The Anarchy (Encore)

Few things in nature are as instantly recognizable as a rainbow. For thousands of years, rainbows have inspired myths, religion, art, and science. Yet behind those bands of color is an extraordinary interaction between sunlight, water, geometry, and the physics of light itself. F ...  Show more

In the late 1950s, the United States found itself trailing in the Space Race as the Soviet Union achieved one milestone after another. In response, NASA launched Project Mercury, an ambitious effort to put an American into space using little more than experimental rockets, crampe ...  Show more

What happened to the infant Elizabeth I following the bloody execution of her mother Anne Boleyn? How did her father Henry VIII and his next four wives treat her? And, what became of Elizabeth following the death of Henry, and the succession of her protestant brother Edward…?  ...  Show more

The 1650s were the only years in history when Britain was a republic.  Charles I had been executed, the monarchy was abolished and the House of Lords dismissed.  But what came next? How could stability be restored when people disagreed over what they had been fi ...

Why did Britain and America nearly go to war over the capture of two Confederate officers from a British Ship? What did President Lincoln’s Emergency War Cabinet respond to Britain’s threatening ultimatum? How did Prince Albert keep the peace with the last letter he ever sent? Jo ...  Show more

Following the Norman Conquest at the Battle of Hastings, Norman culture transformed the country, as William I governed through force and bureaucracy. One of his lasting legacies - the Domesday Book - was the result of a complex and extensive survey to find out who owned what, and ...  Show more