"Climate is a factor that underpins all of human history"

Peter Frankopan talks to Rhiannon Davies about his pioneering new book exploring how humanity's complex relationship with the natural world has altered over the millennia

"Come and assist your loving mother. I am in prison for debt". "Dear mother, so am I"

Debtors' prisons inflicted untold misery on families in the 18th and 19th centuries.

William Douglas: The infamous bushranger

Hard drinker, bandit, prize-fighter and reader of skulls. MEG FOSTER unravels the myth of \"Black Douglas\", whose life of crime across 19th-century Australia made him a target of lynch mobs and the popular press

The first families of the second city

The story of modern Birmingham is dominated by two clans, whose radical views and fierce commitment to public service forged its distinctive identity.

GEORGE VI'S NAZI DILEMMA

As war raged across the globe, the king had to confront admirers of Adolf Hitler uncomfortably close to home

Hot cockles, handball and hide-and-seek

Nicholas Orme highlights some of the most popular children's pastimes in Tudor England - from ball games to blind man's buff - and explores their place in wider society

AT THE MERCY OF THE MONGOLS

They pulled off one of the most astonishing campaigns of conquest in history. But how did they treat their subject populations once the dust had settled?

Women at war

In the historical context of the First World War, entrenched traditionalism, separate spheres ideology, patriarchy and, to some extent, Imperialism all contributed to the argument against using women in wartime British intelligence,’ writes Sarah-Louise Miller.

12 February 1554 Lady Jane Grey is executed for treason

The young woman installed as a Protestant alternative to Queen Mary meets a tragic end

13 February 1858 European explorers first glimpse Lake Tanganyika

Burton and Speke seek the source of the river Nile

When art turns odd

Our podcast editor Ellie Cawthorne discusses a recent episode on the weirdest masterpieces in art history - and what they can tell us about the depth of human imagination

"Indigenous Americans who travelled across the Atlantic were horrified by inequalities in European society"

Caroline Dodds pennock talks to Ellie Cawthorne about her new book tracing the remarkable stories of Indigenous Americans who voyaged to Europe after 1492

The voice of a female golden age

The 14th century was a time of great change in England - not least for women, who enjoyed more autonomy, work opportunities and wealth. Marion Turner explains what Chaucer's outspoken Wife of Bath reveals about their lives and thoughts

The age of transmation

Those who write off the Middle Ages as an unchanging backwater are overlooking the seismic advances - in everything from scientific knowledge to self-awareness - that redefined what it meant to be human, argues lan Mortimer

Olive's role in the BBC's earliest days deserves to be remembered

WHEN WE CONSIDER THE BBC'S FIRST 100 YEARS, distinguished director generals come to mind, along with famous presenters and favourite programmes. Yet it's likely that you have never heard of the wonderfully named Olive Bottle.

Britain's century of strike action

Recent months have seen thousands of workers - including nurses, railway employees and postal staff go on strike around the United Kingdom. RICHARD TOYE explores the nation's history of industrial action, and the extent to which it has been driven by political ideology or practical concerns

7 Alyce Boyle, the ballad singer who performed for a queen

1 Elizabeth Stile, the condemned witch Elizabeth Stile was a witch - at least, in the minds of many of her contemporaries. She was 65 years old, widowed, and living in Windsor when she was accused of witchcraft. Together with her associates, she was accused of killing several people and bringing harm to many others, with the help of familiars including a rat, a black cat and a toad.

How people power fuelled England's century of chaos

Charles I's clashes with parliament may dominate the history books, but behind the turmoil of the 17th century lay something deeper: a political awakening of the people

Centuries of iron

JONATHAN BOFF is impressed by a comprehensive and insightful military history of Germany and its southern neighbours

Trading on reputations

LUBAABA AL-AZAMI has mixed feelings about an insightful but sometimes Eurocentric look at the development of the East India Company

Liberal views

RICHARD TOYE is intrigued but ultimately unconvinced by a detailed account of the state of British liberal politics in the first years of the 20th century

Breast practice

Joanna Wolfarth's new book is a love letter to all women who have cradled an infant close to their breasts.

The long fight over abortion rights in the United States

Fifty years ago, the US Supreme Court's landmark Roe v Wade ruling guaranteed access to abortion throughout the United States - a decision that was reversed last summer. ALLISON MCKIBBAN charts the complex, often contradictory currents that have shaped women's reproductive rights in America

Writing for her life

Marie Antoinette spent much of her reign engaged in a battle: first to cement her position as queen of France, and then to avoid the guillotine. Catriona Seth uses the queen's letters to trace her desperate bid for survival

THE BOY WHO DISCOVERED THE BOY KING

When Howard Carter located the entrance to Tutankhamun's tomb, he became an archaeological hero. Yet, as Toby Wilkinson reveals, the British Egyptologist failed to credit the person behind the historic find

A DYNASTY OF DESPOTS

From the colossal to Tutankhamun's temples of Luxor golden death mask, the pharaohs of ancient Egypt's golden age created some of history's greatest treasures. Yet, writes Guy de la Bédoyère, behind the glittering facade lay a society built on brutality, inequality and staggering levels of corruption

The history that shaped the Queen’s funeral

People around the world were transfixed by the scale and splendour of Elizabeth II's funeral in September - a ceremony that drew explicitly on centuries of British royal traditions. TRACY BORMAN reveals how such events have changed, yet remained the same, across generations

Power behind the throne

KATIA WRIGHT is entertained and (mostly) impressed by a book examining the lives and influence of five English queens of the 14th century

Marching into infamy

RJB Bosworth reveals how the March on Rome which saw Benito Mussolini's Fascist squads seize power a century ago - set Italy on a path to totalitarianism

QUEENS OF BLING

When Henry VIII's wives sought to project messages about themselves to the watching world, they often did so via jewellery. Using six portraits, Nicola Tallis reveals how the consorts' choice of pendants, rubies and brooches shaped their public images