History Today Archives - Suzannah Lipscomb

A Case of Double Standards

September 26, 2016 by Suzannah Lipscomb

Keith Thomas's article about double standards in the sixteenth century unfortunately applies today to the historical profession itself. In my latest column for History Today, I examine how female historians are still treated unfairly both inside and outside the academy, and argue that things must change.

In Praise of the Go-Between

September 18, 2016March 22, 2018 by Suzannah Lipscomb

Archives are one thing, the public another and connecting the two is one of a historian’s hardest challenges, as Suzannah Lipscomb knows from experience. Suzannah's bimonthly column for History Today: In recent weeks I have gone from reading 16th-century manuscripts in a French provincial archive to speaking at two literary…

Henry VIII: A King Caught on Camera

March 23, 2016July 20, 2016 by Suzannah Lipscomb

My March column for History Today is about whether Henry VIII a good-natured buffoon or an egotistical tyrant? Your answer is likely to depend on which cinematic portrayal you saw most recently. Tyrant or Buffoon?

Henry VIII: A King Caught on Camera?

March 9, 2016July 20, 2016 by Suzannah Lipscomb

Was Henry VIII a good-natured buffoon or an egotistical tyrant? Your answer is likely to depend on which cinematic portrayal you have seen most recently, argues Suzannah Lipscomb in her March 2016 column for History Today. Gore Vidal suggested that books have had their day: that we should ‘concede the…

A Question of Interpretation

January 28, 2016July 20, 2016 by Suzannah Lipscomb

My latest column for History Today was prompted by an amateur review of a history book that called it 'just an interpretation'. The sheer wrongness of this as criticism (and rightness of this as fact) seemed to me to deserve some serious attention. Here it is: A question of interpretation

A Question of Interpretation

January 9, 2016July 20, 2016 by Suzannah Lipscomb

The public expects historians to deliver authoritative accounts of the past, yet different conclusions can be drawn from the same sources, argues Suzannah Lipscomb in her January 2016 column for History Today. I recently read an amateur review of a history book with which I am familiar, which stated: ‘It is…