Tag: Book Review
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Book Review – Parreñas, Rhacel. 2011. Illicit Flirtations: Labor, Migration, and Sex Trafficking in Tokyo. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press.
Rhacel Parreñas’ 2011 text, “Illicit Flirtations: Labor, Migration, and Sex Trafficking in Tokyo”, seeks to examine the misconceptions surrounding the Filipina hostesses of Japan whose livelihood came under global scrutiny through the US-led anti-trafficking campaign. Rosie Inwald discusses Parreñas’ work and the issues with a top-down perspective on the agency of these women.
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Review: The Book Thief
Written by Sophia Aiello. Markus Zusak’s 2005 bestseller, ‘The Book Thief’ has been internationally acclaimed for its approach to incredibly dark historical moments. Sophia Aiello reviews the novel over fifteen years on.
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‘Educated’ by Tara Westover: Uncovering Radical Mormonism in Rural America
Written by Sally Dolphin. Tara Westover’s 2018 memoir tells the story of her life growing up as a Mormon in rural America. An isolated childhood, Westwood’s experiences leaving such a sheltered environment can shed light on our own cultural awareness.
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Review: What is History, Now? How the past and present speak to each other (2021)
Written by Georgia Smith. What is history? The question retains its validity, evidenced by the recent release of a spiritual successor to E.H. Carr’s 1961 modern classic. As Georgia Smith’s review argues, the question is more what histories should be, rather than how they are constructed.
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Review: The Beauty and the Terror: An Alternative History of the Italian Renaissance
Written by Melissa Kane. Examining the recent work by acclaimed Renaissance scholar Catherine Fletcher, ‘The Beauty and the Terror: An Alternative History of the Italian Renaissance’, Melissa Kane questions. the extent to which it rightly can be called an alternative history.
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Review: Sistersong, Lucy Holland (2021)
Written by Melissa Kane. Lucy Holland’s Sistersong is an enchanting piece of historical fantasy that digs into early Anglo-Saxon Britain.
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Review: Our Time is Now: Race and Modernity in Postcolonial Guatemala, Julie Gibbings (2020)
Written by Jamie Gemmell. Dr Julie Gibbings’ 2020 work on postcolonial Guatemala offers an ambitiously broad examination of race and modernity, creating a multi-vocal historical narrative which is simultaneously complex and readable.
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Review: Hamnet, Maggie O’Farrell (2020)
Written by Melissa Kane. Maggie O’Farrell’s is a magisterial text. The writing is sublime, bringing to life Elizabethan Stratford-upon-Avon. However, it is a difficult text and requires a degree of familiarity with its inspiration, Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
Retrospect Journal 