The past is never dead, it isn’t even past
In honour of Aspects of History launching its new podcast, Spymasters, I was asked to recommend five spy novels. I wouldn't say these are my definitive five favourite spy novels, as I could wake up tomorrow and recommend five others, but I hope that the choices give...
The Mysterious Death of Joseph Stalin Stalin was feeling weak on account of his unusually high blood pressure. He was also complaining of dizziness. Yet his temper was as fiery as ever on the evening of 28 February 1953. He had invited a few of his closest comrades to...
Michael H. Kater, congratulations on After the Nazis. You’ve written about how important democracy was for culture to thrive in Germany. Were there any cultural achievements under the Nazis? In the Third Reich, cultural achievements in line with a democratic value...
The Graveyard of Empires: The Soviets Go Into Afghanistan The popular understanding of Cold War history is that the Communist takeover of Afghanistan in 1978 was a continuation of the “Great Game” and engineered by the Soviets, the truth is more complex. The Afghan...
Culture & Democracy in West Germany In the dictatorship of the Third Reich, the absence of democracy meant the absence of individual liberties. For visual artists, musicians, and men and women of letters, film and the stage, next to governmental content criticism...
I have read a good deal about the Kennedys, both generally and in research detail when one of my detective novels featured the family patriarch, Joe, as a character. Joe Kennedy was not a very nice man, and he passed on some of his less pleasant characteristics to...
Pirate Irwin, what first attracted you to the period or periods you work in? Summer holidays when I was a nipper in France sparked a fascination with the moral conundrum faced by the people with a war hero Petain having agreed to collaborate with the Nazis to preserve...
Books Click on any of the books covers below to either buy or get more information on AmazonArticles Click on the links below to read the full article[dpdfg_filtergrid custom_query="advanced" use_taxonomy_terms="on" multiple_taxonomies="name_of_author"...
As readers and fans of the site will know, Aspects of History runs a Books of the Year feature each December. There is often a history book which stands out for our board and contributors, such as The World by Simon Sebag-Montefiore and The White Ship by Charles...
Books of 2023 from Aspects of HistoryAlan Bardos Author of The Dardanelles ConspiracyMy book of the year is SAS Forged in Hell. The next instalment of Damien Lewis’ WW II odyssey with the men of 1 SAS, as they become the ‘tip of the spear’ in the invasion of Sicily...
