Essays

Long-form writing from leading scholars and commentators on history, statecraft, warfare, philosophy and culture.

Idealized depiction of Carthage from the 1493 Nuremberg Chronicle, Michel Wolgemut, Wilhelm Pleydenwurff - Self-scanned

essays

Why the idea of Carthage survived Roman conquest

The Romans burnt Carthage's books and buildings - but 'Punic' identity remained influential throughout Antiquity.

Richard Miles July 24, 2020

Napoleon at the Battle of Wagram, painted by Horace Vernet

essays

Napoleonic Europe: how the Emperor built a continent

Napoleonic geopolitics didn't make much impression on Europe's maps, but its influence was wide-ranging.

Michael Broers July 24, 2020

Paolo and Francesca da Rimini, 1867. Found in the collection of the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne.

essays

Is our religion of love doing more harm than good?

Love has become widely seen as a democracy of salvation open to all.

Simon May July 23, 2020

Brazilian Kayapo and Xerente indians prepare to set fire on the Holy Pyre using a traditional method during the Kari-Oca opening ceremony in the sidelines of the Rio+20 environmental summit on June 13, 2012 in Jacarepagua, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The UN Conference on Sustainable Development opened Wednesday, launching a new round of debate on the future of the planet, its resources and people, 20 years after the first Earth Summit. AFP PHOTO/ANTONIO SCORZA (Photo credit should read ANTONIO SCORZA/AFP/GettyImages)

essays

Spoken history: the modern importance of indigenous cultures

Our information-rich civilisation is not superior or inferior to the pre-literate world of Brazil's indigenous peoples, just different.

John Hemming July 23, 2020

LONDON, ENGLAND - MARCH 15: Students take part in a student climate protest on March 15, 2019

essays

Meet the Zoomer generation

This period of turbulence could turn today's twenty-somethings into the leaders of a new liberal revolution.

Matthew Goodwin July 22, 2020

Advertisement of a huge open refrigerator stuffed with food, with a little girl reaching for a pink cake, 1955. Screen print from a photograph.

essays

How mechanical refrigeration changed the world

The elaborate infrastructure we have created in order to eat food before it rots is one of the great triumphs of modern civilisation.

Jonathan Rees July 21, 2020

essays

Duality, determinism and demography: The Greeks on geopolitics

The Greeks invented the notion of the interrelationship of geography and politics; indeed, they elaborated it in myriad ways.

Barry Strauss July 21, 2020

essays

Suffering — the price of being alive: an Islamic perspective

Islam - unlike Christianity - may not have a central motif of pain, sin and suffering, but it reveals so much about what it means to live with adversity.

Mona Siddiqui July 20, 2020

The decades-long decline of U.S. industry is acutely reflected in the urban decay of its cities.

essays

From broken windows to bulldozers

The story of the Cleveland Housing Renewal Project illustrates the tensions at the heart of capitalism and property - between growth and conservation, creation and decay.

Adam Tooze July 17, 2020