Issue 23 December 1995

Charles I

Richard Cust reassesses the Stuart monarch's political style.

Stalin and Stalinism

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

Whig History and Lost Causes

The triumph of good guys over bad is still the popular picture of British history, invented by Whig historians in the nineteenth century. Liberty defeated tyranny and Protestants defeated Catholics in a predetermined victory that made Britain unique. Historical opponents of this inevitable triumph were sidelined as lost causes. Jeremy Black argues that history is more complex.