History Today

At the centre of a war-shattered Europe, Vienna was divided between the victorious Allied powers. Restoring civil society proved a major challenge. 

From the pit to Pythagoras, the self-made man rose to the top of the mathematical world and divided it in two. 

In the revolutionary reign of the “Tsar-Stranger”, one of the most of the most significant episodes was his visit to the England of William III.

On the women who made imperial Rome.

The Thai-Burma railway was built by prisoners of war in appalling conditions. The dead were treated with a dignity denied to the living.

Venetian officials sought to stem a ‘plague’ of sodomy by promoting the heterosexual sex trade.

An Icelandic scholar exemplifies the rich cultural exchanges of the Middle Ages. 

Afghanistan: A History from 1260 to the Present by Jonathan L. Lee is a history fit from the Taliban.

Rosalind Franklin’s work was pivotal to one of the 20th century’s greatest scientific discoveries.

These Truths: a History of the United States by Jill Lepore is a reminder of how tenaciously previous generations have clung to the view that the country is the ‘last, best hope of earth’.