Head to Head

From Elizabeth I’s intimate attire to fabrics that threatened social hierarchies, clothes tell us about more than just their wearers.

Thriving in troubled times, the allure of a good conspiracy theory has proved irresistible whenever and wherever authorities are not trusted. What’s the damage? 

Child-murderer, arch villain, failed monarch, ‘northern’. Have efforts to redeem Richard III succeeded or is he still one of history’s worst kings?

It’s the most tired of historical clichés, but is it so for a reason? Who writes history? Four would-be winners debate.

It’s bad news for local newspapers, with reports that they have reached their lowest numbers since the 18th century. How will historians study the provincial past when they can’t read all about it?

Long out of fashion, the term ‘Third World’ emerged amid the political polarisation of the Cold War. Now there is war in Europe again, and renewed talk of Non-Alignment. Does the ‘Global South’ exist?

Julius Caesar was killed on 15 March 44 BC. We’ve heard about the ‘Ides of March’ – but what happened next?

On the 20th anniversary of the worldwide protest against the Iraq War in February 2003, we ask: is there such a thing as ‘just war’ or is there just war?

Withdrawing labour is an age-old response to workplace grievances. But how old, and to what effect?

We know less about some periods than others, but the meaning of ‘Dark Age’ is multifarious and often loaded.