History Today

Richard Cavendish remembers the death of a prizefighter, on May 11th 1848

By adulating King for his work in the Civil Rights campaigns, we have misrepresented the complexity of those struggles and ignored some of the equally challenging campaigns of his last years.

Poland is the only country in the world to invoke Napoleon in its national anthem. Andrzej Nieuwazny explains how Bonaparte has retained a hold over Polish imagination throughout the last two centuries.

Gavan McCormack analyses the attempts by the Japanese nation to deal with its uncomfortable past.

Stephen Spielberg’s blockbuster Amistad claims to educate as well as entertain; but how accurate is his portrayal of this slave revolt? John Thornton looks at the facts behind the film.

Geoff Butcher describes how, throughout history, Malaria has played a major role in affecting the outcome of human endeavour.

Richard Tames introduces an exhibition that explores posters in their many forms at the Victoria and Albert Museum.

When a king from Bechuana visited England in 1890s, he won friends and respect everywhere he went, and his tale cast new light on the interactions between Britain and her empire, as Neil Parsons explains.

Richard Cavendish explores Levens Hall in Cumbria.