letters

Essays
The World According to Pitt

The World According to Pitt

UK NATIONAL ARCHIVES - Jo Pugh explores the newly digitised letters of former British Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger and his sister Hester, and how their contents shed an intimate light on one of the most politically influential families in British history. more

Petrarch’s Plague: Love, Death, and Friendship in a Time of Pandemic

Petrarch’s Plague: Love, Death, and Friendship in a Time of Pandemic

The Italian poet and scholar Francesco Petrarch lived through the most deadly pandemic in recorded history, the Black Death of the 14th century, which saw up to 200 million die from plague across Eurasia and North Africa. Through the unique record of letters and other writings Petrarch left us, Paula Findlen explores how he chronicled, commemorated, and mourned his many loved ones who succumbed, and what he might be able to teach us today. more