The Intimate Sex Lives of Famous People

by Irving Wallace, Amy Wallace, David Wallechinsky, Sylvia Wallace

2008 · Feral House

The Wallace family goes back to their 1981 classic and brings it bang up to date with acerbic, sophisticated behind-the-curtains entries on Tupac Shakur, Princess Diana, Kurt Cobain, Malcolm X, Jim Morrison, and others who have impacted popular culture. 15 new entries enhance this revised classic illustrated historical romp.

The Invention of Middle English

by David Matthews

2000 · Penn State Press

At a time when medieval studies is increasingly concerned with historicizing and theorizing its own origins and history, the development of the study of Middle English has been relatively neglected. The Invention of Middle English collects for the first time the principal sources through which this history can be traced. The documents presented here highlight the uncertain and haphazard way in which ideas about Middle English language and literature were shaped by antiquarians in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It is a valuable sourcebook for medieval studies, for study of the reception of the Middle Ages, and, more generally, for the history of the rise of English. The anthology is divided into two sections. The first section traces the development of ideas about the Middle English language in the work of thirteen writers, including George Hickes, Thomas Warton, Jacob Grimm, Henry Sweet, and James Murray. The second section represents literary criticism and commentary by nineteen authors, including Warton, Thomas Percy, Joseph Ritson, Walter Scott, Thomas Wright, and Walter Skeat. Each of the extracts is annotated and introduced with a note presenting historical, biographical, and bibliographical information along with a guide to further reading. A general introduction provides an overview of the state of Middle English study and a brief history of the formation of the discipline.