Author Interview: Avery Cunningham (The Mayor of Maxwell Street)

We’re joined this week by Avery Cunningham, author of The Mayor of Maxwell Street. This historical fiction novel has it all: old timey gangsters! Lady journalists! Noir-adjacent gangland rivalries! And: 1920s outfits. It’s also a story about the Black elite of 1920s Kentucky and Chicago, using fictional characters to highlight this lesser known aspect of Black American history.

Learn more about Avery and her books at averycunninghamauthor.com

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Buy a copy of The Mayor of Maxwell Street and support Vulgar History by using this link.

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Author Interview: Vanessa Miller (The American Queen)

Talking with Vanessa Miller, author of the historical fiction novel The American Queen. This novel is based on actual events that occurred between 1865 – 1889 and shares the unsung history of a Black woman who built a kingdom as a refuge for the courageous people who dared to dream of a different way of life.

Learn more about Vanessa and her books at vanessamiller.com

The resources Vanessa mentioned to look up the age of words are:

etymonline.com

merriam-webster.com

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Author Interview: Andrea Penrose (The Diamond of London)

Born into an illustrious family of swashbuckling war heroes and brilliant political leaders, Lady Hester Stanhope was a Regency-era adventuress who lived on her own terms and refused to conform. Author Andrea Penrose took Hester’s life as inspiration for her new historical fiction novel, The Diamond of London.

Learn more about Andrea and her work at andreapenrose.com

Read Andrea’s blog posts at Word Wenches

Buy a copy of The Diamond of London and support Vulgar History by using this link.

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Women Behaving Badly, part 6: The Super Secret Spy (Rerelease)

This week is a re-release of season 1, episode 6 of Vulgar History, telling the saga of the Wizard Earl’s Daughter, Frances Howard’s protegee, that’s right: lady spy Lucy Percy Hay!

This rerelease includes a new edit of the original recording and a new intro and extro.

Mentioned in this episode: 

Sweet Valley Sagas by Francine Pascal 

Court Lady and Country Wife: Royal Privilege and Civil War: Two Noble Sisters in 17th-century England by Lita-Rose Betcherman

Invisible Agents: Women and Espionage in Seventeenth-Century Britain by Nadine Akkerman 

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Support Vulgar History on Patreon 

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Vulgar History is an affiliate of Bookshop.org, which means that a small percentage of any books you click through and purchase will come back to Vulgar History as a commission. Use this link to shop there and support Vulgar History.

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Women Behaving Badly, part 5: Mary Toft Pulled (Several) Rabbits (Out Of Her Vagina ) (Rerelease)

This week is a re-release of season 1, episode 5 of Vulgar History, telling the saga of the Imposteress Rabbit Breeder, Mary Toft!

This rerelease includes a new edit of the original recording and a new intro and extro.

Content warnings: animal cruelty/killing, nonconsensual gynecological procedures, Nathanael St. Andre

References:

The Imposteress Rabbit Breeder: Mary Toft and Eighteenth-Century England by Karen Harvey

What Mary Toft Felt: Women’s Voices, Pain, Power and the Body by Karen Harvey (History Workshop Journal)

Why Historians Are Reexamining the Case of the Woman Who Gave Birth to Rabbits by Sabrina Imbler (Atlas Obscura)

Imagining Monsters: Miscreations of the Self in Eighteenth-Century England By Dennis Todd

Lore, episode 45: First Impressions (Lore Podcast)

Mary Toft and Her Extraordinary Delivery of Rabbits by Niki Russell (The Public Domain Review)

An Extraordinary Delivery of Rabbits by Edward White (The Paris Review)

The Curious Case of Mary Toft (University of Glasgow Special Collections)

The confessions of a rabbit woman and other recently digitized tales from the Osler Library by Mary Yearl (McGill University Library News)

Mary Toft or Tofts (Godalming Musem)

The Woman Who Gave Birth to Rabbits by Lucas Reilly (Mental Floss)

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Support Vulgar History on Patreon 

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Vulgar History is an affiliate of Bookshop.org, which means that a small percentage of any books you click through and purchase will come back to Vulgar History as a commission. Use this link to shop there and support Vulgar History.

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Women Behaving Badly, part 4: Elizabeth Báthory Bathed In Blood (Not Really) (Rerelease)

This week is a re-release of season 1, episode 4 of Vulgar History, telling the saga of Elizabeth Báthory aka The Blood Countess aka #JusticeForBettyBats!

This rerelease includes a new edit of the original recording and a new intro and extro.

References:

Countess Dracula: The Life and Times of Elizabeth Bathory, the Blood Countess by Tony Thorne

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Support Vulgar History on Patreon 

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Vulgar History is an affiliate of Bookshop.org, which means that a small percentage of any books you click through and purchase will come back to Vulgar History as a commission. Use this link to shop there and support Vulgar History.

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Women Behaving Badly, part 3: She Stole Marie Antoinette’s Necklace (Rerelease)

This week is a re-release of season 1, episode 3 of Vulgar History, telling the saga of the Affair of the Necklace and Jeanne de la Motte!

This rerelease includes a new edit of the original recording and a new intro and extro.

References:

How To Ruin A Queen by Jonathan Beckman

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Support Vulgar History on Patreon 

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Vulgar History is an affiliate of Bookshop.org, which means that a small percentage of any books you click through and purchase will come back to Vulgar History as a commission. Use this link to shop there and support Vulgar History.

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Muslim Heroine of the Crusades, Iṣmat ad-Dīn Khātūn

Iṣmat ad-Dīn Khātūn was a 12th-century Muslim woman who lived in the Levant. She lived during the Frankish Wars aka The Crusades, and made a name for herself through her bravery and diplomacy.

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Call for de-escalation and ceasefire (for US people)

Email your US rep to demand a ceasefire

Template for UK people to email your MP

Take action to call for a ceasefire (for US, UK, Canada, and international people)

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Booklist to learn more about the history of the Levant

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Donate to MSF (Doctors Without Borders)

Donate to World Central Kitchen

Donate to PCRF (the Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund)

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Podcasts mentioned:

The History of the Crusades

The Islamic History Podcast

PreOccupation: A Not-So-Brief History of Palestine

Head On History

Historias Unknown

Jewitches

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References:

Wikipedia

The Crusades Through Arab Eyes by Amin Maalouf

Queens of Jerusalem: The women who dared to rule by Katherine Pangonis

The Life and Legend of the Sultan Saladin by Jonathan Phillips

https://www.history.com/topics/middle-ages/crusades

Saladin episode of You’re Dead To Me podcast

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Vulgar History is an affiliate of Bookshop.org, which means that a small percentage of any books you click through and purchase will come back to Vulgar History as a commission. Use this link to shop there and support Vulgar History.

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