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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

Black and white photo of a firing squad in a wooded area with snow on the ground, soldiers aiming rifles at standing figures.

essay

Death

The last letter

Condemned to death by firing squad, French resistance fighters put pen to paper. Their dying words can teach us how to live

Daniel R Brunstetter

Photo of a rural scene: a man and child walk with ducks past a military motorcycle and three soldiers in a field.

essay

Nations and empires

Shame and revolution

Vietnam’s potent and storied anticolonialism is founded upon a unique sense of national shame

Kevin D Pham

Photo of two boys sitting in a dilapidated room surrounded by debris with a view of an overgrown outside through a broken wall.

video

War and peace

Two Ukrainian boys’ summer unfolds just miles from the frontlines

22 minutes

Vintage sepia photo of a group of soldiers in hats and uniforms posed with a US flag.

essay

War and peace

Could conquest return?

It’s only a century since US diplomats first persuaded the world that it’s wrong for countries to annex their neighbours

Kerry Goettlich

Photo of a man speaking at a podium marked ‘Letters Live’, gesturing with one hand against a dark background.

video

Fairness and equality

‘To my old master’ – a freed slave answers the request to return to his old plantation

7 minutes

Aerial black-and-white photo of a town surrounded by rolling hills and agricultural terraces.

essay

Nations and empires

Passion and Palestine

More than any other conflict, Israel/Palestine has provoked extraordinarily fervent emotion throughout the world. Why?

Derek Jonathan Penslar

Illustration of two people observing ants on a forest floor with a textured tree background.

video

Family life

One family’s harrowing escape from postwar Vietnam, told in a poignant metaphor

10 minutes

Black and white photo of British and German First World War soldiers wearing winter uniforms and hats, one with a cigarette, looking at the camera.

video

War and peace

A frontline soldier’s moving account of the fabled ‘Christmas truce’ of 1914

12 minutes

Black and white photo of three people seated at an outdoor café table.

essay

Political philosophy

The underground university

During the Cold War, Oxford philosophers worked together to aid dissidents behind the Iron Curtain. I was one of them

Cheryl Misak

Painting of Roman soldiers in red carrying shields, forming a testudo (tortoise) formation during battle, viewed from the side.

video

The ancient world

Petty squabbles and bloody battles – the life of an ancient Roman soldier

18 minutes

Photo of an elderly man with a bald head and moustache wearing a suit and tie, smiling against a light-coloured, blurred background.

video

War and peace

‘She is living on in many hearts’ – Otto Frank on the legacy of his daughter’s diary

12 minutes

Painting of a child in a red dress with arms raised standing beside an adult in a pink dress against a dark background.

video

Childhood and adolescence

Marmar is living through a devastating war – but she’d rather tell you about her new dress

8 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

Wooden model of a sailing ship with multiple masts and detailed rigging on a white background.

video

Art

A prisoner in Guantánamo finds some escape in building intricate model ships

6 minutes

Weather map showing temperature, cloud cover, and other meteorological data across Ireland, the UK, and part of mainland Europe. Isobars are also depicted.

video

War and peace

A war meteorologist’s riveting account of how the Allies averted a D-Day disaster

6 minutes

Silhouette of a soldier with glowing eyes and helmet, holding a rifle, with a blurred, colourful background.

video

War and peace

A century later, can poetry help us make sense of the First World War’s horrors?

9 minutes

Four young girls in dresses smile outside, with one holding a small cat.

video

Biography and memoir

Preserving memories of a Japanese internment camp, and the land where it stood

8 minutes

Black and white image of Japanese soldiers in battle gear marching with a Rising Sun Flag, superimposed with large Japanese calligraphy characters on a plain background.

essay

Nations and empires

Chastising little brother

Why did Japanese Confucians enthusiastically support Imperial Japan’s murderous conquest of China, the homeland of Confucius?

Shaun O’Dwyer

Illustration of soldiers in action, with one leading the charge and another crawling forward. Both wear military uniforms with helmets and carry rifles. The background is a vibrant red, enhancing the sense of urgency and movement.

essay

Stories and literature

On Jewish revenge

What might a people, subjected to unspeakable historical suffering, think about the ethics of vengeance once in power?

Shachar Pinsker

A group of women, some wearing hijabs and masks, hold up signs with handwritten text in Arabic script during a protest.

video

Politics and government

How it looked to Afghan women to see the Taliban return to power

33 minutes

An oversized yellow plastic revolver gun displayed outside a brightly painted shop. There are palm trees in the background

essay

History of technology

Why America fell for guns

The US today has extraordinary levels of gun ownership. But to see this as a venerable tradition is to misread history

Megan Kang

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

A surreal artwork depicting floating items, including a woman, child, chair, bullets, and a photo of a family, all set in a dark abstract background.

video

Human rights and justice

A reporter orphaned by night raids in Afghanistan investigates their cruel legacy

17 minutes

A vintage illustration of a steam train crossing a bridge over a river with a town and mountains in the background, surrounded by lush greenery.

essay

Global history

Reconstructed hemisphere

In the 19th century, civil wars tore apart the US, Mexico and Argentina. Then came democracy’s fight against reaction

Evan C Rothera