Social

A subtly nuanced picture of European Roma.

Were the fifties a dull decade? Perfect Wives in Ideal Homes: The Story of Women in the 1950s by Virginia Nicholson has the answer.

The ‘hands-on’ parenting style, so often thought to be unique to modern western society, has deep roots in the family life of the Middle Ages, argues Rachel Moss.

Hugh Gault charts the long-running debate over the privatisation of the Post Office amid rising competition and shifting political agendas.

Once among the least monitored nations in the world, Britain is now probably the most watched. Why do Britons make so little fuss about this erosion of their ancient liberties, asks Bernard Porter?

Since Tudor times, and for four centuries, the observance of the Sabbath was strictly enjoined by Government regulation.

Anthony Babington describes life in an eighteenth century London prison for felons, debtors and rebels.

To deal with revolutionary violence and social unrest, writes Patricia Wright, the Tsar granted one of his generals almost dictatorial powers.

Walter L. Arnstein offers a study of the movement for female emancipation, from the 1860s until 1918.

Reginald and Jamila Massey trace the visit of an Indian to England during the eighteen-fifties, who opined the natives ‘are entirely submissive... to the commands of their superiors. Their sense of patriotism is greater than that of any nation in the world’.