Longitude in review

Looking for Longitude: A Cultural History has now been out for over a year, and its wonderful to see some reviews coming through. One aim of the book is to show the importance and value of interdisciplinary work, so it’s particularly rewarding to have reviews appearing in outlets from a range of disciplines.

First out of the blocks was the Mariner’s Mirror (pp.243-5) in April 2023:

“Reader, beware! This is not another book like Dava Sobel’s successful but extremely biased Longitude ... [it is] a valuable and trailblazing contribution”

In September 2023, the ‘Renaissance Mathematics’ blog published an in-depth review:

“a master class in contextual history” “this assiduously researched, and exhaustively documented volume … takes … readers on a vibrant and scintillating journey through the engravings, satires, novels, plays, poems, erotica, religion, politics, and much more of eighteenth-century London.”

Print Quarterly 2024 has featured a short but complimentary notice:

“a remarkably well-researched account of the ways in which this long-running saga impacted on many areas of public discourse, thought and imagery. The print historian will be fascinated by the trove of relevant visual material … a valuable example of the intelligent ways in which contemporary historians … use prints as historical evidence.”

I’m still hoping for more engagement and commentary, and would particularly like to hear from a reviewer working in the digital humanities. More will be added here as they come out.