Anne Boleyn’s blunders
A new history shows how the clever, ambitious queen was no match for the post-truth politics of Henry VIII’s court.
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The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers redux
The author of the 20th century’s most influential history book anticipates the coming world order.
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What Putin learned from Hitler
The two dictators considered themselves engaged in a life-and-death struggle with Western imperialism – and retaliated with their own plans.
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Churchill and the quest for greatness
Throughout his career, Britain’s wartime prime minister studied how other leaders – Roosevelt, Attlee, Stalin and Gandhi – exercised power.
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Still fighting the history wars
Debates about Britain’s colonial legacy are not just a product of Brexit or woke politics – empire has always been…
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The making of EP Thompson
The historian was driven by the mystery of his brother’s death fighting with anti-fascist partisans.
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The noble art of procrastination
I expend more energy planning work than doing it, but the writing routines of literary titans, from Balzac to Patricia…
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America is nothing more than a self-help society
On both the left and the right, political radicalism has given way to cultish self-improvement.
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In defence of “what if?”
Why counterfactual history is an essential tool for understanding the present.
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Bismarck is still the GOAT
The Iron Chancellor reshaped a continent in his image.
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The right don’t own tradition, but they can keep Morris dancing
How do we connect with the past when this impulse is often exploited by the worst people imaginable?
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How to start a revolution
As an ambassador in London, Benjamin Franklin honed his satirical, subversive art.
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The month of two D-Days
History will record this deed as an achievement of the highest order.
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Robert Jenrick and the return of prison hulks
The immigration minister is reopening a dark chapter in British history.
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The IRA’s blank assassin
The Brighton bomb killed five people but failed to hit its target, Margaret Thatcher.
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Peter Tatchell: “Politics is bad today, but nothing like Bermondsey”
The human rights activist on what the violence and homophobia of the 1983 by-election teaches today’s left.
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The restoration of the coffeehouse
How a centuries-old institution can save today’s faltering social media culture.
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Ukraine’s problematic nationalist heroes
Kyiv’s lionisation of 20th-century nationalists linked to atrocities is alienating allies and playing into Russian propaganda.
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Why Vladimir Putin is beholden to Stalin’s legacy
The Russian president has embraced the Soviet cult of fear and control. His invasion of Ukraine is a colossal gamble…
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Why Rome had no culture wars
The clash between Caesar and Cato offers lessons for today, but also reveals the gulf between modern and classical thought.
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