History books

We Don’t Know Ourselves by Fintan O’Toole review – sweeping account of Ireland’s evolutions

The veteran journalist and author delves behind the myths of change and boom to give a rich, nuanced picture of Irish life as he and others lived it

Colm Tóibín

20, Sep, 2021 @6:00 AM

Mary Beard: ‘If we want to understand the pandemic, we need the arts’

The classicist on owning her TV image, dealing with internet trolls, and why her new book on Roman emperors sheds light on our preoccupation with statues

Rachel Cooke

19, Sep, 2021 @8:00 AM

The Sisters Mao review – dazzlingly ambitious yet modestly human

Gavin McCrea’s second novel juxtaposes revolutionaries in London and China as it explores the roles of art and motherhood in communism

Lara Feigel

16, Sep, 2021 @8:00 AM

Index, a History of the by Dennis Duncan review – a delightfully readable A to Z

Can a good index be compiled by computer software, or is there an art to this overlooked endeavour?

Keith Kahn-Harris

15, Sep, 2021 @10:00 AM

Travels with George review: Washington, America’s original sin … and its divided present

In what seems a valedictory to his work on the American revolution, Nathaniel Philbrick considers the legacy of the first president – and of slavery

John S Gardner

12, Sep, 2021 @5:16 AM

On the Cusp: Days of ’62 by David Kynaston review – dizzyingly varied

Kynaston’s impressive history of Britain comes to the year 1962, when Harold Macmillan pulled out the long knives and the Beatles released ‘Love Me Do’

Nicholas Wroe

11, Sep, 2021 @8:00 AM

Trevor May obituary

Other lives: History lecturer, author and lay preacher

Ashley May

10, Sep, 2021 @2:35 PM

Jonathan Mirsky obituary

Journalist and historian of China who went from admiring the regime to being one of its sternest critics

Jonathan Steele

09, Sep, 2021 @4:15 PM

Britain’s imperial legacy in spotlight of Baillie Gifford non-fiction prize

Longlist for 2021 prize includes Empireland by Sathnam Sanghera and Alex Renton’s Blood Legacy alongside 11 other titles

Alison Flood

09, Sep, 2021 @11:00 AM

From Boudicca to modern Britain: the dream of island utopias, ruled by women

Once the British Isles were seen as a stronghold of female leadership. Patriarchal culture pushed these stories to the geographical margins – yet they live on, a force too potent to ignore

Alice Albinia

09, Sep, 2021 @10:00 AM

Index, A History of the by Dennis Duncan review – scholarly anarchy

This adventurous trawl through back pages down the ages reveals an arena for settling scores, and the seeds of Google

Peter Conrad

07, Sep, 2021 @6:00 AM

Fragments of medieval Merlin manuscript found in Bristol library reveal ‘chaster’ story

Parchment fragments discovered in bindings of much later volumes reveal ‘subtle but significant’ variations on Arthurian legend