History Today

Fools' gold, Dr Faustus - traditional images of a Renaissance black art. But was there more to it than that? Zbigniew Szydlo and Richard Brzezinski offer an intriguing rehabilitation.

Brian Winston casts a critical eye over Leni Riefenstahl's cinematic paean to Nazi aesthetics.

Penny Johnston introduces the National Museum of Civil War Medicine in Frederick, Maryland.

Michael Leech celebrates the 150th anniversary of the foundation of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers.

Christopher Dyer argues for an upgrading of the town’s importance in the Middle Ages.

Ronan Thomas takes a look at the cultures of Korea after becoming independent from Japan in 1945.

John Tosh examines the intriguing tensions between masculinity and domesticity in 19th-century Britain.

Dan Leab looks at a classic Cold War movie and the shadowy figure who inspired it.

Robin Bruce Lockhart celebrates the past and present of the immortal dram and its historic links with our seasonal festivities at Christmas and New Year.