‘(Truth is ) the Daughter of Time’: Josephine Tey and the ‘reputation’ of King Richard III

The topicality of writing about Richard III in the week leading up to the celebrations surrounding his reburial seems rather obvious- and possibly a bit of overkill, really- but nevertheless, in the hype surrounding the details of the events planned for Leicester between 22- 27 March 2015, and the excitement about Richard III’s updated image,…

The contemporary Western view of Manchu China: Edmund Backhouse and J.O.P.Bland’s China under the Empress Dowager (1910)

 My reading over the last few weeks has been very much focussed on a number of accounts dealing with the last- and arguably greatest- of the Manchu Empress Dowager, Cixi, or Tzu Hsi (1835-1908). Tzu-Hsi is a fascinating figure by whatever measure- a concubine on entry into the Forbidden City, she became the birth mother…