history
![Brian Piercy](data:image/svg+xml;utf8,<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="%230A66C2"><path d="M20.447 20.452H16.89v-5.569c0-1.328-.027-3.037-1.852-3.037-1.853 0-2.136 1.445-2.136 2.939v5.667H9.351V9h3.414v1.561h.046c.477-.9 1.637-1.85 3.37-1.85 3.601 0 4.267 2.37 4.267 5.455v6.286zM5.337 7.433a1.982 1.982 0 1 1 0-3.964 1.982 1.982 0 0 1 0 3.964zm1.782 13.019H3.555V9h3.564v11.452zM22.225 0H1.771C.792 0 0 .774 0 1.729v20.542C0 23.227.792 24 1.771 24h20.451C23.2 24 24 23.227 24 22.271V1.729C24 .774 23.2 0 22.222 0h.003z"/></svg>)
The genetic disorder that turns the body into an iron trap
A huge treasure trove of songs and interviews recorded by the legendary folklorist Alan Lomax from the 1940s into the 1990s has been digitized and made available online for free listening.
In the wake of the Cold War, some Soviet bloc spies decided their fake American lives weren’t so bad.
An experiment in language change
Juan Pujol García was one of the rare individuals whose participation in World War II made him a Member of the Order of the British Empire and earned him the Iron Cross. He gained that unlikely distinction in perhaps the riskiest of all roles in espionage, that of a double agent.
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A forgotten deportation, a family archive, and the cost of belonging.
Learn about Queen Nzingha’s fierce leadership, her resistance against Portuguese colonization, and her legacy in African history.
How gypsum changed construction
The grammatical features of the Creole language known as Hawaiian Pidgin tell us of a society built on the efforts of its multicultural workforce.
Blade Runner (1982) is a magnificent film, but there’s something odd about it. The heroine, Rachael, seems to be a beautiful young woman. In reality, she’s a piece of technology — an organic robot …
Espresso is neither bean nor roast. It is a method of pressurized coffee brewing that ensures speedy delivery, and it has birthed a whole culture.
With a history of expansion, struggle, and scandal, Eswatini’s monarchy continues to make headlines.
Sixty years after a team of American and Indian climbers abandoned a plutonium-powered generator on the slopes of Nanda Devi, one of the world's most forbidding Himalayan peaks, the U.S. government still refuses to acknowledge that the mission ever happened. The device, a SNAP-19C portable generator...
The rise and fall of yogh
According to scientists, written languages appeared some 5,500 years ago. And from these myriads of ancient tongues, these five produced the biggest impact.
The early history of the United States runs along with the first years of the railroad.
Read on and discover five non-Abrahamic World Religions to better understand yourself and the world you live in.
South-up maps are challenging traditional views of the Earth—and the political and cultural beliefs that go with them.
Nearly 70 percent of Americans believe in angels, at least according to a statistic often cited in recent years. But what, exactly, comes to their minds — or those of any other believers around the world — when they imagine one?
I review a fascinating dissertation on interwar metals trading and the "Age of Alloy Steel"
In the 15th and 16th centuries, the desire to expand and control the spice trade was one of the driving forces behind the Age of Exploration.
How did underwater shells from the Maldives become an instrumental form of currency in the Transatlantic Slave Trade?
From scandal to staple: how the fork travelled from Byzantium to Lithuania, helped by Queen Bona Sforza and centuries of changing table manners.
In the 1970s, the radical leftwing German terrorist organisation may have spread fear through public acts of violence – but its inner workings were characterised by vanity and incompetence
The Battle of Ad Decimum in 533 CE marked Byzantium’s victorious return to Africa, defeating the Vandals and restoring Roman rule in Carthage.
Why so far north? So cold? Why not on a big river or a coast? Why the biggest city in Europe? Why the capital of the biggest country on Earth?
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The jukebox got its start earlier than you might think, but it truly became iconic when rock 'n' roll took over in the 1950s
France built forty nuclear reactors in a decade. Here's what the world can learn from it.
Why are archaeologists constructing a thirteenth-century fortress in the forests of France?
The snail may leave a trail of slime behind him, but a little slime will do a man no harm... whilst if you dance with dragons, you must expect to burn. - George R. R. Martin, The Mystery Knight As any Game of Thrones fan knows, being a knight has its downsides.
Hans Luther was the principled and respected president of the Reichsbank—but he wouldn’t accede to Hitler’s demands.
The Mongols are known for their brutality when it came to warfare. But just how brutal were they?
A review of Collapse: The Fall of the Soviet Union, by Vladislav Zubok
From a dying adviser to a clumsy editorial, the Revolution was a cascade of accidents and oversights.
Read on to learn all about El Cid, one of the most revered figures in European history.
During the Middle Ages, Christian saints with unusual backstories gained large followings. Their appeal can help us understand medieval culture, values, and beliefs.
Cavalry, armored and using superior mobility, dominated the medieval battlefield. That is, until archers with powerful bows and better military tactics won key battles, demonstrating otherwise.
The shinobi are legendary in Japanese history for their skills in subterfuge and stealth; one name, in particular, rings out when discussing ninjas: Hattori Hanzo.
The Medieval period was a time of constant innovation, with a wide array of weapons and armor developed to give warriors an edge on the battlefield.
The mystifying, centuries-long failure of the coal briquette
The Hittites built a successful empire in the ancient Near East. Their military success was based on their religion, technology, and military tactics.
The foundations of our modern banking system owe much to the Knights Templar. How did they go from protecting pilgrims to brokering land purchases for kings?
While battles got the most attention, sieges were an important warfare tactic in ancient Greece and Rome. It took time and ingenuity to breach city walls.
Despite the central role of firewood in the development of the early American economy, prices for this energy fuel are absent from official government statistics and the scholarly literature. This paper presents the most comprehensive dataset of firewood prices in the United States compiled to date, encompassing over 6,000 price quotes from 1700 to 2010. […]
On June 21, 217 BCE, an entire Roman army marched into an ambush set by the Carthaginian general Hannibal Barca.
The First Crusade was a pivotal event with lasting consequences on the political and religious relations of the medieval world.
This week we’re looking at a specific visual motif common in TV and film: the arrow volley. You know the scene: the general readies his archers, he orders them to ‘draw!’ and then…
It began as an innocuous inquiry on Facebook. Nelson Felix, a resident of New York State, posted in the group ‘What’s My Typewriter Worth?’ about a curious find he made while clearing out the basement of his wife’s grandfather. He shared a few photos. The keys on the typewriter are all in Chinese, Felix noted, […]
The Lost Libraries of Timbuktu. are a collection of books numbering in the hundreds of thousands that were lost following the decline of Timbuktu in the 19th century.
The legacy of Solferino is in more danger than ever
On the 3rd of November 1973, the crew of a Pan Am cargo plane lined up to land at Boston’s Logan International Airport, struggling desperately to reach the runway as a fire raged in the cargo deck…
More than a century after the invention of vaccines, a veterinarian stumbled across a technique to boost their efficacy in an unlikely way — by observing wounded horses.
This is the untold story of America’s hidden role in Ukrainian military operations against Russia’s invading armies.
Fang Fang’s newly translated novel uncovers the brutal, buried history of land reform in China.
The convoluted story of how a species of dog first arrived in Australia and subsequently took over the Outback challenges fundamental notions about what it means to be “native.”
Coming to Pueblo, CO, this fall, the Leonardo da Vinci Museum of North America will be the first and only museum of its kind in the continent.
A forgotten Nixon-era negotiation offers urgent lessons for our new age of economic warfare.
Excalibur was the legendary sword of King Arthur. But what do we know about this sword, and how did the legend evolve over the years?
New York's skyscrapers soar above a century-old steam network that still warms the city. While the rest of the world moved to hot water, Manhattanites still buy steam by the megapound.
An Unpleasant Story Triangulated from Scripture, Genetics, and Archeology
World War II is when the bomber came of age, and such aircraft could impact the course of war. All the powers would field planes whose names would become synonymous with this conflict.
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In the 1850s, cuneiform was just a series of baffling scratches on clay, waiting to spill the secrets of the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia
Grammy-winner Ricky Riccardi tells the story of a milestone moment in American music in this extract from his new book
When I was a kid, I was fascinated by a traditional katana my grandfather had brought home from Japan in 1945. Years later, I decided it was time to find the heirloom’s rightful owner.
In the dry and fiery deserts of Central Asia, among the mythical sites of both the first human and the end of all days, I found evidence that life restores itself even on the bleakest edge of ecological apocalypse.
How did retro sounds, dance moves, and vintage suits come to dominate before suddenly disappearing?
The Harpies appear throughout Greek mythology as part-human and part-bird mythological beasts that conjure feelings of dread and disgust in their victims.
Engineers at the Naval Research Lab launched a spy satellite program called Parcae and revolutionized signals intelligence at the height of the Cold War. The program relied on computers to sift through intelligence data, providing a technological edge at a pivotal moment in the Cold War.
Alan Lomax was a legendary collector of folk music, author, broadcaster, oral historian, musicologist, and filmmaker who raised the profile of folk music worldwide.
A series of accidents and errors amass into disaster at sea. But that's not the end of the story.
Nashville is where you go to make a hit that sounds like everyone else. Memphis is where you make a …
The final lines of this strong recommendation add that 'all takes place in a graveyard.
"I'm now going to offer you a megalomaniac explanation of the course of events"
Sixty years ago, the Soviet Union was way ahead of the USA in the space race. Then one critical event changed everything.
The long read: Canonisation has long been a way for the Catholic church to shape its image. The Vatican is preparing to anoint its first millennial saint, but how does it decide who is worthy?
An accident of lighting uncovers Jewish, European, and Islamic origins.
The Polaris explorer Charles Francis Hall has long been rumoured to have been poisoned in 1872. A preserved snow bunting might be crucial evidence for the theory
Findings suggest alphabetic writing may be some 500 years older than other discoveries
We’ve talked previously about Bell Labs’ long, storied history as an innovation engine and a generator of new technology.
Civil war is in the air. Why not revisit one that has already taken place?
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Renaissance paintings, medieval archives, cloistered orchards—how one Italian scientist is uncovering secrets that could help combat a growing agricultural crisis
Humans have suffered from tuberculosis for thousands of years and, even today, the disease kills more than 1 million people each year. Yet diagnosing cases remains a challenge. Why?
The Whip-Poor-Will’s shrill, death-proclaiming song populates the works of Stephen King and H.P. Lovecraft. But the bird itself has fallen on hard times. Could it become a ghost of Halloweens past?
John Cena's not a small guy, but he—and Mattel's movie—have some big shoes to fill if they're telling the origin story of Matchbox.
Nicola Twilley’s "Frostbite" explores how refrigeration has shaped everything over time from our guts to economies.
Indonesia’s emergence was both more violent and more pioneering than commonly imagined
“As a doctor, she had already faced misogyny in the French medical corps. But she persevered. It would be no different for her as a rescue pilot.” By Charles Morgan Evans AT A remote French...
The story of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius is no longer one of annihilation; it also includes the people who managed to escape the city.
Some aging residents of Ste.-Mère-Église in Normandy can still recall the American paratroopers who dropped into their backyard. It’s been a love affair ever since.
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A century ago, two Chicago teenagers killed an acquaintance named Bobby Franks for the thrill of it. The case captivated the nation and continues to fascinate the public today
Just 50 years after the Roman Empire grew to its largest size, a mysterious and crippling pandemic known as the Antonine plague brought it to its knees. Research on climate change and in other areas is shedding light into how the plague, which preceded centuries of decline, emerged to pack such a devastating punch.
The Country Bumpkins who gave us Parisian Café Culture - Editor's Picks - Messy Nessy Chic
The Great War never ended in some old battlegrounds.
On a calm, clear day, USAir Flight 427 suddenly nosedived and smashed into the earth, killing everyone on board. A team of investigators quickly assembled to sift through the rubble.
The venerable movie studio, now up for grabs, once defined the industry's zeal for consolidation, pioneering vertical integration and serving as the model for each of its major rivals.
It’s 10 miles from France, but Alderney feels like a windswept remote haven. During World War II, Nazi atrocities happened on its soil.
Growing a spice once worth its weight in gold, a tiny isle in Indonesia was so coveted that the Dutch traded Manhattan for it. Some 350 years later, life on the two islands couldn’t be more different.
When skeletal remains surfaced in Northern Ireland last year, the discovery was shaded with a discomforting question: Was this an archaeological site, or a crime scene?
Rats are less pestilent and more lovable than we think. Can we learn to live with them?
What the tech pioneer can, and can’t, teach us
Claims that a recent undersea discovery may be Amelia Earhart’s long-lost aeroplane raise questions. Experts weigh in on the mystery that continues to captivate us.
Ada Blackjack was an Iñupiaq woman who married at 16 and had three children before her husband abandoned her. Only one child survived infancy, and he suffered from tuberculosis. Blackjack walked 40 miles to Nome, Alaska, carrying her son Bennett in order to place him in an orphanage, because she couldn't afford his medical treatment. She desperately wanted him back, and that's why she signed on to the doomed 1921 expedition that Vilhjalmur Stefansson organized to explore the possibility of a colon...
Machine tools – machines that cut or form metal – are the heart of industrial civilization.
In this deep-dive explainer, we look at a big-business mainstay.
The DNA of bacteria and viruses that infected humans thousands of years ago is still trapped in their skeletal remains. Scientists are finding out what we can learn from them.
A lifetime after the Holocaust, a few of its perpetrators remain at large. German detectives are making a final push to hunt them down.
The centuries-old texts were erased, and then written over, by monks at Saint Catherine’s Monastery in Egypt
Sixty years later, will anybody have heard of COVID-19?
A classic ghost story has something to say about America—200 years ago, 100 years ago, and today.
With the help of new archaeological approaches, our picture of young lives in the Palaeolithic is now marvellously vivid
There was a flash of blue and a surge of radioactive heat. Nine days later, Louis Slotin was dead.
The Official Site of Major League Baseball
Having served in the Roman army under a risky conscription scheme, Arminius's ambush in Teutoburg Forest inflicted massive damage to the Empire.
From ancient fables to the latest science theory, invisibility represents some of humankind’s deepest fears and desires
A tale of disaster, survival, and ghosts.
The stories of oral societies, passed from generation to generation, are more than they seem. They are scientific records
The fragrant fruit hid a dark secret.
Chaco Canyon Great Houses have timber of more than 200,000 massive log beams. Where Ancestral Puebloans got the wood is no longer a mystery.
The 1960s and 1970s were a time of significant change in the world, and the shopping and retail culture of these decades reflected this social transformation.
The world is getting better (even if you can't see it on a daily basis).
On November 28, 1787, His Majesty’s Armed Vessel Bounty set sail from England with 46 men aboard, bound for the island of Tahiti in the South Pacific. Commanded by Lieutenant William Bligh, her mission was to collect and deliver breadfruit plants to the West Indies, where they would serve as cheap food for slaves on British plantations. After a long [...]
The rise, fall, and rediscovery of cuneiform
Tomb raiders, crooked art dealers, and museum curators fed billionaire Michael Steinhardt’s addiction to antiquities. Many also happened to be stolen.
Kaminsky bought chemistry books from bouquinistes along the Seine and taught himself to make explosives. But when a man...
Paul Laurence Dunbar became the first Black writer to earn international acclaim through his poetry, essays and musical lyrics.
What do we lose when we forget about locations like "Troll's Cave" and "Window Claw"?
Most mammals, including our closest living relatives, have fur. So why did we lose ours?
To learn about history is to learn about war, or so it can feel when you go far back enough in time. And in any era of antiquity, few could have matched Alexander the Great's mastery of that art.
Finding a piece of the elusive cosmic body that devastated a Siberian forest a century ago could help save Earth in the centuries to come
The 23rd letter of the English alphabet is called a “double u” because it was originally written that way in Old English.
The modern world uses shocking amounts of steel.
Could the prevalence of flood myths around the world tell us something about early human migration or even the way our brains work?
The 1950s-era Soviet mission to first photograph the far side of the moon.
The legal decision that fostered the idea of the manufacturer’s suggested retail price, and why it still sticks around even though that decision was overturned.
The Alchemy of Air: A Jewish Genius, a Doomed Tycoon, and the Scientific Discovery That Fed the World but Fueled the Rise of Hitler [Hager, Thomas] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. The Alchemy of Air: A Jewish Genius, a Doomed Tycoon, and the Scientific Discovery That Fed the World but Fueled the Rise of Hitler
His daring raids in World War I made him a legend. But in the Middle East today, the desert warrior’s legacy is written in sand
In the dusty plains of present-day Sindh in southern Pakistan lie the remains of one of the world's most impressive ancient cities that most people have never heard of.
The Great Pyramid, or the Pyramid of Khufu, has fascinated scholars and tourists alike for centuries. Located on the Giza Plateau near Cairo, Egypt, it is the largest of the three pyramids that form the Giza Pyramid Complex. Built during the Fourth Dynasty of the Old Kingdom of Egypt, around 2580–2560 BC, it is one of the oldest and most intact structures from ancient Egypt, and it is the only one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World still in existence. Credits: This tour was created on-site by the following people: Doctor Wael Fathy, Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities Inspector Ezzat Salama, Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities Luke Hollis, Mused Script is by Luke Hollis. Victoria Almansa-Villatoro provided the …
Scientists are grasping for any example that could help anticipate the future of Covid, even a mysterious respiratory pandemic that spread in the late 19th century.
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Over the course of his chariot racing career, Gaius Appuleius Diocles won almost 60,000 lbs of gold. What did he do with it? Who knows.
If you think you know one thing about the ancient Mesopotamian Epic of Gilgamesh, then, chances are, you probably think that the epic is the oldest surviving work of literature in the whole world. This claim pervades basically all non-academic discussion of the epic. I was taught it in my history and literature classes all … Continue reading "No, the ‘Epic of Gilgamesh’ Is Not the Oldest Surviving Work of Literature"
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A new film stars Viola Davis as the leader of the Agojie, the all-woman army of the African kingdom of Dahomey
Some early rulers were so iconic that their names and works passed into legend and influenced others for centuries.
Before the industrial revolution, there had been a significant increase in machinery use in Europe. Why not in China?
How could tiny nations such as Portugal and the Netherlands challenge vast empires like China and India in the age of sail?
If YOU ASKED PEOPLE WHAT body part you would associate with Anne Boleyn, most would probably say her head. Logical, of course. It was the part famously detached from the rest of her body on May 19,…
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The story of Camelot and the Knights of the Round Table has captivated us for a thousand years. But is there any truth behind the tales?
Movable type was not invented by Gutenberg but in China and later advanced in Korea, so why didn't Asia have a printing revolution?
The most important lessons from history are the takeaways that are so broad they can apply to other fields, other…
The Sumerians, Maya and other ancient cultures created texts that have lasted hundreds and even thousands of years. Here's what they can teach us about crafting an immortal message.
The story of Josephine Baker.
The world's oldest toys date back thousands of years – but determining whether ancient children played with them, and how, remains a mystery archaeologists are piecing together.
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It has often been described as a “miracle” that most of Denmark’s Jews escaped the Holocaust. Now it seems that the country’s Nazi rulers deliberately sabotaged their own operation.
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Back in the 19th century, coal was the nation's newfangled fuel source—and it faced the same resistance as wind and solar today
Since antiquity people have harnessed sound as a weapon, and the practice continues – in new high-tech ways – today.
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Linear Elamite, a writing system used in what is now Iran, may reveal the secrets of a little-known kingdom bordering Sumer
Fifty years ago, a minor league game in Midland was postponed for the rarest of reasons—a swarm of grasshoppers biblical in its proportions.
In this collection, you can see some of the worst album covers of all time. Everything from rock, metal bands, country, gospel comedy, jazz, etc.
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The tiny photo processing kiosks could be found everywhere in the 1970s and 1980s. And that was the problem.
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There’s ancient evidence for the custom of shaking hands, but did it mean the same thing then as it does today?
“I’ll Have What She’s Having,” a traveling exhibit on the Jewish delicatessen, looks back at a vibrant institution fueled by immigration and irresistible food.
15 years on, Winamp “still lives”—but mismanagement blunted its llama-whipping.
Raise a glass of bubbly to the count of Champagne.
From the trolley parks of the early 20th century to the theme parks of today, these spaces of shared pleasure have been both a reflection of urban life, and an escape from it.
The Sanaa Palimpsest has a number of unique characteristics, not least as an enduring artefact of Quranic scribal methods and of Islamic heritage within Yemen. Yet deciphering the text poses theological quandaries surrounding Quranic tradition.
The Antico Setificio Fiorentino, which relies on looms from the 18th and 19th centuries, has been producing precious textiles since 1786.
From a salt substitute in China’s impoverished southwest to a fixture on tables nationwide, chili peppers have come a long way over the past 400 years.
At the crossroads of south and central Asia lies one of the world’s most multilingual places, with songs and poetry to match
The singular form of 'they' has been endorsed by writers like Jane Austen and William Shakespeare.
1980 Sears Spring Summer Catalog, Page 729
The centuries-old texts were erased, and then written over, by monks at Saint Catherine’s Monastery in Egypt
Hidden in the tusk of a 34-year-old mastodon was a record of time and space that helped explain his violent death.
The Thirty-Six Stratagems is a Chinese essay used to illustrate a series of stratagems used in politics, war, and civil interaction.
“MDZhB” has been broadcasting since 1982. No one knows why.
Jumbo Floating Restaurant, which closed in 2020, capsized in the South China Sea after being towed from the city. The sinking triggered nostalgia for a happier period of Hong Kong history.
Thicker ink meant it didn't smudge as easily as its predecessor, the fountain pen—but it also made writing by hand more physically demanding.
An ex-Soviet state’s national myths—as well as the forces of nationalism, economics, culture, and religion—all pull it away from Moscow. Can Russia really compete?
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There was a time when eating out of Cup Noodle’s iconic packaging exuded cosmopolitanism.
Using a custom encryption scheme within music notation, Merryl Goldberg and three other US musicians slipped information to Soviet performers and activists known as the Phantom Orchestra.
No, English isn’t uniquely vibrant or mighty or adaptable. But it really is weirder than pretty much every other language
Mythological objects encompass a variety of items found in mythology, legend, folklore, tall tale, fable, religion, spirituality, superstition, paranormal, and pseudoscience from across the world. This list is organized according to the category of object.
In a 1922 Post article, an ex-bootlegger offers advice for how to break into the business.
An archaeologist pieces together a recipe for olive oil crafted in ancient Egypt. It’s easy for you to try at home.
Recorded during several hedonistic months in a fabulous Cote d’Azur villa, Exile on Main St is seen as the Stones’ epic, creative peak. As the classic album turns 50, stars tell us how it got their rocks off
Jimmy Carter’s grandson, John Chuldenko, is unlocking White House mysteries. The record collection is an archive of the nation's music taste back in the 70's.
Before humans stored memories as zeroes and ones, we turned to digital devices of another kind — preserving knowledge on the surface of fingers and palms. Kensy Cooperrider leads us through a millennium of “hand mnemonics” and the variety of techniques practised by Buddhist monks, Latin linguists, and Renaissance musicians for remembering what might otherwise elude the mind.
Although chickpeas and beans don't usually belong in a pudding, they are core ingredients in one of the oldest – and, some say, one of the most delicious – desserts in the world.
How the impeccably credentialed, improbably charming economic historian supplanted the dirtbag left.
The Svaneti Museum of History and Ethnography in Georgia is home to one of the world’s great collections of medieval Christian art, writes William Dunbar
A strong national identity is essential for any country's survival – and the easiest route to acquiring one is to unite behind a common enemy.
The Inca are most often remembered not for what they had but for what they didn’t have: the wheel, iron, a written language. This third lack has given rise to a paradox, the Inca paradox. Could it …
This article is taken from the March 2022 issue of The Critic. To get the full magazine why not subscribe? Right now we’re offering five issue for just £10. If you’ve ever wondered how letters were…
Editor's note: Don't miss our comprehensive guide to Russia's war against Ukraine. Russia’s military buildup along the border with Ukraine has
Roger Lowenstein’s “Ways and Means” offers a fresh perspective on the Civil War by explaining the importance of financing.
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The Black Banjo Reclamation Project aims to put banjos into the hands of everyday people.
Why we’re obsessed with heart-shaped foods around Valentine’s Day—especially the suddenly ubiquitous heart-shaped pizza.
Every so often a news article will make the rounds of the internet – or, for that matter, a paper will be published in an academic journal – presenting a new ‘decipherment’ …
In 1944, the USS Johnston sank after a battle against the world's largest battleship. More than 75 years later, her wreck was finally located, 6km (3.7 miles) below the waves.
The Divine Comedy is an Italian narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun c. 1308 and completed around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature and one of the greatest works of Western literature. The poem's imaginative vision of the afterlife is representative of the medieval worldview as it existed in the Western Church by the 14th century. It helped establish the Tuscan language, in which it is written, as the standardized Italian language. It is divided into three parts: Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso.
Did the iconic three-note sequence come from Stravinsky, the Muppets or somewhere else? Our writer set out to – dun, dun duuuun! – reveal the mystery
In 1708, the Spanish galleon San José sank in a deadly battle against English warships, taking with it billions in treasure. Centuries passed until a secretive archaeologist found the wreck, but now nations are again warring over who may claim the gold and glory.
This is a book summary of The Lessons of History by Will and Ariel Durant. Read this The Lessons of History summary to review ideas and lessons.
Rax King’s ode to cringeworthy culture – Lindsay Zoladz
For millennia, people slept in two shifts – once in the evening, and once in the morning. But why? And how did the habit disappear?
Biscuit-whisperer Erika Council honors the women who taught her to bake a perfect biscuit.
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The year's most exciting discoveries include a Viking "piggy bank," a lost Native American settlement and a secret passageway hidden behind a bookshelf
Arabic-speaking armies have been generally ineffective in the modern era. Egyptian regular forces did poorly against Yemeni irregulars in the 1960s.1 Syrians could only impose their will in Lebanon during the mid-1970s by the use of overwhelming
Anyone for a "glob"?
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Due in large part to Glenn Roberts of Anson Mills, a Georgia optometrist, and several members of what's known as the Carolina Gold Rice Foundation (yes, that exists), Carolina Gold rice is back, allowing a new generation of home cooks to experience what real Lowcountry cooking was meant to taste like.
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Hulu’s “The Great” offers an irreverent, ahistorical take on the Russian empress’ life. This is the real history behind the period comedy.
Josephine Baker next week will become the first Black woman and first American to be honored with enshrinement in Paris' Pantheon.
Inside the Manhattan DA’s Antiquities Trafficking Unit
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The fried fish was introduced by Jews fleeing religious persecution.
58 musicians showed up for a picture that captured the giants of jazz
From the docks of 12th-century Genoa to the gambling tables of today, risk is a story that we tell ourselves about the future
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A whistleblower puts his life on the line to defy Soviet aggression. Over sixty years later, this forgotten story of subterfuge, smears and suspicious death has never felt more timely.
Heinrich Himmler sent a team of five Germans to Tibet in 1938 to pursue the Aryan race myth.
The Singer Sewing Machine changed the way America manufactured textiles, but the invention itself was less important than the company’s innovative business
From the depths of poverty, Du Yuesheng rose through Shanghai’s underworld to become one of the most influential, and overlooked, figures in modern China.
Colonial society depends on a clear distinction between the rulers and the ruled. Clothing could create problems
NICHOLAS SWIFT Can we really hear the ancients speak?
Behind the American Museum of Natural History’s most venerable artifact is the shameful tale of a relentless explorer and a young boy’s torturous journey from Greenland to New York.
European ideas of African illiteracy are persistent, prejudiced and, as the story of Libyc script shows, entirely wrong
In 1721, London was in the grips of a deadly smallpox epidemic. One woman learned how to stop it, but her solution sowed political division.
Tom Brown's retirement hobby is a godsend for chefs, conservationists, and cider.
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Dubbed the Ravens, misfit American pilots in Vietnam learned they could fly, fight, and drink as they pleased in a CIA-sponsored secret war. Just one catch: They answered to General Vang Pao.
Doesn’t look like much, does it? But, depending upon your definition, this photograph, a team effort by 9 men, is the most honored picture in U. S.
The mission, still a secret to this day, was so dangerous many men bid emotional goodbyes...
The plan to kill Osama bin Laden—from the spycraft to the assault to its bizarre political backdrop—as told by the people in the room.
In 1970, an image of a dead protester at Kent State became iconic. But what happened to the 14-year-old kneeling next to him?
Since the mid-1970s, almost every jazz musician has owned a copy of the same book. It has a peach-colored cover, a chunky, 1970s-style logo, and a black plastic binding. It’s delightfully homemade-looking—like it was printed by a bunch of teenagers at a Kinkos. And inside is the sheet music for hundreds of common jazz tunes—also
Scholar Monica Green combined the science of genetics with the study of old texts to reach a new hypothesis about the plague
What are the greatest art heists of all time? See a list of the 25 most memorable thefts from museums.
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America’s bold response to the Soviet Union depended on an unknown spy agency operative whose story can at last be told
A recurring design motif found in northern Mexico’s ancient mountain villages reflects complex cultural ties between distant peoples
After Kenya declared independence from British rule in 1963, there came a flood of renamings. Schools, suburbs, and roads were rechristened in ways that spoke to a new idea of what it meant to be…
Two researchers are on trial for writing that a Polish mayor was complicit in a massacre. Critics say the government is trying to emphasize Polish suffering in World War II and downplay complicity in Nazi crimes.
In this spookily prescient booklet, people are advised to keep six feet apart, avoid shaking hands and only send one person per household out to do the shopping.
The skills behind the legendary sharpness of wootz steel were once forgotten, but Andy Extance talks to the researchers unsheathing its secrets
An irony of studying history is that we often know exactly how a story ends, but have no idea where…
[caption id="attachment_80535" align="aligncenter" width="576"] The Tahiti, seen here sailing on San Francisco Bay, was a 124-foot brigantine built by Tur...
The latest banks and financial services company and industry news with expert analysis from the BBVA, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria.
Alexander the Great’s death is an unsolved mystery. Was he a victim of natural causes, felled by some kind of fever, or did his marshals assassinate him, angered by his tyrannical ways? An autopsy…
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This quixotic colonial barrier was meant to enforce taxes.
Robert Ballard has found the Titanic and other famous shipwrecks. This month his crew started trying to solve one of the 20th century’s greatest mysteries.
Under the cobblestoned streets of Paris’s chicest district lie the remnants of the mysterious Knights Templar’s mightiest stronghold.
On August 23rd, the day after Dietrich von Choltitz dispatched Rolf Nordling to contact the Allies, Hitler sent a message to Field Marshal Walther Model and von Choltitz demanding that Paris be hel…
A short story by Arna Bontemps Hemenway
In 1910, East Texas saw one of America’s deadliest post-Reconstruction racial purges. One survivor’s descendants have waged an uphill battle for generations to unearth that violent past.
The International Spy Museum details the audacious plan that involved a reclusive billionaire, a 618-foot-long ship, and a great deal of stealth
Kahve was a favourite drink of the Ottoman Empire’s ruling class. Little did they know it would one day hasten the empire’s demise
Thanks in part to the work of Hanns Scharff and a slew of studies on interrogation techniques, we know it's best to be genuinely friendly no matter who you're trying to get information out of.
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In The First Conspiracy, thriller writer Brad Meltzer uncovers a real-life story too good to turn into fiction
Charged with manslaughter, the owners were acquitted in December 1911. A Smithsonian curator reexamines the labor and business practices of the era
"The dogs and cats fled in terror at his aspect, as if they had anticipated the kind of fate he was preparing for them."
We’ve all seen Ansel Adams’ luscious black-and-white images of Yosemite. Lesser known are his pictures of life in World War II-era Los…
From cold cuts to cold case.
How to make the trip from Sijilmasa to Oualata, circa 1352.
The most consequential military engagement in Southeast Asia in the 20th century is the 1954 Battle of Dien Bien Phu. It was fought ostensibly between the French and the communist-led Vietmin at Dien Bien Phu, an obscure valley bordering China, in the remote northwestern part of what was then French Indochina. The battle ended with a humiliating defeat for the French, which brought down the French government, ended French colonial rule in Asia, ushered in America’s epic military involvement in the region for decades to come, and fundamentally changed the global geostrategic landscape.
J F C Fuller did not invent the tank. That distinction should probably fall to E L de Mole, an Australian who approached the British war office in 1912 with a
When the Great Depression put Plennie Wingo’s bustling Abilene cafe out of business, he tried to find fame, fortune, and a sense of meaning the only way he knew how: by embarking on an audacious trip around the world on foot. In reverse.
Distinctive designs from the "Golden Age" of roller-skating.
Did members of a powerful society of warlocks actually murder their enemies and kidnap children?
Cost cuts, stressed employees, intercompany rivalries, dirty floors, dusty rafters, glitchy IT, fudged metrics: The people who ran the failed toy retailer's stores know what went wrong.
A strange and bittersweet ballad of kidnapping, stolen identity and unlikely stardom
He did not, visionary though he was, conceive of one extraordinary use to which wax cylinders might be put—the recovery or reconstruction of extinct and endangered indigenous languages and cultures in California.
Popularized by Thomas Jefferson, this versatile dish fulfills our nation's quest for the 'cheapest protein possible'
In 1989, Kirk Lougheed of Cisco and Yakov Rekhter of IBM were having lunch in a meeting hall cafeteria at an Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) conference. They wrote a new routing protocol that became RFC (Request for Comment) 1105, the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP), known to many as the “Two Napkin Protocol” — in reference to the napkins they used to capture their thoughts.
Famous photos of Appalachia in the Depression tell only part of the story.
In making a time capsule of the late 20th century, one would be remiss if they did not include at least an issue or two of Heavy Metal magazine. Yes, it specialized in unapologetically turning women in metal bras into sex objects.
Many Indian dishes can be traced back, indirectly, to a 16th-century, food-obsessed ruler named Babur.
The pandemic had some influence on the lives of everyone alive today. Donald Trump’s grandfather Friedrich died from...
A peek inside the revelry and rivalry of Texas's fat men's clubs.
Yesterday the sad news broke that The Village Voice will discontinue its print edition.
Because sometimes you have to fact-check your grandmother
Monosodium glutamate, better known as MSG, is a Japanese import that became as Chinese as Kung Pao chicken. But its spread was more historical accident than foreordained.
There was no shortage of trees