75 years is a long time in public history: the bridge between academia and the general reader appears to have widened since History Today was launched, but in what ways?
‘In 1951 Britain did not need “public history” to remind us that great events had reshaped our world’
Geoffrey Parker is Distinguished University Professor and Andreas Dorpalen Professor of European History at the Ohio State University
I can’t remember when I first read History Today: probably not in 1951, when I was seven, but soon afterwards my parents bought me a subscription, since history is the only subject I really enjoy. I have read every issue since, mainly because History Today covers all periods, areas, and aspects of our discipline. It was – and has remained – the essence of what we now call ‘public history’.