History Review, Issue: 23

Jeremy Black weighs the pros and cons of narrative history.

Nick Henshall looks at a stimulating study guide to the British Empire.

Stephen Cross queries expert judgement on Fascist Europe

Nick Henshall praises the best Tudor textbook on the market.

Mack Holt argues that the early-modern obsession with tradition was sometimes a deliberate smokescreen for innovation.

Frank McDonough reviews the debate over Neville Chamberlain's appeasement policy

Using evidence from contemporary culture, Richard Cust reassesses the Stuart monarch's political style.

John Guy doubts whether policy was ever imposed on the most wilful of kings.

He marketed himself as a man of principle - a public image of which David Eastwood exposes the inaccuracy.

Lesley Hall looks at sexuality as a recent recruit to historical studies – and at more than a century of argument and evasion

Martin McCauley argues that our obsession with Stalin as a mass murderer evades the real question – how did his system work?