History Today

Traders and Soldiers in Russian America

Before 1867, Alaska was a Russian fur-trading colony, its values and laws derived from Moscow and, in part, from the European Enlightenment. Ernest Sipes looks at the relations between the colonists and the native peoples.

Battle of the Nile

The battle between the British Navy and that of the French Republic took place on August 1st, 1798.

Film in Context: Point of Order!

The 1954 lawsuit brought against the US Army by Joseph McCarthy marked a turning point in public attitude towards the ‘Red Scare’ Senator. Thomas Doherty tells how television played a crucial role in his demise.

Women Murderers in Victorian Britain

Women as perpetrators of crime, rather than its victims, were figures of especial fascination and loathing in the Victorian popular press. Judith Knelman delves deeper.

A Frenchman at the Court of Anne Boleyn

Nicholas Bourbon was a humanist, poet and religious reformer, and a member of Anne Boleyn’s circle. Eric Ives shows how his work throws new light on the Henrician Reformation.