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Society

Essays and videos on social issues, history, political life and the future

Animals and humans Anthropology Archaeology Automation and robotics Cities Demography and migration Economic history Economics Education Environmental history Fairness and equality Future of technology Gender Global history History History of technology Human rights and justice Information and communication Making Nations and empires Politics and government Poverty and development Progress and modernity Public health Race and ethnicity Religion The ancient world The environment The future War and peace Work

A painting depicting a group of people in a room, with a man painting and a young girl in the centre, dressed in ornate clothes.

video

Art

Why Diego Velázquez needed a lifetime to paint his enigmatic masterpiece

31 minutes

Ancient mosaic depicting two figures with instruments on a blue stone background.

essay

Food and drink

The fermented crescent

Ancient Mesopotamians had a profound love of beer: a beverage they found celebratory, intoxicating and strangely erotic

Tate Paulette

Photo of a street sign reading ‘Gipsy Lane’, mounted on a brick wall with green foliage behind, and a car in the background.

video

History

There are fragments of Romani Gypsy history all over the UK – if one knows where to look

3 minutes

A woman in a purple jumper, named María Victoria Maldonado, picking berries in a lush green forest.

video

Human rights and justice

An unarmed Indigenous group aims to protect their native lands in this stirring portrait

15 minutes

Photochrom image of a narrow street lined with Middle-Eastern buildings; people are walking down the middle of the street and some are holding umbrellas.

essay

Nations and empires

The paradoxes of Mikha’il Mishaqa

He was a Catholic, then a rationalist, then a Protestant. Most of all, he exemplified the rise of Arab-Ottoman modernity

Peter Hill

Three cracked ceramic shards with painted faces are arranged on blocks, with strands of twisted rope resembling hair against a blurred green and blue background.

video

The ancient world

Archeological discoveries animate the life of the warrior queen who took on Rome

6 minutes

A historical painting of a woman in a detailed blue and silver gown with lace sleeves. She wears a pearl necklace and a hat adorned with white and pink flowers. The background features a golden tapestry and dark pillars.

essay

Stories and literature

Her blazing world

Margaret Cavendish’s boldness and bravery set 17th-century society alight, but is she a feminist poster-girl for our times?

Francesca Peacock

A marble bust of Thucydides is shown on a page from an old book. The opposite page is blank.

essay

History

What would Thucydides say?

In constantly reaching for past parallels to explain our peculiar times we miss the real lessons of the master historian

Mark Fisher

A street intersection; a wall is painted with the word Soulsville in large letters with peeling paint

essay

Economic history

The southern gap

In the American South, an oligarchy of planters enriched itself through slavery. Pervasive underdevelopment is their legacy

Keri Leigh Merritt

Gold sew-on clothing appliqué in the form of two Scythian archers back to back.

essay

War and peace

Legacy of the Scythians

How the ancient warrior people of the steppes have found themselves on the cultural frontlines of Russia’s war against Ukraine

Peter Mumford

Seen from inside, a couple eat a basic meal whilst outside in an alleyway a queue of mostly older people wait their turn

essay

Political philosophy

Liberal socialism now

As the crisis of democracy deepens, we must return to liberalism’s revolutionary and egalitarian roots

Matthew McManus

Person holding a painting of Jesus Christ amid a rubble-strewn landscape with damaged buildings and trees in the background.

essay

Religion

There was no Jesus

How could a cult leader draw crowds, inspire devotion and die by crucifixion, yet leave no mark in contemporary records?

Gavin Evans

Medieval illustration of a couple in bed on the left and a king holding a sceptre, interacting with several figures and a horse on the right.

essay

History

The mythos of leadership

How the biblical King David and Machiavelli’s Prince can help us understand the dominant view of leaders as individualists

Moshik Temkin

Medieval manuscript illustration showing a cutaway view of a multi-storey castle and a fortified structure, with inscriptions and arches.

essay

Architecture

The subtle art of elevation

Architectural drawing speaks of mathematical precision, but its roots lie in the theological exegesis of a prophetic book

Karl Kinsella

A drawing of a hand figure standing on its pointer and middle fingers with a smiley face. Behind is a cave with drawings of human shapes on the walls.

video

Sex and sexuality

For ages, solo sex was hardly taboo. What led to its centuries-long dry spell?

4 minutes

Watercolour painting of a deer with antlers incorporating tree branches and fruit, standing on its hind legs in a lush forest.

video

Stories and literature

A French Creole folktale nearly lost to time is given new, gorgeously animated life

6 minutes

A rich Tudor-era outfit with elaborate brocade, fur trimming and jewellery, featuring ornate sleeves, a belt, and a robe with intricate patterns.

video

Art

Why a forcefully phallic portrait of Henry VIII is a masterful work of propaganda

6 minutes

Illustration of a smiling figure with a topknot, red cheeks, and a small goatee. The background features abstract, pastel-blue and light-brown brush strokes.

video

Global history

Meet the jesters who’ve spoken truth to power around the globe and across centuries

5 minutes

Medieval illustration of one-eyed Odin holding a sword, surrounded by two ravens and a sun with a face, with Norse text above and around the figure.

video

Stories and literature

Myths from Earth’s edge – what the Icelandic sagas reveal about Norse morality

57 minutes

Illustration of two people in traditional Arctic clothing facing a futuristic city with glowing lights under the aurora borealis in the night sky.

video

Anthropology

A riveting collage portrays a century of Inuit history, and envisions a vibrant future

14 minutes

A diary page from 1943, featuring handwritten text in French and German and two small black-and-white photographs of a man and a woman at the bottom.

essay

War and peace

Chorus of testimony

Anne Frank’s diary is one of thousands of desperate, secret and vivid journals each bearing witness to the reality of war

Nina Siegal

A monochrome drawing of a surprised young person looking downwards, with wide eyes and slightly open mouth.

video

Biography and memoir

The busboy who comforted Robert F Kennedy as he lay dying shares his story

3 minutes

Medieval illustration shows a knight kneeling before a monk in a building, receiving a cross-shaped item; a horse stands nearby.

essay

History

Warfare as mercy and love

The daggers that knights carried to the crusades help us understand why they thought of holy war as an act of love

William Chester Jordan

Illustration of a father and his young daughter with backpacks in the rain at night, holding an umbrella, standing on a cliffside looking out at the distant city lights of Hong Kong across a dark body of water.

video

Demography and migration

One story, in a sea of millions, of swimming from China to freedom in Hong Kong

14 minutes