Columbine 25 Years On
Columbine marked the beginning of a new era of high-profile mass shootings in the US. Was the attack the inevitable outcome of lax controls and a culture of gun glorification?
Recently published
‘Shakespeare’s Sisters’ by Ramie Targoff review
Shakespeare’s Sisters: Four Women Who Wrote the Renaissance by Ramie Targoff refutes the claim by Virginia Woolf, that the women of Tudor England left only empty bookshelves.
When Nostalgia Was Deadly
When it was first named in 17th-century Switzerland, nostalgia was a very real – and very dangerous – disease.
The Value of Wills to Historians
Wills in early modern England tell us much more than simply who left what to whom, and should not be discarded lightly.
‘How Finland Survived Stalin’ by Kimmo Rentola review
How Finland Survived Stalin: From Winter War to Cold War by Kimmo Rentola argues that political guile as much as military might stopped the Soviets in their tracks.
On the Spot: Ali Ansari
‘What is the most common misconception about my field? That it’s a sideshow of a sideshow.’
The Death of Little Jack the Boy Missionary
On 5 April 1889 John Hore died aged only seven years old. His adventures in East Africa saw him immortalised by Victorian evangelicals as ‘the boy missionary’.
In Defence of Boring Books
What is the most boring history book you have read, and why? Excruciating tedium can have intellectual value, says George Garnett.
The Vienna Secession is Founded
On 3 April 1897 a young Gustav Klimt led a group of artists in open revolt, seceding from Vienna’s cultural establishment.
‘Impossible Monsters’ by Michael Taylor review
Impossible Monsters: Dinosaurs, Darwin and the War between Science and Religion by Michael Taylor revels in the tangles of Victorian thought.