Social history
Too much learning is a dangerous thing
It is often said that the left does not understand human nature. Yet it is difficult to think of anything…
Where are the scents of yesterday? Entire countries have lost their distinctive smell
Michael Bywater wonders why the existence of smell still seems such a guilty secret
How kind is humankind?
Are humans by nature really more puppy than wolf? Oren Harman tests the science
There’s something hot about a hat
When an American describes a woman as wearing a ‘Park Avenue Helmet’ you know exactly what is meant. This is…
When Cartier was the girls’ best friend
The word ‘jewel’ makes the heart beat a little faster. Great jewels have always epitomised beauty, love — illicit or…
Searching for Coco on the Côte d’Azur
Anne de Courcy, an escapee from tabloid journalism, has become a polished historian of British high society in the 20th…
Desperate mothers, abandoned babies: the tragic story of London’s foundlings
One of the oddest of Bloomsbury’s event venues must be the Foundling Museum. The handsome building on Coram’s Fields houses…
Cracking jokes with Dr Johnson
I cast my Readers under two general Divisions, the Mercurial and the Saturnine. The first are the gay part of…
The minefield of mime: ‘halt’ to an American signifies ‘hi’ to an Arab
You may have read about this during the Iraq war. A group of local people approach an American position. A…
How any mother — or baby — survived childbirth before the 20th century is astonishing
Between 1300 and 1900 few things were more dangerous than giving birth. For poor and rich, the mortality rate was…
High society and low gossip: the journals of Kenneth Rose
Kenneth Rose was gossip columnist by appointment to the aristocracy and gentry. He was, of course, a snob — nobody…
The pagan feast of Christmas
This book, an excellent history of Christmas, made me think of a Christmas cartoon strip I once saw in Viz…
The pleasures of reading aloud
‘I have nothing to doe but work and read my Eyes out,’ complained Anne Vernon in 1734, writing from her…
Bedding down with the butler in Georgian Ireland
If you had the resources, Georgian Ireland must have been a very agreeable place in which to live. It was…
How did Britain ever have unarmed criminals?
Once, both police and criminals in Britain routinely did without guns. How did that happen? And why did it change?
The People’s Songs, by Stuart Maconie - a review
For Stuart Maconie fans, this book might sound as if it’ll be his masterpiece. In his earlier memoirs and travelogues,…
The Unwinding, by George Packer - review
The Unwinding is a rather classy addition to the thriving genre of American apocalypse porn. The basic thesis can be…
