The Assassination of the Prime Minister, Spencer Perceval

By David C. Hanrahan

Only once has a British Prime Minister been assassinated. Two hundred years ago, on the 11th May 1812, John Bellingham shot dead the Rt. Hon. Spencer Perceval as he entered the House of Commons. David C. Hanrahan tells the story. more

Moonblight and Six Feet of Romance: Dan Carter Beard’s Foray into Fiction

By Abigail Walthausen

An esoteric disease which reveals things in their true light; three pairs of disembodied feet galavanting about the countryside - Abigail Walthausen explores the brief but strange literary career of Daniel Carter Beard, illustrator for Mark Twain and a founding father of the Boy Scouts of America. more

Carel and Abraham Allard in the Court of Momus

By Daniel Horst

RIJKSMUSEUM - Daniel Horst explores the controversial collection of satirical etchings published by Abraham Allard in Amsterdam ca. 1708 under the title 't Lusthof van Momus. more

Luigi Russolo’s Cacophonous Futures

By Peter Tracy

What does the future sound like? In the early 20th century, one answer rang out from Luigi Russolo’s intonarumori — lever-operated machines designed to pop, sough, shriek, and shock. Peter Tracy explores the ambitions behind Italian Futurism’s experiments with noise and the sensory, spiritual, and political affinities of this radical new music. more

Windows Onto History: The Defenestrations of Prague (1419–1997)

By Thom Sliwowski

Throwing people out of windows (or defenestrating them, as the Latin has it) is an act imbued with longstanding political significance in Prague. From the Hussite revolt in the late Middle Ages through the Thirty Years’ War to modern instances of “autodefenestration”, Thom Sliwowski finds a national shibboleth imbued with ritual efficacy. more