New Women’s History Magazine - HerStoria
By Catherine Redfern | 30 June 2009, 15:35
Whilst in Liverpool recently I stumbled across the amazing shop News From Nowhere which if you don’t know is a fabulous, not for profit, radical and community bookshop, and also a worker’s cooperative.
Anyway, whilst browsing this wonderful treasure trove, enjoying a free vegan truffle and stocking up on various zines and interesting magazines such as Dublin’s anarcha-feminist magazine The Rag, I spotted a new one I hadn’t come across before which I thought might interest some of you.
HerStoria Magazine is a UK based women’s history magazine. From the website:
HerStoria magazine explores the past to discover how the other half lived, telling the story of ordinary - and extraordinary - women. We’ll bring you opinions about the fairer sex from across the centuries, and investigate the ways in which women responded and lived their lives…
…Debate the issues that influence the way history is made: Are women making themselves heard on the radio and TV? Are young historians in school learning about women’s history? Are women given an equal voice in popular and high brow history? Do museums and heritage centres provide a balanced view of history? Are our public memorials fair to women? Do we forget our heroines too easily?
So there you go. Check it out!
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Feeds
Aimee said:
Ooooh I love that woman! She did an excellent documentary on Helen of Troy. Love love love.
Posted on 30 June 2009 at 4:34 PM
David Kames said:
@Aimee
who is she?
and where are the women historians on TV? Why have Antonia Fraser, Lisa Appignanesi, Lisa Jardine, Margaret MacMillan or Kathleen Burk never had a TV series?
Come to that, why is TV history so relentlessly formulaic, dull and un-detailed?
Posted on 30 June 2009 at 6:55 PM
Ruth Moss said:
Oh NfN is indeed wonderful. It's so, so, so nice to see a bookshop mentioned here that isn't in London, too.
Shoulda said you were coming up to the 'pool. I seem to spend half me life in NfN. Between there and the Egg Café (fab veggie café in the 'pool) I don't think anywhere else sees much of me money!
Even wrote a review of NfN here, well, review of sorts anyway:
http://feministmums.wordpress.com/2008/08/25/now-that-really-is-radical/
(In case anyone else is interested in visiting the frozen wastelands of the North West of England, y'know?)
Posted on 30 June 2009 at 7:50 PM
Ruth Moss said:
Also to add, NfN are going through a few troubles financially atm. You can help out by buying from them online, they will ship anywhere in the UK. Don't want the good folk of Merseyside going without, do you? ;)
Posted on 30 June 2009 at 7:55 PM
Aimee said:
Her name is Bettany Hughes. She's a historian, an author and a presenter and she's really good on women's history. I'm a big history buff. Her Helen of Troy documentary was fantastic. Worlds away from the 'men hunted, women looked after children' mentality.
Posted on 01 July 2009 at 8:01 AM
Catherine Redfern said:
@Ruth Moss - Thanks! We'd really love to have more news from all over the UK more often, so if any readers have any information or any contributions of interest about feminism all over the UK please do get in touch with us.
I also went to the Egg Cafe - twice! :-)
Posted on July 1, 2009 9:55 AM
Claire said:
Catherine, thanks so much for this! I LOVE Bettany Hughes but haven't seen her on telly for ages and I was beginning to think David Starkey and that other guy (can't remember his name) had taken over completely.
Posted on 01 July 2009 at 11:47 AM
Jess McCabe said:
Yeah, I've seen a couple of issues of HerStoria so far and it's pretty interesting.
The piece in that issue about lack of representation of women on history TV programmes is really interesting - particularly there was a bit about how how one female historian fronting a show found herself in the position of interviewing other (white, male) historians - she was asking them questions about stuff that she knew more about, and was put in the position of the presenter, interviewer, not 'expert'.
There was another piece about the introduction of 'Turkish baths' in the UK, also really interesting.
Posted on 01 July 2009 at 12:05 PM
polly styrene said:
Yes News from Nowhere (like everywhere else) are struggling I'm afraid. Please shop there - you can order online - it's almost unique now, so many co-operative/radical bookshops have closed.
Posted on 01 July 2009 at 7:45 PM
Jane said:
@Claire
Did you mean Simon Schama? Don't tar him with the same brush as the ghastly Starkey! Schama did a very good series on Henry VIII where I remember he was very much on the side of Anne Boleyn, describing her trial as a 'cocktail of lies and pornography' (for some reason I always remember that line) Unlike Starkey he seemed to have no patience with Henry, referring to him often as 'a spoiled, over indulged tyrant'. Totally agree that we need more women historians on telly instead of the pompous Starkey and his annoying specs but I do like Simon Schama.
Posted on 05 July 2009 at 1:40 PM