The Historian
Published in London at QMUL
Featuring posts from staff and student historians
Magical, but ordinary
You might think of sleep as a simple and fundamental biological function that has been the same throughout human history but, as Dr Elizabeth Hunter discovers, fiction, science, and history all point towards a more interesting, complex, even magical picture.
Take Five With: Oskar Cox Jensen
In the second of our Take Five series of interviews with historians at QMUL, we meet Leverhulme Early Career Fellow Oskar Cox Jensen, whose current research project focuses on life on and around London’s streets in the in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
‘Zealous ferret’ to national saviour: Churchill in 1940
When Winston Churchill formed a government in May 1940, it was by no means inevitable that it would prove a success. In an exclusive extract from his new book, Britain's War: Into Battle, 1937-1941, Dr Dan Todman paints a vivid picture of Churchill and his inner circle in 1940. The new Prime Minister had a restless mind, garish dressing gowns, and a buccaneering style. Dr Todman's book has recently been shortlisted for the Longman History Today book prize 2017.
From Staël to Strummer: Report from the QMUL History PGR Colloquium 2017
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Whether examining Rousseau or rocking horses, missionaries or mourning, this year’s PGR Colloquium provided postgraduate researchers at QMUL’s School of History with a platform to talk about their diverse programme of research. Doctoral candidates Edgar Gerrard Hughes, Evelien Lemmens, Dave Saunders, and Steve Bentel report on four panels spanning political thought, material culture, social encounters, and the history of emotions.
The Huntington Library and the Value of International Research Communities
In an increasingly insular world, is it more important than ever to create international research communities? Doctoral Candidate Emily Vine reflects on her experiences as an AHRC International Placement Scheme Fellow at The Huntington Library in southern California.
Rape on the Small Screen
Like Game of Thrones and American Horror Story before it, ITV’s Broadchurch has recently re-ignited a debate about depictions of rape on the small screen. But while we often imagine that television has only recently been able to tackle this kind of complex and challenging subject-matter, in fact it has a long history. Jennifer Wallis explores the origins of small-screen depictions of rape during the golden age of the American made-for-TV movie.
Man Up – The Victorian Origins of Toxic Masculinity
QMUL History student Josephine Jobbins traces the origins of toxic models of masculinity today back to nineteenth-century ideals of what it meant to be a man. Victorian public school boys were strong, stoical and athletic - ready to die for their country, but not to talk about their feelings.