Book review: Presenting history

Presenting history: past and present by Peter Beck has recently arrived in the Library.

 A907.2 / 735803

Read the review by the Institute of Historical Research's Dr Ian Phillpott on the IHR's Reviews in History, followed by the author's response

This book takes a look at how "popular" presentations of history in the media "influence our understanding of and interest in the past and whether academic history (both in the teaching of and research in) fails to ignite interest in its subject matter due to practices and standardisations of presentations in the field" 

There are chapters on "popular" historians such as A.J.P. Taylor, Eric Hobsbawn and Simon Schama and on the "Hollywoodisation" of history through the glossy inaccuracies of TV series such as The Tudors and films such as Mel Gibson's take on the medieval Scottish rebel William Wallace in Braveheart. Beck also looks at the surge in popularity for historical fiction through the work of Philippa Gregory (The other Boleyn girl, The white Queen etc) and how Terry Deary has fired children s' interest in the past through his Horrible Histories series

CLICK HERE TO LINK TO THE LIBRARY CATALOGUE

Ottoman Palestine on film

Link to YouTube to watch archive footage of Jerusalem (late 19th century?) and Bethlehem and Gethsemane (1920s)

1. Jerusalem (said to be made in 1896)
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vaIK8wlAl0>

2. Bethlehem and Gethsemane (mid 1920s)
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqqY_apdIXc&feature=fvwp&NR=1>

Colonial Film: Moving images of the British Empire

The Colonial Film Database is the ongoing result of a collaborative project between the British Film Institute National Archive, the Imperial War Museum, the British Empire and Commonwealth Museum, Birkbeck College and UCL.

The database has so far catalogued over 6,000 films dating from the late 1890s to the later 20th century from most countries of the former British Empire and Commonwealth. The collection ranges from dramatic "shorts" and amateur footage to official productions by organizations such as the Empire Marketing Board and the Crown Film Unit.

350 of the most important films have detailed critical notes by the project's academic research team.

150 are available to view online (Click the A-Z Films link at the bottom of the homepage to select and view)

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