history

Graphical user interfaces are how most of us interact with computers, from iPhones to laptops. But they were once condemned as making students lazy and destroying the art of writing.

George Washington, for example, was quite happy to engage in deception, if that deception would help protect the United States.

Socrates lived during a time when people did not strive to separate fact from fiction. So how much of what we know about Socrates is true?

In theory, history is the sum of everything that ever happened; in practice, it’s a story we tell ourselves to make sense of and justify our actions in the present. 

Da Vinci dreamed up a helicopter 400 years before they actually existed. Now, engineers have brought his design to life, but with a twist.

Russia has long sought to erase the mere idea of Ukraine. But people like my grandmother, born in Druzhkivka, will not let Russia win.

The Bolsheviks may have created Ukraine’s current borders, but that doesn’t mean dismantling them is good for today’s Russia.

One particular revolution was so important, that at least one historian thinks the 20th century officially began in 1914 and ended in 1991.

Using the Book of Mormon as a sacred but ambiguous atlas, the Latter-day Saints have been looking for the lost city of Zarahemla for decades.

Soviet researchers studied crime through a Marxist-Leninist lens. Under Lenin, a humanitarian approach to criminality briefly emerged, but dissipated when Stalin rose to power. 

Washington first took the oath of office of the president of the United States with just one natural tooth remaining.

Was this a moment when humans interbred with Neanderthals?

Take a look at the Times Square Totem, the Trafalgar Square Pyramid, and other landmarks that were never built.

After it became clear that the world wasn’t 6,000 years old, some proposed that northern peoples had emerged independently from others.

Long before the Wordle mania, there was the crossword puzzle craze. And newspapers around the world condemned them as an “invasive weed” that caused mental illnesses and even murder.

A study proposes that an ancient trading network, called the Hopewell tradition, may have been wiped out by what is known as a cosmic airburst.

One god stands for order, logic, and reason. The other stands for chaos, madness, and drunkenness. Nietzsche thinks you need both.

The quadratic formula isn’t just something that teachers use to torture algebra students. The Babylonians once used it to calculate taxes.

The ten greatest ideas in science form the bedrock of modern biology, chemistry, and physics. Everyone should be familiar with them.

America’s war in Southeast Asia is fading fast from memory. These maps offer a horrific reminder.

There are good historical reasons why Germans are suspicious of surveillance.

Historically, periods of mass flourishing are underpinned by technological revolutions. Currently, we are undergoing a technological revolution unlike anything the world has ever seen.

Although saying the wrong thing could often get you killed in ancient civilizations, history shows that the ideal of free speech has deep roots.

When Saint Ambrose of Milan was venerated, his life became public property, its meaning expanding with the unique interpretations of each new generation.

With this unique opportunity to create a totally new world, why does the metaverse already feature such old-world concepts?

Many first-hand accounts from the golden age of piracy were grossly embellished, meaning it’s extremely difficult to separate Blackbeard the legend from Edward Thatch the person.

Einstein’s theories of relativity faced fierce opposition. One critic claimed he was attempting to subvert the scientific method.

One hundred years ago, a Ukrainian flag flew over Vladivostok and other parts of the “Russian” Far East.

For a long time, important events could only be visualized retroactively through paintings. Photography allowed us to capture history as — or sometimes even before — it happened. 

The smartest person in the world was Isaac Newton, a true polymath whose brilliance never has been, nor ever will be, surpassed.