Volume 76 Issue 9 September 2026

Fresco depicting the Donation of Constantine, Santo Quattro Coronati, Rome, 13th century. Heritage Images/TopFoto.

The Medieval Forgery at the Heart of the Church

An audacious forgery in the ninth century helped transform the papacy and the medieval Church. Its influence persists today.

The Sacrifice of Polyxena, Giovanni Francesco Romanelli, c.17th century. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Public Domain.

‘On the Altar’ by Jonathan Sheehan review

On the Altar: A History of Sacrifice from the Sacred to the Secular by Jonathan Sheehan places bloodletting at the heart of Western thought.

Richard Nixon dining with Zhou Enlai at the Jinjiang Hotel, Shanghai, February 1972. NARA/Alamy.

Visiting Mao’s China

For the thousands of foreign visitors who travelled behind the ‘bamboo curtain’ to visit Mao’s China, hospitality workers – guides, drivers, waiters, chambermaids – were unofficial ambassadors for the new socialist state, and the state knew it.