History Today

Jim Kelsey looks at the current transformation of the Royal Albert Hall.

Geoffrey Best, doyen of Victorian history, demonstrates that not all leading scholars start out as swots

Julian Swann reviews real and imagined conspiracies in early modern Europe.

David Brewer shows that while ‘ethnic truth’ does little to explain history, history does much to explain ‘ethnic truth’

David Cannadine sees the British Empire as a spectacular and colourful extension of the social order of the home country

Daniel Snowman previews a new exhibition in Berlin.

Adam I.P. Smith casts a sceptical eye on the current craze for historical re-enactments

The pirate William Kidd was executed in London on 23 May 1701.

Peter H. Wilson suggests that the aggressiveness of Wilhelmine Germany was not necessarily a direct consequence of the Prussian social system of the eighteenth century.

Jan Bonderson describes a bizarre series of assaults on London ladies in 1790, and explores the effects of this and other heinous crime epidemics on the capital.