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“Blood Libel: On the Trail of an Antisemitic Myth” was published by @Harvard_Press in 2020 and yesterday it won the National @JewishBook Award. Here is a thread on how the project evolved over time. A long version on the meme where it started/how it’s going #Twitterhistorians 1/ https://twitter.com/JewishBook/status/1354445463097913345
I started thinking about it in 2010, just after I submitted my second book to @Harvard_Press for review-it appeared as “Sinners on Trial: Jews as Sacrilege after the Reformation” in 2011-the title is different & better from my own. #Twitterhistorians 2/
In 2010, I applied for a project grant at my former institution @wesleyan_u . The project was called-I was shocked to discover today: “Between Catholics and Orthodox Christians: Jews, Crime, and Politics of Religion in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth” #Twitterhistorians 3/
By next year, reading some more primary sources, the project became “Networks of Power: Blood Libels against Jews and the Boundaries of Papal Authority.” That’s what my travel grant application for summer 2011 says. #Twitterhistorians 4/
Fall 2011, w/ major grants due & my project changed again. My @GuggFellows application was “The Pope’s Dilemma: Blood Libel and the Boundaries of Papal Power”. Amusingly it had 6 chapters (I would’ve finished it earlier w/ 6 ch). I got @GuggFellows 2012-13. #Twitterhistorians 5/
Then I chaired a department and moved institutions, so by the time next round of applications came in 2016, the project changed again. Now it was “Blood and Paper: Anti-Jewish Libels, Cultural Knowledge, and Diplomacy in Early Modern Europe.” #Twitterhistorians 6/
The new project proposed 9 chapters. I got a fellowship @CullmanNYPL @NYPL for 2017-2018. Amazing resources changed the book again, without @NYPL the chapter on European knowledge and print culture would’ve been blah. #Twitterhistorians 7/
In September 2018, I submitted it to @Harvard_Press for review as “The Blood Trail: Anti-Jewish Accusations in European Law and Culture.” #Twitterhistorians 8/
The wise people at @Harvard_Press suggested a different title, designed a bold cover, which I did not like. But it works-ever since I no longer care much about book titles and covers—presses sell books they know what they do. #Twitterhistorians 9/
All along, I've been buying artifacts, so I would not need to ask permission for images. Now I have a small collection of materials about Simon of Trent; talking to my friends and colleagues, from whom I learn so much, @sliptonmedieval @jteplitsky . #Twitterhistorians 10/
See some examples: http://thebloodlibeltrail.org/images/ #Twitterhistorians 11/
The point of this thread is that writing is a process. Projects change. I followed the “paper trail” of my sources and the book came out the way it did. #Twitterhistorians 12/
My late editor, Jeannette Hopkins, used to say that a book is not a bunch of chapters bound together. It has an arc. It has to be as long as it has to be but you have to respect your readers. They don't have to read your book. Write so they want to. #Twitterhistorians Fin/
That was my first thread ever, phew!
