INVENIRE

Every avid reader has a book they liked the most. However, they may not assign this book the title of “classic” or “great”. Although all classics entertain and make for good reads, entertainment value alone does not earn that title. Speaking to societal constants, classics are the declaratory statements of a people. Classic works of literature captivate public imagination for generations after publication and exemplify that which is most valuable in a culture. When we collate such works, they form a coherent retelling of a people’s history; we should defend such work from modern fevers that aim to denounce them as anachronistic and undeserving of elevation within a culture. Shakespeare is the gold standard in English literature. All authors, irrespective of their era, are judged against him and his work has been immortalised in school curricula and the English cultural consciousness. But why? We guarantee no other author the right to be taught in English secondary schools year after ye

Historians are not merely retellers of the past. Their work demands an intellectual struggle. After discerning what occurred from various, often contradictory, sources, historians must then place these events in the context of one another. There are various methods of performing the latter; these methods are known as philosophies of history. Philosophies of history attempt to make sense of the thousands of years of recorded human existence by asking a few key questions. Is there an overarching meaning to the events of human history? Is there a direction to history?  If so, what is history's direction? Is the direction linear? If it is linear, does this mean circumstances are improving?   In politics, ideologies are the vehicles of policy. But where do ideologies come from? All ideologies are the offspring of philosophies of history. If you believe material conditions to be the vehicle of historical change, you are a Marxist. If you believe history to be a constant ascendancy toward

In the opening chapter of The Communist Manifesto, Bourgeois and Proletarians , Marx outlines his view of history. "Freeman and slave, patrician and plebeian... oppressor and oppressed."  Marx believed that all history had been a struggle between two classes: the oppressive and the oppressed. In this vein, left-wing nationalists the world over have positioned themselves as the oppressed class within this dichotomy. The modern Manchester Marxist might add "Westminster and Northumbria" to that list. Although almost undiscussed just a few years ago, there is a growing movement amongst socialists in Northern England to secede from the United Kingdom. The Northern Independence Party (NIP) was founded in October 2020, motivated by the belief that the United Kingdom is an illegitimate, ill-founded union and that the Westminster government has been neglectful of Northern England. The NIP now has 1300 members and its Twitter account, which uses the handle  @FreeNorthNow , ha

Donald Trump is a 21st century Andrew Jackson. He mirrors his ascent to power and has been characterised almost identically by his opponents. Men like Trump and Jackson are evidence of a popular desire for powerful governance; people will ignore authoritarian tactics in search of an efficient leader. Image courtesy of Al Drago/The New York Times While Jackson and Trump both presented themselves as defenders of common Americans, it is inaccurate to describe their politics as an appeal to the marginalised. Jackson was concerned with elevating a particular section of the American poor: the white male population. He was vehemently opposed to the abolition of slavery, owning slaves himself and believing it to be vital to the Southern economy. Jackson's rhetoric on economic issues sought to re-empower those who had lost property in the Panic of 1819. The Trump campaign of 2016 mirrored this style of populism immensely; in his announcement speech, he appealed to the unemployed, but he onl

Photograph by Andrew Harnik / AP / Shutterstock In liberal democracies, voters have become sceptical of the archetypal career politician. In Germany, the resignation of Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has held the role since 2005, has caused a mutiny amongst supporters of her centre-right Christian Democratic Union party. Voters who remained loyal to the CDU due to Merkel's personality are uninspired by the incoming leader of the party, Armin Laschet, and CDU polling figures have fallen accordingly. Laschet is widely regarded to be a career politician, having held public office since 1994, and is generally characterised as "boring". In the United States, famously, voters rejected Hillary Clinton, a woman who had served as Senator and Secretary of State, in favour of a man with no prior political experience; in fact, many voters cited Trump's lack of political experience as the reason they were attracted to his campaign. Both Germany and the United States are prosperou

1066 is widely regarded to be the most consequential year in the histories of England and Britain. The death of the heirless Edward the Confessor created a crisis of succession, resulting in numerous claimants to the English throne. The eventual coronation of William I resulted in a new dynasty of English kings, significant changes to the English language, and a novel government. Every schoolchild in England knows about the events of that year, and if asked to retell them, would likely recount the story portrayed in the Bayeux Tapestry and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. These two contemporary articles constitute the vast majority of our evidence for this period and therefore much of what children are taught about the creation of modern England is from documents that fall far shorts of what we might consider "reliable" today. Historians today look critically at the Bayeux Tapestry. Given that it was commissioned by the half-brother of William I, Bishop Odo, one might suspect that

Both conservatives and leftists should be cautious of the Biden administration, albeit for different reasons.  When Bernie Sanders conceded the 2020 race for the Democratic nomination, the progressive wing of the Democratic Party was angry. On two consecutive occasions, the firebrand Senator for Vermont was ousted by an "establishment pick". Sanders, the left-wing populist, had run on the promises of Medicare for All; an end to corporate-funded political campaigns; a free four-year university education for all; and a radical response to the climate crisis - all to be funded by new taxes on a favourite target of his: "the billionaire class." Joe Biden was a stark disappointment.  For months, many of Sanders' supporters expressed a refusal to support the candidacy of Biden,  with many believing him to not be radical enough.  Urged on by the centrist wing of the party, many of them, albeit reluctantly,  backed Biden,  largely motivated by fears of a second Trump te