The Execution of Charles I of England, c. 1649

It’s Not as Good to Be the King as It Used to Be

The trial and execution of Charles I irrevocably sundered the tradition of a divine, anointed king.
Tommie Smith, John Carlos and other members of US team give the Black power salute at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics

Black Power on British TV

International television coverage of the American Civil Rights struggle was critical in the construction of racial identity and experience in postwar Britain.
A Hundred Years Peace: The Signature of the Treaty of Ghent (Belgium), 1814

The Treaty of Ghent: Annotated

The Treaty of Ghent ended the War of 1812, an oft overlooked conflict that continues to shape the politics and culture(s) of North America.
17th century British newsletters

The Newsletter Boom, 300 Years before Substack

Some journalists are turning to newsletters to get their work out. But they're not hand-copying them onto folded paper, like people did in the 1600s.
Victorian Microscopy

Under Victorian Microscopes, an Enchanted World

When it came time to describe what they saw under microscopes, Victorians couldn’t help but perceive a real-life fairyland.
Hogarth crime

The First Moral Panic: London, 1744

The late summer crime wave of 1744 London sparked an intense moral panic about crime that burnt itself out by the new year. But not before heads rolled.
Kilts

How Highlanders Came to Wear Kilts

Kilts are traditional garb from Scotland, right? Well, that's not quite the whole story.
sleeping

The Age of the Bed Changed the Way We Sleep

One historian reconstructs what nighttime was like in early modern Europe, and how the darkness affected people's sleep patterns.
President Garfield

The Unexpected Impact of James Garfield’s Assassination

On July 2, 1881, less than a year after President James Garfield was elected the 20th president of the United States, he was shot by Charles Guiteau.
PG Wodehouse cover

P.G. Wodehouse, Great American Humorist?

Should P.G. Wodehouse, creator of the ditzy Wooster and inimitable Jeeves, be considered an American humorist as well as a master of British farce?