How to Make a Monster with Surekha Davies
Surekha Davies's new book sweeps back through human history in a quest to find the monsters and tell us what they mean
Interviews
Below you can browse our archive of interviews with leading historians. In ten or so questions we investigate their ideas, their interests and their intentions and we give them the opportunity to explain more about the context to their books.
Josef Mengele the Elusive Nazi
Betina Anton explains how one of the most infamous Nazis remained at large for decades after the end of the Second World War
The Day President Kennedy Didn't Die
Brad Meltzer tells us about a failed assassination attempt that very nearly altered the course of history
The Far Edges of the Known World with Owen Rees
Owen Rees leaves Athens and Rome behind and strikes out for the lesser known regions of the ancient world
The Royal Navy's Campaign to Suppress the Slave Trade with Stephen Taylor
Stephen Taylor's book, Predator of the Seas, follows the life of an extraordinary vessel
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 with Laurence Blair
South Americans are looking at their continent's history afresh, explains Laurence Blair
Paris '44: The Shame and the Glory with Patrick Bishop
On the 80th anniversary of the Liberation of Paris in August 1944, we talk to Patrick Bishop about a complex episode in French history
Entertaining America: the Federal Theatre Project with James Shapiro
The origins of today's Culture Wars can be found in the 1930s, argues James Shapiro
Magnificent Power: the monuments of Ancient Rome with Paul Roberts
Paul Roberts tells us all about his revealing new history of the Eternal City
Is the British Museum Haunted? with Noah Angell
Writer Noah Angell on the ghosts of the British Museum
England Arising (1199 - 1399) with Caroline Burt & Richard Partington
The medieval historians Caroline Burt and Richard Partington tell us about a decisive two centuries in the English national story