History Today

In a divided country, painful memories of the Ottoman era are something that Bulgarians can agree on. 

A polarising poltergeist sowed division in 18th-century England. 

One of Buddhism’s most reviled villains was crucified in the Buddhist underworld. When French Christians arrived in Siam in the 17th century, venerating images of Christ on the cross, dialogue between the two religions reached an impasse.

Who was Matthew Webb? How many books were in Umberto Eco’s library?

Edith Lanchester was abducted and committed on 25 October 1895, causing a national outcry.

Mississippi’s governors have had a unique approach to prison labour and prisoner rehabilitation. 

As the age of revolutions swept across Europe, the Pacific also witnessed dramatic changes when monarchies were rebuilt and societies transformed. 

Throughout the centuries countless libraries and carefully curated book collections have been dispersed, destroyed or lost. 

Tall tales of Pompeii’s lost Roman lives form part of a long history of sensationalism. 

‘No historical record is an unmediated window into the past.’