123rd Officer Cadet Training Regiment, Royal Artillery, 1942
A group portrait of the R.A. from 1942, an inauspicious time to go through training
Eugen Baraga university records, Slovenia, 1919-20
I chanced upon the records of one of the first students ever to attend the University of Ljubljana
Young man with pitchfork, Studio Maignet, Paris, date unknown
I collect old portrait cards all over the world but it was the semiotics of this one that intrigued me
Warrior-gymnasts in Tonkin, Vietnam, 1909
French overlords in colonial-era Vietnam make the locals do ridiculous things
Charles de Gaulle campaign poster
After the attacks by Islamic State in Paris the old slogan “With You, For You” is fitting
My family in central Turkey, 1948
A nothing moment on their travels that seems to capture a life now lost
New York City Illustrated, 1910
A century on, a tourist souvenir reveals the architectural wonders of a city long lost
The ancient theater in Sabratha, Libya
Anarchy in post-Gaddafi Libya sends me into storage to find photos I took on my trip there in 2004
Susanita in Mar Del Plata, Argentina, 1914
A too-grown-up girl bearing a Diane Arbus expression a century ago on an Argentine beach
Boat expedition possibly on Lake Titicaca, Peru, c1940s
On a lake in Peru, all the elements came together in a near perfect composition
Interview with History by Oriana Fallaci, 1976
Italian journalist Oriana Fallaci lost the plot at the end but she was a wonder in her prime
Portrait of a boy, Paris, early-20th C
A magnificent portrait found in Paris leads to two legendary photographers
Indian studio portraits, 20th century
Trolling the markets of Bombay and Delhi for compelling portraits of ordinary citizens
The Aldo Moro assassination, Reggio-Emilia, Italy, 1978
A prized book of Italian newspapers and a dead terrorist; is there a connection?
Hand-drawn ryokan map, Kyoto, Japan, 1990
How inexpertly drawn kanji led me out of Asia to the Middle East and Europe
Vietnam Chante revolutionary songs, Paris, France, c1967
Employing everything from martial chants to opera in support of revolution in Vietnam
Cultures of Independence, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, 2007
A scrap book, of sorts, of a cool, modernizing Cambodia in the 1960s that few realize ever existed
Transition: An International Review
Transition began in Uganda in 1961; by the late-1990s it was perhaps the finest magazine on earth
A vial of Saharan sand from the Acacus region in Libya
The Acacus felt so remote that, now, only something as material as sand confirms I was really there
Sharia El Aziz Osman street sign, Cairo, Egypt
I used to live on this street in Zamalek and have now given it to the protagonist in my novel
Portraits from Lima, Peru, 1916
Tiny pictures from Peru of men in uniform and the women they courted
Hypnotism for Everybody by Pandit Lakshmi Doss, Chennai, India, 2004
It reflects a particularly Indian fondness for mystical possibility paired with a gift for gab
A Savage War of Peace by Alistair Horne
The best book about the 9/11 attacks and war in Iraq, though it is about France in 1950s Algeria