Volume 62 Issue 12 December 2012

In the event of a successful Nazi invasion of Britian, Adolf Hitler proposed rural Shropshire as his headquarters. Roger Moorhouse explores why he would have chosen such a location.

Adam Rovner describes the little-known attempt to create a Zion in the Portuguese colony of Angola.

While it is right to seek justice for those tortured and mistreated during the Kenyan Emergency of the 1950s, attempts to portray the conflict as a Manichean one are far too simplistic, argues Tim Stanley.

Erica Fudge and Richard Thomas explore relationships between people and domestic animals in early modern England and how new types of archaeological evidence are shedding fresh light on one of the most important aspects of life in this period.

A great hoax was born on December 18th, 1912.

As the erotic novel appears to be experiencing a renaissance Julie Peakman reflects on 18th-century appetites for pornography.

Artemis Cooper reflects on Patrick Leigh Fermor’s flexible approach to historical fact.

After bringing slavery in the West Indies to an end in 1834, Britons differed over how to treat other forms of oppression around the world, says Richard Huzzey.

When Richard II succeeded his grandfather, Edward III, he turned to alchemy to create a more pious ideal of kingship. Though his reign ended in failure, it left us one of medieval England’s most enduring and complex images. Jonathan Hughes explores its symbolism.

Geoffrey Best reflects on a lifetime collecting books and the difficulties – emotional and financial – of parting with them.