History Today

Gibbon may have been a man of his time but he was also master of his craft in deploying facts to show history (through the medium of the Roman Empire) as self-generating and self-explanatory, writes Roy Porter.

Mike Curtis explroes an important collection of papers from the Cavendish-Bentinck family, Dukes of Portland.

The hazards of medieval pregnancy were met by attitudes that were a curious mixture of folklore, obstetrics, religion and common sense.

An overview of Kedleston Hall, as the National Trust launch an appeal for money to restore the property which was once the home of Viscount Curzon.

Marc Raeff reflects on the history of Russia as a great power during the eighteenth century

Mira Bar-Hillel investigates the increasing number of archaeological items being exported out of Britain.

Paul Dukes sets the scene for a series of articles on the rise of Russia from the seventeenth century.

Robert Thorpe accounts for the development of Glasgow since the nineteenth century.

'Lead them to a habit of reflection and observation for themselves...' – J.H. Burns argues that a handbook for teachers written by a north-country schoolmistress in the 1790s has surprisingly modern echoes in its approach to teaching history.