Sara Beam – författare

Bawdy satirical plays—many starring law clerks and seminarians—savaged corrupt officials and royal policies in fifteenth- and sixteenth-century France. The Church and the royal court tolerated—and even commissioned—such performances, the audiences for which included men and women from every social class. From the mid-sixteenth century, however, local authorities began to temper and in some cases ban such performances.Sara Beam, in revealing how theater and politics were intimately intertwined, shows how the topics we joke about in public reflect and shape larger religious and political developments. For Beam, the eclipse of the vital tradition of satirical farce in late medieval and early modern France is a key aspect of the complex political and cultural factors that prepared the way for the emergence of the absolutist state. In her view, the Wars of Religion were the major reason attitudes toward the farceurs changed; local officials feared that satirical theater would stir up violence, and Counter-Reformation Catholicism proved hostile to the bawdiness that the clergy had earlier tolerated.In demonstrating that the efforts of provincial urban officials prepared the way for the taming of popular culture throughout France, Laughing Matters provides a compelling alternative to Norbert Elias's influential notion of the "civilizing process," which assigns to the royal court at Versailles the decisive role in the shift toward absolutism.

Despite progress in recent years, Oklahoma hardly ranks as woman-friendly. The state holds the highest incarceration rate of women in the nation. It offers women no legal protection against being fired due to sexual orientation or gender identity. Its Native American and immigrant populations struggle for access to community resources. And Oklahoma is still governed largely by men, leaving women without adequate political representation.In 2007, the highly acclaimed anthology Voices from the Heartland provided a much-needed platform for Oklahoma women - prominent and unknown - to tell their stories. This timely sequel reflects an even broader cross-section of women's experiences.Just like its predecessor, Voices from the Heartland: Volume II offers memorable accounts of struggle and transformation. It does not sugarcoat the problems that women face in contemporary Oklahoma - and in many parts of underprivileged America: racism, sexism, homophobia, poverty, addiction. The 38 contributions gathered here are honest and, at times, raw. They cover such varied topics as girlhood, trauma, the workplace, parenting, politics, and religious beliefs. Taken together, the essays comprise a living artifact of women's history, accessible and, as an anthology, ideally suited for classroom use.In the wake of the #MeToo movement, it is more important than ever to listen to what women have to say about their own lives, including - and perhaps especially - women from flyover states like Oklahoma. As Sara N. Beam states so eloquently in her preface, ""You'll read their stories here as they want them told: in a mix of poetry and prose, in the voice of a relative, in the voice of a tired person across the breakroom table, in a secret hush, or in a voice not unlike that of your best friend or mother."" These voices from the heartland inspire us to pause, to listen, to understand, to evolve, and to make a difference.