Historiography

An overview of the historiography on the decline of Spain in the seventeenth century.

Paul Cartledge visits the archive of History Today to retrieve a critical appraisal of the Greek proto-historian Herodotus by the inimitable Oxford don Russell Meiggs, first published in 1957.

Jeremy Black examines A.J.P. Taylor’s account of the Crimean War, published in February 1951.

Juliet Gardiner analyses the recent explosion in interest in historical novels

Catherine Merridale examines competing versions of Russia's troubled past in the light of present politics.

Richard Cavendish remembers the birth of Birth of the First Earl of Clarendon on February 18, 1609. 

In his twenties, Philippe Maurice was sentenced to death by guillotine for murdering a policeman. Saved by a change of government, he transformed himself through prison study into one of France’s leading medieval historians. William Smith reports.

Richard Wilkinson, our regular reviewer, has been reading books on the early modern and modern periods.

Richard Wilkinson shows that good history is never dull.

Mihir Bose discusses the paradox that India, a land of history, has a surprisingly weak tradition of historiography.