history
It is a story with nebulous beginnings and no discernible end.
Art criticism is inherently subjective. Still, many critics have tried to make a case for why some of the world’s most celebrated books are in fact terribly written.
In the West, discussions of 20th-century painting are dominated by Warhol and Picasso, but trendsetting artists are found everywhere.
If you get married in South Africa, don’t be surprised if someone shows up to the ceremony dragging along a smelly goat.
How to say “I love you” in Basque, the “most loving” cities around the world, and where most of America’s singles live — and so much more!
Whether in Russia or China, the secret police are defined by their unquestioning loyalty — as well as by their poor career prospects.
Almost 18,000 projects, brought together on one clickable map.
This graph shows how badly German cities were hit by Allied bombing raids.
Could the prevalence of flood myths around the world tell us something about early human migration or even the way our brains work?
Lawmen and outlaws were often the same people.
Most philosophers merely contemplate the world, but what about the ones who actually tried to change it?
Ancient humans crossed the Bering Strait land bridge from Asia into North America. But some of them went back.
To answer that question, we may have to figure out when the famed painter started to go bald.
X marks the spot. The Dutch town of Ommeren has been swamped by detectorists armed with shovels looking for $20-million treasure.
Far from practicing witchcraft, the experimentation of medieval alchemists helped bring about the Scientific Revolution.
New blood types are regularly discovered by an unusual absence or an unusual presence — both of which can result in tragedy.
What we’ve learning from the world’s coldest, most forbidding, and most peaceful continent.
Created in the 1880s, “Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan,” which depicts a father murdering his son, divides Russians to this day.
Some objects were softer than others.
Has the “age of psychopharmacology” shrunk society’s sense of responsibility for mental health?
Ancient bones reveal that domesticated felines were at home in Pre-Neolithic Poland around 8,000 years ago.
Despite being called the “dismal science,” economics impacts our lives every day. Here, we look at seven of the greatest economists in history.
A disturbing interview given by a KGB defector in 1984 describes America of today and outlines four stages of mass brainwashing used by the KGB.
Studying the display of personal wealth across time can help us better understand the history of socioeconomic inequality.
In many city-states, it was perfectly acceptable for older men to have sexual relationships with young boys.
An unexpected ancient manufacturing strategy may hold the key to designing concrete that lasts for millennia.
Wealth concentration among elites was common in ancient nations, but the scale on which it took place in Egypt’s 18th Dynasty was unprecedented.
Without Étienne-Joseph-Théophile Thoré, the genius of the Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer would have been lost to time.
He was also a eugenicist — but at least he could draw pretty pictures.
The Athenian rich paid their taxes because they craved the social success of being perceived as “useful.”