The Greatest Showman: The Last Great Con of P. T. Barnum
Throughout history, storytelling has often bent the truth to create a better, more interesting story. The latest Hugh Jackman film ‘The Greatest Showman’ does just this. In its rags-to-riches musical...
View ArticlePlaying with History in Video Games
Like many historians, I’ve long been interested in the way the past is portrayed in pop culture. Now that gaming is a bigger business than ever, there’s an ever-growing field of international scholars...
View ArticleCold War Angst: The Iconography of Peace in Spain during the 1980s
Mushroom clouds in burning skies, wandering skulls, and thousands of people confined in atomic shelters as insects: the final decade of the Cold War brought a global proliferation of visual expressions...
View ArticleThe World Cup, Colombia and Communism
The World Cup matters to Colombia more than most countries. As a country with a reputation for violence and drugs, football is a chance for Colombia to present a favourable face to the world based on a...
View Article‘Love Among the Ruins’? Telling the social history of Sheffield’s best-known...
An eyesore or an architectural landmark? Should the flats have been Grade II listed or demolished alongside Hyde Park in the early 1990s? A feature of Sheffield’s skyline since 1957, the multi-storey...
View ArticleDid the Feminist Challenge Actually Shake Up the Print Press in 1969? Press...
The late 1960s were a turbulent time of rapid change; the mini skirt was the height of fashion, affluence was on the up yet women fighting for their liberation were criticised and mothers who worked...
View ArticleWhy You Should Watch ‘The Rise of the Murdoch Dynasty’
There’s only one Rupert” announced Donald Trump in June 2017. He was responding to an introduction given for him by the media mogul Rupert Murdoch. The two men have a relationship stretching back...
View ArticleDecolonisation Strategies: Portico Library Curators at Sheffield University
Radha Kapuria with Helen Idle and James Moss A chance visit to Manchester’s historic Portico Library in September 2020 revealed a fascinating exhibition on the colonisation of Australia. Titled ‘What...
View Article‘Illegitimate’ Cultures: from the Music Hall to the Rave
At first glance, mid-Victorian entertainment culture and the current ‘illegal’ rave scene of Covid-Britain may appear wildly incomparable. But the early Victorian period, as illustrated by the cultural...
View Article‘Fear or Fetish? The Fetishisation of Lesbians in Cold War America
In the 1950s, American society saw a huge rise in anxieties regarding gender norms and sexuality. Homosexuals were demonized through the Lavender Scare – a moral panic focused on gay and lesbian US...
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