I was invited to contribute a guest post to the ‘Page 99 test’ blog. The test involves opening a book at page 99 to get a handy insight into the work. Here’s the original rationale: “Open the book to page ninety-nine and read, and the quality of the whole will be revealed to you.” –Ford Madox Ford When I opened my book at page 99, … Continue reading Page 99 Test
My book launch took place on 31st October at the IHR. Ludivine Broch has written up a report on the event over at the French History Network Blog LINK HERE You can also listen again to a recording of the event hosted on the FHN blog. I have 50% off vouchers from the event, so if anyone is keen to buy a copy, then get … Continue reading Book Launch: Report & Recording
Someone asked me recently about my experience of publishing my book, and as I started thinking about it I realised that I’d never really put it on the page. Looking back over emails, I sketched out a timeline of the publishing process in the hope that it might be useful for anyone curious about how this works. I was very privileged to enjoy a smooth, … Continue reading Doing History: A Timeline of My Book’s Publication
What on earth is French Wine Terrorism? That’s a pretty reasonable question, to be honest, and it’s one I’m fairly used to hearing by this stage. The glib answer is that it’s the topic of my upcoming book with Manchester University Press, Terror and terroir: The winegrowers of the Languedoc and modern France (due September 2016). In recent times, the word terrorism has come to be … Continue reading French Wine Terrorism
I’ve written before about how important Rugby, Wine and Socialism are in the South of France. I wrote an article in the journal National Identities, called ‘”Je suis socialiste et quinziste “: Rugby, Wine and Socialism in the Aude since 1976′ that said just that. Rugby has been almost as important to the Midi as its winegrowing, and the Languedoc has long been characterised as an historic … Continue reading Rugby, Wine and Socialism – New Find!
The Tour de France is one of France’s most lauded sporting events. It is a huge presence in the memory and identity of many French people and those from farther afield. The retracing of old routes, the blanket media coverage and the sense that it “belongs to the French collective memory of the Twentieth Century” all place it on the pantheon of international sporting events.[1] … Continue reading Wine, Terror and the Tour de France
Recently, I’ve been spending time with old friends. Not actual friends, mind you, most of them I’ve never met. These errant friends are the leaders of the movements I’ve written about from the Languedoc-Roussillon throughout the 1960s and onwards. At the moment, I’m revising a manuscript for Manchester University Press, and re-engaging in a big way with the topic of my thesis – the Comité … Continue reading Character Study: The Christ of the Corbières
When Robert Burns satirically eulogised a flea in a ladies bonnet, he intended it as a play upon the juxtaposition of wealth and disgust, setting the piece in the pews of a church. Years after Burns wrote the poem in 1785, another louse was to have a much wider ranging effect on the wealth of Europe. The pest Phylloxera Vastatrix travelled across from America to … Continue reading Phylloxera: To A Louse
This post originally featured on the French History Network Blog. Visit their site for more great content. As a contemporary historian, I don’t see many illuminated manuscripts. I don’t see many handwritten sources either, if I’m honest. Much of what I end up looking at is in the tidy, typewritten order of the 1940s and beyond. One of the most unexpected joys, therefore, is discovering … Continue reading REBLOG: Scribblers United: The Unexpected Joys of Doodling
