Hannah R. Johnson

Department of English
hmclaugh@princeton.edu

Hannah Johnson is examining recent publishing trends in popular historiography, emphasizing texts that set out to reinterpret the history of the Middle Ages. These “parahistories” are written by amateur historians seeking to claim an authority rivaling that of university scholars. By examining book sales and marketing information alongside readers’ and critics’ reviews, she hopes to explain the allure of such texts and their impact on the consumption of mainstream scholarly publishing. Her dissertation project analyzes late medieval historical writing and its recuperation and reinvention by contemporary writers of parahistory.