Past & Present is a British historical academic journal

Academic journal

An academic journal is a peer-reviewed periodical in which scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. Academic journals serve as forums for the introduction and presentation for scrutiny of new research, and the critique of existing research...

, which was a leading force in the development of social history

Social history

Social history, often called the new social history, is a branch of History that includes history of ordinary people and their strategies of coping with life. In its "golden age" it was a major growth field in the 1960s and 1970s among scholars, and still is well represented in history departments...

. It was founded in 1952 by a combination of Marxist

Marxism

Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...

 and non-Marxist historians. The Marxist historians included members of the Communist Party Historians Group

Communist Party Historians Group

A subdivision of the Communist Party of Great Britain , from 1946-1956 the Communist Party Historians Group formed a highly influential cluster of British Marxist historians, who contributed to "history from below." Famous members included such leading lights of 20th-century British history as...

, including E. P. Thompson

E. P. Thompson

Edward Palmer Thompson was a British historian, writer, socialist and peace campaigner. He is probably best known today for his historical work on the British radical movements in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, in particular The Making of the English Working Class...

, Christopher Hill

Christopher Hill (historian)

John Edward Christopher Hill , usually known simply as Christopher Hill, was an English Marxist historian and author of textbooks....

, Eric Hobsbawm

Eric Hobsbawm

Eric John Ernest Hobsbawm , CH, FBA, is a British Marxist historian, public intellectual, and author...

, Rodney Hilton

Rodney Hilton

Rodney Howard Hilton, , was an English Marxist historian of the late medieval period and the transition from feudalism to capitalism. He was born in Manchester and studied at Balliol College Oxford University and was a member of the Communist Party Historians Group before leaving the party in 1956...

, and Dona Torr

Dona Torr

Dona Ruth Anne Torr was a British Marxist historian, and a major influence on the Communist Party Historians Group. Aside from her translations of many Marxist classics into English, she is perhaps best known for her unfinished biography of the important labour activist, Tom Mann, Tom Mann and his...

.

It is published four times a year by Oxford University Press

Oxford University Press

Oxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...

 on behalf of The Past and Present Society, a British historical membership association and registered charity

Charitable organization

A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization . It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization (NPO). It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A...

.

The society also publishes a book series (Past and Present Publications), and sponsors occasional conferences and appoints postdoctoral fellows.

Further reading

• Hill, Christopher
  Christopher Hill (historian)
  John Edward Christopher Hill , usually known simply as Christopher Hill, was an English Marxist historian and author of textbooks....
  
  ; Hilton, R.H.
  Rodney Hilton
  Rodney Howard Hilton, , was an English Marxist historian of the late medieval period and the transition from feudalism to capitalism. He was born in Manchester and studied at Balliol College Oxford University and was a member of the Communist Party Historians Group before leaving the party in 1956...
  
  ; Hobsbawm, E.J.
  Eric Hobsbawm
  Eric John Ernest Hobsbawm , CH, FBA, is a British Marxist historian, public intellectual, and author...
  
   "Past and Present. Origins and Early Years", Past and Present, No. 100. (Aug., 1983), pp. 3–14.
• Le Goff, Jacques
  Jacques Le Goff
  Jacques Le Goff is a prolific French historian specializing in the Middle Ages, particularly the 12th and 13th centuries....
  
  . "Past and Present. Later History", Past and Present, No. 100. (Aug., 1983), pp. 14–28.