Clik here to view.
Alma Schindler Mahler - musical talent, sexual pleasure, Vienna's cultural elite
If I thought there was a lot of sex going on in the late 1960s, those of us interested in turn of the century Vienna had to do some rethinking. Here is my old post republished, now with a greater look...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy - brave heroine or oppressed wife?
Rose Elizabeth Fitzgerald was born in Boston (1890-1995), oldest child of John "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald, prominent figure in Boston politics. Rose was first introduced to politics by her congressman...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Ibn Battuta - greatest medieval explorer of all
I was lecturing in a series on “The Silk Road and Marco Polo”, suggesting that Europeans were not as sophisticated in trade, capitalism and transport systems as the Asians were. But I fell apart...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Toulouse Lautrec, Jane Avril and 1890s Paris
Born Jeanne-Louise Beaudon (1868-1943) in Belleville, the dancer was the daughter of a courtesan. She was abused at home, ran away at 16 and lived in the streets. She entered the Salpêtrière hospital...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Impressive Fascist architecture in Como, Italy
In 2018 Italy’s far-right Lega party pledged to convert the Casa del Fascio, a former Fascist party head quarters in Como, into a museum. Before I have a heart-attack about a public celebration of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Amritsar Massacre of 1919 - did it end the British Raj?
The East India Companywas a conquering regime and its officials viewed the people of India with mistrust. When they were caught unprepared by the 1857 Indian Revolt, the mistrust worsened. Sepoys of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Were American Fascist organisations closed down in WW2, or not even then?
The initial support for American Fascist organisations came from Germany. The Friends of New Germany was created with help from New York’s German consul, so these pro-Nazi Fascists were naturalised...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Every country in Europe tried to take over Albania. So did Enver Hoxha
Albania’s dark, modern history should not block out its post-Roman and medieval past as a model of Mediterranean history, playing host to Greeks, Romans, Venetians, Normans and Ottomans. Now we need...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Madame Marie Tussaud, a brilliant French and English artist
Marie Grosholtz (1761-1850) was born in Strasbourg. When she was 6, her widowed mother took Marie to Bern Switzerland. There the family moved into the home of physician Dr Philippe Curtius...
View ArticleClik here to view.
My beautiful Czechoslovakia: 1845-1940 Guest post
I was born in Czechoslovakia, but I must thank my late mother & A Brief History of the Czech Lands for this post. In the early C19th Czech industry grew rapidly. The textile, sugar industry and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Édouard Manet's final years of art - on display in American galleries in 2019-20
Édouard Manet was born in Paris in 1832 into a privileged family: His father was a high-ranking civil servant, and his mother’s family was well connected during and after the Napoleonic era. Manet was...
View ArticleClik here to view.
History of coffee houses in England
Reread the post that was largely concerned the introduction and usage of tea in Britain. Now we analyse the story of coffee in Britain.Coffeehouses were already popular in Constantinople by 1550 and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
14th century treasures from Colmar, now in the Met New York
Erfurt (Germany) and Colmar (France) are 540 ks apart, but I am mentioning the two towns together for one important reason. “Treasures of the Black Death” was the name of a 2009 exhibition of medieval...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Who inspired Ebenezer Howard and the Garden City Movement?
The Garden City Movement was a brilliant British approach to urban planning, founded in 1898 by Sir Ebenezer Howard (1850-1928). But what were the inspirations that promoted Ebenezer Howard's views...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Allen Brothers, then Peter Allen alone
Peter Allen Woolnough (1944-92) was born in Tenterfield in rural NSW. His father and uncles were away at the war in 1944-5 so he was raised mainly by the women in his family, even after the war. As he...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Explaining vicious anti-Semitism. Visit the Jewish Museum, London
Jews, Money, Myth is a major exhibition exploring the role of money in Jewish life, finance and capitalism over the last 2000 years. At the Jewish Museum London, the show displays include objects that...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Peterloo massacre in Manchester, 1819
Since the 1815 Napoleonic wars, town and village labourers struggled with life in Britain. Bad harvests and high food prices left them starving, but they were most disgruntled because workingclass...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Jean-Paul Sartre & Simone de Beauvoir: the Rouen years
In the past Rouen was a city known for its medieval half-timbered houses. But things changed once the train arrived. The first railway station in Rouen was put into service in 1843 on the left bank of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Brutalist architecture
Brutalism was a style that flourished from the 1950s to the mid-1970s, adapting from the modernist architectural movement. Its monolithic concrete buildings composed of blunt rectangular forms, devoid...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Samuel Pepys' diary, politics, Navy and sex life
Personal diaries have always been essential, to save historians from being totally dependent on royal chronicles and military reports. But what were the chances of a mid-17th century home-based book...
View Article