BBC World Histories Magazine - March 2020

BBC World Histories Magazine - March 2020

English | 100 pages | True PDF | 72.8 mb



FEATURES

12 Aztecs in their own words ? BY CAMILLA TOWNSEND

How historians are using pictorial sources and indigenous journals to revise European narratives of Aztec history

20 A time of change ? BY SUSAN MATTERN

The evolution of our understanding of the menopause, and its influence on women’s roles in societies around the world

28 The history of the nation state BY JERRY BROTTON

The idea of national communities forged by geography and culture may seem selfevident. Yet nation states have a relatively short past – and may not have a long future

34 Ideas of nationhood ? BY ANGEL SMITH, JOHN CONNELLY, JOHAN FRANZÉN & DAVID REYNOLDS

What happens when regions want to break away from larger states? Experts review independence movements in Scotland, Catalonia, Iraqi Kurdistan and Yugoslavia

48 Transgender history ? BY JEN MANION

Meet the ‘female husbands’ – individuals assigned as female at birth but living as men – who challenged societal views of sex, relationships, law and work in past centuries

64 Experiments in evil ? BY DAVID EDMONDS

How psychologists devised groundbreaking studies in attempts to understand the behaviours that enabled the Holocaust

THE BRIEFING

6 Viewpoint: Michael Booth explores the long roots of tensions in east Asia

10 History Headlines: Discoveries and developments in the world of history

REGULARS

9 Feedback: Responses to our experts’ nominations for the greatest leader in global history

54 A Year in Pictures: 1982 by Richard Overy

62 Extraordinary People: Sanmao – globetrotting icon of Chinese youth by Mike Fu

98 Parting Shot: Join a mass pilgrimage honouring a sea goddess in Taiwan

CULTURE

72 Interview: Mary Beard discusses the role of the nude in western art with Matt Elton and Janina Ramirez ?

80 Agenda: The latest exhibitions, films, books, events, radio and television

JOURNEYS

86 Wonders of the World: Bhaktapur, Nepal by Paul Bloomfield

90 Footsteps: Nansen’s traverse of the Greenland Ice Sheet by Jon Gertner ?