WELCOME

MAY 2025 “My dear friends, this is your

ANNIVERSARIES

DANNY BIRD highlights events that took place in May in history

“Trump’s tariffs are dramatic only if you have a short historical memory”

BEHIND THE HEADLINES

Globalism is ironing out the fabulous texture and diversity of the old world

MICHAEL WOOD ON… A TREASURE TROVE OF MEDIEVAL DOCUMENTS

Social taboos are violated: a parent must decide which child to feed

KAVITA PURI on the urgent need to commemorate historical famines

LETTERS

LETTER OF THE MONTH Wartime memories Kavita

Q&A

A selection of historical conundrums answered by experts

WHY DO WE SAY…

… To put a spoke in the wheel?

BOOKS

EARLY MODERN “The devastation wrought by the peasant

“She said: ‘If you represent Pinochet in this case, I will divorce you’”

BOOKS INTERVIEW

Fire from the sky

BOOKS REVIEWS

Japan’s desolation and atonement

Content producer Danny Bird picks three podcast episodes about Japan’s war experiences

Stream of consciousness

BOOKS REVIEWS

War of words

US efforts to spread democratic idea ls through smuggled books make a gripping yarn, says RICHARD J ALDRICH

Adriane Lentz-Smith on a novel look at a historic episode of racial injustice

Stories of Scottsboro by James Goodman (Pantheon,

The other peasants’ revolt

BOOKS REVIEWS

ENCOUNTERS

Customers buy copies of The Star

EXHIBITIONS

ENCOUNTERS DIARY

NYC state of mind

John Lennon and Yoko Ono, pictured in New

Troubled reign

Marie Antoinette, the lavish drama about the ill-fated

Higher purpose

Tramping nearly 200 miles in search of spiritual

Family secrets

Comedian Aisling Bea is among the celebrities exploring

Explosive details

On the night of 29–30 December 1940, the

Secret ingredients

DIARY

GAMES / Atomic explorer

Atomfall

The original macaroni cheese

HISTORY COOKBOOK

A model of innovation

ENCOUNTERS EXPLORE

PRIZE CROSSWORD

Across 6 Papal edict, name derived from the

Robert FitzRoy

1805–65

“We sang, we danced and we all held hands”

It’s 80 years since Britain erupted in joy at the news that the war in Europe was over. But how did those who lived through VE Day remember it? With the help of the BBC WW2 People’s War archive, John Willis reveals a day of partying, remembrance and continuing sacrifice

SCOTLAND’S SEASON OF THE WITCH

In 16th and 17th-century Scotland, many hundreds of ‘witches’ were put to death – 10 times the proportion executed in England. Martha McGill asks what drove the killings

A timeless love story?

Abélard and Héloïse’s passionate affair in 12th-century Paris captured imaginations in France and far beyond. Yet, writes Yvonne Seale , there was a dark side to this true-life tale of forbidden love

It was the shot heard around the world... But who fired it?

It’s 250 years since British troops clashed with American colonists at Lexington and Concord. George Goodwin reveals how one fateful day triggered the American Revolutionary War – and sparked a ferocious race to blame the other side

Ireland’s Great Famine

An evicted Irish family huddles around a cauldron

Egypt’s grape expectations

To the ancient Egyptians, wine played a pivotal part in mythology, ritual and the natural processes that enabled their survival. Islam Issa explores six key roles it fulfilled in their society over the millennia