Volume 64 Issue 11 November 2014

The Origins of the Shroud of Turin

Evidence suggests medieval origins for the Shroud of Turin. One of Christianity’s most venerated relics may not be biblical but its history remains remarkable.

Historical Biography

Daniel Snowman asks whether historical biography can be considered a serious contribution to history and assesses the latest trends in the field.

The Birth of the Book Auction

The late 17th century saw the arrival of a new way of buying and selling books. Amy Bowles explores the impact of the book auction on those with a commercial and scholarly interest in the printed word.

Henry V and the Siege of Rouen

The siege of Rouen in 1418 was a brutal episode of medieval warfare, made worse by the fact that the city’s elderly and infirm were abandoned to a no man’s land. Daniel E. Thiery explains how the medieval mind justified such actions.

General Sherman’s Total War

‘War is an uncivil game and can’t be civilised’, said one Union sergeant of General Sherman’s rampage through Georgia in 1864. Matt Carr discusses this turning point in the American Civil War.

Man of the Stern Gang

Mira Bar-Hillel recalls the family friend who was once one of the controllers of the Zionist organisation responsible for the assassination of Britain’s minister resident in the Middle East.

The Komagata Maru Incident

Larry Hannant describes a forgotten episode of conflict over immigration and race between two bastions of the British Empire, Canada and India, in the summer of 1914.