Volume 68 Issue 7 July 2018

Here be monsters: a centaur, or homodubius, from Wonders of the East in the Nowell Codex, c.1000.

Making a Monster

The worst monsters to the Anglo-Saxon mind were those who thought like humans but chose to act differently.

A History of Pizza

The world’s most popular fast food has ancient roots, but it was a royal seal of approval in 1889 that set pizza on the path to global domination.

Homophobia in Russia

Despite the difficulties in accessing official archival sources, the history of homophobic persecution in Russia is covered convincingly in this study.

‘A Change in the Petticoats, or the Years 1780 & 1817’ by William Heath, c. 1817. The posture of fashionable woman of 1817 is reminiscent of the consumptive. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Public Domain.

Consumptive Chic: When Tuberculosis was the Height of Fashion

During the 19th century, the physical effects of tuberculosis became the ideals of beauty for the fashionable woman.

Columbus House on Potsdamer Platz in East Berlin burning after the demonstrations and riots, 17 June 1953. (Getty Images)

Day of Dissent in the DDR

The East German Uprising of 1953 was the first major revolt to take place in the Soviet Bloc.

Ferdinand Columbus, Bibliophile

The second son of Christopher Columbus amassed one of the greatest collections of books and prints of the Renaissance.

Pocahontas, engraving by Simon de Passe, 1616.

Taming Pocahontas

How a story of captivity, salvation and conversion became a tool to justify Britain’s conquest of the New World.

The ogre Buta Terong, from Sejarah Wayan Purwa by Hardjowirogo, 1852.

Princes, Profits and the Prophet

The 18th century was a turbulent period in Javanese history, when local kingdoms, Dutch traders and a mysterious Turk became embroiled in a series of bloody conflicts.

Mary Elizabeth Pitt, Countess of Chatham, possibly by Edward Miles, c.1789.

Born into one of Britain’s great political dynasties and married into another, Mary Elizabeth Pitt was determined to embrace the responsibilities of a woman of her standing, despite the many obstacles in her way.