Editor Paul Lay Circulation 18,500 (2014) First issue January 1951 | Frequency Monthly Publisher Andy Patterson Company History Today Ltd | |
History Today is an illustrated history magazine. Published monthly in London since January 1951, it presents serious and authoritative history to as wide a public as possible. The magazine covers all periods and geographical regions and publishes articles of traditional narrative history alongside new research and historiography. A sister publication History Review, produced tri-annually until April 2012, provided information for sixth-form history students.
Contents
History
Founded by Brendan Bracken, Minister of Information after the Second World War, chairman of the Financial Times and lieutenant to Sir Winston Churchill, the magazine has been independently owned since 1981. The founding co-editors were Peter Quennell (1951–79) and Alan Hodge (1951–78); subsequent editors were Michael Crowder (1979–81); Michael Trend (1981–82); Juliet Gardiner (1981–85); Gordon Marsden (1985–97) and Peter Furtado (1997–2008). The current editor is Paul Lay.
The website contains all the magazine's published content since 1951. A digital edition was launched in 2012.
History Review was a tri-annual sister publication of History Today magazine publishing material for sixth-form level history students. The final issue of History Review was published in April 2012 but the archive of published material is available for research in the History Today archive.
In 1995 it compiled The History Today Companion to British history (London: Collins & Brown, 1995), with 4500 entries covering the entire field in 840 pages edited by Neil Wenborn.
Contributors
History Today generally commissions its articles directly from academic authors and historians, though it does accept unsolicited essays from freelance historians and others if the article is deemed to be serious history, of wide interest or of academic worth.
Awards
Since 1997, The Longman History Today Charitable Trust, has held an annual awards ceremony at which presentations are made to those that have fostered a wider understanding of, and enthusiasm for, history. The awards are for Book of the Year, awarded for a first or second book, Historical Picture Researcher of the Year, an undergraduate dissertation prize (since 2003) and the Trustees' Award, for a person or organisation that has made a major contribution to history.