The problem of writing local history, R.H. Hilton suggests, can seldom be solved on the basis of parishes or even of counties; regions with a distinctive character and economy, such as the Cotswolds, are the natural units for the local historian’s attention.
Sir Lewis Namier shows how, through the growth of mining and the coal-trade, the social and economic character of North-Eastern England was entirely transformed.
Arnold Whitridge recounts how, at the dawn of the 19th century, General Bonaparte sold to the United States the vast Bourbon heritage along the banks of the Mississippi, which is now the American Middle West.
C.H. Brown presents his study of the political and economic background to mid-twentieth century Egyptian nationalism.
Revolutionary impulses do not always originate in proletarian discontent. Hugh Trevor-Roper's article traces 17th-century radicalism to a very different social source.
In these extracts Arthur Bryant describes the glorious reign of King Alfred, 871-99
Joseph Hone asks whether, had the Queen shown her Irish subjects greater signs of affection, could the Union have been preserved?
