I started writing about hysteria in the mid-1980s. But I'm still needing to tell the story!
What is a woman? ‘Common sense’ in history
Common sense is a historical category - and none of our questions around sex and gender are really new
‘Just practising’? The history of Adam’s rib
What about that spare rib?
Let’s talk about (assisted) dying
There’s something going on here about how we don’t want to take full responsibility for our decisions; we don’t want to think through the issues properly, instead bringing in some text from the past as if it is entirely without its own historical context.
Talking about the book
(updated updated May 2025) Getting out the message about a new book mostly means podcasts, I've found. That's great because you can do the recording from your home, and also podcast hosts are generally very lively and so the level of energy is high. So here is a short list of the ones I've done… Continue reading Talking about the book
Judging a book by its cover
(updated April 2025) You shouldn't do that, right? But we do, otherwise we wouldn't need to be warned not to... If you are writing a book, you will at some time have to make a decision about the cover. Having only previously published academic books, my foray into the world of trade books has given… Continue reading Judging a book by its cover
Mistaking histories 