Category: History
The Enduring Pain of Postcolonial Trauma
Farah Abdessamad at Aeon: In 1952, the 27-year-old Frantz Fanon had just published his first…
Byzantine Regained
Jerry Saltz at Vulture: In the year 286, Emperor Diocletian began to formalize a division…
“A Passage to India” on Its 100th Birthday
THIS YEAR marks the 100th anniversary of the publication of E. M. Forster’s A Passage to…
What Animals Were Really on Noah’s Ark?
By Erin Blakemore at National Geographic: In the beginning, there were two—animals. The Bible only…
Western Christianity Triumphed Not By Destiny But Accident
In the beginning there were many different sons of God John Gray at The New…
Talking Point: “Indian Civilization is an Idea But Also an Enigma”
Karan Thapar at The Wire interviews Namit Arora, the scriptwriter and anchor of the series…
Ibn Khaldun on a Failed Nation–Seven Hundred Years Ago
“A defeated nation always admires the conqueror, imitating his dress and adopting the signs of…
Frans de Waal (R.I.P.) and the Origins of War
John Horgan at his own website: I interviewed de Waal in 2007 while researching my…
The Violent Origins of Political Societies
Niccolò Machiavelli’s profound insights about the violent origins of political societies help us understand the…
The World’s First Author
Anna Della Subin at the LRB: The earliest known author was married to the moon….
Black History: Tunes and Beats Before 1865
From Negro Spirituals: The tunes and the beats of negro spirituals and Gospel songs are highly…
A Nuanced Account of the British Empire’s Impact on the World
Nandini Das in The Guardian: Sathnam Sanghera’s Empireworld tells the story of Bartram and Kew…