Brian Cowan— It should be easy to identify what a coffeehouse was at the dawn of the eighteenth century: a place where people gathered together to drink coffee, learn about the news of the day, and perhaps to meet with other local residents and discuss matters of mutual concern. Yet
Catherine Hanley— Have you ever heard of Magna Carta? It’s likely that you have: the document is famous throughout much of the world and has come to represent enduring freedom and liberty. It exercised a strong influence on the US constitution; sixteen states incorporated the full text into their statute
Chris Given-Wilson— When Henry of Bolingbroke seized the throne from his cousin King Richard II in September 1399, he presented himself to the people of England as the champion of property rights–and no one was better qualified than he to do so, for it was Richard’s unjustified seizure of Henry’s
Lee Jackson— In 1899, the Chinese ambassador was asked his opinion of Victorian London at the zenith of its imperial grandeur. He replied, laconically, ‘too dirty’. He was only stating the obvious. Thoroughfares were swamped with black mud, composed principally of horse dung, forming a tenacious, glutinous paste; the air
Gabriel Gorodetsky— Serendipity often lies at the heart of scholarly discoveries. Some fifteen years ago I launched a research project which culminated in the joint official publication of documents on Israeli-Soviet relations. It is hard to describe my excitement when, while seeking information concerning the involvement of Ivan Maisky, the
Rory Muir— The Duke of Wellington felt far from triumphant after defeating Napoleon at Waterloo, famously remarking that “I don’t know what it is to lose a battle, but certainly nothing can be more painful than to gain one with the loss of so many of one’s friends.” A few
Chances are good that you have been asked to speak in public before and will need to speak in public again. Giving a compelling speech is no easy task at any level, be it giving a TED Talk in front of hundreds or just summarizing a novel at school. You
Those interested in European history will find much to please them in Rory Muir‘s masterful biography of one of the most famous figures in British history, Wellington: The Path to Victory, 1769-1814. Arguably the greatest of all British generals, the Duke of Wellington went on to be a leading figure
The researcher Alfred Kinsey came to London in 1955 “looking for sex,” according to Frank Mort’s Capital Affairs: London and the Making of the Permissive Society, and he was surprised at what he found. The amount of commercial sex on public display on the streets astounded him. Close to the
Follow @yaleARTbooks Edwardian Opulence: British Art at the Dawn of the Twentieth Century opens with Giovanni’s Boldini’s Portrait of a Lady, which features a popular society woman seated on an elaborately embroidered coral silk settee fanning herself with a great black ostrich feather fan. As she leans toward the viewer