Absinthe: From Green Fairy to Moral Panic
The remarkable fall of absinthe: from 19th-century ‘Green Fairy’ to scourge of society.
History Matters
Thoughts, opinions and commentary on all things historical.
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Sarah Mae Flemming and the Forgotten Women of Civil Rights
There’s more to the story of bus boycotts than Rosa Parks. Who were the women who fought the decisive battle against racial segregation in the American South?
China’s Communist Comic Books
How did the People’s Republic of China cope with a literary canon filled with un-communist ideas? Comics called lianhuanhua were the answer, at least for a while.
Who was Thorkell the Tall?
A viking mercenary who fought on three sides, who was Thorkell the Tall?
The Death of Clive of India
Robert Clive’s death has long been attributed to suicide. What is the evidence?
Brushing for Britain
The First World War revealed the bad state of Britain’s teeth. Intervention was required to keep the nation biting fit.
Doc Holliday: The Perennial Sidekick
Misfit, Old West villain or tragic hero of the O.K. Corral: who was the real Doc Holliday?
The Conservative Party Popularity Contest
How the first Conservative leadership election modernised the party in the 1960s.
Robert Fergusson: Scotia’s Bard
The often overlooked life of Robert Fergusson, Edinburgh’s unofficial poet laureate and Scotland’s voice.
The Ballad of the Inquisition’s Greatest Witch Trial
How a lost ballad detailing the Inquisition’s sentencing of 28 alleged Basque witches spread a witchcraft panic through 17th-century Spain.