Volume 60 Issue 6 June 2010

Bettany Hughes contemplates the vanity of her profession as she outlines the reasons why we must continue to engage with our very distant past.

One of Britain’s finest war artists, Eric Ravilious recorded the last days of the aircraft carrier HMS Glorious, which was sunk off Norway in June 1940 in controversial circumstances and with huge loss of life, writes Anthony Kelly.

Exiled in London in June 1940, with France on the brink of defeat, Charles de Gaulle broadcast a speech that was to create an enduring bond between him and his country, writes Jonathan Fenby.

The Western musical tradition of trained and professional performers, conductors and composers can trace its origins to the forms of Christian worship that developed in Europe during the first millennium, argues Christopher Page.

The American Civil War transformed the nature of conflict. Its opening salvos harked back to Waterloo; its end anticipated the industrial warfare of the 20th century, writes David White.

The murder of a 12-year-old boy in Norwich in 1144 inspired Thomas of Monmouth, a monk from the city's cathedral, to create an anti-semitic account of the incident. His influential work reveals much about life and belief in medieval England, argues Miri Rubin.