What Birmingham Taught Muslim India
Industrial Birmingham was an important stop on the grand tours of various Muslim rulers, all eager to learn from the city of a thousand trades.
History Today
Spain Was Different: Tourism Under Franco
How did Spain, Western Europe’s last dictatorship, become one of its most popular tourist destinations?
Cowboy Diplomacy in the Spanish-American War
A routine Native American cattle round-up at the US-Mexico border in 1898 became an international incident.
‘The Graces’ by Breeze Barrington review
The Graces: The Extraordinary Untold Lives of Women at the Restoration Court by Breeze Barrington looks beyond the warming pan to the real Mary of Modena.
‘The Blood in Winter’ by Jonathan Healey review
In The Blood in Winter: A Nation Descends, 1642 Jonathan Healey holds Juntos and ‘jittery times’ responsible for England’s slide towards civil war.
How Important was the French Revolution?
Best of times or worst of times, how did the ‘greatest event that has happened in the history of man’ – as per Benjamin Disraeli – change the course of what followed?
What’s in a Pope’s Name?
Pope Leo XIV’s choice of name reveals much about the direction of the Church.
The Islamic Ethics of the Wine Tax
The wine trade in medieval Tunis was lucrative, but it caused a moral quandary for the ruling Hafsids.
‘The Colonialist’ by William Kelleher Storey review
Though his relics are reviled, his impact is more keenly felt than ever. Can The Colonialist: The Vision of Cecil Rhodes by William Kelleher Storey find the man for our time?
Mental Health and the 17th-Century Ship’s Doctor
Life at sea was hard. An early modern ship’s surgeon had to treat not just broken bones but distress and trauma.