A Concubine Rises to Rule China

February 4, 1955. In a New York courtroom, the Comics Czar takes the stand. He’s in charge of enforcing a new code, meant to keep comic books from corrupting America’s youth, and he’s here to prove that his work has cleaned up the industry. But that afternoon, a noted psychologis ...  عرض المزيد

On January 5, 2026, Jirdes Winther Baxter passed away at 101 years old — the last known survivor of the 1925 diphtheria epidemic in Nome, Alaska. A few years ago, we told the story of the Serum Run: the desperate relay of mushers and sled dogs who carried a life-saving antitoxin ...  عرض المزيد

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the woman who, for almost fifty years, was the most powerful figure in the Chinese court. Cixi (1835-1908) started out at court as one of the Emperor's many concubines, yet was the only one who gave him a son to succeed him and who also possessed g ...  عرض المزيد

Empress Dowager Cixi wasn’t born into power – she took it. After participating in a 19th century version of The Bachelor, Cixi was chosen as one of the Emperor’s concubines. In part one of this two-part series, Cixi uses her cunning, wit, and scrappy attitude to rise through t ...

In Part One, Cixi went from concubine to all-powerful Regent, thanks to her bestie and a savvy political coup. But while she was wielding her new found power, Cixi’s enemies were plotting her demise. Now that they’ve executed the man she loved, Cixi wants to even the scor ...

The Art of War is one of the most important military strategy texts ever written, and it has become just as influential, perhaps even more so, in the worlds of business, sport, and politics. Bridget Kendall learns what the 2,000-year-old treatise has to say about deception, spyin ...  عرض المزيد