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

Excerpt: Psychonauts: Drugs and the Makings of the Modern Mind

Mike Jay on Sherlock Holmes and the detective's changing relationship with cocaine

March 13^th, 2024

As life accelerated at the end of the 1880s, some, like Sherlock Holmes, turned to a drug to help them to keep up.

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In Excerpts

The Empire State Express (c. 1905)

A look back at the 'fastest long-distance train in the world'

March 8^th, 2024

One of the great early trains and its claims to have travelled at 100mph.

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In Features

New History Books for March 2024

From the Romans to Queen Victoria, Propaganda to Poisoning

March 1^st, 2024

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

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In Features

From the Boy Who Never Grew Up to the Woman Who Lived with the Dead

An exclusive extract from'Rites of Passage: Death & Mourning in Victorian London' by Judith Flanders

March 1^st, 2024

Judith Flanders on Peter Pan, Queen Victoria and attidues about death and dying.

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In Excerpts

Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima (1945)

On 23 February 1945 one of the iconic photographs of the Second World War was taken on the Pacifi...

February 23^rd, 2024

We look at one of the best known images of the twentieth century.

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In Snapshot

New History Books for February 2024

From Shipwrecks to Jane Austen, Taiwan to Byzantium

January 30^th, 2024

Shipwrecks, The West, The Wars of the Roses, Taiwan and more in our round up of new history books.

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In Features

The Chicago Theatre (1949)

The bright lights of the 'wonder theatre of the world' caught the attention of a young Stanley Ku...

January 26^th, 2024

In 1949 Stanley Kubrick, a young photographer on $50 a week, was sent on assignment to Chicago

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In Features

Death of Lenin

A hundred years ago today, on 21 January 1924, the Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin died. Here's how ...

January 21^st, 2024

The British newspapers respond to the demise of a brilliant and ruthless political figure

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In Features

Mulberry Street, New York (1900)

This photograph takes us into Manhattan's teeming streets at the turn of the twentieth century

January 19^th, 2024

Jacob Riis's much admired 1900 photograph of Mulberry Street in colour

Unseen Histories

Excerpt: Psychonauts: Drugs and the Makings of the Modern Mind

Mike Jay on Sherlock Holmes and the detective's changing relationship with cocaine

The Empire State Express (c. 1905)

A look back at the 'fastest long-distance train in the world'

New History Books for March 2024

From the Romans to Queen Victoria, Propaganda to Poisoning

From the Boy Who Never Grew Up to the Woman Who Lived with the Dead

An exclusive extract from'Rites of Passage: Death & Mourning in Victorian London' by Judith Flanders

Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima (1945)

On 23 February 1945 one of the iconic photographs of the Second World War was taken on the Pacifi...

New History Books for February 2024

From Shipwrecks to Jane Austen, Taiwan to Byzantium

The Chicago Theatre (1949)

The bright lights of the 'wonder theatre of the world' caught the attention of a young Stanley Ku...

Death of Lenin

A hundred years ago today, on 21 January 1924, the Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin died. Here's how ...

Mulberry Street, New York (1900)

This photograph takes us into Manhattan's teeming streets at the turn of the twentieth century

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