This issue’s contributors
Alexander Wakelam
“The debtors’ prison was an essential part of the Georgian economy. Its surprising effectiveness helped to ensure the wheels of commerce continued to spin, but it tore families apart and damaged lives across the social spectrum.”
Alexander considers why so many Georgians languished in debtors’ prisons
Rosalind Crone
“The copious records created by criminal trials – especially those of women accused of murder – provide us with a rare glimpse into their lives, even through their own words.”
Rosalind chronicles the cases of five women who were convicted of deadly crimes
Gordon Corera
“Twenty years on from the Iraq War, we can stand back slightly from the heated political debates of the immediate aftermath, and try to understand why the conflict happened and why things went so badly wrong afterwards.”
Gordon unpicks the tangled legacy of the Iraq War
Peter Frankopan
“I’m fascinated by how resilient humans are, despite all the obvious challenges that we create for ourselves. I think that inserting the human historical experience into an environmental context is important.”
Peter investigates humanity’s intertwined history with the natural world