Volume 51 Issue 5 May 2001

Jim Kelsey looks at the current transformation of the Royal Albert Hall.

Geoffrey Best, doyen of Victorian history, demonstrates that not all leading scholars start out as swots

Julian Swann reviews real and imagined conspiracies in early modern Europe.

David Brewer shows that while ‘ethnic truth’ does little to explain history, history does much to explain ‘ethnic truth’

Philip Stott unravels the emergence of myths about the tropical rain forests.

David Cannadine sees the British Empire as a spectacular and colourful extension of the social order of the home country

Daniel Snowman previews a new exhibition in Berlin.

Adam I.P. Smith casts a sceptical eye on the current craze for historical re-enactments

The Portuguese ruler began to curb the most powerful arch-conservative force in the country on May 3rd, 1751

The pirate William Kidd was executed in London on 23 May 1701.