Recently published

Annie Parker’s hairwork sampler, photograph by Isabella Rosner, private collection.

‘With Her Own Hair’: A Victorian Prisoner’s Art

Arrested over 400 times, Annie Parker found redemption in intricate cross-stitch and crochet using her own hair.

Henry Ford fishing, with Harvey Firestone, George Christian and Thomas Edison, C. 1920. Library of Congress. Public Domain.

‘American Journey’ by Wes Davis review

American Journey: On the Road with Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, and John Burroughs by Wes Davis falls short of examining the consequences that followed the wanderlust.

Execution of Namdhari Sikhs by cannon, Malerkotla, 1872. Library of Congress. Public Domain.

India’s Kuka Revolt Ends in Death

On 17 January 1872, 49 Namdhari Sikhs – dubbed ‘Kukas’ by the British – were executed by cannon, supposedly for spreading insurrection.

A lecture on the nervous system, by C. Bethmont, c.1860. Wellcome Collection. Public Domain.

A History of Phantom Pain

For centuries, scientists and philosophers used phantom limbs to unravel the secrets of the human mind. While we know phantom pain exists, we still don’t know why.

Lady Maria Callcott, author and traveller, painted by her second husband Augustus Wall Callcott, c.1830. Government Art Collection. Public Domain.

Maria Graham and the Valparaíso Earthquake

An earthquake in Chile and the observations of eye-witness Maria Graham caused open hostility among 19th-century geologists.

Young Queen Victoria, 1838 by Thomas Sully. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Public Domain.

History Matters

Queen Victoria’s Stalker

Was the army captain in love with Queen Victoria a dangerous obsessive or an innocent man? His NSFW letters shocked but so did his treatment.

Two Templar Knights on one horse, symbol of the Knights Templar, illustration from Matthew Paris' 'Historia Anglorum', 1250-54. © British Library Board. All Rights Reserved/Bridgeman Images.

History Matters

The True Knights Templar

The Knights Templar’s modern reputation is a myth that disguises their role as state-builders and diplomats.

Anna May Wong, 1932. Photo by Otto Dyar/John Kobal Foundation/Getty Images.

‘Daughter of the Dragon’ by Yunte Huang review

Daughter of the Dragon: Anna May Wong’s Rendezvous with American History by Yunte Huang explores the discrimination beneath Hollywood’s glamour.

‘A certaine relation of the hog-faced gentlewoman called Mistris Tannakin Skinker’, pamphlet, London, 1640. Wellcome Collection.

History Matters

London’s Pig-Faced Urban Legend

Early modern fairy tale or urban legend? Who was London’s pig-faced lady and where did she come from?

A crowd of Germans outside of a Jewish-owned department store in Berlin on the first day of the Nazi boycott of Jewish-owned businesses, 1 April 1933. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of National Archives and Records Administration, College Park. Public Domain.

‘Bystander Society’ by Mary Fulbrook review

Mary Fulbrook’s Bystander Society: Conformity and Complicity in Nazi Germany and the Holocaust holds the ambivalent accountable.