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Fifteen Eighty Four

Academic perspectives from Cambridge University Press

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When surgery really hurt

‘Detail of the manipulation of the scalpel in order to make incisions’ from J. M. Bourgery and N. H. Jacob, Atlas d’anatomie humaine et de chirurgie (1831-54), vol. 1, plate 15. Courtesy of Wellcome Collection. Public Domain Mark’.

Michael Brown | 8 Nov 2022

Talking in Clichés: The Use of Stock Phrases in Discourse and Communication.

A love letter to clichés Why did we write a monograph on clichés? On clichés, for heaven’s sake! Doesn’t everyone avoid them like the plague? Rolling their eyes whenever anyone runs one...

Derek Bousfield, Stella Bullo | 8 Nov 2022

Authoritarianism: a force unchained?

Authoritarian government seems to be a rising force. Over 40 countries are presently autocratic with around 55% of the world’s population living under some form of authoritarian regime. At the same...

Simon Commander, Saul Estrin | 8 Nov 2022

Performing Haitian Revolution

The Haitian Revolution, which began with slave uprisings in the French colony of Saint Domingue in 1791 and resulted in the 1804 declaration of Haitian independence, was a major part of the Age of Revolutions. ...

Peter Reed | 7 Nov 2022

When is a Villa like a Hawk?

The Renaissance theorist and architect Leon Battista Alberti imagined houses as living beings: when they are happy they welcome you to their ‘bosom’, the central hall; when they are badly sited they...

James Grantham Turner | 4 Nov 2022

Is alien life similar to Earth life?

The phrase “life, but not as we know it” is often encountered in science fiction. But what of reality? Should we expect life-forms on other planets to be like variants of life on Earth, or should...

Wallace Arthur | 3 Nov 2022

Art before museums, galleries, the press, and the internet. How did artistic exchange work in the medieval Mediterranean?

The medieval Mediterranean was a sea of exchange of cultures, religions, commodities, and worldviews. With a focus on monumental and panel painting, Italy, Cyprus, and Artistic Exchange in the Medieval...

Anthi Andronikou | 3 Nov 2022

Relativity applications in radiation and plasma physics

Albert Einstein developed the theory of relativity using “thought experiments’’ to illustrate the consequences of a constant speed of light.  Many measurements have validated Einstein’s...

Greg Tallents | 2 Nov 2022

Disciplining China’s State Capitalism through International Trade Rules: Regaining the Missed Opportunity

China’s state capitalism is one of the most controversial issues in today’s international trade governance. While China has undergone unprecedented market liberalization and economic reforms in past...

Henry Gao, Weihuan Zhou | 2 Nov 2022

Dynamic companies, the governance paradox and the board of directors of the future

Innovative companies are a critical pillar of dynamic societies. The modern firm is a formidable institution that offers valuable solutions to citizens’ problems, creates jobs, fosters scientific discovery,...

Jordi Canals | 2 Nov 2022

Reconstruction, Retrogression, Retrenchment, and the Roberts Court

Every moment of transformative racial progress in American history has been met with violence to preserve white supremacy and the subordination of BIPOC. Scholars and authors have detailed how the Court...

Cedric Merlin Powell | 1 Nov 2022

A New Enlightenment: Reclassifying the Death Penalty as Torture

In 1764, the Italian philosopher Cesare Beccaria (1738-1794) published a book, Dei delitti e delle pene, that remains one of the seminal works of the Enlightenment. A law graduate of the University...

John Bessler | 1 Nov 2022