The Forging of a Communist
The historian Eric Hobsbawm kept faith with the Marxist orthodoxies of his youth even after the Soviet invasions of Hungary in 1956, of Czechoslovakia in 1968 and the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Why?
Historiography
Is Social Media Good for History?
Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms are widely used by historians. But does anyone benefit?
The Studious Resistance of Marc Bloch
A French medieval historian, who served his country in both world wars, helped pioneer a new approach to history in between them.
Is There Still Value in ‘Great Man’ History?
How important is the study of the powerful, epoch-defining individual?
The Romantic Myth of the Solitary Scholar
Despite the myth of a lone genius toiling away into the night, history is a collective endeavour.
Something More than an Art
Both history and historical fiction depend on a combination of imagination and rigorous research. The difference is found in the balance of these ingredients.
History has a History
Historiography is one of the essential tools for unlocking the past. Without it, history is a bloodless pursuit.
‘We need a Faith’: E. H. Carr, 1892-1982
How the collapse of the world he knew and loved in 1914 later made the promising young scholar and diplomat into one of the most extraordinary and controversial historians of our time.
Portrait of the Author as a Historian: Fernand Braudel
The leading light of the French Annales school revolutionised the writing of history by imbuing it with wider, holistic, narratives and literary flair, says Alexander Lee.
Shifting Sands: Historians Change Their Minds
Inspired by a recent article in the New Statesman, we asked seven historians about how their understanding of the past has changed.