Public Uses of Human Remains and Relics in History

Public Uses of Human Remains and Relics in History
Author: Silvia Cavicchioli
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 293
Release: 2019-11-08
Genre: History
ISBN: 1000752127

The principal theme of this volume is the importance of the public use of human remains in a historical perspective. The book presents a series of case studies aimed at offering historiographical and methodological reflections and providing interpretative approaches highlighting how, through the ages and with a succession of complex practices and uses, human remains have been imbued with a plurality of meanings. Covering a period running from late antiquity to the present day, the contributions are the combined results of multidisciplinary research pertaining to the realities of the Italian peninsula, hitherto not investigated with a long-term and multidisciplinary historical perspective. From the relics of great men to the remains of patriots, and from anatomical specimens to the skeletons of the saints: through these case studies the scholars involved have investigated a wide range of human remains (real or reputed) and of meanings attributed to them, in order to decipher their function over the centuries. In doing so, they have traversed the interpretative boundaries of political history, religious history and the history of science, as required by questions aimed at integrating the anthropological, social and cultural aspects of a complex subject.

Einstein’s Brain

Einstein’s Brain
Author: Sal Restivo
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 169
Release: 2019-11-19
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 3030329186

This book reviews the research on Einstein’s brain from a sociological perspective and in the context of the social brain paradigm. Instead of “Einstein, the genius of geniuses” standing on the shoulders of giants, Restivo proposes a concept of Einstein the social being standing on the shoulders of social networks. Rather than challenging Einstein’s uniqueness or the uniqueness of his achievements, the book grounds Einstein and his achievements in a social ecology opposed to the myths of the “I,” individualism, and the very idea of “genius.” “Einstein” is defined by the particular configuration of social networks that he engaged as his life unfolded, not by biological inheritances.

Relic

Relic
Author: Renee Collins
Publisher: Entangled: Teen
Total Pages: 379
Release: 2013-08-27
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBN: 1622660153

After a raging fire consumes her town and kills her parents, Maggie Davis is the only one left to protect her younger sister. She’ll have to survive the best she can in the Colorado town of Burning Mesa—even if she lives in a strange, alchemical world where the bones of long-extinct magical creatures retain their magic...and are used to wield fire, turn invisible, or heal even the worst of injuries. When she proves to have a particular skill at harnessing the relics' powers, Maggie is whisked away to the glamorous hacienda of Álvar Castilla, the wealthy young relic baron who runs Burning Mesa. Though his intentions aren't always clear, Álvar trains Maggie in the world of relic magic. But when the mysterious fires reappear in their neighboring towns, Maggie must discover who is channeling relic magic for evil...before it's too late. Relic by Renee Collins is a thrilling adventure set in a wholly unique world, and a spell-binding story of love, trust, and the power of good.

PAX Draconis

PAX Draconis
Author: Justin Dagna
Publisher: Technicraft
Total Pages: 306
Release: 2003
Genre:
ISBN: 9780970327802

The Body of Evidence

The Body of Evidence
Author:
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 365
Release: 2020-02-17
Genre: History
ISBN: 9004284826

When, why and how was it first believed that the corpse could reveal ‘signs’ useful for understanding the causes of death and eventually identifying those responsible for it? The Body of Evidence. Corpses and Proofs in Early Modern European Medicine, edited by Francesco Paolo de Ceglia, shows how in the late Middle Ages the dead body, which had previously rarely been questioned, became a specific object of investigation by doctors, philosophers, theologians and jurists. The volume sheds new light on the elements of continuity, but also on the effort made to liberate the semantization of the corpse from what were, broadly speaking, necromantic practices, which would eventually merge into forensic medicine.

Relic

Relic
Author: Ed Simon
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Total Pages: 86
Release: 2024-01-11
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN:

Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things. Every culture, every religion, every era has enshrined otherwise regular objects with a significance which stretches beyond their literal importance. Whether the bone of a Catholic martyr, the tooth of a Buddhist lama, or the cloak of a Sufi saint, relics are material conduits to the immaterial world. Yet relics aren't just a feature of religion. The exact same sense of the transcendent animates objects of political, historical, and cultural significance. From Abraham Lincoln's death mask to Vladimir Lenin's embalmed corpse, Emily Dickinson's envelopes to Jimi Hendrix's guitar pick, relics are the objects which the faithful understand as being more than just objects. Material things of sacred importance, relics are indicative of a culture's deepest values. Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic.

Writing Visual Histories

Writing Visual Histories
Author: Florence Grant
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 256
Release: 2020-11-12
Genre: History
ISBN: 1350023469

What can visual artifacts tell us about the past? How can we interpret them rigorously, weaving their formal and material qualities into rich social contexts to reach wider historical conclusions? Unfolding key historiographical and methodological issues, Writing Visual Histories equips students to answer these questions, showing visual analysis to be a key skill in historical research. A multifaceted structure makes this a practical guide for writing and reflecting on visual histories. A first section includes six case studies -- on topics ranging from medieval heraldry to Life magazine. These examples are followed by an exploration of essential concepts that inform historical thinking about visual matters, a treatment of disciplinary practices, and discussion of the practicalities (such as accessing museum collections and organising permissions) that scholars working with visual sources have to navigate. This book is an invaluable tool kit for opening up a historical understanding of visual phenomena and practices of looking, and for writing that takes an integrated approach to studies of the past.

Did They Rest in Peace?

Did They Rest in Peace?
Author: Joseph William Lewis Jr. M.D.
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Total Pages: 332
Release: 2018-10-18
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1546261095

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. By what miracle can an assortment of seemingly unrelated particles come together and correctly assemble to form a human being? Amazingly, once aggregated, these atoms, molecules, and compounds manage to interact reasonably coherently during our lives but seek to return to their dusty state when death occurs. Of the billions of our species who have existed on earth over the millennia, most have quietly and inexorably returned to ashes and dust when their term of life expired. This book tracks some of the misadventures of selected corpses, including burials that went awry to body snatching, exhumations, human-relic collection, and assorted desecrations. Over the years, it seems that a remarkable number of bodies have failed to enjoy the admonition to “Rest in Peace.” Whether these aberrations in the burial process have disturbed the afterlife of the departed, everyone is dying to discover the answer.

Relic

Relic
Author: Douglas Preston
Publisher: Forge Books
Total Pages: 480
Release: 2007-11-27
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1429989793

From bestselling authors Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child comes Relic, the thriller that introduces FBI Special Agent Pendergast. Just days before a massive exhibition opens at the popular New York Museum of Natural History, visitors are being savagely murdered in the museum's dark hallways and secret rooms. Autopsies indicate that the killer cannot be human... But the museum's directors plan to go ahead with a big bash to celebrate the new exhibition, in spite of the murders. Museum researcher Margo Green must find out who--or what--is doing the killing. But can she do it in time to stop the massacre? At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Memory

Memory
Author: Linda Nagata
Publisher: Macmillan
Total Pages: 420
Release: 2005-12-27
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9780765340764

Acclaimed hard-SF author Linda Nagata introduces a new world, where the sky is bisected by an arch of light, and the mysterious "silver" rises from the ground each night to completely transform the landscape--and erase from existence anything it touches. Young Jubilee is devastated when her brother Jolly is taken by the silver. But when a forbidding stranger with the power to control the silver comes seeking Jolly--and claiming that Jolly knows him--Jubilee flees. For she has learned an impossible secret: Jolly may still be alive! Jubilee's flight will lead her to discoveries she could never have imagined, from the secret history of her civilization, to the awesome forgotten memories within her. And with these she will forever alter her world's future... unless the dark stranger, relentless in his pursuit, achieves his goal of destroying it.