History
Anything to do with History
Jany
@Jany -
about 5 years ago
Travels Through Time: Witchcraft at Work
Alongside the innovation we traditionally ascribe to the Victorian period, was an older, persistent belief in the supernatural. Although the laws against witchcraft had been repealed in 1736, folklore continued to be an active and potent force in everyday life. In this e...continued
2 minutes read
Elian
@Elian -
over 5 years ago
Travels Through Time #16 – Thomas Cromwell and Anne Boleyn
Thomas Cromwell was born c.1485 and died on the scaffold in July 1540. From humble beginnings, he entered Parliament on the strength of his service to Cardinal Wolsey, working his way up in the king’s council and service. By late 1532, he had taken Wolsey’s place as the k...continued
2 minutes read
Americo
@Americo -
over 5 years ago
Travels Through Time #15 – Mary Fulbrook, 1939-45
In this special Wolfson History Prize episode of Travels Through Time we talk to Mary Fulbrook about her book Reckonings: Legacies of Nazi Persecution and the Quest for Justice. Last month Reckonings was awarded the Wolfson History Prize. The judges called it ‘masterly’; ...continued
2 minutes read
Giovanni
@Giovanni -
over 5 years ago
Travels Through Time #17 – Radicalism, Madness and Laughing Gas in 1799
In 1799, Britain was at war. There was instability at home and widespread hardship. The cost and economic disruption pressed hard, leading to inflation, the collapse of the gold standard in 1797, the introduction of income tax and the stagnation of average real wages. The...continued
2 minutes read
Geovany
@Geovany -
over 2 years ago
On the Spot: Gene A. Jarrett
Notes and miscellaneous pages for W.E.B Du Bois’ The World and Africa, c.1946. James Weldon Johnson Memorial Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library/JWJ MSS 8.Why are you a historian of African American literature?For its formal experimentation with ideas an...continued
2 minutes read
Marie
@Marie -
about 4 years ago
Hermaphroditus and Salmacis | History Today
The Holy Roman Emperor, Rudolf II, moved the Habsburg court from Vienna to Prague in 1583. Thanks to his patronage, the Bohemian capital attracted many of the greatest talents of their time: the astronomers Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler; the botanist Charles de l’Ecluse...continued
3 minutes read
Josiah
@Josiah -
about 1 year ago
On the Spot: Peter Carey
A colonial era market scene in the Dutch East Indies, Pierre Jean Apol (1886 - 1947). Rijksmuseum. Public Domain.Why are you a historian of Indonesia?To restore a lost history which the Dutch colonial state obliterated.What’s the most important lesson history has taught y...continued
2 minutes read
Iva
@Iva -
over 1 year ago
On the Spot: Bettany Hughes
Mosaic of Theodora in the Basilica of San Vitale, AD 547. Wikimedia Commons, photograph by Petar MiloševićWhy are you a historian of the Bronze Age? It was a beautiful and a brutal time that privileged the power of pure aesthetics and mass conquest.What’s the most importa...continued
2 minutes read
Felicita
@Felicita -
over 1 year ago
On the Spot: Feargal Cochrane
Nikola Tesla with his equipment, 1901. Wellcome Library, London Why are you a historian of Irish politics? I grew up in 1970s Belfast, where contested versions of history were literally written on the walls.What’s the most important lesson history has taught you?That it i...continued
2 minutes read
Kristina
@Kristina -
about 5 years ago
Devil’s Brew | History Today
Two decades have passed since Ian Kershaw published his double-decker biography of Adolf Hitler, Hubris and Nemesis, which was widely hailed as definitive. Since then, however, much new material has emerged about arguably the most closely studied life in history. Now two ...continued
3 minutes read
Ariel
@Ariel -
almost 5 years ago
Travels Through Time: Bloodshed and Confusion in India
By the second half of the 18th century, millions in India had been brought under British rule, due to the presence of the East India Company. The Company was first granted its charter in 1600, and initially sought access to Asian markets and commodities. By the mid-18th c...continued
2 minutes read
Liliane
@Liliane -
about 2 years ago
On the Spot: Amanda H. Podany
Seal of Barnamtarra, Queen of Lagash. Clay, c. 2400 BC. Louvre Musuem/Wiki Commons.Why are you a historian of the ancient Near East? To converse with long-dead people who first wrestled with coexisting amicably in cities. What’s the most important lesson history has taugh...continued
2 minutes read
Dayton
@Dayton -
over 2 years ago
On the Spot: Danielle Terrazas Williams
The Museo de Arte Popular in Mexico City. Wiki Commons/Gobierno CDMX.Why are you a historian of colonial Mexico?As an African American and Mexican American, I wanted to research the African diaspora through my heritage.What’s the most important lesson history has taught y...continued
2 minutes read
Torey
@Torey -
over 5 years ago
On the Spot: Matthew Sweet
Why are you a historian of the Victorian era?I’m more a journalist who loves archives, but I became a Victorianist in 1989 after an epiphanic moment involving a paper knife and the Bodleian’s copy of Wilkie Collins’ Basil. My last book was about Vietnam deserters and the ...continued
2 minutes read
Jessika
@Jessika -
almost 5 years ago
On the Spot: Dan Hicks
Why are you a historian?In fact, I’m a contemporary archaeologist with an anthropological sense of the past. What’s the most important lesson history has taught you?That anti-racism is more urgent than class war. Which history book has had the greatest influence on you? A...continued
2 minutes read
Giles
@Giles -
about 2 years ago
Ifá Divination | History Today
Agere Ifá, early 20th century. Mead Art Museum, Amherst College © Bridgeman Images.Ifá divination has been central to the culture of the Yoruba people in south-western Nigeria for about 2,500 years. It is based on the teachings of a Yoruba sage named Ọrunmila, also known ...continued
3 minutes read
Elvie
@Elvie -
about 5 years ago
Travels Through Time: Women at War
The First World War afforded an opportunity for many women to distinguish themselves by working in professions that had previously been dominated by men. Women became aircraft designers, surgeons, chemical researchers, military commanders and surveillance operatives, and ...continued
2 minutes read
Ezequiel
@Ezequiel -
over 1 year ago
On the Spot: Suraiya Faroqhi
The Nuruosmaniye Mosque, c.1870. Wikimedia Commons. Why are you a historian of the Ottoman Empire? I am intrigued by the many sources that remain unused and underused.What’s the most important lesson history has taught you?The need to understand why people did the things ...continued
2 minutes read
Manley
@Manley -
about 2 years ago
On the Spot: Jessey J.C. Choo
Vairocana Buddha at the Fengxian Temple, Longmen Grottoes, completed during the Tang dynasty rule. Wiki Commons/Zhangzhugang. Work on this temple was intensified under Emperor Gaozong and Wu Zetian.Why are you a historian of medieval China?Because becoming a historian of ...continued
2 minutes read
Alexander
@Alexander -
over 4 years ago
On the Spot: David Carpenter
Why are you a historian of the Middle Ages? I was drawn to it by studying various versions of Magna Carta in Bishop Stubbs’ Select Charters. What’s the most important lesson history has taught you? That studying the past is fun. Which history book has had the greatest inf...continued
3 minutes read
Izaiah
@Izaiah -
about 2 years ago
On the Spot: Hakim Adi
Favourite archive: Black Cultural Archives, Brixton. Photographed in 2014. Wiki Commons/Mark Longair.Why are you a historian of Africa and the African diaspora?I wanted to research and teach a subject that had been denied to me.What’s the most important lesson history has...continued
2 minutes read
Teagan
@Teagan -
almost 2 years ago
On the Spot: Paul Cartledge
The Pnyx plateau in Athens, with the Acropolis in the background. Photographed February 2021. Wiki Commons/George E. Koronaios.Why are you a historian of Ancient Greece?I knew from the age of eight that I loved Homer and wanted to be a historian.What’s the most important ...continued
2 minutes read
Adelia
@Adelia -
almost 2 years ago
On the Spot: Soe Tjen Marching
A rally held by the Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI) commemorating its 45th anniversary, 23 May 1965. Wiki Commons.Why are you a historian of 20th-century Indonesia?Because in Indonesia the recent past is still with us. The legacy of the mass killings of 1965-66 has nev...continued
2 minutes read
Gregoria
@Gregoria -
almost 5 years ago
On the Spot: Julia Lovell
Why are you a historian of modern China?When I was 20, my mother lent me her copy of Jung Chang’s Wild Swans. I read it in a weekend and felt I had to know more about China. The best way to do that was to learn Chinese. What’s the most important lesson history has taught ...continued
2 minutes read
Elian
@Elian -
over 2 years ago
The Moai of Rapa Nui
Moai at Rano Raraku. Travelling Otter/Wiki Commons.The monumental anthropomorphic stone sculptures – moai – of Rapa Nui, or Easter Island, are probably the best-known Polynesian art form. There were around 1,000 moai. Most were carved in tuff, a yellowy-brown condensed vo...continued
3 minutes read