Today’s featured articles
How did English nurse Edith Cavell become the unlikely guardian angel of Gottfried Benn, the German poet who pronounced her dead?
How can historians of Tibet – a region whose history is tightly controlled by the Chinese authorities – gain access to its recent past? Comparing newspapers from either side of the Himalayas might offer a way in.
Just two years after victory in the Second World War, the divisions between the Soviet Union and the Western powers became unbridgeable. The Cold War had begun.
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How did the Habsburg Empire Survive?
Finished by the First World War and buried under the nation states that succeeded it, the Habsburg monarchy had survived for centuries despite its obvious faultlines. What held it together?
Strabo: The First Geographer
As the father of descriptive geography, Strabo of Amasia provides a unique view of the early Roman Empire.
Books of the Year 2025: Part 2
African queens and Anglo-Saxon towns, Indira Gandhi and Irish STEM, Celtic Studies and the caste system: 10 more historians choose their favourite new history books of 2025.
‘Christianity at the Crossroads’ by David N. Hempton review
Christianity at the Crossroads: The Global Church from the Print Revolution to the Digital Era by David N. Hempton peers beyond the pulpit and into the congregation.
Books of the Year 2025: Part 1
Peasants and popes, free speech and fashion, sentimentality and special forces: the first 10 of 20 historians choose their favourite new history books of 2025.
Carl Hagenbeck’s Eight Thousand Tortoises
By the turn of the 20th century Carl Hagenbeck’s Tierpark had revolutionised zoo exhibits – and the exotic animal trade.
The Secret to Successful Medieval Movies
When putting the Middle Ages on screen, drama is no substitute for the historical sources.
‘Heiresses’ by Miranda Kaufman review
Heiresses: Marriage, Inheritance and Caribbean Slavery by Miranda Kaufman follows the money to reveal how Britain’s women of means profited from plantations.
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In the December issue:
Rome’s clash with Henry VIII, the secret history of Tibet, Russia’s Decembrist Revolt, the affairs of Hortense Mancini, drinking politics in colonial Australia, and more.
Plus: reviews, opinion, crossword and much more!
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