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Vulgar History: Halloween

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Mary Shelley's influence can be felt in countless feminist body horror novels written in the past two hundred years. But how many of those books are about anatomical wax figures who come to life to KILL THE MEN WHO PREYED UPON THEM??
Allison Rushby's novel Slashed Beauties is about just that. We talk about the real (grotesque) history behind her novel, how Mary Shelley inspired her, and how she researched the lives of 18th-century sex workers. Plus: what's her next novel about??
Buy a copy of Slashed Beauties by Allison Rushby (affiliate link)
Learn about the real-life anatomical wax figures
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Preorder info for Ann's upcoming book, Rebel of the Regency!
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It's Mary Shelley Month on Vulgar History! For Halloween season, we're looking at goth icon Mary Shelley and her friends and family. And we'e starting with her equally iconic mother, Mary Wollstonecraft!
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Preorder info for Ann's upcoming book, Rebel of the Regency!
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Get 15% off all the gorgeous jewellery and accessories at common.era.com/vulgar or go to commonera.com and use code VULGAR at checkout
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Support Vulgar History on Patreon
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It's the epic conclusion to the season! In this season finale, Marie Antoinette moves into her final era, and makes a final major fashion statement.
Join the Vulgar History Patreon to watch this episode as a video!
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Preorder info for Ann's upcoming book, Rebel of the Regency!
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Get 15% off all the gorgeous jewellery and accessories at common.era.com/vulgar or go to commonera.com and use code VULGAR at checkout
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Get Vulgar History merch at vulgarhistory.com/store (best for US shipping) and vulgarhistory.redbubble.com (better for international shipping)
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Support Vulgar History on Patreon
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Vulgar History is an affiliate of Bookshop.org, which means that a small percentage of any books you click through and purchase will come back to Vulgar History as a commission. Use this link to shop there and support Vulgar History.
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Last time on HOW DO YOU SOLVE A PROBLEM LIKE MARIE ANTOINETTE: The mob forced Marie Antoinette, Berry, and their family to leave Versailles. Marie Antoinette knew nothing good would come of this, and worked with her hot Swedish lover to figure out an escape plan featuring a party bus, false identities, and Monsieur Sauce.
Historical fiction author (and returning Vulgar History guest) Allison Epstein joins us for the unhinged saga.
Join the Vulgar History Patreon to watch this episode as a video!
—
Preorder info for Ann's upcoming book, Rebel of the Regency!
—
Get 15% off all the gorgeous jewellery and accessories at common.era.com/vulgar or go to commonera.com and use code VULGAR at checkout
—
Get Vulgar History merch at vulgarhistory.com/store (best for US shipping) and vulgarhistory.redbubble.com (better for international shipping)
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Support Vulgar History on Patreon
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Vulgar History is an affiliate of Bookshop.org, which means that a small percentage of any books you click through and purchase will come back to Vulgar History as a commission. Use this link to shop there and support Vulgar History.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Last time on HOW DO YOU SOLVE A PROBLEM LIKE MARIE ANTOINETTE: the Affair of the Necklace trial made Marie Antoinette realize her reputation's never been worse. But Axel von Fersen likes her for her, which is something, right? Meanwhile, the Market Ladies head out on a momentous march.
Join the Vulgar History Patreon to watch this episode as a video!
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Preorder info for Ann's upcoming book, Rebel of the Regency!
—
Get 15% off all the gorgeous jewellery and accessories at common.era.com/vulgar or go to commonera.com and use code VULGAR at checkout
—
Get Vulgar History merch at vulgarhistory.com/store (best for US shipping) and vulgarhistory.redbubble.com (better for international shipping)
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Support Vulgar History on Patreon
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Vulgar History is an affiliate of Bookshop.org, which means that a small percentage of any books you click through and purchase will come back to Vulgar History as a commission. Use this link to shop there and support Vulgar History.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The last Marie Antoinette episode ended with how Marie Antoinette herself experienced the weird drama of The Affair of the Necklace. It makes sense to revisit this classic episode about Jeanne de la Motte and History's Ugliest Necklace, now that we all know more about the context of the heist.
Shop The Affair of the Necklace: The Necklace: The T-shirt at the Vulgar History store
—
Preorder info for Ann's upcoming book, Rebel of the Regency!
—
Get 15% off all the gorgeous jewellery and accessories at common.era.com/vulgar or go to commonera.com and use code VULGAR at checkout
—
Get Vulgar History merch at vulgarhistory.com/store (best for US shipping) and vulgarhistory.redbubble.com (better for international shipping)
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Support Vulgar History on Patreon
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Vulgar History is an affiliate of Bookshop.org, which means that a small percentage of any books you click through and purchase will come back to Vulgar History as a commission. Use this link to shop there and support Vulgar History.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
When we left off last time, Marie Antoinette became Queen of France at age eighteen. Hater Nation lost their minds as she could now set up her favourites in sweet jobs, and distance herself from the haters. What was life like during the reign of Marie Antoinette and her woodworking enthusiast husband, Berry? Well, it included a LOT of AMAZING WIGS as our girl channelled 2023-2024 Jojo Siwa with the masks, rapid style pivots, and the messy chaos of a twenty-year-old growing up in the public eye.
Join the Vulgar History Patreon to watch this episode as a video!
—
Preorder info for Ann's upcoming book, Rebel of the Regency!
—
Get 15% off all the gorgeous jewellery and accessories at common.era.com/vulgar or go to commonera.com and use code VULGAR at checkout
—
Get Vulgar History merch at vulgarhistory.com/store (best for US shipping) and vulgarhistory.redbubble.com (better for international shipping)
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Support Vulgar History on Patreon
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Vulgar History is an affiliate of Bookshop.org, which means that a small percentage of any books you click through and purchase will come back to Vulgar History as a commission. Use this link to shop there and support Vulgar History.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
We've been building up to this all season. Time to begin our discussion of the iconic French Queen, Marie Antoinette! Before she was Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, she was Maria Antonia, ADHD-coded youngest daughter of a formidable mother (who mostly ignored her).
Join the Vulgar History Patreon to watch this episode as a video!
—
Preorder info for Ann's upcoming book, Rebel of the Regency!
—
Get 15% off all the gorgeous jewellery and accessories at common.era.com/vulgar or go to commonera.com and use code VULGAR at checkout
—
Get Vulgar History merch at vulgarhistory.com/store (best for US shipping) and vulgarhistory.redbubble.com (better for international shipping)
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Support Vulgar History on Patreon
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Vulgar History is an affiliate of Bookshop.org, which means that a small percentage of any books you click through and purchase will come back to Vulgar History as a commission. Use this link to shop there and support Vulgar History.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
It's Marie Antoinette Month on Vulgar History! This week, we're talking about her BFF La Princesse de Lamballe. This basic bitch (complimentary) was always there for Marie Antoinette, even as the Queen's favour waxed and waned.
Join the Vulgar History Patreon to watch this episode as a video!
—
Preorder info for Ann's upcoming book, Rebel of the Regency!
—
Get 15% off all the gorgeous jewellery and accessories at common.era.com/vulgar or go to commonera.com and use code VULGAR at checkout
—
Get Vulgar History merch at vulgarhistory.com/store (best for US shipping) and vulgarhistory.redbubble.com (better for international shipping)
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Support Vulgar History on Patreon
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Vulgar History is an affiliate of Bookshop.org, which means that a small percentage of any books you click through and purchase will come back to Vulgar History as a commission. Use this link to shop there and support Vulgar History.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Marie Antoinette Month continues with a discussion of Marie Antoinette's bestie, Gabrielle de Polastron, Duchess of Polignac. The Elizabeth Taylor of her era (looks-wise, not multiple husbands-wise), Gabby brought joie de vivre and fun to Marie Antoinette's Queen Era. But did Gabby survive the Reign of Terror??
Returning guest Amanda Matta (The Art of History podcast) joins us to explain the Versailles of it all.
Join the Vulgar History Patreon to watch this episode as a video!
—
Preorder info for Ann's upcoming book, Rebel of the Regency!
—
Get 15% off all the gorgeous jewellery and accessories at common.era.com/vulgar or go to commonera.com and use code VULGAR at checkout
—
Get Vulgar History merch at vulgarhistory.com/store (best for US shipping) and vulgarhistory.redbubble.com (better for international shipping)
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Support Vulgar History on Patreon
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Vulgar History is an affiliate of Bookshop.org, which means that a small percentage of any books you click through and purchase will come back to Vulgar History as a commission. Use this link to shop there and support Vulgar History.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
We're in our Marie Antoinette era, and you can't understand her story without knowing about her mother, Empress Maria Theresa! Because Maria Theresa is largely responsible for what happened to Marie Antoinette! Because she was not a good mother!
But what Maria Theresa was skilled at was ruling over a truly perplexing number of territories. All the most impressive when you realize Maria Theresa got zero training and had to learn it all on the job (while in the midst of constant wars).
Friend of the podcast Lana Wood Johnson joins us to explain the Hapsburg of it all.
—
Preorder info for Ann's upcoming book, Rebel of the Regency!
—
Get 15% off all the gorgeous jewellery and accessories at common.era.com/vulgar or go to commonera.com and use code VULGAR at checkout
—
Get Vulgar History merch at vulgarhistory.com/store (best for US shipping) and vulgarhistory.redbubble.com (better for international shipping)
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Support Vulgar History on Patreon
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Vulgar History is an affiliate of Bookshop.org, which means that a small percentage of any books you click through and purchase will come back to Vulgar History as a commission. Use this link to shop there and support Vulgar History.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
We're getting into the Marie Antoinette of it all! From today and until we're done, every week will be a Marie Antoinette event!
Marie Antoinette's appearance was a big part of her reputation (good... then less good) and Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun was her Law Roach in that respect, helping craft an image for the people of France to recognize. And Elisabeth's life was tumultuous and fascinating as well!
We're joined by author Jordana Pomeroy, art history expert and author of the new book Daring: The Life and Art of Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun to discuss the life of this artist.
Buy a copy of Jordana's book (affiliate link)
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Preorder info for Ann's upcoming book, Rebel of the Regency!
—
Get 15% off all the gorgeous jewellery and accessories at common.era.com/vulgar or go to commonera.com and use code VULGAR at checkout
—
Get Vulgar History merch at vulgarhistory.com/store (best for US shipping) and vulgarhistory.redbubble.com (better for international shipping)
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Support Vulgar History on Patreon
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Vulgar History is an affiliate of Bookshop.org, which means that a small percentage of any books you click through and purchase will come back to Vulgar History as a commission. Use this link to shop there and support Vulgar History.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Germaine de Staël was a wealthy woman in Paris during the French Revolution. But unlike so many others, she made it through alive! Because she was smart enough to leave town and not return until it was safe! Which means we get to finally talk about what happened in France post-1794.
Special guest Allison Epstein joins us, because Napoleon Bonaparte comes up, and if Napoleon has no haters that because both Germaine and Allison are dead.
—
Preorder info for Ann's upcoming book, Rebel of the Regency!
—
RSVP for the Vulgar History in-person meet-up in Toronto!
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Get 15% off all the gorgeous jewellery and accessories at common.era.com/vulgar or go to commonera.com and use code VULGAR at checkout
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Get Vulgar History merch at vulgarhistory.com/store (best for US shipping) and vulgarhistory.redbubble.com (better for international shipping)
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Support Vulgar History on Patreon
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Vulgar History is an affiliate of Bookshop.org, which means that a small percentage of any books you click through and purchase will come back to Vulgar History as a commission. Use this link to shop there and support Vulgar History.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
We've reached a point in our French Revolution discussion where we can no longer tell the story through the lives of women, because women were excluded from leadership roles. So instead, special guest Allison Epstein joins us to explain who were the men who led the French Revolution (badly).
Time to learn about the Spice Boys: Danton, Marat, Saint-Just, Robespierre, and Desmoulins!
—
Preorder info for Ann's upcoming book, Rebel of the Regency!
—
RSVP for the Vulgar History in-person meet-up in Toronto!
—
Get 15% off all the gorgeous jewellery and accessories at common.era.com/vulgar or go to commonera.com and use code VULGAR at checkout
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Get Vulgar History merch at vulgarhistory.com/store (best for US shipping) and vulgarhistory.redbubble.com (better for international shipping)
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Support Vulgar History on Patreon
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Vulgar History is an affiliate of Bookshop.org, which means that a small percentage of any books you click through and purchase will come back to Vulgar History as a commission. Use this link to shop there and support Vulgar History.
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The American and French Revolutions inspired people in Haiti to rise up. Yet the Haitian Revolution is not always included in discussions of the revolutionary 18th century.
Here to untangle this knot of connections is author Zoe Sivak, whose novel Mademoiselle Revolution is about a woman navigating her way through this revolutionary era.
Buy Zoe's book Mademoiselle Revolution from Bookshop (affiliate link)
—
Preorder info for Ann's upcoming book, Rebel of the Regency!
—
RSVP for the Vulgar History in-person meet-up in Toronto!
—
Get 15% off all the gorgeous jewellery and accessories at common.era.com/vulgar or go to commonera.com and use code VULGAR at checkout
—
Get Vulgar History merch at vulgarhistory.com/store (best for US shipping) and vulgarhistory.redbubble.com (better for international shipping)
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Support Vulgar History on Patreon
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Vulgar History is an affiliate of Bookshop.org, which means that a small percentage of any books you click through and purchase will come back to Vulgar History as a commission. Use this link to shop there and support Vulgar History.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jean-Jacques Dessalines was one of the major figures in the Haitian Revolution. He was vilified and demonized during his life and afterwards. Julia Gaffield has written a new biography reckoning with his complex legacy, and she joins us this week to explain his importance to history.
Buy a copy of I Have Avenged America: Jean-Jacques Dessalines and Haiti's Fight for Freedom by Julia Gaffield (affiliate link)
—
Preorder info for Ann's upcoming book, Rebel of the Regency!
—
RSVP for the Vulgar History in-person meet-up in Toronto!
—
Get 15% off all the gorgeous jewellery and accessories at common.era.com/vulgar or go to commonera.com and use code VULGAR at checkout
—
Get Vulgar History merch at vulgarhistory.com/store (best for US shipping) and vulgarhistory.redbubble.com (better for international shipping)
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Support Vulgar History on Patreon
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Vulgar History is an affiliate of Bookshop.org, which means that a small percentage of any books you click through and purchase will come back to Vulgar History as a commission. Use this link to shop there and support Vulgar History.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Gouvernour Morris is a lesser-known American Founding Father (that was his name btw, not his job title). He was so full of BDE that he headed over to France in the midst of the Revolution to a) be the Ambassador and b) fuck.
We're joined by historian Cassandra Good to discuss Gouvernour's sex scandal-filled life.
Learn more about Gouvernour and other founding fathers sexy shenanigans in Cassandra's new course Early American Sex Scandals.
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Preorder info for Ann's upcoming book, Rebel of the Regency!
—
RSVP for the Vulgar History in-person meet-up in Toronto!
—
Get 15% off all the gorgeous jewellery and accessories at common.era.com/vulgar or go to commonera.com and use code VULGAR at checkout
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Get Vulgar History merch at vulgarhistory.com/store (best for US shipping) and vulgarhistory.redbubble.com (better for international shipping)
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Support Vulgar History on Patreon
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Vulgar History is an affiliate of Bookshop.org, which means that a small percentage of any books you click through and purchase will come back to Vulgar History as a commission. Use this link to shop there and support Vulgar History.
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Manon Roland was a super-smart bookworm who amazed those around her from an early age with her intelligence (and strong opinions). When the French Revolution kicked off, she sent letters from Lyons to Paris to keep people updated on the latest news. She also got on the wrong side of Robespierre, which didn't go well.
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Preorder info for my book, Rebel of the Regency!
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Sign up for the Vulgar History mailing list!
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Get 15% off all the gorgeous jewellery and accessories at common.era.com/vulgar or go to commonera.com and use code VULGAR at checkout
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Get Vulgar History merch at vulgarhistory.com/store (best for US shipping) and vulgarhistory.redbubble.com (better for international shipping)
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Support Vulgar History on Patreon
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Vulgar History is an affiliate of Bookshop.org, which means that a small percentage of any books you click through and purchase will come back to Vulgar History as a commission. Use this link to shop there and support Vulgar History.
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Etta Palm d'Aelders was a Dutch woman so sexy that she got hired as a spy for three different countries (simultaneously). One of these countries was France, which is how she wound up in Paris during the French Revolution.
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Get 15% off all the gorgeous jewellery and accessories at common.era.com/vulgar or go to commonera.com and use code VULGAR at checkout
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Charlotte Corday is a notorious figure from the French Revolution, best known for assassinating Jean-Paul Marat. Who was she, why did she do this, what art was inspired by her act, was she the Luigi of her time, and must we stan?? Special guest Gavin Whitehead from The Art of Crime podcast joins us to talk about the ribbons of it all.
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Get 15% off all the gorgeous jewellery and accessories at common.era.com/vulgar or go to commonera.com and use code VULGAR at checkout
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Support Vulgar History on Patreon
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Vulgar History is an affiliate of Bookshop.org, which means that a small percentage of any books you click through and purchase will come back to Vulgar History as a commission. Use this link to shop there and support Vulgar History.
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Christina of Sweden wad pretty tits out too. just sayin....
because of you I listened to BAD WOMEN. thank you! I loved it. so great women helping women out! your recommendations are always top notch!
love her...thanks for the fun history