Mass hysteria in Massachusetts: the 17th-century witch crisis in America
One September day in 1649, in the frontier town of Springfield, Massachusetts, Anthony Dorchester returned from church to the house…
From persecuted to persecutors: The Mayflower Pilgrims fall out
The Mayflower’s journey did not simply end with landfall at Plymouth Rock, if indeed it ever arrived there in the…
A single man of no fortune must be in want of a job: younger sons in Jane Austen’s England
Readers of Jane Austen gain a clear idea of the task facing the daughters of gentlemen. They need to secure…
Should William Penn be shaking in his grave?
The ultimate driving force of William Penn’s adult life is inaccessible, as the Quaker phrase ‘Inner Light’ suggests. While a…
The best sort of magic realism
Michael Fishwick’s new novel tells the story of a young man called Robbie, who has been uprooted from his London…
Back from the front
In his preface Sebastian Junger tells us that this book grew out of an earlier article. It obviously didn’t grow…
