‘How Finland Survived Stalin’ by Kimmo Rentola review
How Finland Survived Stalin: From Winter War to Cold War by Kimmo Rentola argues that political guile as much as military might stopped the Soviets in their tracks.
Political
William Adams: English Adviser to the Shogun
How an English navigator became one of the shogun’s most trusted advisers.
The Capetians: Medieval France’s Greatest Dynasty
Dogged by rumours of stolen thrones and treachery, the Capetians were nonetheless one of the most successful dynasties of the medieval West.
Political Graffiti in Georgian Britain
The 18th century was the age of graffiti, when the writing on the wall turned political.
The Death of Einhard the Historian
Charlemagne’s biographer Einhard died on 14 March 840, his modesty in stark contrast with the story of greatness he wove for his king.
‘Revolusi’ by David Van Reybrouck review
Revolusi: Indonesia and the Birth of the Modern World by David Van Reybrouck brings Southeast Asia’s ‘invisible revolution’ into the light.
The Lost Tudor Domesday Book
Once maligned as a record ‘of the dullest kind’, a 1535 audit of Church wealth – the Valor ecclesiasticus – offers a unique view of England’s religious, social and cultural life just months after the break with Rome.
The End of Britain’s Weeks-Long General Elections
General elections in Britain were once weeks-long affairs of corruption and chaos. The shift to one-day polling was slow.
‘The Wild Men’, ‘The Men of 1924’ and ‘A Century of Labour’ review
On the centenary of Britain’s first Labour government, three recent histories cast a sympathetic eye over Ramsay MacDonald’s nine months in Number 10.
Convents as a Refuge in Early Modern Lisbon
Lisbon’s convents were not just religious houses, but safe havens for the noblewomen of Portugal offering refuge from abusive husbands, unhappy marriages and a city swarming with ‘dogs and devils’.