The Judgement of Paris
A divine beauty contest leads to the most famous war of the ancient world.
Recently published
November Quiz
Who was the first woman to be granted a hereditary peerage? When was the attack on Pearl Harbor?
Britannia’s Black Spartacus
Toussaint Louverture, the father of Haitian independence, became an unlikely star of the Victorian London stage.
Books of the Year 2021
Revolutionary France, lights out in the Ottoman Empire, gross obscenity, Napoleon’s gardens and the humble index: ten historians reflect on a year of reading.
Size Matters
In Georgian Britain, England’s ‘heaviest man’ became a celebrity, his likeness reproduced across an array of media.
Lynching the British
The actions of lynch mobs during the late 19th century damaged the United States’ relationship with Britain and threatened its self-appointed role as the world’s moral guardian.
Pius X ends use of Castrati
The Pope, in a bull of 22 November 1903, ended the use of the male singers in the Sistine Chapel, who had previously dominated men’s opera.
Policing Abortion in the United States
Recent restrictions on the right to abortion in the United States imitate policies enacted 150 years ago.
The Trial of Organisation Todt
‘Hitler’s architect’ Albert Speer denied all responsibility for the ruthless exploitation of millions of slave labourers. Yet he was head of a bureaucratic machine that did just that.
Darien: Scotland’s Ill-Fated Central American Colony
Scotland’s short-lived, catastrophic Central American colony exposed its precarious relationship with England. Was closer union an inevitable result?