History Review

Martin McCauley argues that our obsession with Stalin as a mass murderer evades the real question – how did his system work?

The triumph of good guys over bad is still the popular picture of British history, invented by Whig historians in the nineteenth century. Liberty defeated tyranny and Protestants defeated Catholics in a predetermined victory that made Britain unique. Historical opponents of this inevitable triumph were sidelined as lost causes. Jeremy Black argues that history is more complex.

Lesley Hall looks at sexuality as a recent recruit to historical studies – and at more than a century of argument and evasion

He marketed himself as a man of principle - a public image of which David Eastwood exposes the inaccuracy.

Graham Seel uncovers their pivotal and sometimes underhand role in the struggle between king and parliament.

Graham Darby looks at why things happen, and argues that short-term causes are paramount.  

We eavesdrop on Ian Dawson as he interrogates the sources and wonders whether the first Tudor was really so mysterious.

David Welch attributes the Nazi leader's electoral success to much more than slick propaganda.

Richard Wilkinson wonders why historians have accepted the Cardinal's extravagant assessment of himself.

Martin Daunton argues that Labour's commitment to public ownership owed little to socialism and more to circumstances at the end of the First World War.