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Guy Fawkes in Manchester: The World of William Harrison Ainsworth
Historian article
Some of the most enduring myths in British history were created and perpetuated by novelists, despite the fact that the historical novel has long been relegated to the second division of the literary arts. Deeply unfashionable today, writers like Sir Walter Scott, Edward Bulwer Lytton and William Harrison Ainsworth were...
Guy Fawkes in Manchester: The World of William Harrison Ainsworth
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The 2007 Medlicott Medal Lecture What kind of history should school history be?
Historian article
I need to start by introducing myself. Most of the previous winners of the distinguished Norton Medlicott Medal have been household names, historians who have moved beyond the library shelves to reach wider audiences through the popularity of their books or television programmes. If you looked through the Radio Times...
The 2007 Medlicott Medal Lecture What kind of history should school history be?
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Doing history: Exploring behind the scenes in the corridors of power
Historian feature
As the official repository for records of government of England, Wales and the UK, The National Archives at Kew offers so many opportunities for revelationary research. In this article, Steve Illingworth shows how documents in this treasure trove provide new insights on activities and debates behind closed doors...
Doing history: Exploring behind the scenes in the corridors of power
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Uncomfortable secrets: uncovering family history and other stories
Historian article
Kate Brooks’ interest in her family history led her to trace the life of her great grandfather, Joseph Lowe. His life story provides insights into 19th-century life, disease, orphanages, and child labour, but she also reflects on the ways in which the past can sometimes resonate with the present in unexpected...
Uncomfortable secrets: uncovering family history and other stories
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My Favourite History Place: Bad Godesberg Tower
Historian feature
Bad Godesberg tower is the most intact remnant of what was once a castle. Built in 1210 by the Archbishop of Cologne, Dietrich von Moers (circa 1385–1463), Godesberg Castle enjoyed a relatively quiet existence as an archiepiscopal seat. Then, on 31 October 1517, Martin Luther published his Ninety-Five Theses against...
My Favourite History Place: Bad Godesberg Tower
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My Favourite History Place: Bulguksa Temple, Korea
Historian feature
Set among the forested Toham mountains in southeast Korea, Bulguksa (Bulguk Temple, the Temple of the Buddha Land), was founded during the Silla Dynasty (57 BC–AD 935). The history of this 1,300 year old sacred site reflects the long and sometimes turbulent history of Buddhism and its heritage in Korea, up to its...
My Favourite History Place: Bulguksa Temple, Korea
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Update: New approaches to the study of ancient history
Historian feature
This regular ‘update’ feature in The Historian looks at the latest developments in the study of various aspects of history. Here Steve Illingworth considers how scholars of ancient worlds have broadened their geographical approach in recent years, so that there is now greater diversity and less Euro-centricity in the subject matter being explored. The...
Update: New approaches to the study of ancient history
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My Favourite History Place: Burton Agnes Hall
Historian article
David Hockney’s landscape paintings of the Yorkshire Wolds in the 1990s alerted people to the peculiar beauty of the East Riding but the region remains strangely unknown and unvisited, especially the small, scattered villages inland from the coast. Yet the village of Burton Agnes, on the road between Driffield and Bridlington,...
My Favourite History Place: Burton Agnes Hall
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A cuisine fit for wartime: history and practices of Ukrainian cooking
Historian article
Olena Braichenko examines the most common dishes of Ukrainian cuisine, describing the culinary traditions of the indigenous people of Ukraine – the Crimean Tatars. She explains how the Soviet past influenced the gastronomic culture of Ukrainians and what peculiarities of Ukrainian culinary behaviour contribute to stability and survival in the...
A cuisine fit for wartime: history and practices of Ukrainian cooking
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Using public records to explore local history
Historian feature
Local history has the power to bring different groups within our communities together – learning about the history of your street, village, town or city is something that anyone can take an interest in, regardless of how long they have lived there.
Researching local records to find out about an area...
Using public records to explore local history
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The Historian 148: Legacy of war
The magazine of the Historical Association
4 Reviews
5 Editorial (Read article for free)
6 Blood and Iron: the violent birth of modern Germany – A nation forged in war – Katja Hoyer (Read article)
12 Richard III and the Princes in the Tower: update – Tim Thornton (Read article)
16 Monty’s school: the benign side of Viscount...
The Historian 148: Legacy of war
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The Historian 136: 1967 - A Year of Change
The magazine of the Historical Association
4 Reviews
5 Editorial (Read article)
6 Homosexuality in Britain since 1967 – Harry Cocks (Read article)
12 Reviews
13 The President’s Column
14 The origins and development of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights movement in Britain from 1960 to the present – Professor Sally R. Munt (Read...
The Historian 136: 1967 - A Year of Change
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The Historian 132: The Lady of the Black Horse
The magazine of the Historical Association
4 Reviews
5 Editorial (Read article)
6 The Flight to Varennes - Marisa Linton (Read article)
10 After Cook: Joseph Banks and his travelling plants, 1787- 1810 - Jordan Goodman (Read article)
15 The President’s Column
16 There and Back Again: Eleanor of Aquitaine’s journey to fetch Berengaria of Navarre -...
The Historian 132: The Lady of the Black Horse
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My Favourite History Place: Sawley Abbey
Historian feature
Steve Illingworth highlights the importance of a remote Lancashire ruin which might have changed the course of history.
Sawley Abbey in east Lancashire can appear to be an unassuming and insignificant place at first sight. Its main attraction appears to be aesthetic, with the Cistercian abbey being surrounded by fields and hills...
My Favourite History Place: Sawley Abbey
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My Favourite History Place: the Berlin Wall
Historian feature
Military history enthusiast David Wilson writes about why the Berlin Wall is still such an important symbol and reminder.
I first visited Berlin in the mid 1980s when I was stationed in Germany as part of the British Army. It was an interesting place to go because until then the Cold...
My Favourite History Place: the Berlin Wall
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The Historian 134: The End of Empire
The magazine of the Historical Association
4 Reviews
5 Editorial (Read article)
6 The end of the Roman Empire – Guy de la Bédoyère (Read article)
10 My Favourite History Place: Hadrian’s Wall – Sue Temple (Read article)
11 Empire cocktails in ten tweets
12 The Aztec Empire: a surprise ending? – Matthew Restall (Read article)
19 The President’s...
The Historian 134: The End of Empire
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The Historian 146: Civilisations
The magazine of the Historical Association
4 Reviews
5 Editorial (Read article)
6 The emergence of the first civilisations: many contexts, significant changes but is this the whole story? – Paul Bracey (Read article)
11 The many queens of Ancient Egypt – Joyce Tyldesley (Read article)
17 Out and About in Paestum – Trevor James (Read article)
20 Space...
The Historian 146: Civilisations
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History Abridged: Salt mines in Eastern Europe
Historian feature
History Abridged: This feature seeks to take a person, event or period and abridge, or focus on, an important event or detail that can get lost in the big picture. See all History Abridged articles
Towards the end of the Bronze Age, the climate across Europe began to warm. This...
History Abridged: Salt mines in Eastern Europe
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Look Back - But Not in Anger? A Manchester Boyhood
Article
The following is an extract from A Manchester Boyhood, the recently-published autobiography of Professor Donald Read, a past-president of the Historical Association. His book seeks to set his personal experience during the nineteen-thirties and forties within the troubled history of the time. His opinions, some of which may be found...
Look Back - But Not in Anger? A Manchester Boyhood
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My Favourite History Place: Swarkestone Bridge
Historian feature
Trevor James reveals his continued fascination with this major Midland scheduled monument.
Almost 40 years ago, my role as a Nottingham University extra-mural tutor took me to Melbourne in Derbyshire. For the first few weeks I followed a cross-country route to Melbourne, via Burton-upon-Trent, Woodville and Hartshorne, but, on a dark November...
My Favourite History Place: Swarkestone Bridge
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My Favourite History Place: Queen Square, Bath
Historian feature
Some years ago, on the shore of Loch Lomond, I met a Scotsman. As we started to converse he asked me where I was from. When I replied ‘Bath’, his response was ‘Ah, the most beautiful city in Britain,’ adding, out of patriotism or good judgement, ‘Edinburgh is second.’
The Roman...
My Favourite History Place: Queen Square, Bath
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The Historian 155: Out now
The magazine of the Historical Association
Read The Historian 155: Women and power
Since the publication of our Jubilee edition in the summer, the nation has mourned the passing of Queen Elizabeth II. Her death marks the end of an era that will, no doubt, be studied in the future as a self-contained unit, like the...
The Historian 155: Out now
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The Historian 5
The magazine of the Historical Association
Articles include:
3 Presidential Lecture: Hardly Any Women At All – Irene Collins
9 Local History: Married Women – Helen Meller and Margaret Gerrish
11 The Battle of Nevilles Cross – John Rhodes
12 Update: Russia, 1855-1917 – R.B. McKean
16 Personalia: Profile of Donald Read
35 Spotlight: Leeds
The Historian 5
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The Historian 7
The magazine of the Historical Association
3 The Death of King Ludwig II of Bavaria, Jeanne Handzic
8 The Duke of Wellington at Home, R.E Foster
10 George V. Ferguson, Canada and Appeasement, Robin Betts
13 The Dykes, J.L. Ferns
16 Social History: The Seaside Resort, John K. Walton
25 Update: The Ancien Regime, Nora Temple
28...
The Historian 7
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My Favourite History Place: The Musée Carnavalet, Paris
Historian article
Until it was overtaken in the twentieth century by Berlin and Moscow, Paris was the political, cultural and revolutionary hub around which Europe revolved. When the revolutionary Parisian crowd trudged out to Versailles in 1789 to attack the chateau and bring the king and his family back to the capital, they...
My Favourite History Place: The Musée Carnavalet, Paris