Volume 72 Issue 2 February 2022

Birthday of the Dead

José Guadalupe Posada, who produced over 20,000 engravings during his career, was born on 2 February 1852.

In the Thick of It

Eyewitness reports of European wars and the febrile mood of nations as they tipped into conflict.

Crossing Oceans

Cloves, grown in Indonesia, crossed the globe in the Middle Ages, showing how interconnected the medieval world was.

The Roma Holocaust

Europe’s Roma were the victims of Nazi genocide during the Second World War, but their persecution did not end in 1945. 

The Continuity of Community

The support and camaraderie of close-knit communities were a double-edged sword. Nothing was private and reputations could be ruined at the twitch of the curtain.

In Pursuit of Pith

Flowers formed from pith paper captured the imagination of British society in the 19th century, sparking a search for the elusive ‘rice paper’ plant.

London Burning

A fresh account of how Londoners responded to the impact of the Second World War. 

The Death of an Emperor

With the US riven by civil war, Napoleon III seized the opportunity to install an emperor in Mexico. The new regime soon fell apart in a catastrophic manner.