American history

A photograph of President John Quincy Adams

Q&A What’s the oldest photo of a US president?

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Steven Johnson explores innovations in science and public health that have led to huge increases in life expectancy.

Why are we living longer than our ancestors? . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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Ayanna Thompson discusses the history of blackface – a story spanning William Shakespeare, US race relations and Dartmoor Prison. (Image by Getty Images)

Blackface: a brief history . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The Statue of Liberty in New York. (Photo by Gary Hershorn/Getty Images)

Quiz American history

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Mark Atwood Lawrence responds to readers’ questions about the United States’ failure to stem the advance of communism in Vietnam. (Image by Getty Images)

The Vietnam War: everything you wanted to know . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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Serhii Plokhy discusses the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, and reveals just how close the world came to nuclear disaster. (Image by Getty Images)

How close to nuclear war did the Cuban Missile Crisis get? . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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Historian Timothy Hickman answers listener questions about the ban on booze in 1920s America, from speakeasies and moonshine to Al Capone’s shady dealings. (Image by Getty Images)

Prohibition: everything you wanted to know . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The historical drama series Outlander, based on a series of novels by Diana Gabaldon, has become a TV phenomenon. (Image by Outlander/Starz)

Outlander: the real history that inspired the time-slip drama

Young civil rights activists sit in defiance at a ‘whites only’ lunch counter in Oklahoma City, 1958

Jim Crow in the United States: a brief guide to the racial segregation laws

A broker looks at his screens at Frankfurt's stock exchange on 15 September 2008. (Photo by Thomas Lohnes/AFP/Getty Images)

The 2008 financial crisis explained

A flapper shows off her hidden bottles of alcohol

The morning after: the impact of prohibition

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Turtle Bunbury shares notable stories of Irish emigrants and charts their influence on global history. (Image by Getty Images)

Tales of Irish emigration . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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Spy plane photos revealed that missile bases were being built on Cuba, prompting the crisis. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

What if... The Cuban Missile Crisis escalated? . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A set of dentures belonging to George Washington. The first US president wore fake teeth for much of his life

Q&A Did George Washington have wooden teeth?

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Michael Goodman responds to your questions on the decades of geopolitical tension that shaped relations between east and west in the second half of the 20th century. (Image by Getty Images)

The Cold War: everything you wanted to know . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.