I was reading a review of John B. Thompson’s Books in the Digital Age: The Transformation of Academic and Higher Education Publishing in Britain and the United States at breakfast this morning. The review (by Eelco Ferwerda in the Dutch Academische Boekengids) discusses the fate of academic books in view of current developments such as [...]

The BBC is launching a new drama series on the life of Queen Elizabeth I next Monday Sunday. Like the 1998 film (starring Cate Blanchett and Joseph Fiennes), the series starts with Elizabeth’s perilous position during the reign of her sister, Queen Mary. I don’t particularly know any of the actors (except for Tara Fitzgerald, [...]

Best wishes for the new year! To remain in the festive spirit a little, although most of us have probably returned to work by now, I thought I would write a little on Twelfth Night or Epiphany, which in the early modern calendar was the culmination of the season’s festivities at court. The theatricals on [...]