Miranda France

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.

Jan 15, 2025 | the-tls.co.uk | Miranda France |Sophie Oliver |Kathryn Gray |Stephen Henighan

A novel about political awakening in free verse might not set every heart racing, but when the author is Mario Benedetti, one of Latin America’s best-loved poets, you know to expect humour, observation and inventive wordplay alongside the social criticism. Benedetti (1920–2009) was born in Montevideo into an Italian immigrant family. His parents, admirers of English literature, baptized him Mario Orlando Hamlet Hardy Brenno Benedetti Farugia – a long name for a small man.

Jan 15, 2025 | the-tls.co.uk | Stephen Henighan |Sophie Oliver |Kathryn Gray |Miranda France

The publication in 1888 of the Nicaraguan poet Rubén Darío’s collection Azul changed the way the Spanish language was written. Darío became the representative poet of modernismo, a movement that renewed Spanish verse, and later prose. As the poet moved to Chile, Argentina, Spain and France, the influence of his poetry spread.