Today’s featured articles
For over a century, the crowns of Hanover and Great Britain were worn by the same king. While the British public remained largely indifferent to Hanoverian affairs, politicians grew to resent them.
Chinese astronomers and the European Jesuits who worked alongside them found evidence of China’s antiquity in the heavens. Others were sceptical: how old was China really?
King Charles I’s execution in 1649 turned the world upside down – were other outcomes possible?
Most recent
On the Spot: Richard Butterwick-Pawlikowski
‘What is the most common misconception about my field? That “anarchic” and “fanatical” Poland was partitioned by its more “enlightened”, “tolerant” absolutist neighbours.’
The Mongol Khans of Medieval France
The kings of medieval France were fascinated by the Mongols, who they saw as great empire builders. Eager to learn more, they amassed a huge archive of knowledge about them
What is Environmental History?
The climate crisis is a hot topic, but what does it mean to study the history of our relationship with the natural world?
The Radical John Wilkes
Parliament’s champion of the people or scandalous, self-serving politician? Georgian radical John Wilkes kept a foot in both camps.
‘Killing the Dead’ by John Blair review
In Killing the Dead: Vampire Epidemics from Mesopotamia to the New World, John Blair proves that you can’t keep a good corpse down.
The Publication of ‘1066 and All That’
On 16 October 1930 Britain’s sense of its historical greatness was skewered with the release of 1066 and All That.
AD-X2: When US Politicians Took on Science
The dismissal of a government scientist over the unproven battery additive AD-X2 galvanised the American scientific community in the 1950s.
The Master and Mikhail Bulgakov
In the chaos unleashed by the October Revolution, Mikhail Bulgakov found a past become fragmented and confused, and history the domain of madmen and devils.
Current issue
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In the October issue:
Zoroastrians in the Great Game, Chinese astronomy, slavery after abolition, the North African roots of Saint Augustine, the Chamberlen family forceps, and more.
Plus: reviews, opinion, crossword and much more!
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