2009

The Glorious Revolution was the result of a contest between two competing visions of the modern state, argues Steven Pincus. The springboard for Britain’s...

Despite the seemingly endless celebrations of the events of 1968, it is the legacy of 1979 that lingers on, argues Jeremy Black.

Ronald Hutton reviews a book by Jenny Uglow

John Tosh argues that historians should find ways to teach undergraduates the practical applications of their uniquely insightful discipline.

Joanna Bourke reviews a book on crime in Europe by Pieter Spierenburg

Deborah Cohen reviews a radio production presented by Amanda Vickery

In the wake of the parliamentary expenses scandal, some MPs have met their constituents to explain themselves, with bruising consequences. Jon Lawrence looks back...

Keith Surridge reviews a general history by Alex Woolf

The rupture of a giant molasses tank in Boston just after the First World War caused devastation and led to the longest legal case in the city’s history, writes...

Richard Willis charts how order was brought to the medical profession by the foundation of the General Medical Council 150 years ago.

Jonathan Clark, editor of a major new history of the British Isles, considers what effect the intellectual currents of our own time have had on the way historians...

In 1969 men set foot on the Moon for the first time. The Apollo space programme that put them there was the product of an age of optimism and daring very different...

John Spiller surveys race relations in the United States during Reconstruction and constructs a balance sheet.

A distant monarch, political factionalism, vainglorious commanders and the distraction of European enemies helped George Washington seal victory in the American...

The conflict between supporters of Darwin’s theory of evolution and Creationists is often portrayed as the latest skirmish in an age-old struggle between science...

As a new installation at the National Gallery recreates Amsterdam’s red-light district, Melanie Abrams traces the history of Dutch liberalism.

On August 1st, 1259, the English renewed a truce which recognised Llywelyn ap Gruffydd as Prince of Wales.

The Antarctic Treaty, signed 50 years ago, kept the cold continent out ofthe Cold War and fostered collaboration on scientific research. The world now faces a...

Mark Rathbone analyses the continuing influence of the Munich conference on post-war events.

Munro Price reviews a book on the assault of the nobility in 18th-century France

Military concerns drove the development of nuclear weapons. But a by-product of this huge deployment of scientific resources by the US and the UK was an upsurge in...

The continuing use of AD and BC is not only factually wrong but also offensive to many who are not Christians.

Christina Hardyment reviews two books on Georgain England: Behind Closed Doors by Amanda Vickery and The Town House in Georgian England by Rachel Stewart.

Following decades in the literary doldrums, considered a genre for romance or military fantasy, the historical novel in the past two decades has never been more...

Why do we have history and archaeology? In the light of our understanding of ‘deep time’ Daniel Lord Smail argues that it is high time that the two disciplines...

The author of the epic critique of the free market, Das Kapital, was born on May 5th, 1818. Here, Tristram Hunt highlights Friedrich Engels' important...

February 18, 1619 - Richard Cavendish remembers the birth of ‘the first of the great English historians

Sex, scandals and celebrity were all part of a blame and shame culture that existed in the 18th century, one that often fed off the misfortune of women at the...

June 30th, 1859 - Richard Cavendish remembers how the daredevil Jean-François Gravelet stunned the world

Michael Ostling reviews a title from Ronald Hutton

Juliet Gardiner reviews a book by Paul Guinan and Anina Bennett

Neil Taylor reviews a book on China by Simon Winchester

Jeremy Black review four new books covering differing aspects of the Napoleonic era

Mark Bryant sketches the brief life of one of 18th-century London’s most prodigious and daring draughtsmen.

Wallowing in misery over this admittedly awful year betrays a lack of historical perspective, argues Derek Wilson.

In the wake of the credit crunch, Dan Jones looks at past episodes of runaway greed and the moral lessons learnt.

Richard J. Evans reviews a book by Cora Sol Goldstein

Graham Goodlad examines differing interpretations of the part played by King Charles I in the outbreak of the civil war.

This year sees a remarkable coincidence of anniversaries that tell the history of modern China. Some will be celebrated by the authorities on a grand scale, others...

Lucy Wooding introduces a highly significant, but often much misunderstood, cultural force.

Geoffrey Best reviews a book on the British Second World War headquarters by Richard Holmes

As bankers gain pariah status, William D. Rubinstein discusses Britain’s changing attitudes towards the wealthy.

Anne Curry reviews a book by Juliet Barker

Simon Trew reviews D-Day by Anthony Beevor and Turbulence by Giles Foden

Margaret M. McGowan (Yale University Press) 330pp £35.00 ISBN 978 030 011557 4

Adrian Desmond and James Moore(Allen Lane)   512pp   £25ISBN 978 184 614035 8

Juliet Gardiner looks at recent publications marking the 150th anniversary of Darwin’s most famous work and the bicentenary of his birth

Richard Cavendish remembers the first American-Indian hero, who died on February 17th, 1909.

Peter Ling reviews a title on modern American history by Philip Jenkins.

As Algeria prepares this month to host the second Pan-African Cultural Festival, with 48 countries participating, Martin Evans describes the original festival held 40...

A major new book and BBC television series tell the long, complex and often surprising history of Christianity. Writer and presenter Diarmaid MacCulloch talks about...

Did the first Christian Roman emperor appropriate the pagan festival of Saturnalia to celebrate the birth of Christ? Matt Salusbury weighs the evidence.

On the eve of the Second World War, the navies of Italy, France and Britain plotted for supremacy in the Mediterranean. Their actions resulted in the fracturing of...

Anne Curry reviews a new title by Jonathan Sumption

Mark Bryant profiles the brilliant wartime cartoonist who chronicled the actions of Italy’s Fascist leader.

Robert Pearce examines the career of Mussolini’s forerunner

Following her exceution by firing squad in Belgium in 1915, Edith Cavell's body was eventually brought back from Brussels to England on May 15th, 1919.

Hannes Kleineke examines the career of the first Yorkist king.

John Ramsden reviews a book on political history and electioneering by Jon Lawrence

A Herefordshire village near the border with Wales is the site of a major landmark of military history, argues Terry Wardle.

A spate of recent films suggest that the scars of Germany’s history show little sign of healing. Markus Bauer reports.

Richard Wilkinson is impressed, up to a point, with a new revisionist study on Tudor religious controversies.

A history of the Left Bank of Paris

R. E. Foster examines the career of Pitt the Younger.

Already rocked by defeats in the War of the Spanish Succession, Louis XIV’s France faced economic meltdown as the chaotic nature of its finances became apparent....

Mark Bryant on how French cartoonists of the 1870s responded to national humiliation at the hands of a beligerent Prussia.

Lord Beaverbrook’s close acquaintance with the two War Leaders began in 1911; his reflections on them had not been published in full before this August 1973...

Charles Darwin, author of the theory of evolution, is the subject of widespread celebration and study this year.

Paul Lay introduces the highlights of the January 2010 issue of History Today

Paul Lay introduces the 11th edition of our 59th volume.

Editor Paul Lay introduces the tenth issue of our 59th Volume

Editor Paul Lay introduces the September issue of History Today

Two hundred and fifty years ago a British Army under General James Wolfe won a momentous battle at Quebec. The outcome has been seen as a fortuitous springboard to...

The natural philosopher and scientist Robert Boyle was revered in his time for his pioneering enquiry into a wide range of natural phenomena.Yet within half a...

Recent research by medical scientists and historians suggests that George III had manic depression rather than porphyria. Scholars will need to take a fresh look...

George V retained his throne by learning a lesson ignored by most of his European contemporaries – relinquish all power, writes Miranda Carter.

A curious relationship exists between the Caucasus state and the West,  explored by Nigel Fountain.

Kevin Haddick Flynn looks at the attempt of the Grand Old Man of Liberalism to solve the Irish question and his conversion to Home Rule in the mid-1880s.

Juliet Gardiner reviews a new title by Dr Ian Gordon and Simon Inglis 

Michael Ostling reviews two books on the occult and magic in history

The Imperial War Museum has appointed its first female Director Diane Lees. Juliet Gardiner asks her about her vision for the museum, both in London and at its...

A new exhibition at the London home of the German composer gives Wendy Moore an insight into the troubled personal circumstances of the man behind the soaring music...

Henry II was fatally injured by the Count of Montgomery during a jousting tournament. He died on July 10th, 1559.

Robert Hughes provides an Examiner's Commentary

Henry Tudor invoked providence to gain his throne in 1485, but it was skilful use of heraldic and religious imagery, as well as promotion of the cult of Henry VI...

Henry VIII ascended to the throne of England on April 22nd, 1509. In this article from our 2009 archive Suzannah Lipscomb looks beyond the stereotypes that...

Juliet Gardiner runs her eye over a new title by Graeme Rimer, Thom Richardson and J.P.D. Cooper

The early life of the “Father of History” was dominated by the clash between East and West—Persia and Greece. His story of the Great War is part tragic drama, part...

David Hipshon regrets the degree to which our history syllabuses have censored the roles of British heroes.

Lindsay Pollick shares her experiences and her enthusiasm.

Wayne Johnson explains what is on offer at one of Britain’s newest universities

How children acquire language is a question that continues to be of fascination to medical scientists and educationists. They all owe a debt to Charles West, 19th-...

HitlerIan KershawAllen Lane   1,072pp   £30ISBN 978 1846 140693

As a major conference on the nature of liberty opens, David Marquand questions the free and democratic legacy that British history has bequeathed to the country and...

Jeremy Black prepares readers for the rigours of university history.

Embarking on a study of the Russian revolutionary’s long years in exile, Helen Rappaport unveiled the strangely compelling and sometimes surprising private life of a...

The past is more than a set of events with an inevitable outcome. Historians must strive to capture it in all its fascinating strangeness, argues Chris Wickham, as...

This year marks the 300th anniversary of the birth of the Industrial Revolution in what is now a quiet Shropshire town as well as the 200th anniversary of the...

John Foot reviews a new book by David Lane

In 1926 Umberto Nobile, a young Italian airship engineer, became a hero of Mussolini’s Fascist state when he piloted Roald Amundsen’s Norge over the North Pole....

Richard Cavendish recalls the slave liberation movement in 19th-century Kansas.

July 221934 Richard Cavendish remembers the capture and slaying of a the definitive American gangster

The air of London in the seventeenth century was polluted by clouds of sea-coal smoke against which Evelyn proposed some drastic remedies. By Steven R. Smith

Frances Spalding on John Piper’s pursuit of an English vision during the Second World War.

Secrecy shrouded the ways of politicians until the 18th century. Then John Wilkes came along, writes David Horspool.

A subject and servant of Europe’s most cosmopolitan empire, the composer Joseph Haydn played an important role in the emergence of German cultural nationalism...

According to the will of Henry VIII, it was the younger sister of the ill-fated Lady Jane Grey who would follow Elizabeth I to the throne of England. Yet few now know...

Ian D. Thatcher defends the record of Josef Stalin’s successor, Nikita Khrushchev, and sees him as a forerunner of Gorbachev.

A selection of your correspondence 

A selection of your correspondence.

A selection of your correspondence this month.

A selection of your letters this month

Simon Yarrow reviews a title on John Wyclif and Lollardism.

David Cesarani reviews a book about a strange subset of the Third Reich's military, by Bryan Mark Rigg.

The Tower of London’s New Armouries was the atmospheric venue for our annual awards ceremony.

What happened when a philosopher, an artist and a ruthless warrior – all giants of the Renaissance – met on campaign in northern Italy? Paul Strathern explains....

Juliet Gardner reviews a book by Ashley Jackson

Miles J. Unger(JR Books) 513pp£20ISBN 978 190 621771 6

The Venetian traveller’s account ofhis travels sometimes tried his friends’ credulity. J. A. Boyle finds that Marco Polo claimed,however, that he had not told ‘one...

Janet Copeland introduces one of the most important feminist figures in twentieth-century history.

Explore the reign of 'Bloody Mary' Tudor

Richard Wilkinson has immersed himself in a new study of the Second World War.

Terry Charman examines two books on the Second World War - on Arnhem and the famous Generals on either side.

Biography of the classical Oxford scholar

Corinne Julius introduces a new exhibition of dazzling medieval jewellery at London’s Wallace Collection, which reveals both the vigour and the vulnerability of...

The legendary ruler of Pontus and creator of a formidable Black Sea empire was, until recently, one of the most celebrated figures of the Classical world, a hero...

Paul Cartledge visits the archive of History Today to retrieve a critical appraisal of the Greek proto-historian Herodotus by the inimitable Oxford don Russell Meiggs...

Simon Yarrow reviews a new release by Miri Rubin

 ‘We don’t want cinemas, we want peace.’ David Woodward introduces a little-known First World War insurrection in the Austro-Hungarian fleet, framing it within the...

Graham Goodlad examines the controverisal reputation of Napoleon Bonaparte as a military commander.

Spurred into action by the false presumptions of Thomas Carlyle, the antiquarian Edward FitzGerald sought to piece together the momentous events of June 14th, 1645...

Andrew Boxer traces the origins of a historical issue still as controversial and relevant today as in past centuries.

Michael Grant asks if history has been kind to the Roman emperor.

Nick Smart scrutinises Chamberlain's foreign policy and the historiography of appeasement.

Book review on New York by Edward Rutherford, by Jerome de Groot

Sedition could cost you your life in Tudor England, but by the 18th century the monarch was fair game, writes David Cressy.

Colin Shindler reviews two books on the Israel-Palestine conflict and the founding of the state of Israel: One State, Two States by Benny Morris and The Making of...

A revolution in sociability took place among the genteel and ‘middling’ classes of 18th-century England, as visiting friends of similar social status became a leisure...

On the tercentenary of the famous London writer’s birth, Peter Martin celebrates the legacy of a man admired for his insight and humanity, qualities forged in the...

During his tenure as Governor of the Falkland Islands, David Tatham became fascinated with the Islands’ history. Here he describes how he worked with islanders to...

Christians have longrelied on scribes’ copies of Biblical texts; the Codex Sinaiticus,discovered in 1844, dates from the fourth century, by J. K. Elliot.

Since at least the 18th century, the traditional English summer sport has inspired cartoonists, as Mark Bryant demonstrates.

Hugh Purcell looks at how, 90 years ago, the British Empire rejected the principle of racial equality on which the Commonwealth is now based.

The careers of the three Kennedy brothers defined the politics of America in the 1960s, a decade that began amid vigour and optimism and ended in scandal and...

As a new exhibition on the Baroque opens at the Victoria and Albert Museum, Joanna Norman looks at this age of magnificence.

Janet Hartley reviews a new title on the great Russian leader

Richard Cavendish looks back at the Capetian monarch, crowned aged seven.

Andrew Robinson reviews a collection by Henri Cartier-Bresson and Walker Evans

Concerns about the British primary school curriculum made their way onto the political agenda last year with the publication of the interim Rose Report. With the full...

Ed Dutton looks at how the experience of Finland during the period 1945 to 1989 has led to a historical identity crisis for the nation that remains unresolved....

Kathryn Hadley reviews a historical website.

More than two decades ago, Adam Zamoyski wrote a history of the Poles and their culture. As a major revision of the work is published, he reflects on the nation’s...

Chris Corin exposes the huge apparatus created by Tsarist Russia to combat the threat of revolution.

Mark Bryant looks at the lampooning of two hugely unpopular measures imposed during the administrations of two of the United States’ most distinguished presidents...

Andrew Boxer welcomes a new textbook on recent American history.

Three hundred years ago, Russia emerged as a major power after a clash of armies in the Ukraine. Peter the Great’s victory, Derek Wilson argues, had repercussions...

Juliet Gardiner reviews a history DVD

Sir Anthony van Dyck, court artist to Charles I, is the subject of a new exhibition at Tate Britain. Kevin Sharpe, consultant to the project, argues that the visual...

Mark Bryant looks at the artist behind one of the most iconic images of the 20th century.

As springtime arrives in Japan, Matthew Knott looks at the history of the country’s love affair with the cherry blossom.

John Matusiak pricks the imperial pretension of the monarch who came to the throne 500 years ago

The Allies may be regarded as the ‘good guys’ of the Second World War, but the hypocrisy apparent in their treatment of colonial peoples drove many subjects into...

At the end of the 19th century, with religious belief under increasing attack, the British antiquarian Arthur Evans sought to ‘re-enchant’ the world with his...

The repatriation of British soldiers’ bodies from Afghanistan goes against a long tradition of burying the war dead in some foreign field and brings the conflict...

A round-up of all the book, film, radio and DVD reviews this month.

Ever since his own time it has been agreed that Richard Cromwell was not the man his father was, which may have been no bad thing. Richard Cavendish looks back....

Past experiments with liberal democracy have led Russia to the brink of civil war, economic collapse and the plunder of state resources. Daniel Beer explains why...

The French president’s decision to introduce a competitive Anglo-Saxon model for research funding has led to mass revolt. But few disagree that Gallic higher...

Edna Fernandes visits a madrassa in northern India founded in the wake of the Indian Mutiny. One of the first Islamic fundamentalist schools, its influence has...

Alice Jenkins reviews a a study of eccentrics in 19th-century scientific life

From A.J.P. Taylor’s mesmerising lectures in front of a black backdrop to technicolour Civilisation and the ground-breaking World At War, Taylor Downing looks at...

Eminent Second World War thinkers who have written for History Today magazine

Latest Book Releases on the Second World War

John Etty questions whether Serb nationalism was an irresistible force that helped unleash the First World War.

“Not histrionics but steady and constant leadership saved Shackleton and his men”. Michael Langley finds that the great explorer’s skill and courage rescued a whole...

Following the controversy unleashed by the appearance of BNP leader Nick Griffin on BBC’s Question Time, Gavin Schaffer explores the long-running tensions within the...

David Rooney reviews a new work by Paul Glennie and Nigel Thrift

Emelyne Godfrey explains the origins and current appeal of a hybrid martial art that flourished in fin de siècle London and was famously used by Conan Doyle’s...

Juliet Gardiner analyses the recent explosion in interest in historical novels

Richard Overy examines recent analyses of how Europe became embroiled in major conflict just two decades after the trauma of the Great War and we look at events...

In the first of an occasional series exploring the ways in which topical historical subjects are being tackled in a variety of media, John Guy examines the directions...

Juliet Gardiner examines the directions historians are taking in one of the most popular and controversial periods in British history

In the second of our occasional series exploring the ways in which topical historical subjects are being tackled in a variety of media, Rohan McWilliam examines a...

Juliet Gardiner rounds up a collection of recent history writing on the Victorians

Peter Mandler gives a fairly short introduction to ‘Very Short Introductions’

As Europe polarised between Right and Left in the 1930s, many artists and authors nailed their reputations to either extreme. Others, says Nigel Jones, took refuge in...

Born a century ago, the ascetic French philosopher Simone Weil spent the last months of her short life exiled in London working for de Gaulle’s Free French. But, as...

Simon Lemieux provides an overview of 16th-century Catholicism, focusing on the key issues often selected by examiners.

St George only gained popularity in England in the 15th century and Richard the Lionheart had nothing to do with it, writes Marc Morris.

White South Africans who fought in the long ‘Border War’ to maintain apartheid now find themselves in a country run by their former enemies. Gary Baines examines...

The expulsion in 1609 of more than 300,000 Spanish Moriscos – Muslim converts to Christianity – was a brutal attempt to create an homogenous state, writes Matt Carr...

Until 1729, London Bridge was the capital’s only crossing over the Thames and a microcosm of the city it served, lined with houses and shops on either side. Leo...

Nigel Jones reviews a first-rate account of the rivalry between Stalin and Trotsky

The writer and director Stephen Poliakoff talks to Charlotte Crow about how his view of the recent past has informed his new film, Glorious 39, a historical thriller...

Juliet Gardiner, Kathryn Hadley and Paul Lay review some summer reading

Richard Willis reviews Susan Isaacs: A Life Freeing the Minds of Children by Philip Graham.

R. E. Foster examines thereputation and politicalstature of a three-timesprime minister.

David Loyn, the only reporter with the Taliban when they took Kabul in 1996, takes issue with military historian Thomas Tulenko’s analysis of Britain’s 19th-...

William S. McFeely reviews a book by John Keegan

Richard Cavendish marks the anniversary of a violent post-First World War event in India

Niall Ferguson Allen Lane   442pp   £25ISBN 978 1 846 14106 5

At Poltava Peter the Great won a victory over the Swedesthat consolidated the power of the Russian state, writes Roger N. Fritzel.

In 1759, Admiral Hawke secured a daring victory over the French fleet at Quiberon Bay. It surpasses Nelson’s triumph at Trafalgar in its significance, claims Brian...

Alan Sharp takes a fresh look at the statesmen responsible for the Treaty of Versailles

The British Museum opened on January 15th, 1759.

Patrick Williams provides us with the results of the latest research on the Armada

JUL 23rd, 1759 - Richard Cavendish recounts the birth of a great warship

André Gill fearlessly lampooned the French rulers of his day in a series of masterly caricatures that would later inspire the creators of Spitting Image and many...

David Powell establishes a clear path through the historiographical maze

On the Neva in 1740 Peter the Great’s niece constructed a winter palace. By Mina Curtis.

Book review on the goals of ordinary men and women in Early Modern England

Philip Matyszak (Thames & Hudson) 296pp £12.95 ISBN 978 0500 28772 9 Philip Matyszak & Joanne Berry (Thames & Hudson) 304pp £24.95 ISBN 978 0500 251447

Justin Pollard reviews a title by David Horspool

On the anniversary of the regicide, Blair Worden considers the enduring and sometimes surprising consequences of the execution of King Charles I.

Tom Holland reviews a work on the decline and fall of the Roman Empire by Adrian Goldsworthy

In 1947, as Zionist insurgents wreaked havoc, British special forces in Palestine adopted counterinsurgency tactics that attracted worldwide condemnation. David...

Geoffrey Best looks at the life of A.P. Herbert, writer, wit and MP, who played a major role in the liberalisation of British life with his reform of the draconian...

In the 13th century a remarkable trading block was formed in northern Europe. Stephen Halliday explains how the Hanseatic League prospered for 300 years before the...

Russell Tarr sees similarities but also important contrasts in the foreign policies of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy

Sheila Rowbotham reviews a title from Tristam Hunt

Andrew Davies (Milo Books) 336pp £11.99 ISBN 190 385481 4

Richard Cavendish records how Germany sank its own navy in the aftermath of the First World War.

World powers are replaying the shadowy conflict fought between Tsarist Russia and imperial Britain in the Caucasus and Central Asia. Today, however, it is less about...

Paper was used in the Islamic world long before it appeared in the Christian West. But when Renaissance Europe mastered its manufacture, writes Matt Salusbury, it...

Leanda de Lisle reviews a book by Alison Weir

Richard Davenport-Hines reviews the biography of a Victorian celebrity-hunter

Simon Lemieux examines examples of German Protestant propaganda.

Juliet Gardner summarises a "copiously illustrated" new title by Suzanne Bosman

Clair Wills reviews a book on reporting in the Irish War of Independence (1919-1921) by Maurice Walsh.

The recent scandal over MPs’ expenses would not have raised an eyebrow in the 18th century when bribery was rife and rigged elections common. Trevor Fisher looks into...

Mar 15, 1909

Beautiful, clever and determined, Yolande of Aragon was at the heart of the diplomatic and military campaigns that united 15th-century France. Margaret L. Kekewich...

A contemporary account of life in Restoration London and Oxford by William Taswell, spanning the years 1660 until circa 1675. Includes personal obervations of the...

Catherine Horwood reviews a book edited by Denis Judd

David Lowenthal reviews The Purpose of the Past by Gordon S. Wood.

Eamon Duffy explores the relationship between Mary I and her Archbishop of Canterbury Cardinal Pole. Pole’s advice to his queen about attitudes to Henry VIII and...

Michael Simmons reviews two titles on the legacy and fall of Communism

Michael Scott looks at how a time of crisis in the fourth century BC proved a dynamic moment of change for women in the Greek world.

Emily Parton asks a key question about Italian unification, in the winning entry of History Review magazine's 2009 Julia Wood Award.

For 400 years the delivery of letters has been integral to British life. As Royal Mail confronts an uncertain future, Susan Whyman charts the Post Office’s...

Frederic Spotts (Yale University Press) 288pp £25 ISBN 978 030 013290 8

Mary S. Lovell reviews a new release by Leanda de Lisle

Richard Cavendish explains how, on September 12th, 1959, the Soviet Union launched Luna 2, the first spacecraft to successfully reach the Moon.

John Swift examines a vital element of the Cold War and assesses the motives of the Superpowers.

Richard Cavendish remembers the infamous mafia massacre of February 14th, 1929.

Ian Mortimer reviews a book by Dan Jones

Juliet Gardiner presents a selection of the latest offerings on this much visited historical theme.

Richard Davenport-Hines reviews a title from Miranda Carter

Gregory Radick reviews a title on the German Darwinian biologist and scientific artist

Derek Wilson looks at a new book by David Loades

Ryan Lavelle reviews a book on the English Aristocracy, 871-1066

Despite the crushing of Tibetan independence by China 50 years ago this month, and continuing attempts to stifle support for Tibet’s spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama...

During the 17th century, Britain witnessed the birth of a consumer society. But, as the number of possessions grew, so did the concept of ‘taste’, a subtle and...

Wendy Moore catches a rare glimpse of a medical collection that includes tonsil guillotines and implements for trepanning.

Graham Goodland assesses the impact of developments in non-military technology on the conduct of war in the modern era.

David Souden reviews a book by Robert Harbison

Tsar Nicholas II and his family arrived on the Isle of Wight on August 2nd, 1909, during the week of the Cowes Regatta.

Leanda de Lisle reviews a new title about how the infamous British royal house have been portrayed in modern times, edited by Susan Doran and Thomas S. Freeman...

Denis Judd reviews two titles on the early history of leisure activities

Historical facts about the Druids are few, yet this very lack of tangible evidence has allowed their image to be reworked and appropriated by the English, Irish,...

Famines are less likely today than at any time in history, although climate change, economic crises and regional wars mean they will never disappear completely....

Richard Cavendish remembers a 16th century papal attempt to restrict the power of Venice.

Robert Pearce recommends a first-hand account of the Third Reich.

Roland Quinault looks at how the Victorians saw the old English system of trial by jury as a defining feature of British good government and fair play and as an...

Vietnamese troops faced little resistence when they entered Cambodia's capital on January 7th, 1979.

Paul Preston (Constable) 436pp £20 ISBN 184 529851 9

The 18th-century rags-to-riches story of  Mary Eleanor Bowes

The public unveiling of an extraordinary collection of Anglo-Saxon metalwork was reported in a crass and trivial way, says Justin Pollard. He considers its true...

By challenging the very idea of a continuous Anglo-French medieval war Ian Mortimer reveals the remarkable complexities of a series of distinct conflicts that...

Britain in the Seventies

Suzannah Lipscomb looks beyond the stereotypes that surround our most infamous monarch to ask: who was Henry VIII and when did it all go wrong? 

In 1706 a little-known mathematics teacher William Jones first used a symbol to represent the platonic concept of pi, an ideal that in numerical terms can be...

Stella Tillyard reviews Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel.

Denis Judd on an illustrated guide to all 27 world heritage sites in the UK and Ireland

Review of the film Young Victoria starring Emily Blunt and Jim Broadbent