American history

Prohibition protesters parade in a car emblazoned with signs and flags calling for the repeal of the 18th Amendment, which outlawed the production and consumption of alcohol in the United States. (Archive Photos/Getty Images)

“A great social experiment”: your guide to prohibition

Captain Edward Teach, better known as 'Blackbeard', a pirate who plundered the coasts of the West Indies, North Carolina and Virginia. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

6 despicable pirates from history

Portrait of founding father Alexander Hamilton by John Trumbull, c1806. (Photo by National Gallery Of Art/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images)

7 things you (probably) didn’t know about Alexander Hamilton

The president of the United States, Franklin Roosevelt and his staff gathered together in New York to find a solution to the economic crisis. 1935. (Photo by Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images)

Icons: the game changers of the 20th century

Mel Gibson in a scene from the film 'Braveheart', 1995. (Photo by 20th Century-Fox/Getty Images)

Good drama, bad history: 11 historically inaccurate films you need to watch

Trouble brewing: This illustration shows “Boston boys throwing tea into the harbour” on 16 December 1773. The protestors revelled in the opportunity to make a bold statement that would be felt across the world. (Getty images)

The global origins of the Boston Tea Party

Daniel Day-Lewis in Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln (2012) – a “sentimental, eminently weighty version of presidential history”, says Dr Wills. (Photo by Moviestore collection Ltd/Alamy Stock Photo)

Disney history: how has the corporation shaped our perception of the past?

The "brilliant" Walt Disney with Mickey Mouse in 1935. (Getty Images)

My history hero: Walt Disney (1901-66)

JFK-2-f017d3d

The Library What if JFK had lived?

President John F Kennedy, First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy and Texas governor John Connally ride through the streets of Dallas, Texas, prior to the assassination of JFK, 22 November 1963. Included as an exhibit for the Warren Commission. (Photo by CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)

The assassination of JFK: an eyewitness account

The First Thanksgiving in 1621, after a painting by Jean-Léon Gérôme; screen print, 1932. (Photo by GraphicaArtis/Getty Images)

7 things you might not know about the history of Thanksgiving

Elizabeth Jane Cochrane, who wrote under the pen-name Nellie Bly. (Photo by Interim Archives/Getty Images)

Q&A Who was Nellie Bly?

11th November 1918: An army lorry in a London street on Armistice Day, carrying jubilant passengers. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

First World War

11 November 1918: The day the world turned upside down

This Halloween postcard, which features a witch, a black cat, and lots of little spirits, was printed mid-1900s in New York City. (Photo by Transcendental Graphics/Getty Images)

10 things you didn’t know about the history (and mystery) of Halloween