Prof. Madhavan Palat on Genocide: Barbarism in Civilization in the Twentieth Century. September 14, 2025

Dear Friends and Colleagues, The Society for the Study of Archives cordially invites you to the launch of its journal ‘Reading the Archive’, a graduate journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences. The event will feature an inaugural lecture by Prof. Madhavan K. Palat on Genocide: Barbarism in Civilization in the Twentieth Century The lecture will be chaired by Prof. Salil Misra, Visiting Faculty, BML Munjal University,… Read More Prof. Madhavan Palat on Genocide: Barbarism in Civilization in the Twentieth Century. September 14, 2025

Ideas of India Archive

First posted November 29, 2019 NB: This is a magnificient contribution to Indian historiography. Rahul Sagar and his collaborators deserve the thanks of the Indian public and indeed of all those interested in an honest exploration of the past. DS Starting in the early nineteenth century, ambitious Indians began flocking to newly-founded schools and colleges offering instruction… Read More Ideas of India Archive

On the Poverty of Student Life Considered in its Economic, Political, Psychological, Sexual, and Especially Intellectual Aspects, with a Modest Proposal for Doing Away With It (Strasbourg, 1966)

Situationist International and the Students of Strasbourg  November 1966 On the Poverty of Student Life: The Little Pamphlet that Started a Revolution The Situationist International (SI) was founded in 1957 by a half-dozen European avant-garde artists. Recent historical events, chiefly workers uprisings in East Germany, Poland and Hungary, convinced them that a social revolution was… Read More On the Poverty of Student Life Considered in its Economic, Political, Psychological, Sexual, and Especially Intellectual Aspects, with a Modest Proposal for Doing Away With It (Strasbourg, 1966)

The Maisky Diaries review – Britain’s high and mighty in conversation with Stalin’s man

Jonathan Steele For a man who once told his friend Beatrice Webb that he “disliked the profession of diplomacy”, Ivan Maisky was an unusually brilliant practitioner of the art of being an ambassador. Spending 11 years as Stalin’s representative in London, between 1932 and 1943, Maisky not only had his hands full in trying to… Read More The Maisky Diaries review – Britain’s high and mighty in conversation with Stalin’s man

Albert Einstein on Jews in Palestine (1932-49)

Letters and excerpts from Albert Einstein’s writings in which he repeatedly reiterated his opposition to the creation of a state for Jews, preferring the formation of a simple spiritual and cultural centre to serve the Jewish world and all humanity. Addresses on reconstruction in Palestine (1932) The crisis which the work of construction has had to… Read More Albert Einstein on Jews in Palestine (1932-49)

A Massive Database of Evidence, Compiled by a Historian, Documents Israel’s War Crimes in Gaza

NB: This is the most painful thing I have ever posted on Palestine, and is painful reading, but it needs to be circulated. It is to the credit of the Israeli historian that he has done this work. We can only bow our heads to the victims. DS A woman with a child is shot… Read More A Massive Database of Evidence, Compiled by a Historian, Documents Israel’s War Crimes in Gaza

President Eisenhower’s Speech on the American Military Industrial Complex, January 17, 1961

First posted June 07, 2020 Another factor in maintaining balance involves the element of time. As we peer into society’s future, we – you and I, and our government – must avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering, for our own ease and convenience, the precious resources of tomorrow. We cannot mortgage the… Read More President Eisenhower’s Speech on the American Military Industrial Complex, January 17, 1961

‘Monument to history’ battle between US and China over future of Mao’s secretary’s diary

Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past: George Orwell, 1984 When you have a monopoly over power, you develop an obsession with secrecy: Frank Dikotter Amy Hawkins Senior China correspondent In the early hours of 4 June 1989, Li Rui, a veteran of the Chinese Communist party (CCP), was… Read More ‘Monument to history’ battle between US and China over future of Mao’s secretary’s diary