Volume 47 Issue 4 April 1997

The Capture of Jerusalem

The capture of the Holy City by the forces of the First Crusade was a victory against the odds, but its legacy has borne bitter fruit.

Belarus: A Real Or Fictitious Nation?

Alexander Bely looks at the potent mix of history and politics in the defining national identity in a new 'White Russia' - the post-Soviet Union State of Belarus.

Bosch's 'Christ Carrying the Cross'

Gordon Marsden looks at how a Passion portrayal by one of the Middle Ages' most enigmatic painters, unlocks the door to the intense world of late medieval religious devotion.

Feminine Gender, Past Imperfect

We publish below the winning entry of the 1997 Longman/History Today Essay Prize, answering the question: 'Is 1990s history still too much his-tory and not enough her-story? How far should historians take into account political correctness and past injustices to groups in presenting their versions of the past?'

Nazism in the Classroom

In the first of our mini-series on the Nazis and social culture, Lisa Pine looks at how lessons in the classroom were perverted in the service of the Third Reich.