsweek to write a withering attack on the British TV series Downton Abbey — and even more, on Americans’ obsession with it — as its second series began to air on PBS. SPOILERS AHEAD FOR THOSE WHO HAVEN’T BEEN WATCHING I … More Downton Crabby
It’s good to be back blogging full-time after a quiet December and a total hiatus the first half of January. Somehow we kept getting a steady number of hits during that period, to the point that we’ll actually be welcoming our 15,000th visitor sometime today! Thanks to everyone for reading!! What you might have missed … More That Was The Week That Was
The Pietist Schoolman 