History Today

John Tyler

Louis C. Kleber profiles the tenth President of the United States, 1841-5, who survived a charge of impeachment and acquired Texas.

The Islands Voyage, 1597

Alan Haynes recounts how Essex and Raleigh attacked the Azores, but failed to destroy the Spanish fleet

Mr Maudslay: Victorian Exemplar

James A. Boutilier profiles Dr Alfred Percival Maudslay, a world-wide traveller who inaugurated the study of Mayan civilization in Central America.

Herman Melville and Atlantic Relations

During troubled times over Hawaii, Oregon and the West Indies, Melville maintained a sympathetic attitude to Britain - not least to the Chartists, writes Charlotte Lindgren.

King Albert in World War I

David Woodward describes how, throughout the First World War, the King remained on the narrow strip of Belgium between Ypres and the sea which remained in Allied hands.

The Russian Best-Seller: The Gadfly

In 1897 The Gadfly was published in English by Ethel Lilian Voynich - ‘E.L.V.’ to her friends. Anne Fremantle introduces this revolutionary novel, set in nineteenth-century Italy, which has sold 5 million copies in Russia.

The Prince of Wales in India

Christopher Hibbert describes how, against the Queen’s wishes, the Prince successfully toured the British Indian Empire at the age of thirty-four.

Victorians by the Sea Shore

C.M. Yonge shows how, during the nineteenth century, the British public began to take a keen interest in the wonders of their native beaches.

St Teresa and the Visionary Nuns

Stephen Clissold explains how, after twenty years of life as a nun, St Teresa began to experience visions and ecstasies which led her to found a reformed Carmelite convent in Avila.