Volume 76 Issue 2 February 2026
Those Who Can, Teach History
What makes a great History teacher? And why are the good ones so memorable?
‘Exit Stalin’ by Mark B. Smith review
Compassion from the Kremlin often proved as short-lived as its critics. In Exit Stalin: The Soviet Union as a Civilization, 1953-1991, Mark B. Smith finds that terror was a feature rather than a bug.
On the Spot: Phiroze Vasunia
‘Which moment would I most like to go back to? The Achaemenid Persian court when Alexander the Great took over in the 330s BC.’
The Public Versus the River Polluters
In the fight against rising river pollution by big corporations, legal cases have had to get creative.
Black Voices from the Archive
The testimonies of formerly enslaved people, collected in the 1930s by the Federal Writers’ Project, provide a unique archive for historians.
Massacre at Glencoe
On 13 February 1692 the Macdonalds of Glencoe were put to the sword by troops loyal to William III. Nobody was held to account.
‘Runes’ by Tom Birkett review
Runes: A Concise History by Tom Birkett looks beyond the mythical baggage to find a writing system no less remarkable and mysterious.
The Coffee Poets of 16th-Century Islam
The early modern Islamic world was embroiled in a bitter controversy over coffee. Much ink was spilt by poets on both sides.
‘Folklore’ by Owen Davies and Ceri Houlbrook review
Rather than a catalogue of a fanciful past, Folklore: A Journey Through the Past and Present by Owen Davies and Ceri Houlbrook is a field guide to a constantly changing Britain.