History Today

As the holders of both our cultural and personal memories, books seem sacred and their destruction, no matter the cause, is always shocking.

The Booker Prize-winning writer eschewed autobiographical novels for historical fiction in a bid to resolve the porous distinction between objective and subjective history, writes Alexander Lee.

Since gaining independence Botswana’s history has not been without turmoil, but the country has emerged as a model African state.

The photographer, designer and aesthete Cecil Beaton brought a distinctly historical awareness to the realm of fashion.

South-East Asia’s ‘Golden Triangle’ dominated the world’s opium production during the 1980s. David Hutt reveals how a young soldier from north Burma took on the United States government to become the region’s most notorious drug lord.

The ‘middle Medici’ – two popes, two dukes, two bastards and a future queen of France – are too often left out of the dynasty’s history. Catherine Fletcher addresses that gap.

Hidden beneath a hill in Cholula, Mexico lies the biggest pyramid ever built.

Archives are one thing, the public another and connecting the two is one of a historian’s hardest challenges, as Suzannah Lipscomb knows from experience.

A Victorian restaurant critic explored the cuisine of London, including its sole vegetarian restaurant.

The author was born on 28 July 1866.