diff --git a/qutebrowser/html/history.html b/qutebrowser/html/history.html
index 75925f546..33244896c 100644
--- a/qutebrowser/html/history.html
+++ b/qutebrowser/html/history.html
@@ -65,16 +65,22 @@ table {
 </noscript>
 <div id="hist-container"></div>
 <span id="eof" style="display: none">end</span>
-<a href="#" onclick="loadHistory();"id="load">Show more</a>
+<a href="#" id="load">Show more</a>
 <script type="text/javascript" src="qute://javascript/history.js"></script>
 <script type="text/javascript">
     window.onload = function() {
-        loadHistory();
+        document.getElementById('load').addEventListener('click', function(ev) {
+            ev.preventDefault();
+            window.loadHistory();
+        });
+
         window.onscroll = function(ev) {
             if ((window.innerHeight + window.scrollY) >= document.body.scrollHeight) {
-                loadHistory();
+                window.loadHistory();
             }
         };
+
+        window.loadHistory();
     };
 </script>
 {% endblock %}
diff --git a/qutebrowser/javascript/history.js b/qutebrowser/javascript/history.js
index b4e584bb0..3ff9f09db 100644
--- a/qutebrowser/javascript/history.js
+++ b/qutebrowser/javascript/history.js
@@ -1,138 +1,194 @@
 /**
- * Container for global stuff
- */
-var global = {
-    // The last history item that was seen.
-    lastItem: null,
-    // The next time to load
-    nextTime: null,
-    // The cutoff interval for session-separator (30 minutes)
-    SESSION_CUTOFF: 30*60
-};
-
-/**
- * Finds or creates the session table>tbody to which item with given date
- * should be added.
+ * Copyright 2017 Imran Sobir
  *
- * @param {Date} date - the date of the item being added.
+ * This file is part of qutebrowser.
+ *
+ * qutebrowser is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+ * it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+ * the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+ * (at your option) any later version.
+ *
+ * qutebrowser is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+ * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+ * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+ * GNU General Public License for more details.
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+ * along with qutebrowser.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
  */
-var getSessionNode = function(date) {
-    var histContainer = document.getElementById('hist-container');
 
-    // Find/create table
-    var tableId = "hist-" + date.getDate() + date.getMonth() + date.getYear();
-    var table = document.getElementById(tableId);
-    if (table === null) {
-        table = document.createElement("table");
-        table.id = tableId;
+"use strict";
 
-        caption = document.createElement("caption");
-        caption.className = "date";
-        var options = {weekday: 'long', year: 'numeric', month: 'long', day: 'numeric'};
-        caption.innerHTML = date.toLocaleDateString('en-US', options);
-        table.appendChild(caption);
+window.loadHistory = (function() {
+    // The time of last history item.
+    var lastTime = null;
 
-        // Add table to page
-        histContainer.appendChild(table);
-    }
+    // The time to load next.
+    var nextTime = null;
 
-    // Find/create tbody
-    var tbody = table.lastChild;
-    if (tbody.tagName !== "TBODY") { // this is the caption
-        tbody = document.createElement("tbody");
-        table.appendChild(tbody);
-    }
+    // The cutoff interval for session-separator (30 minutes)
+    var SESSION_CUTOFF = 30 * 60;
 
-    // Create session-separator and new tbody if necessary
-    if (tbody.lastChild !== null && global.lastItem !== null) {
-        lastItemDate = new Date(parseInt(global.lastItem.time)*1000);
-        var interval = (lastItemDate.getTime() - date.getTime())/1000.00;
-        if (interval > global.SESSION_CUTOFF) {
-            // Add session-separator
-            var sessionSeparator = document.createElement('td');
-            sessionSeparator.className = "session-separator";
-            sessionSeparator.colSpan = 2;
-            sessionSeparator.innerHTML = "&#167;";
-            table.appendChild(document.createElement('tr'));
-            table.lastChild.appendChild(sessionSeparator);
+    // The URL to fetch data from.
+    var DATA_URL = "qute://history/data";
 
-            // Create new tbody
+    // Various fixed elements
+    var EOF_MESSAGE = document.getElementById("eof");
+    var LOAD_LINK = document.getElementById("load");
+    var HIST_CONTAINER = document.getElementById("hist-container");
+
+    /**
+     * Finds or creates the session table>tbody to which item with given date
+     * should be added.
+     *
+     * @param {Date} date - the date of the item being added.
+     * @returns {Element} the element to which new rows should be added.
+     */
+    function getSessionNode(date) {
+        // Find/create table
+        var tableId = "hist-".concat(date.getDate(), date.getMonth(),
+            date.getYear());
+        var table = document.getElementById(tableId);
+        if (table === null) {
+            table = document.createElement("table");
+            table.id = tableId;
+
+            // Caption contains human-readable date
+            var caption = document.createElement("caption");
+            caption.className = "date";
+            var options = {
+                "weekday": "long",
+                "year": "numeric",
+                "month": "long",
+                "day": "numeric",
+            };
+            caption.innerHTML = date.toLocaleDateString("en-US", options);
+            table.appendChild(caption);
+
+            // Add table to page
+            HIST_CONTAINER.appendChild(table);
+        }
+
+        // Find/create tbody
+        var tbody = table.lastChild;
+        if (tbody.tagName !== "TBODY") {
             tbody = document.createElement("tbody");
             table.appendChild(tbody);
         }
-    }
 
-    return tbody;
-}
+        // Create session-separator and new tbody if necessary
+        if (tbody.lastChild !== null && lastTime !== null) {
+            var lastItemDate = new Date(lastTime * 1000);
+            var interval = (lastItemDate.getTime() - date.getTime()) / 1000.00;
+            if (interval > SESSION_CUTOFF) {
+                // Add session-separator
+                var sessionSeparator = document.createElement("td");
+                sessionSeparator.className = "session-separator";
+                sessionSeparator.colSpan = 2;
+                sessionSeparator.innerHTML = "&#167;";
+                table.appendChild(document.createElement("tr"));
+                table.lastChild.appendChild(sessionSeparator);
 
-/**
- * Given a history item, create and return <tr> for it.
- * param {string} itemUrl - The url for this item
- * param {string} itemTitle - The title for this item
- * param {string} itemTime - The formatted time for this item
- */
-var makeHistoryRow = function(itemUrl, itemTitle, itemTime) {
-    var row = document.createElement('tr');
-
-    var title = document.createElement('td');
-    title.className = "title";
-    var link = document.createElement('a');
-    link.href = itemUrl;
-    link.innerHTML = itemTitle;
-    title.appendChild(link);
-
-    var time = document.createElement('td');
-    time.className = "time";
-    time.innerHTML = itemTime;
-
-    row.appendChild(title);
-    row.appendChild(time);
-
-    return row;
-}
-
-var getJSON = function(url, callback) {
-    var xhr = new XMLHttpRequest();
-    xhr.open('GET', url, true);
-    xhr.responseType = 'json';
-    xhr.onload = function() {
-        var status = xhr.status;
-        callback(status, xhr.response);
-    };
-    xhr.send();
-};
-
-/**
- * Load new history.
- */
-var loadHistory = function() {
-    url = "qute://history/data";
-    if (global.nextTime !== null) {
-        startTime = global.nextTime;
-        url = "qute://history/data?start_time=" + startTime.toString();
-    }
-
-    getJSON(url, function(status, history) {
-        if (history !== undefined) {
-            for (item of history) {
-                if (item.next === -1) {
-                    // Reached end of history
-                    window.onscroll = null;
-                    document.getElementById('eof').style.display = "block";
-                    document.getElementById('load').style.display = "none";
-                    continue;
-                } else if (item.next !== undefined) {
-                    global.nextTime = parseInt(item.next);
-                    continue;
-                }
-
-                atime = new Date(parseInt(item.time)*1000);
-                var session = getSessionNode(atime);
-                var row = makeHistoryRow(item.url, item.title, atime.toLocaleTimeString());
-                session.appendChild(row);
-                global.lastItem = item;
+                // Create new tbody
+                tbody = document.createElement("tbody");
+                table.appendChild(tbody);
             }
         }
-    });
-}
 
+        return tbody;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Given a history item, create and return <tr> for it.
+     *
+     * @param {string} itemUrl - The url for this item.
+     * @param {string} itemTitle - The title for this item.
+     * @param {string} itemTime - The formatted time for this item.
+     * @returns {Element} the completed tr.
+     */
+    function makeHistoryRow(itemUrl, itemTitle, itemTime) {
+        var row = document.createElement("tr");
+
+        var title = document.createElement("td");
+        title.className = "title";
+        var link = document.createElement("a");
+        link.href = itemUrl;
+        link.innerHTML = itemTitle;
+        title.appendChild(link);
+
+        var time = document.createElement("td");
+        time.className = "time";
+        time.innerHTML = itemTime;
+
+        row.appendChild(title);
+        row.appendChild(time);
+
+        return row;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Get JSON from given URL.
+     *
+     * @param {string} url - the url to fetch data from.
+     * @param {function} callback - the function to callback with data.
+     * @returns {void}
+     */
+    function getJSON(url, callback) {
+        var xhr = new XMLHttpRequest();
+        xhr.open("GET", url, true);
+        xhr.responseType = "json";
+        xhr.onload = function() {
+            var status = xhr.status;
+            callback(status, xhr.response);
+        };
+        xhr.send();
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Receive history data from qute://history/data.
+     *
+     * @param {Number} status - The status of the query.
+     * @param {Array} history - History data.
+     * @returns {void}
+     */
+    function receiveHistory(status, history) {
+        if (history === undefined) {
+            return;
+        }
+
+        for (var i = 0, len = history.length - 1; i < len; i++) {
+            var item = history[i];
+            var atime = new Date(item.time * 1000);
+            var session = getSessionNode(atime);
+            var row = makeHistoryRow(item.url, item.title,
+                atime.toLocaleTimeString());
+            session.appendChild(row);
+            lastTime = item.time;
+        }
+
+        var next = history[history.length - 1].next;
+        if (next === -1) {
+            // Reached end of history
+            window.onscroll = null;
+            EOF_MESSAGE.style.display = "block";
+            LOAD_LINK.style.display = "none";
+        } else {
+            nextTime = next;
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Load new history.
+     * @return {void}
+     */
+    function loadHistory() {
+        if (nextTime === null) {
+            getJSON(DATA_URL, receiveHistory);
+        } else {
+            var url = DATA_URL.concat("?start_time=", nextTime.toString());
+            getJSON(url, receiveHistory);
+        }
+    }
+
+    return loadHistory;
+})();