American history

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

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

Your guide to… Jim Crow in the United States

The 30th Annual Academy Awards, Los Angeles, 1958. (Ralph Crane/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)

13 remarkable moments in the history of the Oscars

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

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

Tales of Irish emigration

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?

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?

100 women who changed the world

Women’s history podcasts: 18 HistoryExtra episodes not to miss