Catching Nessie on Film
The Loch Ness Monster’s first appearance on film captured both the hype and the scepticism surrounding cinema’s newest star.
Volume 74 Issue 5 May 2024
‘The Specter of the Archive’ by Nicholas Popper review
The Specter of the Archive: Political Practice and the Information State in Early Modern Britain by Nicholas Popper explores the Elizabethan revolution in record keeping.
On the Spot: Eugene Rogan
‘The most common misconception about my field? That the Arabs are unusually prone to conspiracy theories to explain political developments.’
How the CCP is Closing China
Forty years of opening and reform persuaded a lot of people that the Chinese are not really communists. But modern China was modelled on the USSR, and its leaders want to revert to their Leninist roots.
‘Churchill’s American Network’ and ‘Mirrors of Greatness’ review
Cita Stelzer’s Churchill’s American Network and David Reynolds’ Mirrors of Greatness seek to bring Churchill’s contemporaries and adversaries out of his shadow.
Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin and the Making of Stars
What are stars made of? When a young astronomer upset standard explanations for the formation of the solar system, the establishment told her she was wrong – then stole her findings.
Petticoat Alley: London’s Forgotten Women’s Clubs
Despite their reputation, London’s private members’ clubs have never been entirely for men.
When Did Britain’s Age of Deference End – and Why?
An old-fashioned feature of a fusty, inegalitarian past, when did the British stop knowing their place?
The Death of a Mnemonist
Solomon Shereshevsky died on 1 May 1958. He dreamt of being a hero but achieved greatness of another kind.
‘The Emperor and the Elephant’ by Sam Ottewill-Soulsby review
The Emperor and the Elephant: Christians and Muslims in the Age of Charlemagne by Sam Ottewill-Soulsby surfaces Umayyad and Abbasid perspectives on their Frankish frenemies.