Volume 58 Issue 7 July 2008

A Prophet in his Own Country

Rebecca Abrams discovers the history of a forgotten Aberdonian doctor who could – if anyone had listened to his ideas  – have saved the lives of countless women in childbirth over the following centuries.

Munich

York Membery visits the capital of Bavaria and explores the historic heart of this twenty-first century metropolis – and its annual beer festival.

Poverty from Workhouse to the Welfare State

 In 1909 Beatrice Webb produced a controversial report which proposed abolishing the stigma and penury of the Poor Law and its workhouses. James Gregory argues that this plea for a less judgemental approach to poverty created the foundations of the modern Welfare State.

Eating Your Enemy

Richard Sugg searches history to explain the phenomenon of aggressive cannibalism, following recent allegations from Iraq.

Mission to the Roof of the World

Asya Chorley describes the relationship between China, Britain and Tibet in the early twentieth century, and shares the unique experiences of the first European women to be invited to Lhasa by the XIII Dalai Lama.

The Tunguska Event

Nigel Watson recalls a mysterious explosion that occurred in deepest Siberia on 30 June 1908.