Volume: 55 Issue: 11

The famous French author Alexandre Dumas never let fact get in the way of a good story: his ability to spin a yarn made his books instant bestsellers. But in...

Mussolini casts a long shadow. R J.B. Bosworth describes how Italians of both the left and the right have used memories of his long dictatorship to underpin their...

David Livingstone reached the Victoria Falls on November 17th, 1855.

Tom Bowers previews the History Channel’s new series on the Crusades and finds out what is different from previous attempts to put the holy wars on screen.

Bettany Hughes asks why the story of a beautiful woman over 2,500 years ago still has the power to inflame men’s passions.

November's offerings from our readers...

Peter Furtado explains the historical revelations in this month's magazine.

William D. Rubinstein, co-author of a radical new book on Shakespeare’s true identity, reflects on some riddles of history in the light of his own discoveries.

Alex Butterworth looks at the parallels between the destruction wrought by Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans recently, and the devastation suffered by Pompeii in the...

Edward the Confessor, the last truly Anglo-Saxon King, was remembered with such affection he became a sainted embodiment of a pacific and idealistic form of kingship...

The organisation which would become the poltical arm of the Irish Republican Army was founded as a nationalist pressure group on November 28th, 1905.

Simon Adams investigates the political and religious options available to the Catholics of early Jacobean England, and asks why some chose to attempt the...

Andrew Cook takes a look at the Duke of Clarence, grandson of Queen Victoria, who is most often remembered as a wastrel who died young, and is sometimes mentioned as...

Elizabeth Sparrow unpicks the origins of the long-standing belief that Penzance, in Cornwall, was the first place on the mainland to receive news of the victory at...

John Julius Norwich has an infectious enthusiasm in his writing that makes his books hugely popular. Here he explains why certain subjects have allured him, such as...

As preparations are made for Saddam Hussein’s trial in Iraq, Clive Foss examines the precedents for bringing tyrants to justice and finds the process fraught with...