History Today

demonstrators outside Leeds Crown Court on the first day of the trial of the Leeds Bonfire Night 12, June 1975. Photograph by Max Farrar.

Is Violence the Answer?

Using violence as a response to racism can both divide and unite communities. This was demonstrated when a riot erupted in the Leeds suburb of Chapeltown on Bonfire Night 1975.

Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle.

This Flammable Isle

The familiar story of the 17th century told through unfamiliar voices.

Portrait of Süleyman by Nakkaş Osman, 1579.

The One True Emperor on Earth

As sultan, Süleyman the Magnificent was portrayed as the Shadow of God on Earth, the Caliph of Islam, the Last World Emperor, the distributor of crowns to other rulers and the purveyor of justice.

Literary Heroine

One of Croatia’s most-read authors, Marija Jurić Zagorka spent her life in defiance of convention.

creation of the world, decoration from the Ål Stavkirke, Norway, late 13th century.

The Birth of Time

March has two of the year’s most important anniversaries: the creation of the world and the creation of time.

Continental Shame

The Holocaust as European history.

Hot Gossip

Recalling Hollywood’s best anecdotes and old grudges.

‘Newton after William Blake’, statue by Eduardo Paolozzi, London, 1995.

Glory or Gravity?

John Hutchinson and Isaac Newton were both devout scholars who believed that the natural world and God were inextricably linked. The similarities ended there.

Edmund ‘Ironside’, from the Genealogical Chronicle of the English Kings, late 13th century.

Toad Testicles, Foul-Beard and Broad-Arse

Nicknames can easily raise an eyebrow, but they have value to the historian beyond humour.

student boycott rally on the University Mall at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), 2 September 2019.

The Power of Protests

Recent protests in China are part of a long tradition of student activism, but results are often lacklustre.