How Have Conspiracy Theories Changed the Course of History?
Thriving in troubled times, the allure of a good conspiracy theory has proved irresistible whenever and wherever authorities are not trusted. What’s the damage?
Volume 73 Issue 8 August 2023
‘The Red Hotel’ by Alan Philps review
The correspondents who reported on a period when Russia changed European, and world, history.
Long Live the Ancien Régime!
The coronation of Charles III was dense with meaning. It’s complicated; and easy to misunderstand.
‘Pax’ by Tom Holland review
An account of the Roman Empire at its height amounts to a marvellous vademecum.
‘Henry III’ by David Carpenter review
A new account of some of the most exciting, terrible and important years in English history.
Germany and the Yellow Star
How should we view the worrying rise of protesters using the Holocaust to legitimise their cause?
The Scramble for Madagascar
The world’s fourth largest island was among the prizes of Europe’s ruthless African land grab. When one American diplomat made plans for his own enterprise, he soon found that the French had other ideas.
‘Found Incapable’
As senility came to be recognised as a distinct diagnosis, methods of protecting patients – from themselves and from others – had to change.
The Battle of Königsberg
For the German military command, the citizens of East Prussia were not a concern; they were a weapon.
The Colony That Vanished
Having prospered for more than 400 years, a medieval colony on Greenland vanished without a trace, but its memory lived on.