History Today, Vol. 76 #9

This is the September 2026 issue of the magazine launched by Winston Churchill in 1951 and initially criticised for its silver-spoon nature, now independently run and praised for its accessibility to in-depth global history. 

The issue leads with a cover feature by Gavin Healy on the hospitality workers that served as ‘unofficial ambassadors for the new socialist state’ during Mao Zedong’s 27-year reign, a period in which China welcomed thousands of visitors contrary to common misconception. Elsewhere, Edward Roberts examines the legacy of the Dictatus Papae—a collection of forged statements initially attributed to Pope Gregory VII in 1075—and Diya Gupta investigates the 1943 Bengal Famine through letters written by letters sent to Indian soldiers serving in the British Army.