Volume 74 Issue 1 January 2024

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Mahatma Gandhi eats in preparation for a fast, c. 1940. Dutch National Archives (CC0).

How Has Gandhi Influenced Indian History Since His Death?

Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated on 30 January 1948. As India has changed, so has his place in its history.

Wassailing apple trees with hot cider on Twelfth Eve, 1861. Chronicle/Alamy Stock Photo.

How to Revive Wassailing

Ancient traditions such as wassailing can be an inspiration rather than a burden for the communities that embrace them.

A young Zelia Nuttall, UC Berkeley, Bancroft Library. Public Domain.

‘In the Shadow of Quetzalcoatl’ by Merilee Grindle review

In the Shadow of Quetzalcoatl: Zelia Nuttall & the Search for Mexico’s Ancient Civilizations by Merilee Grindle depicts a woman ahead of her time, yet very much a product of it.