Wikipedia:Main Page history/2014 February 13

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Rambles in Germany and Italy is a travel narrative by the British Romantic author Mary Shelley (pictured). Issued in 1844, it describes two European trips that she took with her son and some of his friends. She had lived in Italy with her husband, Percy Bysshe Shelley, between 1818 and 1823 and it was associated with joy and grief: she had written much there but had also lost her husband and two children. Shelley presented her material from what she describes as "a political point of view", challenging the convention that it was improper for women to write about politics. Her aim was to arouse English sympathy for Italian revolutionaries, having associated herself with the "Young Italy" movement when in Paris on her second trip. Although Shelley herself thought the work "poor", it found favour with reviewers who praised its independence of thought, wit, and feeling, and her political commentary on Italy. However, for most of the 19th and 20th centuries, Shelley was usually known only for Frankenstein and her husband. Rambles was not reprinted until the rise of feminist literary criticism in the 1970s provoked a wider interest in her entire corpus. (Full article...)

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In the news

At least 76 people are killed when a military plane crashes in Algeria.
In a national referendum, Swiss voters approve re-imposing quotas on immigration from European Union countries.
The earliest human footprints outside Africa are discovered in the United Kingdom.
The Winter Olympics open (ceremony pictured) in Sochi, Russia.
In American football, the Seattle Seahawks defeat the Denver Broncos to win Super Bowl XLVIII.
Academy Award-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman dies at the age of 46.

Recent deaths: Shirley Temple – Stuart Hall – Ralph Kiner

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On this day...

February 13

1689 – Glorious Revolution: Mary Stuart and her husband William III of Orange were proclaimed co-rulers of England and Ireland.
1931 – New Delhi (India Gate pictured) was inaugurated as the new capital of British India by Viceroy Lord Irwin.
1960 – African American college students staged the first of the Nashville sit-ins at three lunch counters in Nashville, Tennessee, part of a nonviolent direct action campaign to end racial segregation.
1970 – The English rock band Black Sabbath released their eponymous debut album, which is recognised as the first major album to be credited with the development of the heavy metal genre.
2008 – Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd apologised to Indigenous Australians and the Stolen Generations.

More anniversaries: February 12 – February 13 – February 14

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It is now February 13, 2014 (UTC) – Reload this page

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Laguna Colorada is a shallow salt lake located within the Eduardo Avaroa Andean Fauna National Reserve in Bolivia. The lake's reddish waters contrast with its white borax islands.

Photograph: Christian Mehlführer

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