Books have a way of making you look at things differently. You read about another time, another place, someone else’s experiences, and find yourself reconsidering something much closer to home. For me, that is a large part of their appeal.
This website brings together my writing and research, shaped by an interest in how people understand their worlds and by my experiences as a first-generation academic.
Recent Writing
The Pythia’s Elusive Name
Sometimes in academia you come across phenomena that make you disbelieve your own judgement. This essay is about one of these instances, upon which I…
Setting the Stage for Ramona
Social mobility is hard. Very hard – as the person this text is all about knows only too well. If you want to move up…
On Air-Pumps and Truth
It is one of the hardest tasks for historians of any period or field to “think away” what appears to be self-evident. Yet it is…
The Ghost of Ukiyo-e
They are quite easily overlooked, aren’t they? Japanese woodblock prints I mean. They are not particularly big, they are not particularly bright and colourful –…
Research Profiles
