Tag Archives: History Today

History, Magazines, Previews, Reviews

History Today Magazine – February 2024 Preview

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History Today (January 30, 2024) – The latest issue features ‘The Search For The Buddha’; ‘Blood and Sand’ – The Cold War in North Africa; All In The MInd – A history of phantom pain, and more…

A History of Phantom Pain

A lecture on the nervous system, by C. Bethmont, c.1860. Wellcome Collection. Public Domain.

For centuries, scientists and philosophers used phantom limbs to unravel the secrets of the human mind. While we know phantom pain exists, we still don’t know why.

‘American Journey’ by Wes Davis review

Henry Ford fishing, with Harvey Firestone, George Christian and Thomas Edison, C. 1920. Library of Congress. Public Domain.

American Journey: On the Road with Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, and John Burroughs by Wes Davis falls short of examining the consequences that followed the wanderlust.

The Search for the Historical Buddha

The Buddha seated cross legged on a lotus throne, surrounded by scenes from his life. Tibet, 18th century. Photograph © 2023 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. All rights reserved. / Denman Waldo Ross Collection / Bridgeman Images.

Arriving in the West in the 19th century, the Buddha of legend was stripped of supernatural myth and recast as a historical figure. What do we really know about him?

‘Judgement at Tokyo’ by Gary J. Bass review

International Military Tribunal for the Far East judges on the bench, 3 March 1947. UVA LAW Special Collections (CC BY 4.0).

Pacy and even-handed, Judgement at Tokyo: World War II on Trial and the Making of Modern Asia by Gary J. Bass is unlikely to be bettered as a portrait of the Tokyo trials.

History, Magazines, Previews, Reviews

History Today Magazine – January 2024 Preview

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History Today (December 21, 2023) – The latest issue features ‘The KGB – Russia After Stalin’; An Uyghur Chieftain in China’s Civil War; Preston’s Banana Boat Stowaways; ‘The End of Enlightenment’ by Richard Whatmore review, and more…

The KGB After Stalin

The arrest of Aleksandr Podrebinek by plainclothes KGB men during a Baptist prayer meeting in April 1977. Smith Archive/Alamy Stock Photo.

In 1954 a new agency was founded: the KGB. While less violent and arbitrary than what it replaced, its insidious reach soon permeated Soviet society.

‘The End of Enlightenment’ by Richard Whatmore review

’A Contest between Oppression and Reason, On the Best Way of Settleing Debates‘ by William O'Keefe, c. 1795. Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection. Public Domain.

Richard Whatmore’s The End of Enlightenment: Empire, Commerce, Crisis takes the ideals of the 18th century on their terms.

Arts & Literature, Books, History, Magazines, Previews, Reviews

Preview: History Today Magazine – April 2023

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HISTORY TODAY MAGAZINE – APRIL 2023 ISSUE

The First Folio

Shakespeare’s First Folio in the library of Durham University, 1950s.
Shakespeare’s First Folio in the library of Durham University, 1950s.

The stage has a short memory, print a long one: 400 years since its first publication, Shakespeare’s First Folio is the reason we remember him.

American Moppets

Teleradiola "Belarus-5" in an ordinary Soviet house.
 ‘The ‘Belarus-5’ in an ordinary Soviet house,’ photographed in the 1960s. 

Americanised globalisation and the new world of Russian business in the 1990s.

In the 1990s, a version of the satirical puppet show Spitting Image arrived on Russian television. A Muscovite once told the story of his father, who took great care to record every episode on VHS.

Historical, History, Magazines, Politics, Previews, Reviews

Previews: History Today Magazine – January 2023

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History Today Magazine – January 2023 issue:

The Cold, Cold War

Throughout the 19th century, rival nations battled to conquer the poles. One explorer set out to establish an Arctic colony – or to get rich trying.

Roses are Red?

The Wars of the Roses saw some of the bloodiest months in English history, but winning on the battlefield did not necessarily mean winning the war.

History, Magazines, Photography, Previews, Reviews

Preview: History Today Magazine – December 2022

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December issue

Inside December 2022 issue:

Age of Doubt: Saints and Sceptics

The medieval period was a golden age of saints and miracles, but they were met with a healthy dose of scepticism.

‘A Baptism of Blood’

Fighting for the Union in the US Civil War, Welsh soldiers discovered that the cost of assimilation was the loss of their native language.

Renaissance Wonder Women

To Renaissance audiences, the mythical Amazons were exotic, mysterious and revealed hidden truths about their own society.

History, Magazines, Previews, Stories

Previews: History Today Magazine – September 2022

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September 2022

The Original Rock Star

200 years on from the deciphering of the most famous piece of rock in the world, what does reading the Rosetta Stone reveal?

Arts & Literature, History, Magazines, Previews, Stories

Preview: History Today Magazine – July 2022

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A postcard from Casablanca, with an advertisment for absinthe, undated.

FEATURE

Under the Influence

Alcohol was part of daily life in the colonial Maghreb. In 1913 the French banned alcohol in Tunisia, revealing a deep distrust of local drinks and their Jewish and Muslim makers. 

Members of the Official IRA manning a barricade, the Bogside, Derry, April 1972.

FEATURE

An Irish Cuba?

During the worst year of the Troubles, the British government became alarmed at the implications of a Soviet embassy opening in Dublin.