Social

Anthony Fletcher uses the papers of his artistic great-aunt, who, as a young nationalist, wrote an eyewitness account of the Easter Rising, to explore her youthful patriotism and vigorous activism.

Richard Ballard looks at how events in the opening years of the French Revolution took shape in a town three days’ journey from Paris.

Richard Cavendish marks the founding of a famous Victorian penitentiary, on March 20th, 1806.

The Theosophists Helena Blavatsky, Annie Besant, Margaret Cousins and others went to India at the end of the 19th century to search for God and universal brotherhood in the Hindu tradition. They also ended up supporting women’s rights against contemporary Hindu practices. Mark Bevir explores the tensions between their fascination with traditional culture and the reforming zeal of their proto-feminism.

Cartoon historian Mark Bryant examines the origins of caricature itself, and the ambivalent attitude to it of the man whose name has become synonymous with the emergence of the art in Britain.

Simon Henderson explains the significance of Hans and Sophie Scholl in the history of Nazi Germany.

Phil Chapple examines a titanic and controversial figure in modern Irish history.

Vincent Barnett contrasts Marxist idealism with the changing economic reality in the USSR.

Mark Rathbone considers why American trade unionism was so violent for much of 1865-1980 but so much more peaceful by the mid-twentieth century.