Many Anglo-Saxon kings are familiar. Æthelred the Unready is one; yet less is written of his wife, who was consort of two kings and championed one of her sons over the others, or of his mother, who was an anointed queen and powerful regent, but was also accused of witchcraft and regicide. A royal abbess […]
HWA Crown Awards 2021: the longlists
We’re delighted to announce the HWA Crown Awards longlists for 2021: 36 books celebrating the best in historical writing, fiction and non-fiction, of 2020-2021. There are three awards categories: HWA Gold Crown, HWA Non-fiction Crown, and HWA Debut Crown. The books longlisted for the HWA Crown Awards for 2021 are: Gold Crown Award 2021 longlist […]
John F Kennedy, the ambassador’s second son
Susan Ronald’s new biography of Joseph P Kennedy covers his time as US Ambassador to Great Britain; a time which, as she tells Historia, his son Jack’s own political views and diplomatic skills – very different from his father’s – were formed. John Fitzgerald Kennedy, known as Jack to family and friends, was never meant […]
Fallen Idols: Twelve Statues That Made History by Alex Von Tunzelmann
In 2020, statues across the world were pulled down in an extraordinary wave of global iconoclasm. From the United States and the United Kingdom to Canada, South Africa, the Caribbean, India, Bangladesh, and New Zealand, Black Lives Matter protests defaced and hauled down statues of slaveholders, Confederates, and imperialists. Edward Colston was hurled into the […]
874 and All That: a short history of a small country
Michael Ridpath, the crime novelist, has a deep interest in the history of Iceland. As a change from his usual books, he turned for his newest publication to a combination of his craft and his enthusiasm: a crime writer’s guide to Iceland. He’s given Historia a brief guide to medieval Iceland, the period of sagas […]
King John, Henry III and England’s Lost Civil War by John Paul Davis
In 1204, the great Angevin Empire created by the joining of the dynasties of Henry II of England and his queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine, was fragmenting. At its height, the family landholdings had been among the largest the world had ever seen. From the border of England and Scotland in the north to south of […]
Books for history lovers: summer reading 2021
It’s a good year to plan your summer escape in the bookshop or library, since most of us will be taking our break at home or somewhere in these beautiful but rainy islands and may need books to journey any further. We asked historical writers, both fiction and non-fiction, for their suggestions for books for […]
From the Mill to Monte Carlo by Anne Fletcher
Among the men ‘who broke the bank at Monte Carlo’, Joseph Hobson Jagger is unique. He is the only one known to have devised an infallible and completely legal system to defeat the odds at roulette and win a fortune. But he was not what might be expected. He wasn’t a gentleman or an aristocrat, […]