From the crude wines of the ancient world to the refined commercial product of the 21st century, the story of wine has always been intimately bound with that of human civilisation.

In capturing the threads of shared culture and profound differences among a far-flung people, the photojournalist Ergun Çağatay shed light on what it means to be Turkic.

During the Second World War, Britain learnt that a propaganda campaign can only be won with accurate and credible reporting.

At a time when the United States is retrenching its military commitments in East Asia, Seoul and Tokyo must learn to compete for Washington's support within a rebalanced alliance system.

The Irish-born Whig's time as envoy formed his view of Denmark as a lost cause, but a cautionary tale for the English: of how a country descends into absolutism.

Nobel Prize-winning economist Daron Acemoglu’s call for a ‘working-class liberalism’ fails to address the underlying cause of liberal democracy’s woes: a lack of productivity.

Transcendentalism, the visionary philosophy championed by figures such as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, is the yin of the American Revolution.

The only anti-war party was struck off the ballot and online votes were counted by mysterious means. In Russia's latest exercise in democracy, the ruling party's landslide was never in doubt.

The Mecca Agreement could work as part of a web of narrower, overlapping alliances better suited to the region than any grand alliance.

Small modular reactors (SMRs) were first conceived for military use and deployed on polar bases. Seventy years on, their record remains dismal.

John Coltrane was a spiritual searcher whose shimmering, joyful music pushed jazz to its limits.

Finland's Winter War has become a national legend, while the Baltic states' surrender to Stalin in 1940 is remembered as a humiliation. But the story of Baltic submission is a myth.

Fifty years on, 'I, Claudius' remains a startling account of power, lust and statecraft.

The EI Podcast brings you weekly conversations and audio essays from leading writers, thinkers and historians. Hosted by Alastair Benn and Paul Lay. Find the EI Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or ...

Historian James M. Scott describes America’s bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in harrowing detail, while highlighting Japan’s obduracy, even when faced with the prospect of total annihilation.

Simon Sebag Montefiore's wildly ambitious history of the region since 1900 is a richly illustrated guide to the law of unintended consequences.

Simon Sebag Montefiore's wildly ambitious history of the region since 1900 is a richly illustrated guide to the law of unintended consequences.

The conventional narrative assumes economies can grow while using less energy. The opposite is happening. It is time for climate realism.

The story of a KGB officer who fled revolutionary Tehran for Britain shows how misjudgements in Moscow, London and Washington deepened the Islamic Republic's suspicion of foreign powers.

The EI Podcast brings you weekly conversations and audio essays from leading writers, thinkers and historians. Hosted by Alastair Benn and Paul Lay. Find the EI Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or ...

The aspirations of modern China are rooted in President Xi's historical fictions combined with Marxist beliefs, a Leninist mentality and fervent nationalism.

The rising antagonism between Israel and Turkey could lead to a catastrophic conflict, transforming the balance of power across Eurasia.

Reconstructing the life of the African ruler Juba II from 15 objects, as Andrew Kenrick does in 'Rex Juba', shows both the appeal and the limits of narrative history.

In the postwar period, the US-led world order succeeded in taming efforts to redraw international boundaries by force, but eliminating such impulses entirely is not a realistic basis for an effective ...

The valiant contribution made by female secret agents to the resistance in Nazi-occupied Europe has been overlooked for too long.

'De Gaulle: Résistance', the first instalment of Antonin Baudry's biopic of the Free French leader, is thrilling, historically convincing and, at times, rather moving.

The EI Podcast brings you weekly conversations and audio essays from leading writers, thinkers and historians. Hosted by Alastair Benn and Paul Lay. Find the EI Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or ...

Diplomatic deals based on the pursuit of short-term interests tend to be short-lived.

The economic origins of the Great War warn that trading and financial links are not just a means to peace and prosperity – they can also be a source of tension and conflict.

Russia’s rapid economic decline in the 1990s was the result of too little, rather than too much, ‘shock therapy’.

The summer of 1726 saw a unique meeting of three great literary minds, whose dazzling works of poetry, prose and satire would redefine the possibilities of the English language.

A new initiative to foster defence collaboration between government, universities and industry must not forget the role of the humanities.

The notion of a new world order shaped by the Global South, a reincarnation of the Third World, is a chimera. Middle-power dynamism is the surest way to preserve the Global West in a new form.

A compelling film by the Ukrainian filmmaker Sergei Loznitsa captures the grotesque spectacle that anticipated Stalin’s purge of his Bolshevik rivals.

The summer of 1726 saw a unique meeting of three great literary minds, whose dazzling works of poetry, prose and satire would redefine the possibilities of the English language.

The trauma of the Vietnam War dominated American culture for decades, yet the nation's longest war – in Afghanistan – has largely vanished. Why?

A tour of history's great republics, ancient and modern, shows that civic education is the best defence against decay.

For most of human history, night was broken into a first and second sleep, with the hours in between given over to reflection and wonder.

Financial Times columnist Sarah O'Connor speaks to EI's Caitlin Allen about her book, 'We Are Not Machines: The Fight for the Future of Work', and why we still have control over how automation will sh...

Gurus of modern masculinity such as Steven Bartlett, owe a debt, conscious or not, to the eccentric poet Robert Bly.

In order to protect critical national infrastructure from hybrid attacks, the United States should emulate the whole-of-society approach pioneered by Sweden, Finland and the Baltic States.

Martha C. Nussbaum's study of opera and political freedom combines musical sensitivity with a philosopher's eye to argue that Mozart offers a template for living well.

As death approached, the titan of the Scottish Enlightenment found solace in the company of close friends rather than in the hope of religious redemption.