History Today no 10 / 2016

[English page]

This Month's Magazine

This year's American presidential election has been one of the most t in the union's history and, in the figure of the Republican Party's nominee, the country has witnessed one of the most unorthodox candidacies of all time. But how did the the party of Abraham Lincoln end up selecting Donald Trump? Tim Stanley offers an overview of America’s Grand Old Party, suggesting that dedication to individualism unites its ostensibly disparate leaders.  

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Also in this issue

• The history of France's Popular Front
• A 17th-century Ethiopian nun who controlled the fate of kings

• ISIS’ use of historical propaganda 

• Scotland's castle culture

• The relationship between humour and Britain's National Health Service
• A look at one of the grandest medieval manuscripts
• The permanent stain of the Somme
• Plus: the Smithfield Joust, Hamilton: An American Musical, First World War conscripts, and more

You can buy this issue from our website or at newsagents across the United Kingdom (find your nearest stockist) from October 20th. You can also subscribeor get it as a digital edition via the History Today App.

We've also created a Spotify playlist to go with this month's edition, featuring songs inspired by the issue's contents. You can listen to it below.

Selected articles from this issue

Portrait of the Author as a Historian: Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa

By Alexander Lee

Witnessing the slow decline of his native Sicily, the last Prince of Lampedusa saw both blame and possible salvation in the island’s unique location and history, writes Alexander Lee.

Court of the Conscripts

By Rebecca Pyne-Edwards Banks

Evidence from Britain’s First World War conscription tribunals reveals a surprisingly efficient and impartial system, as Rebecca Pyne-Edwards Banks asserts in this extract from her 2015 undergraduate dissertation prize-winning essay.   

Is Laughter the Best Medicine?

By Jenny Crane

Since it was founded in 1948, the issue of how Britons have laughed with – or at – the NHS reveals much about changes in society, argues Jenny Crane.