Volume 41 Issue 9 September 1991

Big Ends or Little Ends?

David Marquand cautions against too pat a 'winners and losers' interpretation of recent history, while asserting that a role remains for theory as opposed to narrow empiricism.

Love's Labours Lost?

Peter Clarke breathes a sigh of relief that the 'inevitable triumph of Labour' view of 20th-century British history is being replaced by one both more pluralist and more appreciative of its idiosyncratic achievements.

Sweet Charity

Milton Goldin compares American philanthropy past and present.

Lords of the Northern Forest

The Hudson's Bay Company was one of the central forces moulding the development of the vast tracts of land that today are Canada - but as Barry Gough explains here, the circumstances of its launch in 1670 also reveal much about the commercial forces, personalities and rivalries of Restoration England.

Time, Tide and Michael Faraday

The story of Michael Faraday, the genius of electricity, is very much a classic tale of the rise from obscure origins to scientific eminence. But as Frank James notes, an important chapter was the commercial work Faraday did for the army and navy in order to secure his freedom to pursue pure research.