Four Irish Persephones

By Virginie Trachsler The young Persephone is gathering flowers in a meadow when her uncle Hades, god of the underworld, rises through a crack in the earth and abducts her on his golden chariot. Her mother Ceres wanders the earth…

Georgian Glasgow: Five Sites of a Forgotten Time

By Craig Lamont The Cultural Memory of Georgian Glasgow is the first book-length study of a long-neglected period in the history of Scotland’s largest city. It covers topics such as the Scottish Enlightenment and Empire, including the slave trade, revealing…

detail of La Passionara

The Scots at Jarama

By Fraser Raeburn On this day 84 years ago, Scottish soldiers went into battle. For most of them, it was for the very first time – and for many, it would also be their last. Throughout modern Scottish history, this…

Remembering the history of Scottish land reform

By Ewen Cameron I was delighted to publish Freshness, Freedom, and Peace?: Land Settlement in Scotland after the Great War  in Northern Scotland, 2nd series, 11.2 (2020), 161–75. This was a special issue arising from a stimulating conference held at…

The world of Spinoza's Theological–Political Treatise

The world of Spinoza’s Theological–Political Treatise

By Dan Taylor Baruch Spinoza’s Theological–Political Treatise, published anonymously in 1670, quickly turned Europe upside-down. Dismissed by one contemporary as a book ‘forged in hell by the Devil himself’, it argued that for societies to endure conflict and flourish, they…

The Classical Tradition in Modern American Fiction

By Tessa Roynon In recent weeks, the U.S. Capitol in Washington D.C. has been much in the public eye. Whether stormed by President Trump’s supporters on 6th January, or as the “hallowed ground” that formed the backdrop to President Biden’s…