The opening stages of the French Revolution helped generate widespread enthusiasm for reform in Britain. It did so especially amongst a group of intellectual and literary women and men who contributed to the emerging ‘revolution controversy’ in pamphlets, poetry and novels and were bonded together by acquaintance and friendship in an increasingly febrile political atmosphere.
“Radicals have planned them and protagonists have nearly always tried to steer them, but real revolutions nonetheless involve a considerable element of surprise.” Rebecca Spang introduces the new Virtual Special Issue of HWJ, on revolutions.
What can history tell us about the politics of monetary innovations like cryptocurrencies? Rebecca Spang looks back to the era of the French Revolution to explore “billets de confidence” – local, decentralised bills of exchange.
In this episode of the History Workshop podcast, Rebecca Spang looks back to the era of the French Revolution to explore the power dynamics of decentralized currencies.
Rebecca Spang will use her work on the birth of modern money, and modern politics, during the time of the French Revolution, to talk about contemporary monetary innovations like cryptocurrencies and recent policy attempts at addressing inequality.
The ‘most notorious book in Russian history’: Jennifer Keating on Alexander Radishchev’s radical critique of autocracy, banned by Catherine the Great over a century before the Russian Revolution.
The burkini furore is another disappointing reminder that women’s bodies and appearances remain more relevant (and newsworthy) than women’s intellects and voices.
