Attic — The Trouble with the Correct Point of View
I was reading something written Ryan Holiday recently when a sentence stopped me short. He was discussing Thomas Jefferson, whose reputation has become increasingly controversial in recent years. Holiday’s conclusion was essentially: we used to admire Jefferson; now,...
Power Lines—The Rise of the Electric World
Before electricity remade the night, people had become remarkably good at managing darkness. Candles and oil lamps had illuminated homes for centuries, until the nineteenth century brought gaslight to streets, factories, theatres and drawing rooms. Each improvement...
Black Underfoot—Coal and the First Energy Abundance
In the summer of 1976, London was preparing to celebrate the Queen’s Silver Jubilee. Some buildings had already been cleaned for the occasion; others were still waiting their turn. The contrast was startling. Pale stone gleamed beside façades darkened by decades of...
Steam, Engines & Smoke — The Real Engines of the Industrial Age
Steam & Smoke: The Real Engines of the Industrial Age Before electricity lit streets and homes, the machinery driving the industrial world was hard to ignore. Steam hissed, pistons thudded and chimneys poured smoke into the air. At the heart of it all was...
Standard Time — Sandford Fleming and the Order of Hours
A World Out of Sync For most of human history, time was local. Towns set their clocks by the sun, with noon defined as the moment it reached its highest point in the sky. When people and information travelled slowly, the small differences between one town’s time and...
The Long Recovery — When England Quietly Changed Direction
The England we left at the end of the fourteenth century had endured almost everything history could throw at it. The Black Death had returned more than once. War with France dragged on for generations. Harvests failed. The Peasants' Revolt exposed deep social...
The Peerage and The Gentry — England’s Governing Class
Westminster Hall has witnessed coronation feasts, royal courts, state trials and the evolution of Parliament. Yet England was never governed from this room alone. Beyond these walls, thousands of members of the peerage and gentry quietly carried out the work that kept...
From Conquest to Kingdom — England’s High Medieval Ascent (1066–1300)
York offers a clue to one of the great stories of medieval England. Walk through the city on a busy Saturday morning and, after a while, something begins to feel oddly familiar. The market is bustling. Shops line narrow streets. The cathedral dominates the skyline....
Mesopotamia — The First Step was Counting
When we think about the beginnings of civilization, our minds often leap to pyramids, kings and great cities. The real story may have begun somewhere far less dramatic. It may have begun with someone trying to remember how many sheep, or sacks of grain, or jars of...
Babylon — When Civilization Learned to Be Reliable
Few ancient cities have accumulated as many meanings as Babylon. Its name conjures a tower reaching towards heaven, its builders suddenly unable to understand one another. It recalls Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian Captivity, the mysterious writing on the wall...
