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Those Who Go, by Umberto Boccioni, 1912.

A World Without Touch

The fear that advances in technology and comfort bring isolation and complacency is never far away. 

The Summons to Surrender: an Incident in the Spanish Armada, by George Vicat Cole, 19th century.

The Crowd-Funded War

In the wake of the failure of the Spanish Armada, England sought retaliation by launching an invasion of its own. But how to finance such a venture?

Bayon Temple, 1866, by John Thomson.

In the Shadow of Angkor

The ruined temples of Cambodia’s medieval empire became symbols of a people who had forgotten their history. In reality, they demonstrate an inherent continuity. 

De László in his London studio, 1937.

To Frame a Painter

A society portraitist who emigrated to Britain from Hungary found himself embroiled in a drama of divided loyalties during the First World War. 

A street in Guangzhou/Canton, 1870s © Bridgeman Images.

The Invention of Chinese

Believing language would unify their struggling nation, Chinese officials began a project to create a national language and define what it meant to speak Chinese. 

A New York streetcar, c.1890.

A Stand on the Streetcar

How an individual act of resistance in 1850s’ New York led to the desegregation of the city’s transit system.

Hernán Cortés and his troops during the Noche Triste, Mexican, 17th century.

Contested Legacy of the Conquistadors

If we are to better understand the actions of men such as Hernán Cortés, we must place them in the context of a medieval world view that predated the nation state.

‘Meditations of a Gourmand’. Coloured engraving from Almanach des Gourmands, 19th century.

The Culinary Enlightenment

The belief that you are what you eat emerged in 19th-century France, where the pleasures of the table were sautéed with philosophy and medicine. 

The Hajj, by Alfred Dehodencq, c.1880 © Hulton Getty Images.

Pilgrims Processed

Muslims from Asia who wished to travel to Mecca on the Hajj were exploited by a trade in human cargo that grew with the opening of the Suez Canal.