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THE BRIEFING
6 Viewpoints: Phil Tinline on the modern
influence of historic geopolitics, Anne
McElvoy on the ongoing impact of the rift
along the Rhine, and Chitralekha Zutshi
on the roots of tensions in Kashmir ✪12 History Headlines: Discoveries and
developments in the world of historyCULTURE
76 Interview: With his series As Others
See Us returning to BBC Radio 4,
Neil MacGregor explores how nations
around the globe view Britain’s past ✪82 Agenda: The latest exhibitions, T V and
films, plus the books to read this autumnJOURNEYS
86 In the footsteps of... Ibn Battuta’s
astonishing medieval journeys through
Africa and Asia by Justin MarozziREGULARS
30 A Year in Pictures: 1948
by Richard Overy64 Extraordinary People: Yasuke,
the black samurai by Thomas Lockley ✪98 Museum of the World: A remarkable
15th-century manuscript by Bryan C
Keene38 Subscribe to
BBC World Histories- start a 14-day trial
and enjoy a FREE
issue today!
96 Share your
thoughts about
the magazine for
the chance to win
a £250 Amazon
voucherCONTRIBUTORS
Expert voices from the world of history
Carrie Gibson
The story of Hispanic settlement in North
America provides key insights into contempo-
rary issues of migration. As the historian and
author explains on page 14, there is a “long,
intertwined history between Spain, the United
States and its southern neighbour republics,
much of which has faded from public memory”.Dorian Lynskey
On page 66 the Guardian writer reveals the
events that influenced George Orwell’s Nineteen
Eighty-Four (1949). “[He] learned about many of
the features of Stalinism that would feed into his
great novel: the cult of personality; the rewriting
of history; the assault on freedom of speech and
thought,” says Lynskey.Dan Stone
The professor of modern history at Royal Hollo-
way University of London looks at concentration
camps on page 23. “Historians are obliged to
stress that the various examples are not all the
same: they occurred at different times, in differ-
ent places, and were administered by different
regimes with differing ideologies,” he writes.Chitralekha Zutshi
India’s move to revoke the special status of
Jammu & Kashmir has sparked global debate.
On page 10, Chitralekha Zutshi, professor of
history at The College of William and Mary in
Virginia, explores the decision. “The secular,
federal consensus with which India came into
existence seems to be of the past,” she suggests.Karen R Jones
“The history of ‘how the West was won’ (or
lost) was much more variegated than the vision
presented in traditional historical readings
and countless Hollywood westerns,” the
University of Kent historian explains on page
56 , exploring a less well-known narrative of
19th-century pioneer women on the US frontier.Neil MacGregor
The historian and broadcaster discusses
As Others See Us, his new BBC Radio 4 series
exploring how other nations view Britain’s
history, on page 76. “Without exception,
people in other countries know a great deal
more about Britain and its history than British
people do about them and theirs,” he says.Free
issue