Gulliver Revisited and Shakespeare Unmasked – Literary History Stories in the News
Swift, Shakespeare, Marlowe and Keats are some of the historical writers appearing in the news this week.
‘A Gem of Art’ – The earliest surviving photograph of the US Capitol (c. 1846)
The earliest surviving photographic image of the US Capitol was captured with skill and grace by John Plumbe in the mid-1840s.
The Wunderkind Who Sailed to the South Seas with Captain Cook
Andrea Wulf explains how the linguist and naturalist George Forster came to join the remarkable voyage of HMS Resolution
★ EDITOR'S PICKS
Decoding The Voynich Manuscript
Garry J. Shaw on the efforts to decode the world's most mysterious manuscript
Herbert Ponting's Photographs of Antarctica in Colour
Colourised and remastered images from Robert Falcon Scott's Terra Nova Expedition
Raising the US Flag on Iwo Jima (1945)
On 23 February 1945 one of the most iconic photographs of the Second World War was taken on the Pacific island of Iwo Jima. Here it is in colour
The Music of Remembrance – Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem
Jeremy Eichler reflects on The Second World War, the Holocaust, and the Music of Remembrance
Bookshelf
New History Books for October 2026
Our pick of new history books for October. From Wireheads to Chaucer, Napoleon's Marshals to Sherlock Holmes.
The History of the Proscenium – The Place Where the Imaginary and Real Worlds Divide
The director Dominic Dromgoole, author of Time Frames, explains the historical forces behind the 'Proscenium Playwrights' of today.
New History Books for September 2026
Our pick of new history books for September. From Thomas Cochrane to a Cold War spy, Domesday to the Sixties.
The Chain Tower, the Siege of Damietta and the Fifth Crusade
Thomas Smith revisits a dramatic moment from the Fifth Crusade when the Christians besieged the port of Damietta.
Features
Gulliver Revisited and Shakespeare Unmasked – Literary History Stories in the News
Swift, Shakespeare, Marlowe and Keats are some of the historical writers appearing in the news this week.
‘A Gem of Art’ – The earliest surviving photograph of the US Capitol (c. 1846)
The earliest surviving photographic image of the US Capitol was captured with skill and grace by John Plumbe in the mid-1840s.
The Wunderkind Who Sailed to the South Seas with Captain Cook
Andrea Wulf explains how the linguist and naturalist George Forster came to join the remarkable voyage of HMS Resolution
Beth Lew-Williams Wins the Cundill Prize and Other History Stories in the News
Beth Lew-Williams wins the Cundill History Prize – and other history stories that caught our eye this week.
Interviews
An Unnatural History of Technology in the Brain with Mike Jay
In his new book 'Wireheads', Mike Jay looks at the stories of those who sought to use technology to gain control of the brain.
Iran's Stolen Revolution with Bozorgmehr Sharafedin and Yeganeh Torbati
The story of post-revolutionary Iran has been one of missed opportunities and of a government betraying its people, explain the authors of a new history of the period
The History of Aston Villa Football Club with Rob Bishop
Rob Bishop is Aston Villa's club historian. Here he tells us how he landed this singular job and about the rich history of one of England's greatest football teams
The General Strike of 1926 with Jonathan Schneer
The General Strike of 1926 marked a precarious moment in British political and social history, as Jonathan Schneer explains
Snapshot
‘A Gem of Art’ – The earliest surviving photograph of the US Capitol (c. 1846)
The earliest surviving photographic image of the US Capitol was captured with skill and grace by John Plumbe in the mid-1840s.
On Ocean Beach Beside the Cliff House Hotel in San Francisco (1902)
The Cliff House Hotel in San Francisco overlooked Ocean Beach – a place that drew crowds in hot weather. This colourised photograph shows people taking a 'sun bath'.