King of Games: Politics, Polo, and the Raj
Indian teams besting British sides on the polo field threatened to undermine the colonial enterprise.
Recently published
‘The Shah’s Party and the Iranian Revolution That Followed’ review
In The Shah’s Party and the Iranian Revolution That Followed Robert Templer reveals the hubristic high point of the Pahlavi regime’s self-regard.
General Pinochet’s Return
Redressing the crimes of Pinochet’s regime has been a hard-fought and often contested process. Chile’s current presidency has revealed how easily progress can be reversed.
‘The Cheese and the Worms’ by Carlo Ginzburg review
A new translation marks the 50th anniversary of Carlo Ginzburg’s pioneering microhistory The Cheese and the Worms: The Cosmos of a Sixteenth-Century Miller.
The Case for King Arthur
Often dismissed as a myth, was there a real man behind the legend of King Arthur?
‘Charismatic Nations’ by Joep Leerssen review
Charismatic Nations: A Cultural History of Nationalism in Europe from 1800 to the Present by Joep Leerssen looks to art and not politics for the birth of the nation.
The Absurdity of Albert Camus
For Albert Camus understanding the past and predicting the future may hinge on one fact: history is absurd.
‘This Dark Night’ by Deborah Lutz review
This Dark Night: The Life of Emily Brontë by Deborah Lutz vividly reconstructs the world that produced Wuthering Heights. Are there limits to this approach?
The Clerkenwell Outrage
The first Irish Republican bomb detonated on English soil was not intended as an act of terrorism, but its impact – and death toll – sent shockwaves through Victorian London.
How Inevitable Was the Rise of the Chinese Communist Party?
It is the most powerful political party in the world, controlling China’s future as well as its past, but was the young CCP in control of its imperial destiny?