History News

It is with great sadness that the Department of History announce the death of former head of Department Jack Scarisbrick.

We are delighted to congratulate Dr Anna Hájková, Reader in Modern European Continental History, on receiving the 75th National Jewish Book Award in the Holocaust category for their latest publication, A People without History are Dust: Queer Desire in the Holocaust.

The book is the first to examine queer Holocaust history, exploring same-sex desire and gender variance during the Shoah.

The National Jewish Book Awards are North America’s longest-running programme recognising outstanding work on Jewish history, culture, and ideas. Further details on all award recipients can be found on the Jewish Book Council website.

Huguenot Networks - Truth and Secrecy in Sixteenth-Century Europe is the latest publication from Professor Penny Roberts, Professor of Early Modern European History, published by Cambridge University Press.

How did Huguenots stay connected in the 16th-century? And how did they maintain clandestine religious and political networks across Europe? Beginning with the chance discovery of an intriguing interrogation document, concerning correspondence to be smuggled from France to England hidden in a basket of cheese, this study explores the importance of truth and secrecy within Huguenot information networks.

Penny Roberts provides new insights into the transnational operation of agents: fanning out from confessional conflicts in Normandy to incorporate exiles in England, scholars and diplomats in Germany, the Swiss cantons and the Netherlands, and spy networks operating between France and Scotland.

Gems and the New Science: Matter and Value in the Scientific Revolution is the forthcoming book release from Dr Michael Bycroft, Associate Professor in the History of Science and Technology, due for release March 2026.

This first book-length history of gems in early modern science offers a thought-provoking new take on the Scientific Revolution, and has been featured in the New York Review of Books.

For more information and to order the book visit the University of Chicago Press website.

We are delighted to share that People without History are Dust, the new book by Dr Anna Hájková, Reader in Modern European Continental History, has been shortlisted for the National Jewish Book Award. The book is the first to examine queer Holocaust history, exploring same-sex desire and gender variance during the Shoah.

The National Jewish Book Awards are North America’s longest-running programme recognising outstanding work on Jewish history, culture, and ideas.

Find a full list of shortlisted titles and more about the awards on the Jewish Book Council website.

In the footsteps of Marco Polo. Venice, Asia, silk is the new book release from Professor Luca Mola, Professor of History, published by Laterza.

Marco Polo's fame is linked to his travel experiences in the East and the description of Chinese civilization contained in Il Milione, a source of wonder throughout Europe. But what did he do after his return to Venice in 1295? This book reveals the truth using a series of new, previously unknown documents and reconstructs his story.

Professor Mola tells an untold story that portrays Marco Polo as a key figure in the economic development of Venice and Italy, capable of capitalizing on the knowledge he acquired on his travels.

Uncover Warwickshire’s hidden histories. Join Harry McNeile and the team as they explore seven iconic locations—from Warwick Castle to Bosworth—revealing stories of legend, conflict, the occult, and post-Blitz regeneration.

People without History Are Dust: Queer Desire in the Holocaust is the new book by Dr Anna Hájková, Reader of modern European continental history, translated by William Ross Jones and published by University of Toronto Press. It is the first book to explore queer Holocaust history, that is, same sex desire and gender variance in the Shoah.

Queerness remains one of the most stigmatized and overlooked aspects of Holocaust history, often erased due to the lingering homophobia of survivors. People Without History Are Dust challenges this silence, weaving together compelling stories of German, Dutch, Czech, and Polish Jewish Holocaust victims and survivors – including Anne Frank, Molly Applebaum, Margot Heuman, and Gad Beck – whose experiences help illuminate the hidden history of queerness in a time of genocide.

Drawing on extensive archival research, this ground breaking book uncovers the lives of those who were doubly marginalized, not only persecuted as Jews but also as queer individuals. In doing so, it confronts the ways in which history has excluded or minimized their experiences, urging us to question normative accounts of the Holocaust.

By shedding light on these long-overlooked stories, People Without History Are Dust deepens our understanding of identity, survival, and memory, reminding us why an inclusive and complex approach to history is essential – not just for the sake of the past, but in service to the present and the future as well.

For more information and to pre-order the book from the UK in paperback or hardcover visit the MNG website.