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Today's Featured Article

'Brothels on wheels' thundered the moralists but Peter Ling argues the advent of mass motoring in the 1920s was only one of the changes in social and group relationships that made easier the pursuit of carnal desire.

First published in Volume: 39 Issue: 11

Archive highlights for this month

A selection of additional articles for the May issue of History Today

The origins of Islam

Since its discovery in Yemen in 1972 a collection of brittle documents, believed to be among the earliest Koranic texts, has been the subject of fierce and divisive debate among scholars of Islamic history, as Scott MacMillan reports.

Richard Fletcher asks to what extent medieval Christians and Muslims sought to move beyond mutual hostility.

Queen Isabella

J.S. Hamilton weighs the evidence and concludes that Edward II and his notorious favourite were more than just good friends.

The historian’s desire for certainty is hard to square with the fragility of sources and their constant reworking by the profession. Casting a cold eye on the remaining evidence relating to the deaths of Edward II and Richard II, Ian Mortimer plots a way forward for his discipline.

Rome & Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens

Kate Retford explains how the artist Johan Zoffany found ways to promote a fresh image of royalty that endeared him to George III and Queen Charlotte – a relationship he subsequently destroyed.

Were art and religion inevitable victims of war? David Colvin and Richard Hodges discuss the action and the issues it raised - including testimony from a surviving witness from the monastic community.

The Luddites

Taylor Downing, producer of a dramatised documentary about the Luddite disturbances in Regency England, talks about the making of the current-affairs-style programme, and the 'then and now' parallels about resistance of skilled workers to the introduction of new technology.

In 1817, during a period of economic hardship following the war with France, a motley crew of stocking-makers, stonemasons, ironworkers and labourers from a Derbyshire village attempted an uprising against the government. It was swiftly and brutally suppressed. Susan Hibbins tells the story of England’s last attempted revolution.


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