The sun never set upon the British Empire, its critics liked to say, because God didn’t trust the British in the dark. The joke was a backhanded tribute to the astonishing achievement of t
Western slavery goes back 10,000 years to Mesopotamia, today’s Iraq, where a male slave was worth an orchard of date palms. Female slaves were called on for sexual services, gaining freedom only
Malcolm Hebron writes with one aim in mind: to help you read, understand and appreciate poetry. The English language has an extraordinarily rich stock of poems to its credit, from the epic Beowulf, wr
Born in Corsica, and a brilliant military leader during the French revolution, Napoleon became Emperor in 1804 and dominated European and indeed global affairs for the next ten years, leading France a
The success of the Norman Conquest of Britain turned on one lucky break. For months, William of Normandy waited for an opportunity to cross the Channel and invade. But he needed favourable weather and
Charlotte McGann tells the story of human sexuality from the days of the hunter gatherers through to modern times. She explores the attitudes of the ancient Greeks and Romans to sex – and at the
Ignorance about Islam runs deep in the West – ignorance of its rites, its beliefs, and above all its prophet. Who was Mohammad, the founder of Islam, and the man Muslims believe was God&rs
Throughout history, a handful of unusually driven individuals have been inspired to explore the limits of the known world, inspiring us and changing our perceptions of our planet through their courage
Between 1933 and 1945, Germany was under the grip of the Third Reich. Headed by Adolf Hitler, this National Socialist state endeavoured to control every aspect of the nation’s political, social,
Writing matters. We all do it, and we all admire it when it’s done well. It doesn’t just express us; it represents us. We write to connect with other people – to make them laugh, or
