The medieval Stalingrad

Edward III's siege of Calais was a pivotal moment in the Hundred Years' War. Here Dan Jones argues that it bears comparison with one of the most brutal clashes of the modern era

EMPIRE ON THE BRINK

In September 1923, the British empire reached its maximum territorial extent. A staggering 460 million people lived within its borders. Yet just as the imperial project reached its apex, writes Matthew Parker, cracks were widening...

An Anglo-Saxon detective story

Why do the bones of luminaries such as King Cnut, Emma of Normandy and William II lie mixed up in six chests in Winchester Cathedral? And what do these remains tell us about the evolution of early England? Cat Jarman investigates

HELL IN ITALY

The Allied invasion of Italy in 1943 was envisaged as a swift push on Rome. Yet, as James Holland explains, by the end of the year, the campaign was stymied by German defences far from the capital

Anne Boleyn's fatal French connection

John Guy and Julia Fox reveal how international diplomacy supercharged the rise of Henry's VIII's second wife and hastened her fall

"The India Club briefly transported new arrivals back to their homeland"

BY THE TIME THIS ARTICLE IS PUBLISHED, London’s India Club will have closed. It’s been a well-kept secret for years. On the Strand, squeezed between a cafe and a newsagent, is a small door bearing the sign of the Hotel Strand Continental.

"In sun-beaten Greece, I learned that the past is receding faster than ever"

ITS OBVIOUS, I KNOW, BUT CHANGE IN HISTORY moves at a different pace at different times and in different places.

Are black histories still being overlooked?

The global protests of 2020 thrust the importance of understanding black history into the spotlight - but, three years on, has that focus been maintained? As the UK marks Black History Month, MATT ELTON gauges the views of three historians

How Britain Fell In Love With The NHS

Since its faltering launch in 1948, the National Health Service has become a cherished part of British society. Andrew Seaton explains how it attained that status

"Barbie has been both forward-thinking and a behind-the-times image of womanhood"

As the new Barbie film catapults the doll back into the cultural spotlight, Robin Gerber explores the toy's origins - and the sometimes controversial ways in which it has depicted wider social values

Ignatius of Loyola 1491-1556

Children's Commissioner for England Dame Rachel de Souza chooses

Renaissance beauty tips

From snail-slime face cream to poisonous makeup, our podcast editor ELLIE CAWTHORNE discusses a recent episode on creative 16th-century beauty regimes

A woman's world

BRONWEN RILEY appraises an irreverent study that examines the Roman empire through the lives of 21 of its female subjects, from fearsome queens to vestal virgins

Follow the money

JANE HUMPHRIES reviews a wide-ranging but very readable study of the changing tides of global economics from the Great Depression to the present day

Voices from the picket line

LUCY ROBINSON enjoys a new history of the 1984-85 Miners' Strike that puts first-hand accounts from those involved front and centre

"My historical research shows that much higher levels of inclusion are possible for people labelled disabled"

A new study by historian LUCY DELAP suggests we need to rethink the experiences of people with learning disabilities in the 20th century. Here she explains how many thrived in work and wider society

Have nations always used sport to launder their reputations?

As countries with questionable human rights records buy overseas teams and vie to host global tournaments, MATT MCDOWELL speaks to Matt Elton about the rise of 'sportswashing' - and whether sport and power have always gone hand in hand

Eleanor Glanville The butterfly collector

Today, insects are seen as a vital part of our ecosystem, but in the late 17th century, they were often overlooked by science. PATRICIA FARA tells the story of a groundbreaking lepidopterist whose research provided solace from a turbulent personal life

WHEN PIRATES RULED ASIA'S WAVES

Pirates didn't only spread chaos in Caribbean and Atlantic waters. Adam Clulow reveals how east Asian raiders terrorised China's shores from the 16th century

Golden boy

Over the past 200 years, Dick Whittington has become one of Britain's best-loved pantomime heroes. Yet, as Michael McCarthy tells Jon Bauckham, the real-life story that inspired Dick's rags to riches tale is even more remarkable than the fiction

HATE MAIL

The 19th and early 20th centuries saw an explosion of malicious letters penned by anonymous authors. As Emily Cockayne reveals via six cases, these messages often reflected the fears and prejudices that stalked Britain

MY HUNT FOR JOSEF MENGELE

In 1949 the notorious Nazi doctor fled to South America. Three decades later, Gerald Posner (left) set out to track him down. Here the former lawyer tells us about his mission to catch the 'Angel of Death'

How life returned to the streets of Pompeii

With a new BBC TV series about Pompeii in the offing, Sophie Hay looks back 100 years to a dig that transformed our understanding of daily life on the city's streets

Templars on trial

From 1307, members of the Knights Templar were beaten, brutalised and put to death on charges of heresy, Satanism and mass murder. But, asks Steve Tibble, were this elite band of holy warriors fitted up for crimes they didn't commit?

"The idea that political projects such as nation-making can ever be totally successful is a misconception"

Joya Chatterji talks to Matt Elton about her book charting the tumultuous course of south Asia's 20th-century, including the violence that followed the creation of three new countries after the withdrawal of the British empire

Walter Tull 1888-1918

MY HISTORY HERO

Dead reckoning

JAMES LIN is impressed by a scholarly but readable look at what the tombs of ancient Chinese people reveal about past and contemporary beliefs and culture

Narrative thread

CHRISTIENNA FRYAR is enthralled by the story of three enslaved women told by one simple artefact

How bias begins

ALEXANDER WATSON commends a powerful examination of the portrayals of Roma people in Europe through the centuries

France in the dock

RICHARD J EVANS applauds a vivid account of the final days of the collaborationist French Vichy regime, and of the trial of its leader, Marshal Philippe Pétain