Classical corner

Lizzie Wade Apocalypse How catastrophe transformed our world and can forge new futures 320pp. William Collins. £20. Luke Kemp Goliath’s Curse The history and future of societal collapse 592pp. Viking.

Sometimes, a single narrative comes to dominate how we remember a year. So it is with 1776. This, as every history lover knows, was the date that the American colonies declared their independence, beg

It sounds like the stuff of conspiracy theories or a disaster movie: a series of volcanic eruptions kicks off a deadly pandemic. But new research suggests that such an event may indeed have happened.

At the time of writing, immigrants were the Number One topic worldwide. DISCLOSURE: I have been twice a migrant, once to Australia, thence to Canada where I have dual citizenship. What does all this m

The Last Days of Pompeii The immersive exhibition Immerse LDN, Excel, London, until March 15 Vesuvius was always erupting in nineteenth-century London, to the delight of hundreds of thousands of eager

ENGINEERING THE END OF MEDIEVAL WARFARE