One of the big problems with using paintings and other art pieces as a historical source is that most artists don’t depict reality as it is but rather reality as they wished it would be. Idealised and more attractive versions of historical…

Hetty Green, America’s richest woman, was born as Henrietta Robinson in New Bedford, Massachusetts in 1834. Her father Edward owned the biggest whaling company in the city, and New Bedford was at the time the biggest whaling city in…

There are always those who see opportunity in chaos. The destruction of the old order leaves gaps that need filling, and “men of vision” see nobody better than themselves to fill those gaps. This does require a certain moral flexibility, of…

The idea that someone you know is capable of murder is a shocking thought. And in the London literary scene of the 1820s everyone knew Thomas Griffiths Wainewright. He threw the best parties, he wore the best clothes, and his distinctive…

Nowadays William Blake is celebrated as one of the greatest English artists and poets, but in his time he was ignored and dismissed by the artistic establishment. For all of his life he was tormented by visions; visions of the marvelous and…

Though it’s true that Australia was largely settled by convicts it was far from a lawless place in the early 19th century during the heyday of “transportation”. The sentence of transportation was a compromise by a British government moving…

From childhood we’re trained to trust members of the medical profession, so when that trust is turned on us it cuts deeply. The idea that these people who we rely on to save our lives might take it instead is a particular horror. And when…

Throughout medieval times, the Jews of Europe had a hard time as the traditional scapegoats for any misfortune that befell communities. Rather than admit that they might be at fault (or indeed that things might just happen) it was easier…

Nobility in pre-Revolutionary France was something of a double-edged sword. Of course it came with great privilege, and the nobles of France were permitted behaviour that was unthinkable for those of lower orders. But it also came with…

Nowadays Dante Alighieri is primarily remembered as the author of the Divine Comedy, but there was a lot more to him than that. Politician and poet, he ended his life in exile from a city which he had once ruled. He elevated the language of…