Are ‘Dark Ages’ Inevitable?
We know less about some periods than others, but the meaning of ‘Dark Age’ is multifarious and often loaded.
Historiography
It Was a Dark and Stormy Night...
Historians often take creative liberties when setting the scene, but at what point does it become misleading?
A ‘Creative Microhistory’ of a Medieval Manor
The distant past is not often illustrated with plentiful descriptions of everyday life. Instead, the picture has to be put together from different sources, piece by piece, like a jigsaw. But there are often still gaps, which can be filled with historically informed creativity.
Fishing for the Facts
E.H. Carr’s belief that the histories we get depend on the questions we ask is more relevant than ever.
Things, Many and Varied
How the index helps us to understand, categorise and engage with the world.
Open Access, Closed Minds
Plans to measure the impact of historical research as if it were a science will mean fewer history books that excite the general reader.
The Nazis Enter History
Will current crises make it possible to study the ‘uniquely evil’ Third Reich as if it were just another period of the past?
Raise Your Words
A classic work of history, now 20 years old, reminds us of the power of continuing education for all.
Is There Too Much Military History?
It is among the most commercial as well as maligned fields of history. Four distinguished scholars consider its value – and its future.
Make Believe
Historians are tethered to the archive, but sometimes fixing the gaps requires the techniques of a novelist.