Teach Blood

Beast In The Blood

Peter Sahlins | Public Domain Review | 22nd March 2023

On the "Transfusion Affair", a 17C Parisian scandal over the transfusion of animal blood into humans. A young physician, Jean Denis, believed that blood from calves, lambs, and kid goats could cure all ailments and prolong life. Two patients died, but three were reportedly "cured and rejuvenated". A factional war of ideas followed between followers of William Harvey and René Descartes (4,584 words)

What Films Should We Teach?

Joe Karaganis | Public Books | 22nd March 2023

Three professors discuss the most assigned titles at US film schools. First is the 1929 film Man with a Movie Camera, followed by Spike Lee's Do The Right Thing and then Citizen Kane. "I’d argue that an educated person needs basic film history, which begins with acquiring a vocabulary to describe lighting, camerawork, sound and image relationships, editing, and narrative structure" (4,113 words)