We’ve put together our annual selection of some of our favourite articles from the past twelve months, in which a new language is invented, riot and rebellion stalks Restoration London, rivalries emerge over tourists and ghosts become politically partisan.

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Facing the Terror: a Witness to the French Revolution

Colin Jones
The recently discovered chronicle of an opinionated, elderly aristocrat provides a vivid portrayal of Paris during the most febrile days of the French Revolution.

The Invention of Chinese

Gina Anne Tam
Believing language would unify their struggling nation, Chinese officials began a project to create a national language and define what it meant to speak Chinese.

Springs Eternal

Eleri Cousins
The image of Roman Bath was the creation of 18th- and 19th-century archaeologists. Only now are new perspectives revealing a more complex and accurate history of the city.

East Africa’s Tourist War

Thomas M. Lekan
A newly independent Tanganyika hoped to capture part of the lucrative European market for African tourism. But its rivalry with neighbouring Kenya proved an obstacle.

Here be Dragomans

Michael Press
For wealthy tourists travelling to the Middle East in the 19th century, the services of a dragoman were an essential purchase. Yet the often difficult lives of these local agents and guides remain elusive.

Kings of the Pacific in an Age of Revolution

Sujit Sivasundaram
As the age of revolutions swept across Europe, the Pacific also witnessed dramatic changes when monarchies were rebuilt and societies transformed.

Paranormal Politics

William Gibson
A polarising poltergeist sowed division in 18th-century England.

Madam Butterfly and the Forging of Japanese Identity

Naomi Matsumoto
Puccini’s opera revealed misunderstandings and stereotypes on both sides of the East-West divide. 

The Venner Rebellion

Steven Prizeman
An armed uprising by a handful of religious extremists in Restoration London led to serious consequences for British and, ultimately, world history.

A Radical Pocket Book

Madeline Zehnder
A miniature Emancipation Proclamation helped to recruit Black soldiers during the Civil War.