Tag: Review
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Review: You’re Dead to Me
Written by Amy Hendrie. Combining comedy and horrible history, Greg Jenner’s award winning podcast grasps wide and deep topics, bringing history to those who forgot to learn any at school
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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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Being the Ricardos Review: Sorkin fails to dazzle in detached biopic of I Love Lucy Stardom
Written by Kat Jivkova. ‘I Love Lucy’ was the first big American sitcom, premiering in 1951. Though, the complex relationships behind the scenes, interlocking with the contradictions of the 1950s United States, is something Aaron Sorkin’s mishandled 2021 biopic is judged as being incapable of grasping.
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Review: The Penelopiad, Margaret Atwood (2005)
Written by Fiona Macrae. Published as part of the Canongate Myth Series, Margaret Atwood’s 2005 novella, ‘The Penelopiad’, recounts the events of the ‘Odyssey’ from the perspective of Penelope. Fiona Macrae discusses how Atwood’s play on the conventions of Greek epic poetry creates a more nuanced female protagonist.
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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: 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: 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.
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Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and Slavery: Contending with the Inhumane
Written by Justin Biggi. Video game developer Ubisoft has received praise for the historical accuracy of its popular ‘Assassin’s Creed’ series. However, as with many other forms of popular media, the issue of slave ownership – a well-documented aspect of the Ancient Greek world – is heavily diluted for its audience.
Retrospect Journal 