Today’s featured articles
As the Battle of Britain raged overhead, the nation’s women were urged to salvage metal for the war effort. But was it just propaganda?
By the 14th century Christianity had swept many of Europe’s indigenous religions aside, but not all. At the continent’s peripheries paganism survived and, in some cases, thrived.
Little is known about the origins of the Bayeux Tapestry, or its journey from Norman propaganda to a world-famous tourist attraction. Yet those moments in which its story does come into focus reveal a surprising history of cross-cultural exchange.
Most recent
God’s Machines: Descartes and Nature
How should we see the natural world? For Descartes it was a mechanism, but a wondrous one.
‘Saudi Arabia: A Modern History’ by David Commins review
How did a Gulf backwater become a global powerbroker? Saudi Arabia: A Modern History by David Commins explores the uneasy alliance between oil, autocracy, and Wahhabism.
The Battle for Britain’s First Book of the Month Club
Britain’s first book-of-the-month club – the Book Society – brought reading to a vast new audience. But not without some controversy.
‘Language and Social Relations in Early Modern England’ by Hillary Taylor review
In Language and Social Relations in Early Modern England Hillary Taylor listens in the archives for the voices of ordinary people.
Swahili on the Road
How did Swahili become an East African lingua franca? It was not by accident.
The Death of the Great Barnato
On 5 July 1852 the curtain was raised on Barney Barnato, one of the richest men in South Africa.
Plato’s Last Word to Dionysius
How to reform an ancient Greek tyrant? Plato’s final advice to Dionysius the Younger was not well received.
‘The Big Hop’ by David Rooney review
Long overshadowed by Lindbergh, The Big Hop: The First Non-Stop Flight Across the Atlantic and Into the Future by David Rooney returns Alcock and Brown to aviation's top flight.
Current issue
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In the July issue:
The Java War, Mein Kampf and the German people, the survival of Europe’s pagans, the speed of early modern news, Italian emigrants in the First World War, and more.
Plus: reviews, opinion, crossword and much more!
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