History Today

Secret History (iv)

Must the historians be morally neutral on the subject he or she investigates? Michael Burleigh offers a personal view.

Sole Appeal

Julia Simpson on a new museum celebrating the clog shoe

The Making of England

From Augustine to Alfred - Janet Backhouse discusses the material evidence and new views that are the backcloth to the major exhibition of Anglo-Saxon art and culture opening at the British Museum this month.

The Nelson Society

Richard Cavendish visits the society dedicated to Britain's great military hero.

The Strange Death of the Earl of Essex

Did he fall... or was he pushed? Michael MacDonald investigates the cause celebre of Arthur Capel, Earl of Essex, found with his throat cut in the Tower of London and sheds light on attitudes to suicide and the political and religious strife of Restoration England.

A Visit to Voltaire, 1783

Nancy Mitford takes a perceptive and ironic look at the reaction of 18th-century French 'society' to the Enlightenment's great philosophe.

Summing Up The Somme

Lions led by donkeys? Britain's most traumatic land offensive of the First World War drew to its conclusion in November 1916. Trevor Wilson and Robin Prior reassess the campaign, the wisdom of its strategy and tactics, and the reputation of its C-in-C, Douglas Haig.