Volume 76 Issue 4 April 2026

China plans to move its British embassy to a controversial new London site. It will carry 150 years of history with it.

‘What is the most common misconception about my field? That the Byzantine Empire was decadent and effeminate. I wish.’

Lying Abroad: Henry Wotton and the Invention of Diplomacy by Carol Chillington Rutter is a case study of the archetypal early modern ambassador.

Elizabeth I’s brief illness made the question of the succession top priority for William Cecil and the Privy Council.

By the late 19th century the relationship between art and Italy felt consigned to history. On 30 April 1895 creativity and controversy returned with the first Venice Biennale.

If the present, with its conflicts and uncertainties, is impossible to know, asks Italo Calvino, how can we hope to understand the past?

Waning Crescent: The Rise and Fall of Global Islam by Faisal Devji charts how colonialism and nationalism propelled the Muslim world into modern history.

Anglo-Saxon noblewomen took shelter from the invading Normans in nunneries. Did that make them brides of Christ?

Manga’s First Century: How Creators and Fans Made Japanese Comics, 1905-1989 by Andrea Horbinski reveals the colourful companion to Japan’s turbulent 20th century.

The Long Death of Adolf Hitler: An Investigative History by Caroline Sharples explores the public fascination with the dictator’s demise and the tall tales of his escape.