Unseen Histories

The Past, Fully Present.

Welcome to Unseen Histories, a place where you can find out about the very best new history books, read author interviews and long-form pieces by the world’s leading historians. Our aim, as our name suggests, is to present history in an original, provoking and beautiful way. All our written pieces are accompanied by high quality visual material.

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Unseen Histories

The Eiffel Tower: the beauty and the terror (1888)

The Parisian skyline was changing in a strange and stirring way in July 1888 when Gustave Eiffel ...

January 24^th, 2025

Back in the summer of 1888, minds were yet to be made up about Gustave Eiffel's new tower.

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In Snapshot

The Vatican, the War and the Pope's Secret Bank

Yvonnick Denoël takes us back to the Second World War and the Vatican's efforts to secure their w...

January 23^rd, 2025

The historian Yvonnick Denoël examines how the Catholic Church protected its money during the Second World War.

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In Excerpts

Johnny Reynolds, 'Human Fly', Thrills Crowd (1917)

On Wednesday 5 September 1917, the daredevil climber Johnny Reynolds performed in Washington D.C.

January 17^th, 2025

Meet Johnny Reynolds, 'the Human Fly'

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In Snapshot

New History Books for January 2025

From Dante to Haiti, Shakespeare to Socrates

January 9^th, 2025

Our picks of a range of vibrant new history books that will be released over the month ahead.

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In Features

A Very Private Life – Nikolai Tolstoy Remembers Patrick O’Brian

We look back at the life of the 'greatest historical novelist of all time'

January 2^nd, 2025

A quarter of a century after his death, Nikolai Tolstoy tells us about the writer Patrick O'Brian

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In Features

Patria: Lost Countries of South America

South Americans are looking at their continent's history afresh, explains Laurence Blair

December 20^th, 2024

We speak to the author of Patria, Laurence Blair, about his pursuit of a new history for this beguiling continent.

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In Interviews

A Mystery of the Sea

Whatever happened to those aboard the Mary Celeste?

December 13^th, 2024

On 13 December 1872 the Mary Celeste brigantine and a great mystery arrived at Gibraltar.

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In Features

Our Favourite History Books of 2024

From Paris to India, King Richard II to the Commonwealth of England

November 29^th, 2024

Our favourite history books, published in 2024.

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In Features

Martha Dodd: A Yank in the KGB

Brendan McNally describes the strange sequence of events that took a girl from Chicago to Nazi Be...

November 20^th, 2024

Writer Brendan McNally evokes the forgotten story of Martha Dodd, the vivacious Soviet spy.

Unseen Histories

The Eiffel Tower: the beauty and the terror (1888)

The Parisian skyline was changing in a strange and stirring way in July 1888 when Gustave Eiffel ...

The Vatican, the War and the Pope's Secret Bank

Yvonnick Denoël takes us back to the Second World War and the Vatican's efforts to secure their w...

Johnny Reynolds, 'Human Fly', Thrills Crowd (1917)

On Wednesday 5 September 1917, the daredevil climber Johnny Reynolds performed in Washington D.C.

New History Books for January 2025

From Dante to Haiti, Shakespeare to Socrates

A Very Private Life – Nikolai Tolstoy Remembers Patrick O’Brian

We look back at the life of the 'greatest historical novelist of all time'

Patria: Lost Countries of South America

South Americans are looking at their continent's history afresh, explains Laurence Blair

A Mystery of the Sea

Whatever happened to those aboard the Mary Celeste?

Our Favourite History Books of 2024

From Paris to India, King Richard II to the Commonwealth of England

Martha Dodd: A Yank in the KGB

Brendan McNally describes the strange sequence of events that took a girl from Chicago to Nazi Be...

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