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No Island is an Island

The world does not influence Britain’s native culture, the world is its culture, as anyone with a grasp of the country’s history will understand, argues Suzannah Lipscomb.

The Strange Tale of the Kibbo Kift Kindred

The Boy Scout movement produced a little-known offshoot of ‘intellectual Barbarians’, whose charismatic leader had dreams of overcoming the existential crises of the 20th century.

'Curing' Homosexuality

During the 1950s and 1960s, debates over the legality and morality of homosexuality drove gay men and doctors to desperate and dangerous measures in their search for a ‘cure’, writes John-Pierre Joyce.

Romance and the Romany

Since their arrival in Britain around 500 years ago, Gypsies have created a rich tapestry of romantic folklore. Yet, argues Jeremy Harte, this aspect of their past has been almost completely ignored by academic historians.

Liberty and the Common Law

England’s legal system, which has since spread beyond its country of origin, resulted from an uncommon combination of centuries of input from a wide variety of sources. Harry Potter traces its roots and follows its branches.

The Media’s First Moral Panic

The popularity of Goethe’s novel, The Sorrows of Young Werther, was blamed for a spate of suicides. It set a trend for manufactured outrage that is with us still.

Sexual Abuse: A Hidden History

Throughout the 20th century responses by Britons to the sexual abuse of children have been hindered by the desire to avoid scandal and blame the victim, argue Adrian Bingham, Lucy Delap, Louise Jackson and Louise Settle.