American history

US secretary of state William Seward (seated left) signs the agreement to buy Alaska from Russia in 1867

America’s hidden empire: the USA’s forgotten imperial expansion

The Statue of Liberty against a blue sky

Q&A Was the Statue of Liberty designed specifically for the United States?

Soldiers disembark a landing craft with a battle on the beach beyond

How to win a 20th-century battle

Partnered content Gaijin War Thunder

John F Kennedy with US Army officials during the Cuban missile crisis

“We are eyeball to eyeball, and I think the other fellow just blinked”: how the Cuban Missile Crisis escalated

Premium

A panel of experts tackle the big questions surrounding period drama in the 21st century and ask: what’s next? (Images by Getty, Channel 5 and Alamy)

What’s next for period drama? . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Theodore Roosevelt visiting a US army camp, c1918. (Photo by The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)

The great American U-turn: from isolationism to WW1 combatants

Premium

A panel of eyewitnesses recall their memories of the divided city and the dramatic events of November 1989. (Image by Getty Images)

Witnesses to the Berlin Wall . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

George Westinghouse, Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla

Edison, Westinghouse and Tesla: the history behind The Current War

An 18th Century cartoon satirises reactions to Louis XVI's attempt tp flee France. The french Revolution shows what can happen when the state fails on a catastrophic scale

Are revolutions doomed to failure?

Premium

Watergate in 100 days: how President Nixon fell

Watergate in 100 days: how President Nixon fell . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Premium

HEX_Voices_EmmaDabiri

Emma Dabiri "Harriet Jacobs’ writing transports readers to the world of Southern slavery" . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Premium

Dr David Clarke explains how the idea of extra-terrestrials in mysterious flying saucers developed from its origins in the Cold War to become an enduring modern myth. (Image by Getty Images)

The history and mystery of UFOs . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Premium

Japanese Americans in World War Two | Daniel James Brown podcast

Forgotten heroes: Japanese Americans in World War Two . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Premium

Anne Sebba explores the life of Ethel Rosenberg, who was executed for espionage in one of the most sensational and controversial episodes of the Cold War. (Image by Getty Images)

The trials of Ethel Rosenberg . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A drag queen applies lipstick in this 1959 photograph

Q&A Who was the first person to call themselves a ‘drag queen’?