The true meaning of ‘give me liberty’

The US Constitution as a straitjacket

Over a long career, John Hardman has specialised to great effect in teasing out, from speeches, decrees, minutes, memoranda, letters, diaries and unsent drafts, the varied moods of French political de

“One might as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb,” goes the old proverb. The meaning is simple: if you are going to be punished for a small crime, you may as well commit the bigger one. In the early

When I last spoke with the historian Sudhir Hazareesingh we were talking about Black Spartacus, his prize-winning biography of the Haitian revolutionary Toussaint Louverture. Now, we’re meeting again

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I enjoyed reading the interesting article by Caitlin Ellis on the rivals for the throne in 1066 (October). In particular, it was fascinating to read about Edgar Ætheling’s claim, which was surely the