Birth of a Pastry Chef
Born into poverty on 8 June 1783, Antonin Carême’s spectacular confectionary constructions made him patissier to royalty.
History Today
Never Again by Andrew I. Port review
‘Real world’ German responses to postwar genocide.
February 1933 by Uwe Wittstock review
Germany in February 1933 as it unfolded day-by-day.
What We Talk About When We Talk About Tunguska
Was it antimatter? Aliens? An atomic blast? The weird and wonderful theories as to the cause of the Tunguska event show no sign of drying up. Why?
The War on Dogs
The dog cull of 1760 divided London: were dogs man’s best friend, or plague-ridden pests?
Percy Fawcett and the Lost City
First Tenochtitlán, then Cuzco, then Machu Picchu – why shouldn’t cities paved with gold be discovered in South America? At least Percy Fawcett believed so.
Virtuous Bankers by Anne L. Murphy review
‘A day in the life’ of the 18th-century Bank of England.
On the Spot: Suraiya Faroqhi
Which person in history would I most like to have met? Mihri Hatun, a poet of Ottoman Bursa, who dared to state that a clever woman was worth 1,000 incompetent men.
Anarchy in the Waste Land
Following the death of Henry I, England was plunged into a civil war that reduced the country to a charred ruin. With the barons split between rival claimants, the people suffered.
Revolutionary Spring by Christopher Clark review
In January 1848, in the Sicilian city of Palermo, the streets began to fill with crowds. From here, revolutionary sparks flew to almost all of Europe’s cities.