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 Royal Navy's Campaign to Suppress the Slave Trade

Stephen Taylor's book, Predator of the Seas, follows the life of an extraordinary vessel

February 4^th, 2025

We speak to the author of Predator of the Seas, Stephen Taylor, about the West Africa Squadron.

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In Interviews

Driving a Flock of Sheep through London (1926)

In the 1920s the last traces of old Dickensian London faded as the modern city grew at pace

January 31^st, 2025

A shepherd drives his flock into the heart of the biggest city on Earth.

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In Snapshot

Shakespeare’s Lost Years

Tinker? Tailor? Soldier? Spy? Howard Linskey looks back at the most mysterious phase of Shakespea...

January 30^th, 2025

The author of A Serpent in the Garden investigates one of its central characters: William Shakespeare

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In Features

Reporting from the Land of Auschwitz

József Debreczeni describes his arrival at the Auschwitz Extermination Camp in May 1944

January 27^th, 2025

Read an exclusive excerpt of Cold Crematorium by József Debreczeni.

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In Excerpts

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

Unseen Histories

The Royal Navy's Campaign to Suppress the Slave Trade

Stephen Taylor's book, Predator of the Seas, follows the life of an extraordinary vessel

Driving a Flock of Sheep through London (1926)

In the 1920s the last traces of old Dickensian London faded as the modern city grew at pace

Shakespeare’s Lost Years

Tinker? Tailor? Soldier? Spy? Howard Linskey looks back at the most mysterious phase of Shakespea...

Reporting from the Land of Auschwitz

József Debreczeni describes his arrival at the Auschwitz Extermination Camp in May 1944

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'

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