What are the lessons of history and why don’t we learn them?
The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific and philosophical concepts
Sir Tony Wrigley obituary
Economic and demographic historian who transformed the view of the industrial revolution
Sir John Elliott obituary
Historian of imperial Spain known for his vivid biography of a 17th-century statesman, the count-duke of Olivares
Michael MacLeod obituary
Other lives: Art historian who championed the work of the British artist Thomas Hennell
The Guardian view on ordinary histories: often quite extraordinary
Editorial: Historic England’s proposal to celebrate the places where “ordinary people” have worked, lived or socialised is very welcome
‘A Francoist daydream’: how Spain’s right clings to its imperialist past
A Peruvian author fears her adopted home is far from an apology for its Latin American abuses
Betty Wood obituary
Other lives: Historian of slavery, gender and religion in America
Unsung hero: how ‘Mr Radio Philips’ helped thousands flee the Nazis
In June 1940, a Dutch salesman, acting as a consul in Lithuania, issued Jewish refugees with pseudo visas to escape Europe. His remarkable story is only now being told
Dick Leonard obituary
Journalist, historian and pro-European Labour MP who rebelled against his party’s whip to vote in favour of the Common Market
Derek Keene obituary
Historian who painted a vivid picture of life in medieval cities such as London and Winchester
Was the fiddler framed? How Nero may have been a good guy after all
He was a demonic emperor who stabbed citizens at random and let Rome burn. Or was he? We go behind the scenes at a new show exploding myths about the ancient world’s favourite baddie
Great thinkers make sense of a world racked by contradictions
The likes of Edward Said knew that the crucial issues of the day must be seen in shades of grey, not black and white
Andrew Porter obituary
Historian who re-introduced the subject of religion into his studies of the British empire
Frances Harris obituary
Historian who made her name with biographies of leading figures in Stuart Britain
How Mary Wortley Montagu’s bold experiment led to smallpox vaccine – 75 years before Jenner
A new book celebrates the trailblazing work of the English aristocrat, who successfully inoculated her daughter