history
Brands manufacture meaning through consensus; people must strive to create their own.
“The Soul of a New Machine” provides a rare level of insight into the minds and decisions of humanity’s greatest thinkers.
The ancient Maya enjoyed filling their teeth with gemstones. A new study reveals how the procedure was done and how it didn’t kill them.
In terms of sheer productivity, “-gate” has no peer. Wikipedia’s list of -gates has over 260 entries.
The sonnenrad is a Heathen symbol composed of 12 repeated runes.
An elaborate device called the Mechanical Turk defeated Benjamin Franklin and Napoleon Bonaparte at chess. Edgar Allan Poe revealed the hoax.
The answer to this question depends on how you define “freedom.”
For centuries, men prevented women from writing music. These classical composers broke with social norms and made their mark on history.
The strangest thing about trying to predict the future is that our only clues lie in the past.
Experimental archaeology is the practice of recreating past events using knowledge and tools available at the time. Sometimes, it involves elephants.
Before the war, medical experts treated the body as a sum of its parts. Conditions like wound shock and brain damage called for a change in perspective.
Privateers pillaged British merchant ships in the name of liberty — and profit.
Here’s your gateway to enjoying the best of literature.
OmnesViae is a modern route planner based on the roads of the Roman Empire.
Bernini created art for 8 different popes. In the process, he helped reinforce and redefine Christianity’s visual culture.
Human sacrifice appears to be as old as humanity itself. Still, experts disagree on how and where the practice first originated.
Pseudoscience is science’s shadow.
Did traditional Chinese thought pave the way for the philosophy of Maoism?
Searching for truth in unorthodox ways can be a valuable exercise. But Anatoly Fomenko’s alternate world history is just plain weird.
Geopolitics is not a magic 8-ball. But making financial decisions — such as those regarding retirement — in a multipolar world without geopolitics is akin to flying blind in a storm.
To the ancient Greeks, exotic animals were proof of mythological creatures. To the ancient Romans, they were oddities and adversaries.
Cold War meets Star Wars in this cut-away of a 1950 “rubber bubble,” the first line of defense against nuclear sneak attack.
Was there an intelligent, technologically advanced species long before humans existed? Could there have been a dinosaur civilization?
Popular media often frame scientists as having a cold, sterile view of the world. That couldn’t be further from the truth.
And debate over it started soon after.
Were Hitler’s SS henchmen willing executioners fueled by racial propaganda or mindless servants vying for promotions?
Paintings played an important role in these ancient civilizations. Unfortunately, pigment is not nearly as durable as marble.
Speculation about the existence of aliens goes all the way back at least to the Greek philosophers. Their arguments will sound familiar.
The Mayan calendar is revered for its impeccable accuracy. Now, a recent excavation in Guatemala reveals how the system developed over time.