History Today

Scene showing communion (left) and excommunication (right) from the Decretales of Giovanni d’Andrea, 13th century. Luisa Ricciarini/Bridgeman Images.

Get Out: Excommunicated in Medieval England

In 13th-century England excommunication was akin to spiritual leprosy. How did it work?

‘A Bit of War History: The Veteran’, Thomas Waterman Wood, 1866. Metropolitan Museum of Arts. Public Domain.

‘The Strange and Tragic Wounds of George Cole’s America’ review

In The Strange and Tragic Wounds of George Cole’s America: A Tale of Manhood, Sex, and Ambition in the Civil War Era, Michael deGruccio discovers a generation betrayed by the fight for freedom.

Passers-by looking at a modern sculpture in the window of a Wimpy Bar in London, c.1961. Photograph by John ‘Hoppy’ Hopkins. © Estate of John Hopkins.

Wimpy vs McDonald’s: The Battle of the Burgers

In the 1970s and 1980s Wimpy faced off with McDonald’s in a battle over what it meant to eat British.

Henry Kissinger poses for a portrait in the Situation Room in the basement of the West Wing at the White House, Washington, DC, 1969. Photo © Wally McNamee/CORBIS/Getty Images.

‘Zbig’ by Edward Luce and ‘Henry Kissinger’ by Jérémie Gallon review

Zbig: The Life of Zbigniew Brzezinski, America’s Cold War Prophet by Edward Luce and Henry Kissinger: An Intimate Portrait of the Master of Realpolitik by Jérémie Gallon reveal the parallel lives of the Cold War frenemies.

Wreckage of the plane which crashed in Mongolia in 1971, killing Lin Biao. Newscom/Alamy Stock Photo.

The Lin Biao Incident

On 13 September 1971 a plane carrying Mao’s anointed heir crashed in Eastern Mongolia. What really happened to Lin Biao?

The Dairy Cow: The Dutch Provinces entreat Elizabeth I for aid against Philip II of Spain, c.1633-39.

Did It Matter That Elizabeth I Was a Woman?

Whether as ‘Gloriana’ or ‘Good Queen Bess’ Elizabeth I is one of England’s most iconic monarchs, but did her gender shape her reign?

Reconstruction of the murder of Achmed Bouchiki in Lillehammer by Mossad, 1973. NTB/Alamy Stock Photo.

Playing God: Mossad’s Murder of Achmed Bouchiki

European intelligence agencies assisted Mossad’s Wrath of God assassination campaign, while their governments condemned them.

Illustration of a platypus published by F.P. Nodder, 1799. Wellcome Collection. Public Domain.

Victorian Science’s Duck-Billed Enigma

By the 19th century, standard classification systems were struggling with new species. Then the platypus arrived.

A poster for the VIII Sokol Festival Prague, Alphonese Mucha, 1925. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Public Domain.

‘Central Europe’ by Luka Ivan Jukic review

In Central Europe: The Death of a Civilization and the Life of an Idea, Luka Ivan Jukic makes the case for Mitteleuropa as a time that land forgot.

Christian conception of the universe, with the Earth at the centre, embraced by the realm of God and his angelic court. Woodcut from the Nuremberg Chronicle, 1493. Bavarian State Library. Public Domain.

The Real Middle Earth

Though its meaning may have shifted over the centuries since its Anglo-Saxon origins, ‘middle earth’ is far from fantasy.