The essays collected in this volume demonstrate that, when certain medieval and contemporary cultural texts are placed alongside each other -- such as a fourteenth-century penitential handbook and the reality television show "Survivor," or early fifteenth-century Lancastrian statecraft (Henry IV) and the stagecraft of George W. Bush's presidential campaign -- they reveal certain mentalities and social conditions that persist over long durations of time. Several of the essays address overtly

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... tical subjects, such as political torture and suicide terrorism, while other essays attend to the various ways in which certain "real-life" fictions and cultural entertainments have always overdetermined our understanding of history, our current moment, and ourselves.