Reviews

‘The fading dream, or the rude awakening’, by Lute Pease, 1916. Niday Picture Library/Alamy Stock Photo.

‘Broken Archangel’ by Roland Philipps review

Broken Archangel: The Tempestuous Lives of Roger Casement by Roland Philipps unearths the complexities and contradictions of the Irish rebel.

French zouaves capture Puebla, 17 May 1863. Prints, Drawings and Watercolors from the Anne S.K. Brown Military Collection. Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library. Public Domain.

‘Habsburgs on the Rio Grande’ by Raymond Jonas review

Habsburgs on the Rio Grande: The Rise and Fall of the Second Mexican Empire by Raymond Jonas reveals the cynicism and hubris behind Napoleon III’s Mexican misadventure.

Map of the Moluccas, by Petrus Plancius, Amsterdam, 1617. State Library of New South Wales. Public Domain.

‘Spice’ by Roger Crowley review

In Spice: The 16th-Century Contest that Shaped the Modern World, Roger Crowley explains how Spain and Portugal turned up the heat in the age of imperialism.

British soldiers inspect the documents of former SS guards at Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, 15 April 1943. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

‘Don’t Let’s Be Beastly to the Germans’ by Daniel Cowling review

In Don’t Let’s Be Beastly to the Germans: The British Occupation of Germany, 1945-49, Daniel Cowling brings lost stories to light – some of them, at least.

A woman diagnosed as suffering from melancholia. Lithograph, 1892, after a drawing made for Sir Alexander Morison. Wellcome Collection. Public Domain.

‘The Undesirables’ by Sarah Wise review

Sarah Wise’s The Undesirables: The Law that Locked Away a Generation lays bare the cruelty and injustice of the Mental Deficiency Act of 1913.

The defeat of the caliph of Baghdad, the religious head of Sunni Islam, by the Mongols, Rashid al-Din, c. 1596. Cleveland Museum of Art. Public Domain.

‘The House Divided’ by Barnaby Rogerson review

In The House Divided: Sunni, Shia and the Making of the Middle East Barnaby Rogerson seeks geopolitical answers for ideological conflicts.

A Viking Age ship scene on the Lärbro Stora Hammars I picture stone, c. 8th-10th century. Gotlands Museum. Mike Ferguson (CC BY).

‘Age of Wolf and Wind’ by Davide Zori review

Age of Wolf and Wind: Voyages through the Viking World by Davide Zori proves that if you want to understand the Vikings, you need to rove just as far.

Massacre of Christians in Syria, French illustration, late 19th century. Universal History Archive/Getty Images.

‘The Damascus Events’ and ‘Sea of Troubles’ review

Sea of Troubles by Ian Rutledge and The Damascus Events by Eugene Rogan watch as the ‘sick man of Europe’ turns violent.

Three cats singing, by Louis Wain, c. 1925-39. Wellcome Collection. Public Domain.

‘Catland’ by Kathryn Hughes review

Catland: Feline Enchantment and the Making of the Modern World by Kathryn Hughes follows the reinvention of the cat from working animal to purrfect pet.

The Tower of London, etching by Wenceslaus Hollar, c. 1647. Rijksmuseum. Public Domain.

‘The Specter of the Archive’ by Nicholas Popper review

The Specter of the Archive: Political Practice and the Information State in Early Modern Britain by Nicholas Popper explores the Elizabethan revolution in record keeping.