Historian

When the social historian Emily Cockayne first came across an old newspaper article about some “indescribably filthy” letters that were sent to residents of Littlehampton in the 1920s, she knew immediately that she wanted to write about it.But she never dreamed that recounting the extraordinary real life events she had uncovered in a scholarly book about the history of neighbours would one day net her a film deal for a movie starring Olivia Colman, Timothy Spall and Jessie Buckley.Penning Poison by Emily Cockayne.…

Arthur Conan Doyle secretly hated his creation Sherlock Holmes and blamed the cerebral detective character for denying him recognition as the author of highbrow historical fiction, according to the historian Lucy Worsley.Doyle was catapulted from “obscurity to worldwide fame” after his crime stories began appearing in a magazine in 1891, Worsley writes in the Radio Times. Eleven years later he was awarded a knighthood.Yet “beneath the surface he was a discontented man”, according to Worsley.Conan Doyle struggled to find a…

Arguing History Author Benny Morris on the roots of the Israel-Hamas war If you buy books linked on our site, The Times may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookstores. When Hamas invaded Israel on Oct. 7, the scale and savagery shocked the world. But the attack, as well as Israel’s ruthless response in Gaza, is less surprising in historical context: the intifadas of the 1980s and early 2000s, the 1967 war and ultimately the events surrounding Israel’s founding in 1948.The…

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain Employment levels for people with learning disabilities in the UK are five to 10 times lower than they were a hundred years ago. And the experiences of workers from the 1910s–50s offer inspiration as well as lessons about safeguarding. A new study by Cambridge historian Professor Lucy Delap…

Get our free weekly email for all the latest cinematic news from our film critic Clarisse LoughreyGet our The Life Cinematic email for freeKai Bird, the historian who wrote the 2005 J Robert Oppenheimer biography that inspired Christopher Nolan’s forthcoming film, has shared his thoughts on the movie.Oppenheimer stars Cillian Murphy as the “father of the atomic bomb” and is due to be released on 21 July.Bird, who co-authored American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer, said in an academic talk…

Get our free weekly email for all the latest cinematic news from our film critic Clarisse LoughreyGet our The Life Cinematic email for freeKai Bird, the historian who wrote the 2005 J Robert Oppenheimer biography that inspired Christopher Nolan’s forthcoming film, has shared his thoughts on the movie.Oppenheimer stars Cillian Murphy as the “father of the atomic bomb” and is due to be released on 21 July.Bird, who co-authored American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer, said in an academic talk…

Before my first reporting trip to Ukraine, one of my seasoned war correspondent colleagues had two pieces of advice. First, not to miss the delicious coffee and pastries you can find in Kyiv (which is a wonderfully reassuring thing to hear as you head off towards a conflict). Second, that it was absolutely necessary to read Serhii Plokhy’s 2015 book The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine. I did, and it unwound 2,500 years of complex, fascinating and often tragic events, all the way from Herodotus’s accounts of the…

Ben Riggs is a D&D historian and author of the book Slaying the Dragon: A Secret History of Dungeons & Dragons.Gillian Jacobs Reacting to Her D&D Character Sheet From Community | io9 InterviewDear Wizards of the Coast,Hi! I wrote a history of your company back when it was called TSR. I also teach 7th and 8th grade, so for the past 15 years, I have watched year after year as kids discover, and go ga-ga for, D&D. I’m writing this letter because I want you to succeed. Frankly, I think all true-hearted…

The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank was a big deal. It didn’t just impact Silicon Valley businesses — or the many non-Silicon Valley-based businesses that banked there, including Vox’s parent company Vox Media. The end of SVB created ripple effects throughout the American banking and financial system. It also showed how some of the practices that made Silicon Valley what it is today contributed to SVB’s demise. And it showed how Silicon Valley might not be the cradle of innovation and the pride of American business…

Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California newsletter. It’s Wednesday, March 1. One common feature in the worlds of science fiction is a future in which humans get where they’re going in a self-driving car. From the Johnny cabs in “Total Recall” to the sleek, vertically driving vehicles in “Minority Report” to the autonomous taxis in HBO’s “Westworld,” mobility means sitting back while your vehicle navigates the world around you.Fiction is becoming reality — we now have cars that essentially drive themselves.…