History Today

A short editorial by Michael Trend.

This article by Heather Norris and Roger Kain illustrates some of the ways in which increasingly elaborate methods of town fortification affected the nature of urban development in European towns, and how the eventual removal of anachronistic defences provided opportunities for large scale urban redevelopment, extension and embellishment.

In this article Thomas Maxwell, one of the organisers of the exhibition and co-author of the catalogue, In the Image of Man: The Indian perception of the Universe through 2,000 years of painting and sculpture (An Arts Council publication in conjunction with Weidenfeld and Nicolson) explains the background to the exhibition.

As flames consumed the Houses of Parliament in 1834, one of the watching spectators, explains Kenneth Walthew, was Captain William George Manby who had done 'more than any man in England to combat the horrendous loss of life and property caused by fire'.

'Now the door has opened.../ ... none shall be turned away/ from the shore of this vast sea of humanity/that is India', wrote Tagore, the poet and cultural nationalist, whose poem was to be echoed in India's national anthem.

In the past, during times of high unemployment, schemes of public works were often developed. This was not only because of the mounting costs of relief, but also because it was considered in the interests of the unemployed to have work to do.

Maggie Black looks at the history of the seasonal traditions of contrasting fasting and excess.

Jonathon Riley-Smith explores the historiography of the Crusades.