CATEGORIES

This will be seen as a hybrid war, in which a key weapon is the deliberate misreading of history

In February, following months of escalating tensions, Russia invaded Ukraine. Are parallels with the past useful in making sense of the war, or is history being used for more sinister ends? Four experts have their say

An Island Mystery

Three centuries ago, when European explorers first sighted the Pacific island of Rapa Nui, it was home to a thriving population and hundreds of haunting moai statues. But, within a few generations, the landscape was decimated and its population in sharp decline. So what happened? Cat Jarman untangles

How Napoleon (almost) destroyed the French Revolution

The Corsican general proclaimed himself a defender of republican ideals – while doing all he could to dismantle them

Mirroring Multicultural Britain

From its inception the BBC has featured entertainers of colour, but they were often reduced to "exotic” attractions. David Hendy explores how the corporation tried to include diverse voices, from the 1930s to the postwar years

William Wilberforce 1759-1833

Former Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow, chooses

Digging for Victory

When war broke out in 1939, food shortages posed just as grave a threat to Britons as a German invasion. From Dig for Victory to the land girls, John Martin charts a nation’s battle with starvation

What Drove the Witch-Hunters' Cruel Crusade?

They tortured, tricked and terrorised suspects into confessions - often with undisguised relish. So, asks Marion Gibson, should the witchfinders of 16th and 17th-century Europe be dismissed as sadists and charlatans?

Suleyman was just as bellicose as his father, if not as gratuitously cruel

CHRISTOPHER DE BELLAIGUE talks to Rhiannon Davies about his book charting the early years of Suleyman the Magnificent's reign, when the sultan had to navigate the deadly machinations of the Ottoman court as well as battle Christian powers

“Mary Seacole never aspired to be a pioneer of women's nursing. It is only in recent decades that we have invested her with this status”

Helen Rappaport, who has spent 20 years researching Mary Seacole's life, argues that the Jamaican healer's transformation into a modern cultural icon has obscured the real woman

We decide for ourselves who we think we are - and museums are central to that

In his new BBC Radio 4 series, curator and broadcaster Neil MacGregor explores the changing role of Britain's museums. He explains to Matt Elton why these venues are more vital now than ever

THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF BRITAIN

Charles I was dead, Oliver Cromwell was on the rise, and a nation was grappling with a strange new reality - one without a monarchy. Anna Keay tells the story of the 1650s, through the eyes of three of the people who helped shape Britain's republican decade

The brutish empire

ALEX VON TUNZELMANN considers a global investigation into the intrinsic connection between racialised violence and the history of the world's largest-ever empire

1942 CHURCHILL'S DARKEST HOUR

If 1940 was the year in which Winston Churchill's reputation was forged, 1942 was the one in which it was almost destroyed. Taylor Downing chronicles a terrible period for the prime minister - both on the battlefield and in the court of public opinion

Lodging with Mozart (and Shelley, Franklin and Byron)

It may seem strange in our home-owning obsessed times, but thousands of Georgians – from modest milliners to world-famous poets – chose renting a room over gaining a toehold on the property ladder. Gillian Williamson explains why

In Search of Unity

Richard Jevans is unconvinced by a new study that is focused on the idea of finishing the “European project” and based on the testimonies of esteemed thinkers over the centuries

The Good Fight

Diane Atkinson applauds an insightful and inspiring history of political and social action by women around the turn of the 19th century

Q&A - Who was history's most notorious pirate?

A selection of historical conundrums answered by experts

“We have believed the Normans' view of themselves for too long”

JUDITH A GREEN talks to David Musgrove about her new book, which takes readers far beyond the familiar story of 1066, and provides a richer understanding of the Normans’ complex place in the wider history of Europe

“THE WEEK THAT CHANGED THE WORLD”

Following years of icy silence between the US and China, on 21 February 1972 president Richard Nixon arrived in Beijing for an unprecedented diplomatic mission. Rana Mitter explores how the two sides viewed an encounter that augured China’s entrance onto the global stage

The secrets of the stones

Where did Stonehenge’s megaliths come from? Were they transported to Wiltshire by glacier or human hand? And how long did this Neolithic building project take? As a major exhibition on Stonehenge opens at the British Museum, Mike Pitts uses the latest research to answer the big questions about the construction of this ancient wonder

MY HISTORY HERO

Actor, comedian and BBC DJ Craig Charles chooses

A SPACE MENAGERIE

During the space race, animals pavedthe way for humans to travel beyond Earth. Stephen Walker shines a light on these largely forgotten creatures and their often fatal journeys

Alfred Fagon - A Unique Caribbean Voice

Having migrated from Jamaica as a teenager, Alfred Fagon emerged as a powerful playwright who created African-Caribbean characters to speak truths about the challenges facing black people in Britain. Stephen Bourne introduces a writer who helped transform black British theatre in the 1970s and 80s

What Makes a Greek?

Michael Scott enjoys an informed and entertaining journey through the history of Greek-speaking people, but takes issue with the framing of the book

Coded Language

Michael Wood praises a pioneering study of the transformation of Chinese script, and how this helped fuel the growth of the nation into one of the world's superpowers

A National Institution

As it approached its second decade, the BBC's happy-go-lucky attitude was fading fast. And, as David Hendy reveals in the second instalment of our 13-part series tracing the corporation's cultural impact, the government was now taking a keen interest

Battle of Wills

Mark White commends a wide-ranging investigation into the psychological dimensions of the Cold War and the crucial role fear played in shaping American and Soviet strategies

Who is Britain's greatest monarch?

This year marks the platinum jubilee of Elizabeth II, Britain's longest-serving monarch. But which of the kings and queens since 1066 made the biggest mark on history? We asked 12 experts to offer their nominations - and to explain what made each one truly great

Cursed lives

MARION GIBSON recommends an evocative deep-dive into a witchcraft trial that rocked 17th-century New England

A very ordinary king

HEATHER JONES is impressed by a new biography that reveals insights about the wartime monarch’s impressive political achievements, complex personal life and family failings