Volume 58 Issue 1 January 2008

Nanjing Massacre Conference Report

Report by H.F. Ito a Japanese born close to Hiroshima In 1942, now living in France, on a conference held in December 2007 in Nanjing to commemorate the massacre of Chinese citizens by Japanese troops in December 1937.

Magical Mystery Tour

Caroline Lawrence, author of the popular Roman Mysteries books, explains how the ancient world first grabbed her attention.

Leaving Burma Behind

Burma became independent in 1948. Ben Morris asks if Britain could have done more for this unhappy country.

Time Piece: Working Men and Watches

John Styles considers whether the fashion for wearing pocket-watches flourished among working men in the eighteenth century because it was stylish, because they needed to know the time accurately, or for some other reason.

The Common Reader

Rosalind Crone introduces a database of readers and reading habits since 1450.

Writing It Down

Gordon Brown’s promised written constitution – if it happens – won’t be the first in British history, as Patrick Little reminds us.

The Story of the Kelly Gang

Mark Juddery introduces The Story of the Kelly Gang, possibly the first-ever feature film, now largely lost, that was made a hundred years ago in Australia about the notorious outlaw with the unusual body-armour. Hugely popular when it was first released in 1906, it spawned a genre of bushranger movies and epitomized the significance of the Kelly legend in Australian cultural identity.

The Ulster Heritage

Peter Furtado finds out how hundreds of local historical initiatives are changing the political and cultural climate of Northern Ireland.