Today’s featured articles
Evidence suggests medieval origins for the Shroud of Turin. One of Christianity’s most venerated relics may not be biblical but its history remains remarkable.
How did the executed English nurse Edith Cavell become the unlikely protector of the German poet who pronounced her dead?
After the death of her husband in 1945, Eleanor Roosevelt left the White House and embarked upon a new career as ‘First Lady of the World’.
Most recent
How Did the First World War Change the Arts?
Surrealism – as formulated in André Breton’s manifesto a century ago in October 1924 – is regarded as one of the First World War’s artistic legacies. What are the others?
The Wreck of the Vrouw Maria
On 9 October 1771 masterpieces of Dutch art destined for Catherine the Great sank with the Vrouw Maria off the coast of Finland.
‘A Great Disorder’ by Richard Slotkin review
In A Great Disorder: National Myth and the Battle for America, Richard Slotkin attempts to untangle the stories that the US tells itself about race, colonialism and the Civil War. Is it a lost cause?
Solving the Victorian Housing Crisis
The acute housing crisis of mid-Victorian Britain generated stormy opinions about the nature of state intervention and the need for ‘wholesome despotism’.
Death of the King of Siam
On 1 October 1868 King Mongkut – who reigned as Rama IV – passed away having trod a delicate course to keep Thailand free of European empires.
‘The Scapegoat’ by Lucy Hughes-Hallett review
The Scapegoat: The Brilliant Brief Life of the Duke of Buckingham by Lucy Hughes-Hallett picks through the fragments of George Villiers, James VI & I’s favourite mistake.
The Kingdom of Sicily is Born
On 27 September 1130 a Norman usurper gained a crown from a desperate pope and the Kingdom of Sicily was born.
US President or American Caesar?
American democracy has been haunted by the spectre of a Caesar-type figure since the birth of the republic. Have such fears ever been justified?
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In the October issue:
The French Resistance, Mary, Queen of Scots’ royal jewels, Bolsheviks on the Silk Road, the wills of medieval kings and the Fisk Jubilee Singers.
Plus: reviews, opinion, crossword and much more!
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