CATEGORIES
Hitler's forgotten victims
CHRISTINE SCHMIDT welcomes an important new book detailing the fraught search for justice by the Roma in the aftermath of their genocidal persecution by the Nazis
Visions of England
MICHAEL WOOD enjoys a thought-provoking exploration of English identity from the postwar period to the present day and the myths that have been told about England
The queen who wouldn't go quietly
Margaret of Anjou was a foreigner and a woman. Those facts alone should have sunk her bid to regain the English throne for her husband, Henry VI. Yet, writes Joanna Arman, when it came to fighting her family’s corner, Margaret simply didn’t know when she was beaten
How Britain stirred the cauldron of conflict in Palestine
Having ousted the Ottomans from Palestine in 1917, Britain administered a territory that was already a tinderbox of tensions between Arabs and Jews. Matthew Hughes explores the bloody end of the Palestine Mandate and the emergence of the State of Israel
WHEN GERMS MADE HISTORY
Infectious diseases don't just make individuals sick - they can cause seismic shifts in societies. Jonathan Kennedy charts six moments when pathogens such as plague, smallpox and malaria played key roles in major cultural, political and economic transformations
Black masses, lethal potions and the plot to kill a king
In the 1670s, Louis XIV of France was the target of a series of assassination attempts involving poisons and necromancy. But who was the perpetrator? Josephine Wilkinson untangles a conspiracy that scandalised a nation
THE RACE TO THE TOP OF THE WORLD
On the 7Oth anniversary of the first ascent of Everest, Robin Ashcroft charts the trials, tragedies and triumphs that led to that pioneering climb and its implications for Britain's place on the world stage
Elizabeth I: mother's girl
The Virgin Queen lionised her father, Henry VIII, in public. Yet, writes Tracy Borman, examine what Elizabeth did as opposed to what she said and it’s evident that her sympathies lay with Anne Boleyn
"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.
Steppe changes
PETER HOMMEL is critical of some of the conclusions presented in a new study of the nomadic warriors of the central Eurasian steppe
Central intelligence
JONATHAN KWAN is swept along by a colourful and authoritative exploration of Europe's geographic heartland
Red dawn
RICHARD OVERY is impressed by a comprehensive history of the changing relationship between two states that became the great superpowers of Eurasia
Quest for a queen
BRONWEN RILEY is swept up by a lively if uneven exploration of the life and landscapes of the near-mythical first-century leader of the Iceni
"The 1848 uprisings were a dissonant orchestra of ambitions and intentions"
CHRISTOPHER CLARK tells Matt Elton about the revolutions that swept Europe in the 19th century, revealing how their speed and synchronicity alarmed authorities across the continent
In 1658, a Norfolk gentleman named Ralph Suckey thought he'd got away with murder......until he was attacked by a flock of crows
People in Tudor and Stuart England believed that, while God could not prevent humanity's greatest crimes, he could reveal their perpetrators via miraculous signs. Blessin Adams explains how bird attacks, ghostly apparitions and bleeding corpses led to convictions for murder
Q&A
A selection of historical conundrums answered by experts
TUDOR LONDON: A GLOBAL CITY
During the 16th century, London opened its doors to a diverse cast of newcomers, from Moroccan ambassadors to Native American chiefs. Jerry Brotton reveals how foreign visitors shaped the Tudor capital
AN APPETITE FOR POWER
Wine, song and the finest food money could buy made medieval feasts a highlight of the courtly calendar. Yet more often than not, writes Charlotte Palmer, a thirst for influence and prestige lay behind the carousing
KALEIDOSCOPIC NATION
Amid the darkness of economic hardship and state-sponsored fear, East Germany could also be a society of opportunity and hope. Katja Hoyer profiles some of the people whose stories bring this full, complex picture to life
How to and how not stage a coronation
What separates a crowning success from a right royal fiasco? Drawing on a thousand years of Britain's coronations, Tracy Borman offers her dos and don'ts for pulling off the ceremony without a hitch
Masters of ceremonies
Henry III believed that spectacle elevated him into the sphere of the sacred. Elizabeth I used it to emphasise her Protestant credentials. And Queen Victoria turned it into a celebration of her imperial might. As King Charles III prepares for his coronation, ALICE HUNT reveals how generations of British monarchs have used pomp and pageantry to project power
"Before my children shall be taken, I will kill every one of them"
The BBC series Lady Killers investigates historical murders perpetrated by women.
"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
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.
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
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
GEORGE VI'S NAZI DILEMMA
As war raged across the globe, the king had to confront admirers of Adolf Hitler uncomfortably close to home
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?
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