‘A relentless, destructive energy’: inside th...

For many years the prevailing debate about the Maya centred upon why their civilisation collapsed. Now, many scholars are asking: how did the Maya survive? By Marcus Haraldsson. Read by Diana Bermudez. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/longreadpod 

We are raiding the Guardian long read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, from 2020: Frank Fisher, now 90, was a traditional high street butcher his whole working life – as were three generations of his fa ...  Show more

Christina of Sweden was a 17th century royal who rebelled against gender norms from the day she was born – when she was wrongly misgendered as a boy! Even after the air was cleared, Christina rejected the life of a classic femme royal by learning swordplay, riding horses, and ...

For the last thirty years Indian journalist Amitabh Parashar has been investigating why a group of midwives in his home state of Bihar were routinely forced to kill baby girls. In a series of shocking interviews, the midwives explain what happened and how a remarkable social work ...  Show more

To mark the centenary of the infamous ‘sawing-a-woman-in-half’ illusion, Emma Barnett talks to Debbie McGee and Dr Naomi Paxton, also to author Angie Thomas about her new book "Concrete Rose" the prequel to her bestseller "The Hate U Give", Joan Bakewell talks about her legal cha ...  Show more

Sarah J. Maas is a New York Times bestselling author of the “Throne of Glass,” “A Court of Thorns and Roses” and “Crescent City” series. Between ages 16 and 22, she drafted a series of books ... before scrapping them all to start fresh. And then published her first book — “Thr ...