Tag Archives: History

Did the "good old days" of history education ever exist?

Want to know when The Age of Enlightenment ended and what is responsible? Francis Wheen thinks he has it pinpointed in How Mumbo-Jumbo Conquered the World. According to Wheen, 1979 “marks the moment when the world was jolted by a violent reaction to the complacency of the existing order.” This …

Visitors to London often ask: "Where's the centre?" They're surprised to find locals responding: "Umm, which centre do you mean?

'Some sets of footnotes, as long as they’re not the minimalist Ibid. Ibid. Ibid. style, make fine poetry ... '

Philippa Gregory's The Queen's Fool is an entertaining, well-researched novel of Tudor times.

We could call this summer Men In Black 3 or the Birth of Mask ...

"...New York is boring. It’s like Gone With The Wind on mescaline down here..."

Some journalism doesn’t fit the inherent constraints of newspapers or magazines. Often, that is because the subject is too massive and requires longer periods of investigation than what these formats tend to demand in immediacy. Terry McDermott’s exploration of the 9/11 terrorists, Perfect Soldiers, is an example of this. McDermott, …

I went to North Korea in 1998 and it was, and no doubt still is, a most fascinating, if spooky, place.

What if Jesus had a crass best friend?