Women
The Weeping Widow
The world’s first female prime minister, Sirimavo Bandaranaike of what was then Ceylon, is the archetypical example of what political scientists sometimes refer to as the “widow’s walk to power,” in which a woman steps into a position of political power after the often-violent death of her husband.The assumption is such women will carry on…
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From the Archives: Did Civil War Nurses Wear Uniforms?
Dear Marginalia: I’m coming close to the deadline and close to the end of the book. I’m also in Kenosha, Wisconsin, speaking at a Civil War medicine weekend at the Civil War museum here. ( Saturday, 2/17, 1 PM–stop on by if you’re in the neighborhood!) It’s a lovely way to hit the road for…
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Jumping to Conclusions About Swords
I have just typed the umpteenth variation of this statement: “when this rich undisturbed tomb was first excavated in 1976, the opulent goods and great cache of weapons led the archaeologists to assume the occupant was a male ruler.” * The next sentence always begins “but….” Rather than make rude Freudian jokes about the equation…
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