Arthur Conan Doyle and the Strange Story of the Cottingley Fairies
Seb Butcher explains how the creator of Sherlock Homes came to believe in the story of the Cottingley Fairies
The 43 Group: The Forgotten Fight Against British Fascism
The 43 Group was a militant British anti-fascist organisation founded just as WW2 ended. Here the novelist Susie Gordon explains what they sought to achieve.
New History Books for October 2026
Our pick of new history books for October. From Wireheads to Chaucer, Napoleon's Marshals to Sherlock Holmes.
★ EDITOR'S PICKS
Napoleon III and the Disastrous Battle of Sedan in 1870
Edward Shawcross traces the course of the Battle of Sedan in September 1870, a defeat that would spell the end for the Second Empire.
The Beauty and the Terror in Renoir’s ‘Pink and Blue’
This 1881 portrait of Alice and Elisabeth Cahen d'Anvers would inspire Catherine Ostler's The Renoir Girls
Building Tower Bridge in London (1892)
At the end of the nineteenth century the gaunt arms of an engineering wonder stretched across the River Thames
Jane Austen The Magical Novelist With John Mullan
250 years after she was born, Jane Austen continues to outwit her readers, as John Mullan explains
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 the Cold War Spies, Doomsday 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
Arthur Conan Doyle and the Strange Story of the Cottingley Fairies
Seb Butcher explains how the creator of Sherlock Homes came to believe in the story of the Cottingley Fairies
The 43 Group: The Forgotten Fight Against British Fascism
The 43 Group was a militant British anti-fascist organisation founded just as WW2 ended. Here the novelist Susie Gordon explains what they sought to achieve.
Who was the man who became Henry VIII’s confidant after Thomas Cromwell?
In Henry VIII's famous reign the 1540s is a strangely neglected decade. Central to an understanding of it, argues Andrew Johnston, is William Paget – 'The King's Secretary'.
How Franco's Spain Reinvented Itself in 1959 – Reflections on the 'Spanish Miracle'
Franco's 36-year rule in Spain is a period that defies simple characterisation. Tommy Duxbury examines the 1959 political shift that led to the 'Spanish Miracle'.
Interviews
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
Adolf Hitler's Strange Death with Caroline Sharples
On 30 April 1945 Adolf Hitler committed suicide in Berlin. But the story of the Führer's death is more complicated than these bare facts suggest, explains the historian Caroline Sharples
Snapshot
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'.
What is a Blockade – and Do They Work?
As President Trump announces his blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, we glance back at the history of this military tactic