History

Women Between the Wars

In Jean Rhys's novels, women exhibit a particular kind of English suffering, a perfect illustration of the female condition in the interwar years.

Understanding the Stars

On the shared origins of two seemingly incongruent disciplines and the language we use to explain our place in the universe.

The Friendship of Eleanor Roosevelt and Martha Gellhorn

For decades, the two maintained a warm correspondence that traces a remarkable friendship between two of the twentieth century's most formidable women.

Living in the Shadow of the Halifax Explosion

My neighbourhood doesn't look like a place where, a century ago, hundreds of people were incinerated, and that's exactly the point.

Trapped in the Bone Room

Sequestered in a museum basement amongst pungent human skulls by Bill Clinton's Secret Service detail, you can't help but consider the history decaying around you.

The Three Lives of Malvina Schwartz

Butches, Femmes, and Mobsters: Inside the world of America's early drag superstars.

Drunk History: Canada’s Booze-Soaked Beginnings

With a champagne budget of (an adjusted for inflation) $200,000, the 1864 Charlottetown Conference that preceded Canadian Confederation refused to let sobriety stand in the way of a solid union.

The War That Made the 20th Century: An Interview With Scott Anderson

The American novelist and war correspondent talks about his gripping new book, Lawrence in Arabia, and situates the much mythologized British leader of the Arab Revolt in the broader context of World War I, and the dark, often duplicitous maneuvers on its Eastern Front.