Feature

This Is Not a Love Story

The correspondence between Mary Hamilton and the future George IV is often seen as evidence of a harmless crush in the Georgian court. It was nothing of the sort. 

A History of China’s Claim to Taiwan

Mao Zedong once said that Taiwan should be independent, but the Chinese Communist Party has since changed its mind on the ‘renegade province’. How Chinese is Taiwan?

The Road less Travelled

Female explorers of the 19th century demolished Victorian notions of stay-at-home women. But why were they so vehemently anti-feminist? The case of Mary Wollstonecraft may hold the answer. 

The ‘Stans’ Turn 30

Is Kazakhstan 30 or 556 years old? As the five states of Central Asia celebrate three decades of independence, they prefer the glories of the ancient past to the legacy of Soviet rule. 

Faking It

Can we trust historical archives? State-run collections of documents are prone to abuse both by those who use them and their gatekeepers. 

Lords in the Light

The House of Lords, often in the shadow of the Commons, asserted its power during the reigns of James I and his son, Charles I. But it would be eclipsed by civil war. 

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?