History Today

Best of History 2006

The ‘voice of history’ was heard loud and clear when the Historical Association, was awarded the prestigious Longman History Today Trustees Award early in January at a party hosted by History Today at the National Army Museum. Adam Tooze of Jesus College, Cambridge, won the Book of the Year Award for his wide-ranging economic history of the Nazi years in Germany, The Wages of Destruction at the same event.

Sex, Scandal and the Supernatural

Peter Marshall explains how a chance reference in an old local history book led him to reconstruct the story of a 17th-century church scandal, and its afterlife in literature, culture and politics.

The Berlin Wall: A Secret History

The Berlin Wall was a tangible symbol of the suppression of human rights under communism. Was it more convenient to the West than their rhetoric suggested?

Radical Nostalgia

Alastair Bonnett argues that radical nostalgia has played a larger role in the formation of English socialism than Marxist historians – and New Labour – allow.

Corps Values

The Combined Cadet Force is coming back into fashion, says Ronan Thomas, who believes its wider take-up would help reduce gun and knife crime in Britain’s cities.