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Oscar Wilde arrived in Paris, the city where I he would die impoverished less than three years later, on February 13th, 1898. Coincidentally, on the same day his last literary [...]

As Europe plunged into the Second World War on September 1st, 1939, the poet W.H. Auden was a newly arrived Englishman in New York. Sitting 'in one of the dives [...]

The sordid murder of Horst Wessel (left), a young Nazi storm troop leader in Berlin in early 1930, might have passed almost unnoticed. Just one more death amid the chaotic […]

The article examines the efforts of jewel thief and military officer Thomas Blood to steal the historic Crown Jewels of Great Britain during a time of financial hardship during the reign of Charles II, King of England. The author begins by describing the guarding of the jewels in the Tower of London. Blood's association with George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham is then explained. Reasons for Blood's attempted theft and subsequent royal pardon are explored, with the author concluding that Blood was most likely acting on behalf of Charles, who could use the jewels to help lessen Britain's financial woes.

The Elder Pitt Marie Peters Longman 284pp. 13.99 £ ISBN 0-582-25957-6 `Not a chip off the old block -- but the old block itself' it was said of William Pitt [...]

The article discusses the history of referendums as that of serving the political agenda of rulers rather than a method from which to gauge public opinion. An overview of rulers who have issued referendums, including French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte I, Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, French ruler General Charles de Gaulle and German dictator Adolf Hitler, is provided. An overview of the political issues for which referendums are held, including for entry into the European Economic Community (EEC), the ratification of constitutions and concerning national sovereignty, is provided.

Berlin at War Life and Death in Hitler's Capital 1939-45 Roger Moorhouse The BodleyHead 448pp 25 £ ISBN 978 02240 80712 Although there have been many studies in English of [...]

The Blitz The British Under Attack Juliet Gardiner Harper Press 431 pp 25 £ ISBN 978 0 00 724077 7 'The bomber,' gloomily pronounced Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin in 1932, [...]

On September 17th, 1948 Count Folke Bernadotte, the first of many United Nations mediators assigned the thankless task of attempting to find a peaceful solution to the seemingly intractable problem [...]

The Maestro's Voice Roland Vernon Black Swan 496pp 7.99 £ ISBN 978 0552775526 Apart from allegedly making Italian trains run on time, apologists for Mussolini's Fascist regime often claim that [...]

England's Last War Against France Fighting Vichy 1940-1942 Colin Smith Weidenfeld & Nicolson 490pp 25 [pounds sterling] ISBN 978 0297852186 The title of this book immediately summons visions of Waterloo [...]

Iron Curtain From Stage to Cold War Patrick Wright Oxford UP 488pp £18.99 ISBN 0 19 923 150 8 FEW WORDS, even coming from that master of oratory Winston Churchill, […]

After the Reich From the Liberation of Vienna to the Berlin Airlift Giles MacDonogh John Murray 618pp 25 £ ISBN 019567704 MOST ACCOUNTS OF THE INVASION AND OCCUPATION of Germany […]

Your excellent editorial in the July issue listing the high number of historians in the new House of Commons was very interesting, but had one outstanding omission. Chris Skidmore, the [...]

Moral Combat A History of World War II Michael Burleigh Harper Press 672pp 30 £ ISBN 978 0007195763672 When the morality of war is debated, the Second World War is [...]

I was disappointed that Robert J. Knecht censored the details of Francois Ravaillac's execution ('The Murder of le roi Henri; May 2010). They are most incredibly gruesome: the arm that [...]

In her article 'Swinging Sixties' (December), Liz Homans writes: 'From 1861 onwards only four crimes by civilians were still punishable by death in Britain: murder, treason, piracy with violence, and [...]

1918 A Very British Victory Peter Hart Weidenfeld & Nicolson 552pp 20 £ ISBN 978 0 29784 652 9 If the battle of Waterloo was, according to its victor Wellington, [...]

Warsaw 1920 Lenin's Failed Conquest of Europe Adam Zamoyski Harper Press 224pp 14.99 £ ISBN 0 007 22552 0 Unlike Australia, Poland has never been called 'the lucky country' and [...]

The Monopoly of Violence Why Europeans Hate Going to War James J. Sheehan Faber & Faber 304 pp 25 £ ISBN 0 571 22085 1 This is a history of [...]

The First World War Myth & Memory Dan Todman Hambledon & London. 299pp 19.99 £ ISBN:1 85285 459 6 I AM WRITING THIS REVIEW ON NOVEMBER 11TH. Since the first [...]

The article discusses the amateur art careers of Nazi leader Adolph Hitler and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, focusing particularly on their works produced during World War I. Churchill became interested in art in 1915 and took lessons from American-born artist Hazel Lavery. Meanwhile, Hitler had studied art, but was denied advanced training when his application to the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts was denied twice. It notes that in 1916, the two men were stationed only ten miles apart in France.

The article discusses German Jewish industrialist and statesman Walther Rathenau. He was notable for his efforts to maintain industrial war production for Germany during World War I, resulting in his post-war appointment as foreign minister for the Wiemar Republic. His negotiation of the 1922 Treaty of Rapallo with the Soviet Union resulted in public demonstrations in Germany targeting Rathenau as an object of hate. A trio of terrorists, members of the terrorist group Organisation Consul, targeted Rathenau and killed him in 1922. Gunmen Erwin Kern and Hermann Fischer were killed in a subsequent police shootout, while driver Ernst Werner Techow was tried and convicted. As an act of atonement. Techow joined the French Foreign Legion, then settled in France during World War II and helped secure visas for Jews fleeing persecution.

The article presents a profile of the Swedish ambassador for the United Nations Count Folke Bernadotte who was assassinated in Jerusalem after the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948. Details are given describing the events surrounding his murder by Jewish political extremists. Comments are given noting the irony of his death considering his successful efforts to rescue Jews from the Nazis during World War II. Additional information is given explaining how the historical record of Bernadotte's life is confused due to efforts by his enemies to tarnish his reputation after his death.

A letter to the editor is presented in response to previous letters to the editor published in the journal concerning the history of communism.

A letter to the editor is presented in response to the September 2013 article "In Focus" by Roger Hudson about American actors and the anti-communist movement in the U.S. during the 1950s.