History Today

The War on Dogs

The dog cull of 1760 divided London: were dogs man’s best friend, or plague-ridden pests?

Percy Fawcett and the Lost City

First Tenochtitlán, then Cuzco, then Machu Picchu – why shouldn’t cities paved with gold be discovered in South America? At least Percy Fawcett believed so.

On the Spot: Suraiya Faroqhi

Which person in history would I most like to have met? Mihri Hatun, a poet of Ottoman Bursa, who dared to state that a clever woman was worth 1,000 incompetent men. 

Anarchy in the Waste Land

Following the death of Henry I, England was plunged into a civil war that reduced the country to a charred ruin. With the barons split between rival claimants, the people suffered.