front cover of Bloodletting
Bloodletting
Kimberly Reyes
Omnidawn, 2025
Poetry that considers the nature of relationships in an age mediated by social media and impacted by violence.
 
This is a collection of poems about how we find and cultivate love amid wars, including wars that often go ignored. Throughout Bloodletting, Kimberly Reyes considers how we define love and who gets to experience it, paying special attention to the ways that race and sex influence how we are perceived and valued by society. Through the voice of a Black woman coming to terms with her own perspectives on relationship-building, Reyes shows the damage that contemporary culture can do to women, and Black women in particular. Resisting passivity, Reyes’s poetry cuts through pervasive doom scrolling, virtue signaling, and parasocial relationships, inviting readers to remember what care is really supposed to feel like.
 
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front cover of Medieval Wellness
Medieval Wellness
From Beauty to Bloodletting
Larisa Grollemond
J. Paul Getty Trust, The

<strong>Dispelling myths of a dirty, superstitious Middle Ages, this entertaining volume explores medieval approaches to health and wellness.</strong>
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<p>Often maligned as an era of darkness and superstition, the Middle Ages in Europe have been stereotyped as lacking standards for basic hygiene, or, at the very least, for having a laughably simplistic approach to self-care and medicine. With wit and expert analysis, medievalist Larisa Grollemond explores everyday practices and beliefs of medieval life. She uncovers a world as nuanced and self-aware as our own while playfully connecting traditions from the Middle Ages to modern wellness culture.</p>
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<li>Challenges misconceptions of medieval Europe with engaging, evidence-based insights into hygiene and healthcare practices.</li>
<li>Answers popular questions about daily life, including bathing, cosmetics, contraception, and the realities of medieval medical treatments.</li>
<li>Features over 130 illustrations of illuminated manuscripts, medieval artifacts, and other art works that bring the past vividly to life.</li>
<li>Connects medieval wellness practices to contemporary self-care trends, offering surprising parallels and fresh perspective.</li>
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<p><strong>If you think the Middle Ages were primitive and unsophisticated, this book will change your mind. With <em>Medieval Wellness</em>, you’ll discover a world of care, curiosity, and complexity that will feel familiar to your own.</strong></p>

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