As a thought experiment, ask yourself how close the USA might be, exactly, to becoming another quasi-, tin-pot democracy led by an authoritarian figure, along the lines of Putin’s Russia and Erdogan’s Turkey? What types of damaging... Read More

The erudite, illustrated essays of "Dissimilar Similitudes" concern art, history, religion, and culture in late medieval Europe—in particular, how devotional objects and images were viewed by worshippers. Some challenge traditional... Read More

For myriad reasons, King Cyrus II, founder of the Achaemenid Persian Empire, is one of the most compelling figures of ancient history. Stephen Dando-Collins’s expert biography, "Cyrus the Great", combines ancient and modern sources for... Read More

Chris Dubbs’s "An Unladylike Profession" jumps into the trenches with the women reporters of World War I—groundbreaking journalists who explained the war to readers in the US, and who shared stories from the war’s brutal aftermath.... Read More

"Smells" is part scholarly treatise, part fascinating popular history, dashed through with a soupçon of wit. Historian Robert Muchembled’s abundant research led him to scour estate and shop inventories, manuscripts, illustrations, and... Read More

Will Bashor puts Marie Antoinette’s tumultuous life under the microscope in his historical analysis, Marie Antoinette’s World. Marie Antoinette has long been shrouded in secrecy and scandal, from her marriage to indecisive Louis XVI... Read More

Sam Van Schaik’s historical investigation "Buddhist Magic" reveals the significance and historical roots of magic in modern Buddhism. In 1900, a walled-up shrine was discovered inside of a cave belonging to a Buddhist temple complex in... Read More