The Debtors Strike Back

Activists want to turn billions in unpaid student loans into a catalyst for political action.

The Coddling of the American Mind

In the name of emotional well-being, college students are increasingly demanding protection from words and ideas they don't like, and seeking punishment of those who give even accidental offense. Here's why that's disastrous for education - and likely to worsen mental health on campus.

How The New Political Correctness Is Ruining Education

Todays college students can't seem to take a joke.

Horror in France

On the morning of 10 June 1944, the residents of Oradour-sur-Glane were going about their lives as normally as was possible in occupied France: cooking, washing, shopping, playing. Little did they know that they were about to become the victims of one of the most infamous massacres of the Second World War.

"IT'S TIME TO WRITE WOMEN BACK INTO THESE WORLD-CHANGING ANCIENT EVENTS"

Daisy Dunn tells the story of the Greco-Persian Wars through the deeds of the extraordinary female figures who shaped them

Anne Boleyn, ‘princess' of France

JOANNE PAUL is impressed by an account of how the Tudor queen's continental connections shaped her meteoric rise and dramatic fall

Victorian cucumber ice cream

ELEANOR BARNETT samples the delights of an unusual and refreshing version of one of the world's favourite summer treats

Dancing with the Devil

ROGER MOORHOUSE is impressed by a book that traces the fortunes of the diplomats charged with managing the west's wartime alliance with Josef Stalin

Gulbadan Begum The Mughal Jane Austen

Gulbadan Begum was meant to live a quiet life in the confines of a Mughal harem. Instead she made her mark on history twice: first, embarking on a pioneering pilgrimage to Islam’s holy cities; second, writing a remarkable history of her dynasty. RUBY LAL tells her story

Britain's war on the slave ships

In the early 19th century, a Royal Navy squadron was sent to west Africa to hunt down ships carrying enslaved people to the Americas. The operation was hailed as an act of \"pure unselfish philanthropy\". Yet, writes Mary Wills, the reality was far more tangled

Succession 1603

The passing of the English crown from Elizabeth I to James VI & I was welcomed by a nation hungry for change. But, writes Susan Doran, it wasn't long before tensions began to rise between the incoming king and his new subjects

FIVE THINGS YOU (PROBABLY) DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT...Roman Britain

Rob Collins, who is teaching our new HistoryExtra Academy course, shares five surprising facts about life in Britain during the Roman occupation

War and pieces

Far from idle pursuits, games have transformed the way societies have made sense of life and death, order and conflict for centuries. Kelly Clancy picks five examples that reveal how playtime has often been a serious business

"It had been a tiny triumph, but it had been a British triumph"

MAX HASTINGS talks to Rob Attar about a daring airborne raid that provided a much-needed boost to Britain's morale in the darkest days of the Second World War

"People began collapsing in the streets and dying on the pavements"

In 1943, a devastating famine claimed the lives of millions of people in the Indian province of Bengal. Kavita Puri (left) tells us why she's keen to ensure that the stories of those who endured the crisis are not forgotten

Lisbon in five places

From Roman colony to imperial epicentre, Portugal's capital has played many roles. BARRY HATTON highlights five sites that reveal the city's past and present glories

THE ANCIENT WORLD'S GREATEST CITY

When Alexander the Great founded a settlement at the junction of three continents in 331 BC, he created a metropolitan powerhouse that would shape global history. Islam Issa hails the genius of ancient Alexandria

"From Africa to the Indian subcontinent, imperialism has left a trail of damage"

MICHAEL WOOD ON...THE BANGLADESH LIBERATION WAR

"There was a general perception that Queen Victoria's mourning was neither normal nor acceptable”

JUDITH FLANDERS talks to Rebecca Franks about her new book, which delves into the customs surrounding dying, death and mourning in Victorian Britain

ANNIVERSARIES

DANNY BIRD highlights events that took place in March in history

WHO SHOT JFK? WAS ELIZABETH I A MAN? DID ALIENS LAND AT ROSWELL?

Rob Attar investigates the enduring power of conspiracy theories

FIVE THINGS YOU (PROBABLY) DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT...The Vikings

Ryan Lavelle, who is teaching our new History Extra Academy course, shares five surprising facts about the raiders, pirates and traders from medieval Scandinavia

Eighteenth-century mushroom ketchup

ELEANOR BARNETT shares her instructions for making a flavourful sauce with roots in south-east Asia

Goodbye to the gilded age

JOHN JACOB WOOLF is won over by an exploration of the Edwardian era, which looks beyond the golden-era cliché to find a nation beset by a sense of unease

Towering achievement

NATHEN AMIN explores a 13th-century stronghold that was built to subdue independent-minded Welsh people, yet has since become a symbol of courage in the face of overwhelming odds

KNIGHTS! CAMERA! ACTION!

From the heroic glamour of Henry V to the heady nationalism of Braveheart, the medieval era has proven a rich source of material for film directors. Robert Bartlett charts Hollywood's long obsession with the Middle Ages

The Aztecs at war

RHIANNON DAVIES discovers why war was so important to the Mesoamerican people - and why they believed a badly cooked meal could prevent a soldier from shooting straight

A window onto England's soul

SARAH FOOT has high praise for a book that traces the evolution of English Christianity over the course of 1400 years, through the lives of its greatest thinkers

Ghosts of Germany's past

KATJA HOYER is impressed by a study of a nation's attempts to grapple with the crimes it perpetrated during the Second World War

The power of the few

Subhadra Das's first book catches two particular waves in current publishing.