In the May issue:
Napoleon: Two Centuries of Life After Death, Slavery in the American West, Popes, Melancholy, the Irish War of Independence, John Brown, Polling in a Pandemic, Yemen.
Plus: reviews, opinion, crossword and much more!
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Indigenous peoples in the West of the United States continued to be held in bondage long after the abolition of plantation slavery in the South.
In the aftermath of the Reformation, the authority of the pope depended ever more upon the will of the people.
Revolutionary soldier or tyrannical emperor? The question is as pertinent now as when Bonaparte died in exile on remote Saint Helena in 1821.
A signature in a collection of autographs reveals a story of Indigenous service that extends from Australia to Canada and Trinidad.
A classic work of history, now 20 years old, reminds us of the power of continuing education for all.
John Brown, the abolitionist firebrand, remains a potent figure in the United States’ febrile politics of race.
The moral authority Britain gained during the First World War was undermined by the behaviour of the Crown Forces during the Irish War of Independence.
Robert Burton’s encyclopedic curiosity The Anatomy of Melancholy continues to offer remarkable insights into mental health.
We should listen to the voices of the past, for they may surprise us with their relevance.
A meditative, intensive and sweeping critique of the discipline of history.
The erstwhile emperor continues to attract biographers and readers alike. Laura O’Brien assesses recent work on his life and legacy.
The general election of 1918 was a ‘cynical muddle’ held as influenza killed thousands across a country emerging from the First World War.
Madame Blavatsky, founder of the Theosophical Society, died on 8 May 1891.
Charges were brought against Peter von Hagenbach at the ‘first international war crimes trial’, held on 9 May 1474.
Four distinguished scholars consider a historical question of enormous contemporary resonance.
The scorchingly honest assessments of the great and not-so-good that flowed from ‘Chips’ Channon’s poison pen.
A global trade in feathers, with London at its heart, saw hundreds of millions of birds killed every year. Emily Williamson waged a long and furious campaign against it.
For more than a century, southern Arabia has seen waves of insurgency and conflict backed by competing foreign powers.
A Roman poet transformed an unremarkable bird into a contested symbol of eroticism.
