J. E. Smyth

3 weeks ago | the-tls.co.uk | Jeffrey Wasserstrom |Miranda France |Keith Miller |J. E. Smyth

Linda Gordon is a unique figure in the field of US history. Since her Woman’s Body, Woman’s Right: A social history of birth control in America came out in 1976, she has produced several first-rate books, focusing predominantly on women’s experiences. She won the coveted Bancroft prize, awarded for books about American history or diplomacy, in 2000 and 2010. Her archival digging and stylish writing have inspired many historians, including some who, like me, don’t work on American history.

3 weeks ago | the-tls.co.uk | Miranda France |Keith Miller |Jeffrey Wasserstrom |J. E. Smyth

The comic strip Mafalda ran for less than ten years in Argentina (1964-1973), but in South America its eponymous protagonist is still revered both as a lovable cartoon character and as a symbol of resistance. Soon she will make the jump to Netflix.

3 weeks ago | the-tls.co.uk | J. E. Smyth |Miranda France |Keith Miller |Jeffrey Wasserstrom

The Northern Irish film-maker Mark Cousins has cultivated a wide and enthusiastic following among social media-minded cinephiles, but the whimsical documentarian’s penchant for beautifully narrated love letters to dead directors can be an acquired taste. Occasionally, he has made films shorter than two hours, but his best-known work remains The Story of Film (2011), which is fifteen hours long.

Dec 4, 2024 | the-tls.co.uk | Adam Mars-Jones |Mary Beard |Vanessa Curtis |J. E. Smyth

Dear Pedro Almodóvar, I resisted your early films when they came out, put off by the naughty-boy transgressions and failing to recognize their vitality and underlying good humour. Then, in 1988, the first sequence of Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown made a convert of me, with the camera on a level with Carmen Maura’s feet as she paced in desperation back and forth across a polished floor like a cornered tigress in high heels.

Nov 20, 2024 | the-tls.co.uk | Vanessa Curtis |Adam Mars-Jones |J. E. Smyth |Philippa Snow

In a market crowded with full-length biographies of Vivien Leigh, Lyndsy Spence wisely refrains from adding another one. Instead she focuses on the years 1953–67, covering the period when Leigh was beginning to lose her grip on reality due to an escalation of bipolar illness. She had already won Oscars for the roles of Scarlett O’Hara and Blanche DuBois, and her high-profile marriage to Laurence Olivier was failing, damaged by his repeated infidelities and her fragile mental health.