I first read Kate Chopin's The Awakening in my first year English forms of fiction class and loved it. I was told by my professor that it’s interesting to read the book at different stages in life, so I’ve been hoping to read it again soon (I just need to find the time!). That said, I figured this would be the perfect book to use for this week’s assignment; it’s surprisingly old enough to be fully available online at Project Gutenberg.
Using TAPoR, I popped the url into the box designed to find concordances and typed in the word love to see what would come up. I found that it came up 40 times, and that it mostly appeared in the second half of the book, less than I had expected, considering the book is only 128 pages. The protagonist (Edna) in the novel has an affair with a younger man, so I typed in affair next. To my surprise, it only came up four times. And in all cases, it referred to a different kind of affair, as in, “dinner was a very grand affair.” Interesting. Having read the book so long ago, maybe they referred to the affair as something else entirely. It’s nice that the generator at TAPoR gives you the context in which the word was written, allowing users to make distinctions like this. Even the word marriage only appears in the book nine times. This was surprising to me since Edna greatly struggles with her marriage to her husband.
All in all, the generator is very cool. It allows you to identify the frequency and patterns of when certain words appear in books. This could be useful for anyone, but I could really see this being useful to someone in an English literature class. It could help people analyze books more thoroughly when knowing when and where certain words appear, thus helping them identify key themes at certain points in the book. I could personally see this tool as being very helpful in researching a paper, whether it be for a history class or an English class. The reason why I say this is because I have a very bad habit of going through my sources, seeing a quote I like, then forgetting where I saw it, and then manically thumbing through every page of the book until I find it. If the book I was looking through was digitized and online at a place like Project Gutenberg, I could easily type in a unique word from the quote I was searching for and easily find the passage! Plus, I could even use it to find other related significant quotes. Yes, this tool could be very useful to us, though perhaps not until more of our recent sources have been digitized.
I figured that it would be a good idea to post the link to my website on here in an actual post, instead of just on my profile. I have to say, making this website was pretty simple compared to have to write my own html or css file. That said, while I was putting together the site a few weeks ago, I found myself actually going into the html version of the website to adjust certain things. Plus, I'm pretty sure that if I didn't know how to "work" html, it would have taken me weeks to figure out how to link to different websites! So here is the link to my official website. Any comments are appreciated!
For this week’s blogging assignment, we’ve been told to peruse the Eaton’s catalogue from 1913-1914 and try to find some books online that were for sale in that year. A very cool assignment, but one that makes it easy for me to distract myself looking at other non-book related things! So here are some of the books I’ve chosen to find and where you can find them online, if you wish to do so.
The first book I decided to hunt down was Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, one that was surprisingly easy to find. I Googled it, not expecting to find anything, but it was on a website called Literature.org. It’s fairly convenient, and the only problem I can find is that the writing isn’t broken up very well on the webpage. What I mean is that there are no page breaks and no feel of what actual page number you are reading. This is something which would bother me, but I guess if I were to read a book online, I wouldn’t be worried about this type of thing!
The next book I decided to look for was Little Women, by Louisa M. Alcott, a personal favorite of mine when I was young. I decided to check out Google Books for this one and was successful. What I like about Google Books is that the pages online are broken up like the pages in a book would be, something that would make reading a book online easier for someone like me.
This time I tried to pick a book I’d never heard of. I selected The Foreigner by Ralph Connor and tried to look for it on Literature.org. I couldn’t find it on this website, so I headed over to Google Books, and I was surprised to discover that it was there. What I thought was cool about this book was that its table of contents was all hyperlinked so that the reader could easily go from chapter to chapter, unlike with Little Women.
I then tried looking for a book called the Mystic Dream Book, but was unable to find any results. It didn’t have an author, so that might be one reason that it was so difficult to find. Other books by the same name were listed, but they were published in the 1960s and on, so I know it is not the same book. I’ll go back to looking for a book that has an author, so this time I’ll choose Little Lame Prince, by Miss Mulock. Upon searching for this at Literature.org, I couldn’t find it, but then easily found it at Google Books. It was the second listing, and I discovered the author’s full name, which is actually Dinah Maria Mulock Craik. When I opened the link, I thought it was the full text, but at second glance, I realized it was just a preview of the book. I was curious if this was just Google not letting the reader see the entire book due to copyright reasons, so I decided to check out the Gutenburg Project just to see if it was there. It was. All of it. Hmmm.
The next book I’m going to look for is Discarded Daughter by Mrs. Southworth. I looked first at the Gutenburg Project because it was already opened in my browser, but it wasn’t there. I found it on the Internet Archive and was surprised to see that it had been downloaded 274 times. Considering I’d never heard of it, it seems to be somewhat popular. Under the copyright status it says that it’s not in copyright. This online book actually looks like a book; it’s even formatted to flip through the pages as if you were reading a physical book!
The last book I’m going to try to find is one out of the Peter Rabbit series by Beatrix Potter. I owned the entire collection as a child, and now I think I’ll see if I can find The Tale of Benjamin Bunny. Only a “snippet view” is available on Google Books, but the Gutenburg Project offers the entire book (and series). The only problem that I find with this is that there are no pictures, like in the original books, and that it’s literally just text on a website, which is very hard on the eyes. There is also a jumble of various words at the beginning of the webpage, above the actual Benjamin Bunny book, trying to elicit donations and looks like a very large and unattractive disclaimer.
If I’ve noticed one thing from trying to find these books from the early 20th century, it’s that they are shockingly easy to find. I certainly didn’t expect to find a book like Discarded Daughter so easily, and I thought that for sure Little Women would be copyrighted and hard to find a readable copy. I think it’s good to make these classic books available online, this way everyone with access to a computer is able to read them, instead of having to spend money and buy them. Yet, this also makes me worry about the future of books. With inventions like the Amazon Kindle and other readers similar to it, I wonder if the paperback book will ever become obsolete. I believe that the book is safe for at least another few generations, but after that I really don’t know what will happen. I know that I will probably never be inclined to read a book online just because I like the way it feels to hold a book in my hands and turn the pages, getting closer and closer to the end. And nothing beats the smell of a brand new book, something I’d love to see Amazon try to reproduce!
Marie Antoinette was the controversial and tragic French queen who was one of many victims of the French Revolution in the late 18th century. Her life fascinates me, and I feel that she’s often misrepresented in history, or should I say, historical depictions of her aren’t quite as accurate as they should be. Haven’t we all heard the stories of a cruel queen who shouted “Let them eat cake!” when told that French peasants were starving because they had no bread to eat? Here’s the good news: most historians will tell you that there is no evidence that suggests she said this, or anything like it. It’s because of myths like these that Marie Antoinette is a character who has interested me for awhile now. I have read a couple of interesting books about her and the general period, but I would like to learn a little more. So here is my step-by-step guide to navigating online sources regarding Marie Antoinette.
The first site I would visit, based on Wikipedia’s recommendations, is the Story of Marie Antoinette with Primary Sources. This looks promising, and at the very least it should offer some online primary sources to use. Upon entering the site, we see that it provides a nice overview of her life, with many excellent pictures to illustrate many aspects of her life. There are direct quotes, and many are cited to be from the Fraser book that was frequently cited in the Wikipedia article. One problem with this site that I immediately see is that although many quotes from the queen are used to support ideas, the site doesn’t say exactly where they were found. However, in the last page, entitled Used and Recommended Sources, a little more information is given about the sources used, but by no means does it give enough detail.
Next, I would head to Marie Antoinette Online, a site recommended by Wikipedia, and one that admittedly has a sympathetic bend to it. This is an immediate warning that there will be bias, but since bias exists everywhere, it’s worth having a look at. This is a pretty good source. It appears to be a blog written by numerous authors that touches on some common myths about Marie Antoinette, such as her overly extravagant lifestyle, that aren’t entirely true. A Reputation in Shreds touches upon the idea that Sofia Coppola’s Film Marie Antoinette has further damaged the reputation of the queen in the eyes of the public. (Sidenote: Coppola’s film isn’t great by any means, but it does show an amazing visual display of what Versailles would have looked like at the time, often shooting scenes in the actual palace.)
I followed one of the links on this webpage to one of the authors’ webpage whose name is Elena Maria Vidal. I see that she is the author of two historical-fiction books based on Marie Antoinette and that she has completed lots of research on the queen, making her appear to be a reliable source. Furthermore, she offers more blurbs about the queen on her website, and even hosts a YouTube video showing an interview with her discussing Marie Antoinette. She talks about some of the common myths surrounding the queen and shows that she has done some considerable research in the area. In further researching the author, I found that she has some other websites, most notably an interesting blog called Tea at Trianon, which features lots of information about Marie Antoinette’s children, an obviously important aspect of the queen’s life, and other related topics in her life.
One of the links recommended by Wikipedia was on LibraryThing, which shows that Marie Antoinette’s personal library is available online. When looking through the site, I can see that it offers many titles and letters, but unfortunately, they are all in French. Theoretically, this shouldn’t be an issue for those who have a reading understanding of French, but it is a little off-putting when there is probably a place where these resources have been translated for us! So in general, yes this is a great website, but could pose some language barriers.
Heading back to Google, I found another good article at About.com that gives a lot of suggested books to learn more about her life, if that is the direction you wish to take. By narrowing down my search to more specific words, such as “Marie Antoinette education resources”, I was able to find a webpage called Famous People: Marie Antoinette that has links to dozens of great related sites, including maps, speeches, and other different forms of media.
In another search, I found a website that is called The World of Royalty that hosts what looks to be an online book about Marie Antoinette. While the book seems to be okay, the unprofessional layout of the website alarms me a little and makes me question its validity. Aesthetically, it’s tacky, but more importantly, the book that readers can look at has no author anywhere to be found on the page. It also advertises places where people can buy their very own Marie Antoinette fashion wigs and other paraphernalia that makes the website seem questionable and less than scholarly.
One thing that I personally find striking about Marie Antoinette is her fashion and style.A lot of this is could be myth, but it’s interesting nonetheless. I’m going to go back to Google and see what I can find if I add the word “fashion” to a search with her name in it. After looking at many useless titles advertising Marie Antoinette Halloween costumes (the scantily clad versions, of course), I see a great article from Slate magazine called What Marie Antoinette Really Wore, written by Anne Hollander. It’s largely about what she wore and reasons for doing so, pointing out that she was indeed rather fashion-forward for her time.
My recommended final step that I would take in researching Marie Antoinette would be to start looking through the online scholarly journals, like JSTOR. I love JSTOR, mostly because I always seem to find a lot of helpful articles that are interesting and definitely reputable. One thing I must say about searching on JSTOR: use the advanced search option! It will save you many frustrated searches from using just the basic search; trust me, I’ve been there. Many times. One negative thing about JSTOR that could be problematic is that someone who doesn’t have a subscription wouldn't be able to access it, but for those of us at UWO, this isn’t an issue. I would also look to Google Books to see if there are any titles that might be helpful and fully available online. Finally, I would check out Amazon. You could use it to find other books related to the topic of Marie Antoinette and input those titles into a search engine to see if any of them are online.
I really hope I’ve given any newcomers to the subject a good starting point on researching Marie Antoinette online. I believe that the best thing to do is to give yourself a general overview of the subject, then pick things to focus on about her life that personally interest you. In my case, it’s the fashion and social aspect of Marie Antoinette’s life that I really enjoy. Best of luck!
After reading a chapter of James Loewen’s Lies Across America this week for my Intro to Public History class, I remembered how much I enjoyed Loewen and his writing. In my American history seminar class last year, we read his book Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong, which was awesome. Yes, Loewen is very biased, but I really enjoyed this book. It was an interesting book that read like a novel, and here follows a quick synopsis for anyone interested in checking it out.
In Lies My Teacher Told Me, James Loewen assesses the American history textbooks that most American high school students use to study history. He comes to the conclusion that most of the books are missing several important parts of American history, and that some include downright lies. As a sociologist and history professor who concentrates on race relations in the United States of America, Loewen provides readers with some really interesting historical truths that are not commonly known and even gives suggestions on how textbooks can be improved. And although he does have a very strong sociological bias, his book exposes the many problems of teaching of history in America, which are pretty worrisome.
A memorable example that he gives is that of Helen Keller. Textbooks tell students that she was blind and deaf, yet overcame adversity to be an inspiration for people everywhere. This is heart-warming and true, but textbooks “forget” to mention that she was a radical socialist who praised the Russian Revolution. This isn’t so inspiring. But maybe it is, just not for a nation who would go on communist witch-hunts a few decades later. This is a prime example of what he calls "heroification", the tendency of textbooks to gloss over the undesirable aspects of national heroes and emphasis the good. It’s exactly what happens with historical sites too. People want to remember things that present themselves in a favorable light and forget the bad, and glorify their nation while they’re at it.
He gives this example and so many more to prove his point, which I think he does a good job of. So if you’re looking for an interesting book to read over the Christmas holiday, I would definitely recommend this one. It’s really funny and you’ll probably be surprised with a lot of the mistruths that exist in the study of American history.
My name is Tasha and I’m currently in the Public History MA program at Western. I recently completed my undergraduate degree at Western and received an honours specialization in history, with a minor a psychology (something that happens to come in handy quite often). Though I’m new to the world of blogging, and despite my semi-computer-illiteracy, I'm excited to share my thoughts with other people. Here they are...
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