How did citizens in Bruges create a home? What did an ordinary domestic interior look like in the sixteenth century? And more importantly: how does one study the domestic culture of bygone times by analysing documents such as probate inventories? These questions seem straightforward, yet few endeavours are more challenging than reconstructing a sixteenth-century domestic reality from written sources. This book takes full advantage of the inventory and convincingly frames household objects in ...

Acoustic atmospheres can be fleeting, elusive, or short-lived. Sometimes they are constant, but more often they change from one moment to the next, forming distinct impressions each time we visit certain places. Stable or dynamic, acoustic atmospheres have a powerful effect on our spatial experience, sometimes even more so than architecture itself. This book explores the acoustic atmospheres of diverse architectural environments, in terms of scale, function, location, or historic period—pro...

Few western musical repertories speak more to the imagination than the Requiem mass for the dead. The Book of Requiems presents in-depth essays on the most important works in this tradition, from the origins of the genre up to the present day. Each chapter is devoted to a specific Requiem, and offers both historical information and a detailed work-discussion. Conceived as a multi-volume essay collection by leading experts, The Book of Requiems is an authoritative reference publication intende...

The complex relation between gender and the representation of intellectual authority has deep roots in European history. Portraits and Poses adopts a historical approach to shed new light on this topical subject. It addresses various modes and strategies by which learned women (authors, scientists, jurists, midwifes, painters, and others) sought to negotiate and legitimise their authority at the dawn of modern science in Early Modern and Enlightenment Europe (1600–1800). This volume explore...

What is your opinion? Is it acceptable to touch a colleague during a conversation? Or for a company to ask employees without children to not take days off during school holidays? Could one ask a colleague with tattoos on his arms to not wear short sleeved clothing?

Everyone has the right to a safe workplace. But what that means exactly is different for everyone. What behaviour do you think is really unacceptable? On the basis of 100 situations, discuss (unacceptable) behaviour in the workpla...

Over the last four decades, Greece has been an active, positive and multi-dimensional participant in the process of European integration – initially in the European Economic Community (EEC) and then in the European Union (EU). The course over these 40 years, however, has not been without obstacles. The economic crisis in the 2010s has undoubtedly been the most turbulent period in Greece’s relation with the EU. Yet, despite such difficulties, over these four decades the balance is certainl...

Using the method of prison tourism, this book is guided by the question: ‘What are the South African prisons of today for?’ i.e. ‘What purposes do they serve?’ It gives an account of the author’s attempts to be the eyes and ears for a public who may never see the inside of South Africa’s prisons. Intimately sharing her experiences in these spaces, Lin van Schalkwyk focuses on the stories that are told by the people she encounters and places it alongside her own unfolding inner nar...

Statistics is more topical than ever. Numerous decisions depend on statistical considerations: just think of the Corona crisis or decisions about approving new drugs or other products. If researchers announce they have proved some fact using statistical tests, can we then always be sure that their claim is correct? How, and more importantly why, does statistics work? What can we expect from statistics and what not? 'Fact or Fluke?' is not a textbook that explains statistical tests to the read...

During the Indonesian War of Independence, Lady Justice played an important role on the Dutch side. Soldiers were, and are, required to comply with the law and a range of rules and regulations, both in and out of combat. If they fail to do so, disciplinary action and criminal sanctions can be taken against them. But did this happen at the time? Dutch military tribunals not only tried Dutch soldiers but also Indonesians who opposed the colonial authority. How independent and objective were the...

The world is changing fast. So fast that it is difficult to follow. Every day, we are confronted with thousands of different stimuli, ever-expanding digitalisation and ever more powerful forces of transformation, both at work and in society as a whole. Our increasingly frantic way of living and working demands more and more energy from us and has negative effects on our bodies, our health and our quality of life. Behind the seemingly attractive facade of this life, a deep personal emptiness i...