North America

A photograph of President John Quincy Adams

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

Tim Maltin answers listener questions about the sinking of RMS Titanic in 1912. (Image by Getty Images)

Titanic: everything you wanted to know

On the evening of 13 March thousands of people in Phoenix, Arizona, and surrounding areas see a triangular formation of lights drifting above the city. Fife Symington, the governor of Arizona at the time, was one of the witnesses and he described the UFO as “otherworldly”. This image shows something similar to what was reported at the time. (Photo by Alamy)

A brief history of UFOs: top 10 sightings & timeline

A UFO photographed in New Mexico by a government employee. The image was released by the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization after careful study. It is unknown what the image shows.(Photo by Getty Images)

How UFOs conquered the world – without firing a shot

Tulsa race massacre: A man surveys the wreckage of homes in the Oklahoma city of Tulsa, June 1921. Two days of racist violence and destruction left what had been one of the United States’ wealthiest black communities in ruins

The 1921 Tulsa race massacre: the worst single incident of racial violence in US history

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?

Aidan Turner as Leonardo da Vinci

The best historical TV shows and movies to stream in 2021

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

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

American history trivia quiz

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

Soldiers from the Women's Royal Army Corps

Second World War

A brief guide to VE Day

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?

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

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

Alcohol is poured away into a New York sewer during the prohibition era, c1920

Prohibition quiz: how much do you know about the US ban on booze?