History Today

In the tercentenary year of the death of the founder of the Society of Friends, Michael Mullett takes a look at the outlook and achievement of a man to whom 'all things were new'.

Peter Marshall considers the past impact and present influence of Marxist models to the history of Europe's encounters with other continents.

Professor Charles Boxer looks at a fascinating East-West encounter where science and mathematics were trailed as tempters for a Chinese gospel.

Stuart Andrews considers the life and radical milieu of the dissenting preacher whose support first for the American and then the French Revolutions brought him public controversy, and in the case of the latter, triggered Edmund Burke's classic denunciation of 1789.

The first modern constitution in Europe? On the occasion of its bicentenary, Robert Frost looks at the background to a landmark in Polish history which, though it triggered the final disaster of partition by the country's greedy neighbours, was a work of enlightened reform, not revolution. 

The dramatic uphevals of 1989-90 in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union combined with the controversial thesis that these and other events presaged 'the end of history'. In a major series launched in April 1991 History Today asked a range of eminent historians to discuss whether in the light of this, Marxism and possibly other-isms retained any validity as tools for interpreting the progress of history within their field. 

Never-never land? Marina Warner delves into the world of fairy stories to discover a historical context of family discord and feminine assertiveness in the adventures of Snow White and Cinderella.

The links of sentiment and interest between Britain and the United States, though frequently subject to prophesies of continental drift, remain tenacious. Esmond Wright offers a personal perspective on the events and individuals that have forged the alliance over the past century.

Dame Veronica Wedgwood turns to one of the great set pieces of English history – Charles I's January 1642 attempts to settle his differences with Parliament by the attempted arrest of five MPs.