1981

During the sixteen years of Portugal's first Republic there were forty-five governments. Douglas Wheeler shows how this turbulent period of parliamentary rule gave...

Peter Quennell on a fine edition of a Tudor guide to art

Dominic Baker-Smith on a much-needed book, taking stock of the public life of Thomas More

L.C.B. Seaman

J.O. Baylen enthuses about a long-awaited biography of Olive Schreiner

Chris Wrigley reviews the impact of the great historian, celebrating his recent birthday.

Philip Mansel reflects on a trenchant account of pre-Revolutionary Europe

In the Georgian age the insane came to be seen not as a threat to society but as its victims. Roy Porter shows however that, in treating the mad with greater...

A review of two new books on Bismarck

David Dabydeen concludes our special issue with a look at Hogarth's representations of black people in the 18th century.

Ziggi Alexander and Audrey Dewjee consider the life of a remarkable Victorian woman.

Paul Edwards profiles two black men who settled in 18th Century Britain.

Barbara Bush looks at the experience of black people in 1930s Britain.

James Walvin looks at attitudes to black people in the context of slavery

Paul Edwards traces the leading black figues of the period.

Shula Marks puts racial stereotypes in South Africa in historical perspective.

Jonathan Israel on a new look at the life of Sir Lewis Namier

I.D. McFarlane

Kevin Sharpe finds a new biography on the first Duke of Buckingham offers incisive comment on Stuart England

Ivan Roots on an elegant series of lectures on Elizabethan foreign policy

Michael Neve on an excellently-researched history of Victorian trials and the idea of madness

Rosalie Mander inrtoduces a life of the notorious Victorian politician, Edwin John James

To its respectable neighbours Campbell Road was easily identifiable as the roughest street in north London. As Jerry White argues here, to its residents this...

Harriet Berry shows how the Venetian artist, Canaletto, who first came to England in 1746, was to give the English a new and lasting image of their land.

Gerald Strauss assess the attempts in the 1520s to ensure continued public support for the new churches.

Theo Barker takes stock on an edited collection of local history

Mysterious, exotic, colourful.... this was the view of their colonies that the 1900 Paris Fair presented to the French. William Schneider argues that this image was...

Thomas Gretton presents a special review of the impact of the 19th century French satirical artist.

John Robinson looks at the sorry state of a London monument

Douglas Johnson applauds a lengthy and detailed treatment of 18th century France

Ivan Roots on a new textbook for undergraduate history

An introduction to this month's special feature on Edwardian Britain, commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Historical Association.

Michael Howard on the culture of imperial Britain in the face of international competition in the economic and military spheres.

John Saville reviews a major survey of world socialism, published in English for the first time

R.B. Rose on a stimulating, but ultimately unconvincing, approach to the impact of revolutionary ideologies

F.S. Northedge on a history of the foundation of the League of Nations

A new exhibition and publication devoted to the wartime images of Cecil Beaton

Henry Loyn is impressed by a lecture series on the distinctive experience of feudalism in Scotland

Rene Elvin on two comprehensive German reference works

David Starkey asseses a new guide to UK Heritage, sadly lacking in awareness of current developments

It is through reading the letters that the soldiers sent home, argues Frank Emery, that “the Victorian rank and file cease to be a mute and anonymous body of men...

Ian Bradley shows that the characters and plots of Gilbert and Sullivan's operas reveal much that is of interest to the historian about certain individuals and...

Patrick Buckland on a detailed survey of religious identity and sectarianism in the northern English city.

November 5th had traditionally provided an outlet for the expression of popular attitudes towards religion in the city of Exeter. In this article Roger Swift...

More witches were executed in the German-speaking territories than in any other part of Europe. Why was the German witch-hunt, asks H.C. Erik Midelfort, so...

Henry Kamen considers two works on medieval and early modern religious dissent

Paul Addison struggles with an illiberal and extreme work

Wendy Davies on the first in a new Archaeology series, focusing on the Welsh Marches

David Walker on a new collection of essays on modern Welsh history and identity

Robert Thorne on an unusual biography of the architect of Victorian Gothic, William Burges

Anna Davin compares two approaches to Victorian education for girls

John Turner compares five approaches to the history of Ireland

Japan had two great infatuations with the West: in the 1870s and during the American occupation of 1945-52. Forsaking traditional isolationism, Japan welcomed...

Neither the Greeks nor the Romans paid much attention to the achievements or customs of the peoples that they conquered. As Jenny Morris shows here, in the case of...

Michael Crowder continues our monthly series on Monuments, with a look at a 19th century Haitian jewel.

William Doyle applauds a long-awaited English translation of a landmark French history of the Revolution

Harold Perkin is unimpressed by a new social history of 18th century England

T.P. Wiseman on a new reference book for Roman history

Alfred Stepan continues our series on Makers of The Twentieth Century, arguing that the romantic acclaim of Fidel Castro as a revolutionary guerrilla leader...

Stuart A. Schram continues our Makers of the 20th Century series. That Mao Zedong has changed the course of modern history is beyond dispute. the extent of his...

Robert Stephens continues our series on the Makers of the 20th Century, with a look at how Nasser left his mark on nearly twenty years of Egyptian, Arab and world...

M.S. Drower on a well-illustrated but far from comprehensive survey of Ancient Egypt

Ian Duffield argues that, more than any other African leader Kwame Nkrumah - together with the man whose examples and ideas gave him so much inspiration, Marcus...

M.T. Clanchy explores the new edition of an unrivalled collection of historical documents

Mia Rodríguez-Salgado looks at the lives and impact of the Christian and Muslim corsairs on the early modern seas.

Maggie Black continues her seasonal history of food and popular culture with a look at this period of autumnal celebration at Harvest End.

A. Lentin finds much of interest in an exploration of the man behind the Decline and Fall...

Juliet Gardiner continues our Monument series, welcoming the opening of Linley Sambourne’s house in London as one of the few city house museums to show us the habitat...

Basil Davidson reviews a new look at Prince Paul of Yugoslavia

Colonel Nasser became president of Egypt in 1956. In this article from our 1981 archive, Robert Stephens considers how he has been both acclaimed as a nationalist...

Nicholas Goddard on the Victorians and the agricultural utilisation of sewage.

Edward Spiers on a new social history of the British military

Stuart Andrews shows how Tom Paine not only popularised the idea of American Independence but helped to keep the spirit of Union alive through seven years of war.

Martin Walker on a magisterial treatment of the developments in British political journalism

In the month that the population of Britain will be counted for the eighteenth time, Sydney D Bailey argues that census taking, 'molesting and perplexing every...

Patrick Chorley on a valuable new book on French agriculture in the 19th century.

In Wales rugby football grew up in the communities of the industrial south. It was imbued with Welsh culture and aspirations, and provided drama for the Welsh...

Martin Henig follows the Roman ritual year in an excellent new book

John Martin Robinson on a fascinating and beautifully-illustrated account of English dreams of chivalry

Plekhanov refused to accept that Lenin's coup in October 1917 was a Marxist revolution. To him it was an anti-Marxist revolution that violated history's economic...

Denis Judd finds much to praise in a new life of Joseph Chambelain

David Mitchell assesses two new publications in religious history

The popular revolts of 1578-79 and 1586-89 in Normandy were triggered by an unruly military presence and the high level of royal fiscal exactions. Joan Davies...

The career of Colonel Fernando Santos Costa explodes the myth of Salazar's Portugal as a politically stable country with 'no history'. In charge of Portugal's army...

Geoffrey Parker concludes our two-part feature on the European Witchcraze Revisited.

Ronald Pearsall enjoys reminiscences about growing up in Edwardian England

Maggie Black continues her cultural history of food with a look at preserves.

Douglas Johnson compares two first-hand accounts of early 20th century British politics

Norman L. Jones compares two works reflecting new developments in Tudor historiography

Hugh Rank is intrigued but bewildered by an exhibition on the rise of Prussia, held in a Berlin still coming to terms with its legacy.

'Australia is a nation of immigrants' In the belief that manifestations of the unconscious can no longer be exempt from the attentions of the historian, John...

Edward Acton is disappointed by a new book on early 20th century Russia

This month History Today publishes the first in a new regular series of bibliographical essays on a wide variety of historiographical topics. The idea of the series...

A short round-up of the latest history publications

Edward Royle considers the rise of secular Britain

Paul Slack and Alan MacFarlane present twin assessments of the impact of this ground-breaking work

Ian Roy on an excellent, if individual, guide to the English Civil War

F.S. Northedge is uninspired by two edited collections

Phyllis Grosskurth compares the reception of Havelock Ellis on either side of the Atlantic

Paul Preston reveiws a survey of British supporters of the Nazi regime

London must be transformed into a place 'safe from fire and beautiful and magnificent' decreed James I – and Patrick Youngblood finds it was only the wealthy who...

Alan Wood argues that the real significance of 1905 lies not so much in what was achieved as in the portents provided for the achievements of the future.

In 1844 the people of the former Spanish colony of Santo Domingo rose in rebellion against the Haitians who had occupied their island since 1822. But instead of...

John Martin Robinson compares two works on Hollar in Germany and in England

William Seymour argues here that the determination of Sir Charles Napier to uphold British interests in Sind led to coercion and eventual war. Much criticised for his...

Ian Bradley on a life of the Victorian Socialist, Edward Carpenter

C.R. Boxer begins our special feature on Japan, considering the reception of Europeans in the country from the 16th century.

Nagasaki is often immediately associated with the American atomic attack on August 9th, 1945. However, it was also, for over two centuries, the only place in Japan...

Taking the waters became a Victorian passion and spa towns flourished. In this article the first prize winner in History Today's Essay Competition Pamela...

John Ardagh enjoys a survey of Franco-British contact over ten centuries.

Irene Coltman Brown continues our series on the Historian as Philosopher.

Peter Burke compares two view of popular culture in early modern Italy

Keith McCulloch on a valuable presentation of the historical illustratiosn of the late Alan Sorrell

Ian Kershaw on an English translation of a German history of Nazi government

Stephen Usherwood shows how Lord Mansfield employed his precise legal mind and his reasoned humanitarianism to expose the iniquities of slavery - and thus helped...

Denis Judd on a collection of essays on the South African War

The Exhibition held in Wembley in 1924 was intended to herald a great Imperial revival - in fact, as Kenneth Walthew shows here, it was to prove an escapist...

'A people's prospects are affected by its image of its past' - Arnold Toynbee presents an exclusive extract from his book on the Greek sense of the past, The...

Christopher Fyfe looks at how, in 1975 the Cape Verde Island gained their independence from the Portuguese after five hundred years of colonial administration that...

Roger Bartlett on a long-awaited study of the Russia of Catherine the Great

Maggie Black looks at the cultural history of three February menus, based as much on show as the cooking.

G.R. Elton asseses a posthumous work on the nature of the discipline

Edited by Geoffrey Barraclough

Keith Robbins begins our special feature on Edwardian Britain, considering the plurality of the Edwardian church, its relations with the state, and its responses...

Alan Howkins compares two histories of rural England

Huw Richards on the rise and fall of the media voice of UK radicalism.

Nicholas Cann on the first in a new series on the representations of daily life from the V&A

Ian Duffield finds much of interest in a new account of the beginnings of British imperialism

Although Kensington Palace was the official residence of Edward, Duke of Kent, and the birthplace of his daughter, the future Queen Victoria, his attempts to repair...

Geoffrey Parker looks at the moment, four hundred years ago this month, when the representatives of certain provinces of the Netherlands met together to depose their...

Ivan Roots looks at the interaction of European settlers and native Americans in colonial Virginia

Maggie Black completes her history of the year in food, with a look at the history of a festive favourite

British-Russian rivalry over the control of Persia had, by the beginning of the twentieth century, a long history. Donald Ewalt shows how this conflict was greatly...

David Nicholls on a broad look at cinematic depictions of the past

The framework for the police of nineteenth century France, argues Clive Emsley, emerged out of the reorganisation of the Revolution and the reforms of Napoleon.

Margot Heinemann assesses a magisterial account of the English Civil War

Irene Coltman Brown begins this series on the historian as philosopher by taking a look at the Greek historian known as the Father of History.

Irene Coltman Brown provides an insight into Tocqueville, who, reflecting on the history of revolutionary France, thought that liberty alone was capable of...

Mark Cohen on a recent batch of historical novels for children

Alan Ereira

Richard Mullen looks back on the wedding of Prince Albert Edward to Princess Alexandra of Denmark.

Eugene Kamenka contrasts two of the latest publications on Marx and Engels

Norman Gash praises a brave attempt to penetrate the mystery of the life of the 19th century politician

Why was Francis Drake in the Pacific in the 1570s? Was the Golden Hind bound on a trade voyage or was there a deeper political motive? The documents are...

'A kind of apotheosis of terracotta', the Natural History Museum has been open for a hundred years as a scientific institution to serve the huge lay audience who...

J. Derek Holmes

R.A. Stradling is impressed by a wide-ranging look at the Madrid of Philip IV

In the mid-seventeenth century Spain was at the apogee of artistic and cultural achievement under the patronage of her monarch, Philip IV - but, as R.A. Stradling...

James Madison, 1751-1836, the fourth president of the United States, is best remembered, according to Esmond Wright, for his personal integrity and the scholarly...

John Saville is impressed by this account of British Marxism in the early 20th century

Noel Carrington recalls how he was a Witness to the Past, as the Prince of Wales toured India in 1921.

Philip M. Taylor

William Rees-Mogg finds a new life of Anthony Eden well-researched but rather unengaging.

Pat Thane on a French philosophical approach to the history of the family

Kenneth Hudson on how the museum at Rüsselsheim is no usual museum of local history or industry. Rather it is a museum of industrialisation conceived as a microcosm...

Clive Emsley on a wide-ranging collection of essays on crime and the law

A hundred years ago this month the Smoke Abatement Exhibition was held in London. In this article, John Ranlett explains how the exhibition demonstrated the...

Peter Burke takes stock of an introduction to the early modern debates on witchcraft

Maggie Black on the history of bread and breadmaking.

Olwen Hulfton on a tale of sorry neglect for the poor in Revolutionary France

Robert Tombs

Brian Bond on a useful book for students of the Pacific War

Ian Bradley gives a concise assessment on a new life of Gladstone

Milton Osborne reviews a book by Thomas Hodgkin.

Jeffrey Weeks finds much of interest in a ground-breaking work

Richard Holmes continues our series with a look at the Problems of Military Biography.

Ian Beckett continues our series on military history with a look at War and Society.

David G. Chandler discusses the logistics of Military History.

John Vincent asks a key question of the Conservative politician.

G.P.C. Thomson looks at a work which cuts away the mythology of the Mexican revolution

Martin Gilbert

Comparisons between the English and Scottish witch-hunts have been drawn from as early as 1591. Using recent research on the subject from both sides of the border,...

The artistic images of women depicted as witches were varied and constitute unusual 'pieces of history' by preserving a visual record of the intellectual origins...

A.A. Powell on a new exhibition and publication from the British Library.

Margaret Morris compares two accounts of the rise of working class politics in 20th century Britain