History

Anything to do with History

0cefff9aac729a36835c46e07795e1e7 Mariano @Mariano - almost 4 years ago
On the Spot: Priya Satia
Why are you a historian of the British Empire?It shaped my family’s history and so much of the world, and I felt I could contribute – and correct influential myths – from the United States.What’s the most important lesson history has taught you? That struggles matter in a...continued
2 minutes read
394b4c0c4dd468b433ba43c77bdbb708 Bart @Bart - over 5 years ago
On the Spot: Emma Smith
Why are you a historian of Shakespeare?A history of Shakespeare is a cultural and political history of the last 400 years: it enables me to think about topics from cross-gender casting to political theory. What’s the most important lesson history has taught you?We can’t s...continued
2 minutes read
3917a54ef2e71f0b2d57dd0d63e0f2fb Cameron @Cameron - almost 4 years ago
On the Spot: Vincent Brown
Why are you a historian of slavery?I found my calling when I heard Bob Marley sing about black people: ‘We’re the survivors, like Daniel out of the lion’s den.’ What’s the most important lesson history has taught you? How it unfolds in discernible but unpredictable patter...continued
3 minutes read
2cb2f1cf49e001b23749fba977acd24a Casper @Casper - over 3 years ago
The Dead Christ | History Today
‘One could lose one’s faith from that picture.’ Those were the words of Fyodor Dostoevsky to his wife Anna on seeing this painting of a ‘startlingly dead’ Christ in the Swiss city of Basel in 1867. She dragged the great Russian novelist away from the image, fearing the sh...continued
3 minutes read
0a3d7829480267a63997ae3c91bb2ebe Adelia @Adelia - almost 3 years ago
On the Spot: Clare Jackson
Why are you a historian of 17th-century Britain?As an undergraduate, I became fascinated by the experiments in union and disunion attempted in these islands during the 17th century.What’s the most important lesson history has taught you? Perspective.Which history book has...continued
2 minutes read
292890d964de1c8eba1a56fae0ed91c0 Alexzander @Alexzander - almost 4 years ago
Father Figure | History Today
Beyond the Nativity there is little in the Bible about Christ’s childhood. In St Luke’s Gospel there is an account of the 12-year-old’s visit to a temple for Passover, where he debated with ‘doctors’, and nothing at all in Mark and John. The visit to the temple also marks...continued
3 minutes read
6232f8a636fcadbbec0b89d4f6ded6e2 Ericka @Ericka - over 3 years ago
On the Spot: Gordon Campbell
Why are you a historian of culture?It allows me to range freely through the history of art, literature, gardens, religion and, most recently, the Norse.What’s the most important lesson history has taught you? That it is a means to understand the present. What book in your...continued
2 minutes read
Bbe6309a1d067c75a83f525952377ae7 Rahsaan @Rahsaan - about 3 years ago
On the Spot: Nandini Das
Why are you a historian of early modern travel?I am intrigued by how we articulate what is familiar and what is strange, who belongs and who does not.What’s the most important lesson history has taught you? That no historical record is an unmediated window into the past.W...continued
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1adaf62f6727e453ef8e84f05a069975 Oren @Oren - over 3 years ago
On the Spot: Srinath Raghavan
Why are you a historian of modern South Asia?Because South Asia provides an extraordinary window on the making of the modern world.What’s the most important lesson history has taught you? That history doesn’t teach any lessons – only historians do. Which history book has ...continued
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1f7b605070774dac8bb3c859143de9d2 Jeffrey @Jeffrey - about 4 years ago
On the Spot: Camilla Townsend
Why are you a historian of Native America?When I began to read the histories that the 16th-century Nahuas (or Aztecs) wrote, I felt I had been admitted to a great chamber of knowledge which had been buried for far too long. What’s the most important lesson history has tau...continued
3 minutes read
70753e5e348bf454161ee0bcc63fed8d Juliet @Juliet - over 2 years ago
On the Spot: Sanjay Subrahmanyam
Why are you a historian of the early modern world?It’s distant, yet close enough; familiar, yet not overly so.What’s the most important lesson history has taught you? To be sceptical of facile explanations based on prejudice or sanctimony.Which history book has had greate...continued
2 minutes read
B4a2c9b63fd68a080a47d2a35293e167 Webster @Webster - about 3 years ago
On the Spot: Margo Neale
Why are you a historian and curator of Indigenous Australian art?Indigenous history and art are interchangeable. Curating is a powerful form of history-telling.What’s the most important lesson history has taught you? That the division between past, present and future is a...continued
2 minutes read
769b45cbbba62f6d3aa67bb11e7a293f Raoul @Raoul - almost 3 years ago
On the Spot: Paul Lay
Why are you a historian of early modern Britain?It’s the crucible in which modern Britain and subsequently much of the world was formed. It remains fascinating both on its own terms and for its contemporary resonances.What’s the most important lesson history has taught yo...continued
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Ed258c85465a50dee9e6425ecf24849d Wilmer @Wilmer - over 2 years ago
On the Spot: David Hendy
Why are you a media historian?I studied medieval history, then worked in current affairs at the BBC. Media history brings my two careers together.What’s the most important lesson history has taught you? We can’t say what’s changed unless we know what went before.Which his...continued
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C83c832ac4865208bba7331dd2976162 Izaiah @Izaiah - over 3 years ago
On the Spot: Ruth Scurr
Why are you a historian of the early modern period?I am an early modernist when the French Revolution is included in that period.What’s the most important lesson history has taught you? That timing is everything. Which history book has had greatest influence on you?Robert...continued
2 minutes read
7094e9deddcf03241ed9894017ba09bc Rose @Rose - over 3 years ago
On the Spot: Katja Hoyer
Why are you a historian of Germany?I am a confused German trying to make sense of my country’s past and its place in Europe and the world.What’s the most important lesson history has taught you? Human nature always remains the same. Which history book has had greatest inf...continued
2 minutes read
B32a14d6694cf7df7a187f69ad01ace5 Patrick @Patrick - over 3 years ago
On the Spot: Eleanor Robson
Why are you a historian of the ancient Middle East?I wanted to start at the beginning of the history of mathematics and numeracy. Thirty years later, I’m still not done with cuneiform culture.What’s the most important lesson history has taught you?  That ‘the past is now’...continued
2 minutes read
192059156a7075f96be3d979645bdbcc Zackery @Zackery - almost 3 years ago
On the Spot: Marjoleine Kars
Why are you a historian of early America?As an immigrant, I wanted to understand the roots of my adopted country.What’s the most important lesson history has taught you? That nothing ever repeats itself.Which history book has had greatest influence on you?The World Turned...continued
2 minutes read
498be12662c1d913d0cbee6108a66520 Torey @Torey - about 3 years ago
On the Spot: Barry Cunliffe
Why are you an archaeologist? Because from an early age I couldn’t conceive of life without being an archaeologist.What’s the most important lesson history has taught you? That humans are amazingly adaptable. Which history book has had greatest influence on you?Grahame Cl...continued
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Ac7d6ae4836b778c0e45d9f73deed0cb Delia @Delia - over 3 years ago
Ulysses and the Sirens | History Today
A passage from book 12 of The Odyssey, in Emily Wilson’s acclaimed translation of Homer’s epic, sees the hero Odysseus, known in Latin as Ulysses, warn his men of an impending challenge:She [Circe] said we must avoid the voices of the otherworldy Sirens; steer past their ...continued
3 minutes read
E5a600388a4be6ed5b515081737d8445 Angus @Angus - over 3 years ago
On the Spot: Shadi Bartsch
Why are you a Classicist?I want to understand the conceptual roots of the way I think.What’s the most important lesson history has taught you? That when it repeats itself, no one notices. Which history book has had greatest influence on you?A History of Science in World C...continued
2 minutes read
192059156a7075f96be3d979645bdbcc Zackery @Zackery - about 4 years ago
On the Spot: Susan-Mary Grant
Why are you a historian of the United States?It seemed fresh and exciting when I was an undergraduate, and the lecturers at Edinburgh, especially George Shepperson, were very inspiring. What’s the most important lesson history has taught you? That there’s always someone m...continued
2 minutes read
34392094b518c79e322481ceb0004cbf Colin @Colin - almost 4 years ago
Venus and Mars | History Today
Sir William Boxall, Director of the National Gallery in London, was accompanied by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Benjamin Disraeli, to a sale at Christie’s auction house in June 1874. The collection of the dealer Alexander Barker was up for sale and Disraeli wanted to ...continued
3 minutes read
24f317f89bef5f8cefa430eec1cd2f6d Nestor @Nestor - over 5 years ago
Orpheus and Eurydice | History Today
Orpheus and Eurydice, hand in hand, walk away from the fiery underworld and its deities, Pluto and Proserpine. Orpheus, singer, musician and poet, carrying a lyre on his shoulder, had recently married Eurydice, but on the day of their wedding, ‘in the very bloom of her li...continued
3 minutes read
725ac8c62bcc32f06195cf20b372a31a Muriel @Muriel - 8 months ago
The Birth of Ovid | History Today
Ovid was with a friend on Elba in the autumn of eight AD when the crisis hit. A summons arrived for him from the emperor, Augustus. Were the rumours true, his friend asked. Ovid equivocated – half confessing, half denying.Two millennia later, we still don’t know what Ovid...continued
2 minutes read