History Today

Helen Rappaport tells the story of James Abbe, a little-known American photographer, whose images of the USSR in the 1930s record both the official and unofficial faces of the Stalinist regime.

Beatrice K. Otto finds court jesters across the world and in every age.

Harriet Beecher Stowe's influential work first appeared in the National Era on June 5th, 1851.

Bribery scandals in cricket are nothing new. England’s 1882 tour of Australia soon brought the most respectable of sports into disrepute.

Anthony Kersting, architectural photographer, describes how his passion for buildings was fuelled by a Middle Eastern posting during the War

David Moulson looks at the history of pewter, as a new dedicated museum opens in Stratford-upon-Avon.

Jim Kelsey looks at the current transformation of the Royal Albert Hall.

Geoffrey Best, doyen of Victorian history, demonstrates that not all leading scholars start out as swots

Julian Swann reviews real and imagined conspiracies in early modern Europe.

David Brewer shows that while ‘ethnic truth’ does little to explain history, history does much to explain ‘ethnic truth’