Alexander Lee

The son of a country whose history had been written by outsiders, Chinua Achebe recognised the need for African literature with a Nigerian voice.

Witnessing the slow decline of his native Sicily, the last Prince of Lampedusa saw both blame and possible salvation in the island’s unique location and history, writes Alexander Lee.

Is reality simply a collection of unconnected moments and impressions? If so, what does it mean for our understanding of the past? For one Argentine writer, fiction was the perfect place to explore such questions.

The Booker Prize-winning writer eschewed autobiographical novels for historical fiction in a bid to resolve the porous distinction between objective and subjective history, writes Alexander Lee.

The leading light of the French Annales school revolutionised the writing of history by imbuing it with wider, holistic, narratives and literary flair, says Alexander Lee.

The Austrian writer, whose short stories and novellas have recently enjoyed a new burst of popularity, used history to remind us that a better life is possible, as Alexander Lee explains in his new series.

Although he was many things to many people over the course of his career, Eco was, first and foremost, an historian railing against modernism in all its forms.

The turkey’s path to festive supremacy was much more unexpected – and glorious – than it might seem.

Does the death of French medievalist Jacques Le Goff mark the end of an era in historical scholarship, asks Alexander Lee.

It is the issue of Russian identity, rather than strategic or economic importance, that lies at the heart of the Crimean crisis, argues Alexander Lee