Who Were the Mamluks?
How the Mamluks, the slave-warriors of medieval Islam, overthrew their masters, defeated the Mongols and the Crusaders and established a dynasty.
Miscellanies
The 17th Century Guide to Sleep
Despite the modern obsession with a good night’s rest, more of us are sleeping less. Perhaps we should pay attention to the advice of early modern doctors.
Helen the Whore and the Curse of Beauty
Said to have ‘the face that launched a thousand ships’, Helen of Troy has been remembered, judged – and hated – by every age since she entered the written record 2,700 years ago. With great beauty comes great resentment.
Death Comes to the Atacama
Marching through the Atacama during the War of the Pacific, one Chilean general opined that his troops had fought ‘more against the desert than against men’. For those soldiers, the desert became a hell on earth.
Who Worked at Ravensbrück?
In Nazi Germany, a number of female doctors and nurses worked at Ravensbrück concentration camp, where medical treatment was replaced by negligence, experimentation and violence. What led these women to take jobs there?
Britain and America’s Theatrical War
In the 19th century, American theatres provided the stage for a war between high and low culture, the elite and ‘Know-Nothings’ – and Britain and the US. In 1849, events turned bloody.
How Europe Learnt to Swim
For 1,500 years, Western Europe retreated from the water in terror and swimming was even banned in Germany. The return to swimming is a lesser-known triumph of the Enlightenment.
Gregor MacGregor, the Prince of Poyais
Like a herald of lost Atlantis, Gregor MacGregor arrived in 19th-century London with news of a Central American utopia. Unfortunately, Poyais didn’t exist and its would-be emigrants found only a ‘sinister coast of disillusion’.
The Curious Creatures of Victorian Taxidermy
The exotic dead animals that appeared in the menageries of Victorian Britain’s grand exhibitions were far from perfect specimens. Stuffed, stitched, painted hybrids – accuracy was not a priority.
Point of No Return? Britain and the Elgin Marbles
Britain’s ownership of the Parthenon Sculptures has caused controversy since they were first brought to London in the early 1800s. Keen to keep the Greeks onside, the debate became highly charged during the Second World War.