For centuries, Joan of Arc has been used for political purposes, and that makes sense. Born in 1412, in the middle of the Hundred Years' War, Joan saw her country overrun"fields scorched, cattle slaughtered"by English soldiers fighting for dominion over France. At the age of thirteen, as she later reported, she started hearing voices: first Saint Michael, then other saints. In the beginning, they just said that she s…
SOURCE: The New Yorker at 09:02AM on March 25, 2017