Politics Past and Present
A troubled UK is in desperate need of politicians and commentators who can think historically.
History Today
The Torrid Zone
In the 18th century, Europeans in the tropics found themselves beset by an array of unpleasant afflictions. They blamed black women, the climate and the strength of their own masculinity.
Berlin’s Other Anniversary
The fall of the Berlin Wall was as much about beginnings as it was about endings. Out of the rubble came a new hope: techno music.
The Lure of the Local
Provincial museums, easy to overlook, remind us that everywhere matters.
A Grecian Harvest Home
A scene of ancient Arcadian bliss which hints at the coming of modernity.
Catholicism and its Critics
There is nothing exclusively modern about the dream of a world transformed by Reformation, Enlightenment, or revolution.
Virgin Islands of the Atlantic
The first ‘New World’ reached by Europeans was not in the Americas, but in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, where previously uninhabited islands were transformed forever.
Beyond Bletchley: GCHQ and British Intelligence
Britain’s largest intelligence agency marks its centenary this year. While its home is a distinctive architectural structure, what goes on inside remains little known.
On The Spot: Sunil Amrith
My favourite archive? The India Office archives at the British Library.
A Second British Revolution
Over the last 30 years, the UK’s political class has swapped ideology for values and sleepwalked into major constitutional and political change. What can it learn from the last time it faced a crisis of such magnitude?