Why Are We Drawn to Dictators?

What did it take to rule an empire that was never meant to have an emperor?In this second episode of our series on the Roman Empire, we're joined by classicist Mary Beard to trace how Roman leadership evolved over a thousand years - from the competitive power-sharing of the Repub ...  Show more

Exile, mercenary, Viking king. Harald Hardrada, 'Thunderbolt of the North', fought his way from Norway to Byzantium, from the streets of Constantinople to the battlefields of Sicily. He married a princess, blinded an emperor, and nearly conquered England.Today, Dr Wayne Bartlett ...  Show more

It’s the HistoryExtra podcast’s 15th birthday, and to celebrate, we’ve asked 15 historians to nominate a figure from history they think deserves their ‘15 minutes of fame’. In this episode, Professor Michael Scott nominates Kleisthenes. He tells Kev Lochun about how this sixth-c ...  Show more

The war between the Union and the Confederacy is a major turning point in the history of the United States. But why did it happen?

From slavery and states' rights, to economic, legislative, moral, and political issues, in this episode, Don and Professor Adam Smith ex ...

We have to reconstruct the foundations of our democracy, building on the past, not repudiating everything we're building on it.

Bruce Ackerman

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At least 23 of the Presidents of the United States can have their ancestry traced back to Ireland.

So why did this diaspora come to America? What was their reception like? And how have they reached the top of the power structure so regularly?

We are finding ...