Laura Currer reviews her summer read, The Constant Princess.
Radical diasporas
Popular images of the first transatlantic migrants depict fierce conquistadors in the South and pious pilgrims in the North, motivated by greed in the former case and obscure Puritanism in the latter. However, what really caused people to make such a radical journey in the centuries following the encounter with the Americas? What factors could Continue Reading
A history of alcohol: gin
Classically, gin should be served with cubes of ice, a wedge of lime and tonic water. But where do the tonic and lime come from? Tonic contains quinine which has antimalarial properties and became an important mixer with gin for colonial British officers, initially in South Asia but also in Africa. Lime was originally added to gin to make lime juice more palatable, because it was a good countermeasure against scurvy.