Iconic authors
Themes
Bibliography of the day
Human Sacrifice as a Title to Empire, From Cuzco to Castile
The Incas said they had freed the Andes from cannibals and bloody altars. The Spaniards said the Incas were tyrants guilty of sins against nature. Between the two, the charge of human sacrifice became the title deed of empire.
Oblivion or Disclosure, What Naming Informers Can and Cannot Heal
When a regime of secret denunciation falls, should its files be closed or opened? From Domitian's Rome to revolutionary France, the texts suggest that naming informers repairs only when it also judges the system that recruited and paid them.
