Category Archives: Language

Dogwhistles and Figleaves

Posted on September 19, 2024 by Ed Battistella

A while ago, I reviewed Jennifer Mather Saul’s Dogwhistles and Figleaves (Oxford UP, 2024) for Choice. It occurred to me that the timeliness of the book warranted a longer discussion and this it. Saul is a philosopher at the University … Continue reading →

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An Interview with Christina Ward, author of Holy Food: How Cults, Communes, and Religious Movements Influenced What We Eat—An American History

Posted on September 18, 2023 by Ed Battistella

Christina Ward is an independent cultural historian of food and food history, exploring what we eat and why we eat it. She is the author of American Advertising Cookbooks-How Corporations Taught Us To Love, Spam, Bananas, and Jell-O, and Preservation-The … Continue reading →

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An Interview with Judith Tschann, author of Romaine Wasn’t Built in a Day

Posted on July 11, 2023 by Ed Battistella

Judith Tschann is medievalist and Professor Emerita at the University of Redlands where she courses the History of the English Language, English literature, and Food in Literature, among others. She has a Ph.D. from Stony Brook University and has received … Continue reading →

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An Interview with Valerie Fridland, author of Like, Literally, Dude

Posted on May 1, 2023 by Ed Battistella

Valerie Fridland is a professor of English at the University of Nevada in Reno.  She has has a PhD in sociolinguistics from Michigan State University, and is an expert on the relationship between language and society, her work has appeared in … Continue reading →

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