History Today

Following the publication of The Shortest Way with the Dissenters, Defoe was accused of seditious libel and put in the pillory on the last three days of July 1703.

Patrick Dillon identifies the mid-18th century as a watershed in ideas about reforming society.

Mike Cronin and Richard Holt discover the roots of international sport in France.

The Nine Days Queen was pronounced monarch on July 10th, 1553.

Maurice Garin won the first Tour de France, on July 19th, 1903, by a margin of almost three hours.

Gordon Marsden sees an identity of outlook between two writers generally seen as occupying opposite ends of the political spectrum in Britain.

John Morrill remembers and assesses the Marxist historian of the English Revolution, who died recently.

Joanna Green profiles a new project in association with the Museum of London, that provides a showcase for the history of London’s docklands.

Jennie Price celebrates 75 years of the completion of the O.E.D.

Erica Fudge considers what it meant to be described as an animal in the 16th and 17th centuries, and what divided humans from the rest of creation.