Prestel: The British Internet That Never Was
For an exciting moment in the 1980s, it seemed that Britain could become the world’s first online society. So what happened to Prestel, the Post Office’s proto-internet?
Recently published
Churchill, God and the Bomb
Did the idea of nuclear war make Britain’s wartime leader more God-fearing?
A Separate Australia
Western Australia’s desire to secede as ‘Westralia’ in 1933 was undermined by a change in Britain’s attitude towards its Empire.
The Cultural Revolution: A People's History
Mao Zedong’s brutal campaign to purify Communist China, which began in the early 1960s, resulted in a decade of chaos that has left an indelible stain on the nation’s politics.
The Great Fire of London
The rebuilding of London required an image of what had been lost. Kate Wiles shares one such survey from 1669.
Verdun: The Killing Field
The epic German offensive to take the strategically crucial fortress in north-east France reached its bloody end in September 1916. Robert Foley looks at how and why Erich von Falkenhayn, the Chief of the German General Staff, sought to break the deadlock on the Western Front.
Burning Books
As the holders of both our cultural and personal memories, books seem sacred and their destruction, no matter the cause, is always shocking.
Portrait of the Author as a Historian: Penelope Fitzgerald
The Booker Prize-winning writer eschewed autobiographical novels for historical fiction in a bid to resolve the porous distinction between objective and subjective history, writes Alexander Lee.
Botswana after Independence
Since gaining independence Botswana’s history has not been without turmoil, but the country has emerged as a model African state.
Cecil Beaton: Through a Glass, Lightly
The photographer, designer and aesthete Cecil Beaton brought a distinctly historical awareness to the realm of fashion.