x

Fifteen Eighty Four

Academic perspectives from Cambridge University Press

Menu

The Ongoing Vitality of Boethius’ Consolation of Philosophy

Boethius’ Consolation of Philosophy was one of the most widely read and influential texts in medieval Europe. Its influence can be clearly seen in philosophical works as diverse as Thomas Aquinas’...

Michael Wiitala | 18 Oct 2024

‘The spoiled child of our literature’: Goldsmith’s The Vicar of Wakefield

‘Read as one of the masterpieces by a person not acquainted with our literature, it might easily give an impression that this literature is not immense’. Henry James’s words in his introduction...

Aileen Douglas, Ian Campbell Ross | 15 Oct 2024

Albert algebras: the last frontier of Jordan systems

We are the kind of people who are always interested in the strongest example of something, the paragon.  When we eat Swiss cheese (Emmental), we want our senses to tell us that; we shouldn’t...

Michel L. Racine, Holger P. Petersson, Skip Garibaldi | 14 Oct 2024

The 2024 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is Awarded for the Discovery of MicroRNAs: Why It Matters

The 2024 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded on October 7th to Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun for their discovery of microRNAs (miRNAs). This ground-breaking finding transformed our understanding...

David C. Henshall | 10 Oct 2024

Ulster’s Lost Counties: A Warning from the Past?

In the midst of the Anglo-Irish War, on 21 August 1920, fourteen IRA volunteers attacked a farm owned by the Corscadden family at Carricknahorna in the hills of South Donegal. This was later the family...

Edward Burke | 19 Sep 2024

Finding Hope for the Future in Queer History

LGBTQ+ rights are under attack around the country. In just the first six months of 2024, state legislators introduced 527 bills targeting the LGBTQ+ community. The situation is so dire that the Human...

Marie-Amélie George | 19 Sep 2024

Hemingway and Writing for the “Long Future”

Volume 6 of The Letters of Ernest Hemingway, spanning June 1934 through June 1936, includes 366 items of correspondence, directed to 116 recipients. In our introductions to the volume, we note that Hemingway’s...

Verna Kale, Sandra Spanier | 18 Sep 2024

“They’re eating the pets” Racial stereotyping in politics

When viewers watched the first presidential debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, they were astonished when the latter candidate made the claim that immigrants in Ohio are eating cats and dogs....

Karen Stollznow | 17 Sep 2024

‘Where are you from? No, where are you really from?’ Questions from the other side of the table.

In all stages of psychopathology — the expression, experience, development, outcome, help-seeking and treatment interventions — culture is central. [1] Definitions of culture vary enormously...

Dinesh Bhugra, Rina Arya | 16 Sep 2024

John Cleland Plays Dead?

John Cleland, best remembered as the author of the erotic novel Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure (1748-49), was a tricksy and entertaining correspondent. His letters, just published by Cambridge University...

Helen Williams, Richard Terry, Peter Sabor, John Cleland | 5 Sep 2024

Is Musical Modernism Western?

This year’s edition of the annual World New Music Days by the International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM) took place on the Faroe Islands. Alongside the host nation, the opening concert featured...

Björn Heile | 22 Aug 2024

America’s French Orphans: Mobilization, Humanitarianism, and the Protection of France during World War

Months before the United States entered the war, American men, women, and children mobilized to “adopt” France’s orphans. Through a binational humanitarian relief organization known as the Fatherless...

Emmanuel Destenay | 21 Aug 2024