History
Anything to do with History
Iva
@Iva -
about 12 hours ago
The Pilgrim as a Historian
Every September two friends and I go on pilgrimage. They are both pretty devout – one is a priest. I am indulged as a wistful agnostic. Growing enthusiasm for the Camino de Santiago over recent decades attests to an increasing desire to undertake this demanding physical e...continued
6 minutes read
Teagan
@Teagan -
over 4 years ago
Broken Windows | History Today
In 1982, George L. Kelling and James Q. Wilson published an article in the Atlantic which transformed policing in the United States. Titled ‘Broken Windows: The Police and Neighborhood Safety’, it argued that city police should aggressively clamp down on low-level street ...continued
6 minutes read
Immanuel
@Immanuel -
over 1 year ago
Dangerous Reds
John Huston in the Red Bank in Dublin, 1954. Science History Images/Alamy Stock PhotoTargeted as a ‘Red’ by Hollywood gossip columnist Hedda Hopper, John Huston did not enjoy the Los Angeles premiere of his latest film, Moulin Rouge, in 1952. Supporters of Senator Joseph ...continued
6 minutes read
Nestor
@Nestor -
12 months ago
Was the 1926 Floating University a Failure?
On the morning of 6 November 1926, readers of the Detroit Free Press woke to sensational front-page headlines: ‘Sea Collegians Startle Japan with Rum Orgy.’ ‘More than a hundred students, among whom six girls were to be noticed, were doing intensive laboratory work this e...continued
6 minutes read
Kraig
@Kraig -
almost 5 years ago
A Tale of Plagues | History Today
Three cases of plague in China made the headlines last November, reminding us that the Plague, the medieval disease par excellence, still exists today. A wildlife refuge was closed last summer near Denver, Colorado, when infected prairie dogs were discovered. And, in 2017...continued
6 minutes read
Abbie
@Abbie -
over 5 years ago
The First Tanker War | History Today
The war between Iran and Iraq that lasted for most of the 1980s was one of the bloodiest conflicts of the late 20th century. Casualties for both armies numbered in the hundreds of thousands. At times the combat zones bore more than a passing resemblance to the battlefield...continued
6 minutes read
Alexie
@Alexie -
10 months ago
Jackie Coogan and the Fall of Hollywood’s Child Stars
Charlie Chaplin’s first full-length feature film, The Kid (1921), remains one of the great masterpieces of silent cinema. It was an ambitious, risky project; industry professionals were cynical about his ambition to combine heartfelt pathos with slapstick comedy. Chaplin,...continued
6 minutes read
Jany
@Jany -
about 2 years ago
The Man behind the Leader
Bayard Rustin with a map showing the route of the March on Washington, 13 August 1963. Bettman Archive via Getty Images.Bayard Rustin is the most important African American civil rights leader you have never heard of. Yet his legacy in overcoming racism, eradicating pover...continued
6 minutes read
Giles
@Giles -
over 1 year ago
The Power of Protests | History Today
Student boycott rally on the University Mall at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), 2 September 2019 © Justin Chin/Bloomberg via Getty Images.Scandals associated with China’s Zero-Covid policy, in particular the tragedy of the Ürümqi residential block fire, trigge...continued
6 minutes read
Nelson
@Nelson -
almost 2 years ago
Hawk this Way | History Today
The Shrimp Girl, by William Hogarth, c.1745 © Bridgeman Images.One Saturday morning in July 1897, John Hurley opened his fruit stall on the side of Essex Road, a busy artery a mile north of London’s old centre. A couple of children walked up and asked for some ‘specks’, p...continued
6 minutes read
Iva
@Iva -
almost 2 years ago
Clean Sheets | History Today
Pietro Miliani’s paper mill in Fabriano, Italy in the mid-15th century. Illustration Pictures from History/ Bridgeman Images.In 1668, Edmund Waller wrote the following poetic lines about paper:Fair hand that can on virgin Paper write,Yet from the stain of Ink preserve it ...continued
6 minutes read
Hulda
@Hulda -
9 months ago
Keeping Blinded Veterans in View
During the First World War thousands of charities were established in Britain to support servicemen. These organisations needed to be ‘seen’ by the public in order to secure donations. Thanks to the creative methods it used to raise awareness and funds, the most visible o...continued
6 minutes read
Assunta
@Assunta -
over 2 years ago
The Theology of Chocolate | History Today
Woman holding cacao (and decorated with cacao beans), Maya, AD 250-450 © Bridgeman Images.Many Christians, and even post-Christians, give up chocolate for Lent. This self-denying act now sometimes seems to be simply part of a calendar of occasions for virtuous abstention:...continued
6 minutes read
Madalyn
@Madalyn -
about 2 years ago
Cromwell in America | History Today
Statue of Oliver Cromwell, erected in 1901. Mike OBrien/Alamy. The posthumous fate of Oliver Cromwell is as interesting as the life itself, given that his reputation has pivoted in so many different directions. Cromwell appeared in Italian plays, French polemics, German l...continued
6 minutes read
Leda
@Leda -
over 5 years ago
A Usable Past | History Today
On Saturday 16 August 1919 a centenary procession formed at Albert Square in central Manchester. Marchers held banners aloft in the afternoon sun. ‘Labour is the Source of All Wealth’, said one; another ‘Peterloo, 1819: Labourloo, 1919’. Processing south, the crowd headed...continued
6 minutes read
Rowan
@Rowan -
over 2 years ago
A Shared Culture | History Today
German postcard depicting the German-leased area of Qingdao, 1914 © akg-images.Although the German colonial period was relatively short, beginning in the early 1880s and ending with the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, German colonialism shared many characteristics with othe...continued
6 minutes read
Priscilla
@Priscilla -
16 days ago
Brushing for Britain | History Today
Toothbrushing has been a regular part of most people’s daily routines since the mid-20th century, but it was only a few decades earlier that the British state first began to impress upon the public the importance of maintaining good dental hygiene.Two conflicts highlighte...continued
5 minutes read
Elliott
@Elliott -
about 5 years ago
Policing the Windrush Generation | History Today
On 2 June 1959, a meeting was held in the office of the Home Secretary, R.A. Butler, to discuss the anti-black rioting in Notting Hill the previous summer. Yet, rather than focusing on the white thugs who had perpetrated the violence, the participants discussed what they ...continued
6 minutes read
Arvid
@Arvid -
over 1 year ago
Empire in the Everyday | History Today
A woman raises silkworms, Korea, early 20th century. Japanese postcard produced to showcase the changes to agriculture under colonial rule. National Folk Museum of KoreaIn 1919, the Korean gentleman farmer Yu Yŏnghŭi (1890-1960) wrote in his diary: Fourth month, eighth da...continued
6 minutes read
Webster
@Webster -
3 months ago
Richard III and Kingly Justice for All?
When taking stock of Richard III’s short reign, one of the positive developments cited by his modern-day supporters is his extension of kingly justice to the poor. Not long after his accession in 1483 Richard reportedly made a ‘proclamation general’ that ‘every man wronge...continued
6 minutes read
Nestor
@Nestor -
almost 3 years ago
All Too Graphic | History Today
Brothers in arms?: a British soldier lights a cigarette for a Dyak colleague, Malaya, 1950 © Haywood Magee/Getty Images.On 28 April 1952 a photograph of a British soldier exhibiting the head of an alleged communist insurgent was published on the front page of the Daily Wo...continued
6 minutes read
Jimmy
@Jimmy -
almost 3 years ago
The Young Crusaders | History Today
Boy Scouts in Barnet, 1930. Hulton Getty Images.The doors of the Queen’s Hall, London, opened at 7.15pm on 16 April 1930. The evening featured a performance from Ambrose’s band – the largest jazz band in the country, with 33 musicians – as well as ‘up to the minute’ commu...continued
6 minutes read
Bobby
@Bobby -
about 4 years ago
The Case of the Cursed Charter
In a report for the Archaeological Survey of Ceylon from 1949, the epigraphist Senarath Paranavitana announced the discovery of the ‘most valuable historical document that Ceylon possesses – the oldest known Sinhalese copper-plate charter’. With this announcement, Parana...continued
6 minutes read
Adelia
@Adelia -
about 5 years ago
The Beard Maketh the Man
The stereotypical image of a Renaissance man wears a ruff, a doublet and hose perhaps, and, very probably, a beard. And with good reason. The 16th and early 17th centuries saw a remarkable and ubiquitous fashion for facial hair among men. Physicians wrote about them, Prot...continued
6 minutes read
Eleanora
@Eleanora -
about 1 year ago
Vladimir Putin the Historian
St. Vladimir of Kiev/Volodymyr of Kyiv on the Millennium of Russia monument in Veliky Novgorod, 2010. Дар Ветер (CC BY-SA 3.0)How many contemporary political leaders invoke early medieval history to justify their policies? My hunch is only one.In a much cited but, I suspe...continued
6 minutes read