Winston Churchill contemplated deploying a nuclear attack against Soviet cities in 1951, according to the author of a new study.
A cache of New York Times Company documents, uncovered by University of Exeter historian Richard Toye, detail meetings held between the British politician and US newspaper executives throughout the 1940s and 50s. In April 1951, Churchill – who was then out of office, but had hopes of returning to government – met with New York Times general manager Julius Ochs Adler. In a lengthy conversation, he repeatedly returned to the subject of his plans should he be re-elected as prime minister.
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A Cruel Renaissance
“Wicked, an abomination, and against all humanity.” These words, uttered in 1416, shine a light on a dark truth: that slavery thrived in Renaissance Europe. Hannah Skoda tells the stories of people living in bondage in a period when ideals of liberty and the nobility of human nature didn't apply to all
How Britain Became a Cultural Colossus
The secret to the nation's status as a creative superpower lies not in stability and peace but a past dominated by invasion, disruption and war
Feather beds, cockfights and midnight flights to the moon
From seeing feathers as omens of death to saving soldiers with homing pigeons, our interactions with birds have always been contradictory. Roy and Lesley Adkins select five chapters from avian history to illuminate this complex relationship
Black communities have had to pay for the failures of emancipation
KRIS MANJAPRA speaks to Ellie Cawthorne about his new book, which explores how emancipations of enslaved people have left troubled legacies that still endure today
Gods among men
JANE DRAYCOTT applauds an ambitious journey through the global history of emperors, from the most ancient civilisations to the 20th-century demise of world-spanning realms
EMPIRE OF THE GREATS
Not even a 2,000-year smear campaign, instigated by the Greeks, can obscure the staggering achievements of the ancient Persians. Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones tells the story of the Iranian dynasty that forged the greatest empire the world had ever known
Sounds of the sixties
Facing fleets of pirate radio stations and teenagers hungry to hear the latest hits, the BBC had to change its tune. DAVID HENDY explores how the corporation attempted to reach new audiences in the 1960s
Jesse Owens 1913-80
He was a bit of a showman and even raced against horses for money. When asked why, he said: You can't eat four gold medals'
Spinning stories
HELEN CARR assesses a magisterial overview of how people have represented the past, from medieval propaganda to historical fiction
The family behind the Tudors
The name Tudor has reverberated down the centuries, but another family lurked in the background, helping the dynasty to greatness - and sometimes seeking to tear it down. Joanne Paul chronicles the meteoric rise and deadly fall of the Dudleys
The End of China's Bulk-Buying Boom
A distinctive form of e-commerce is in free fall after a shift in attitude in Beijing
China's Stimulus Won't Bail Out the World
The drag from lockdowns will largely cancel any boost from new spending
ON JAPAN'S FRONT LINES
Dispatches from Asia's new Cold War
The Cost of Covid Zero Keeps Rising
China's economy hasn't been in this bad a shape since the start of the pandemic
THE PANDEMIC KILLED DISSENT IN HONG KONG
WHEN GREAT BRITAIN returned control of Hong Kong to China in 1997, a condition of the transfer was that Beijing would allow the territory to maintain its own government until 2047. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has never liked this agreement, and the COVID-19 pandemic provided the excuse to all but erase the “one country, two systems” distinction.
THE INSIDE MAN
Meet JOSEPH KAHN, the new, old-school editor of the Times.
Sorry, iPhone 6 Plus users, your phone probably can't be repaired anymore
Apple moves two older devices to 'vintage' status.
CHINA USED TV, TIKTOK STARS IN DISCREET OLYMPICS CAMPAIGN
A “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” TV star, a Paralympic swimmer and a self-described “brand king” were among the Instagram and TikTok influencers who were paid by Chinese officials for a discreet campaign that promoted the Beijing Winter Olympics, new Justice Department documents reveal.
How Uniqlo Became A Favorite in China
In addition to making popular styles, it's kept quiet about the country's human-rights record
CHINESE HACKERS REPORTEDLY TARGET INDIA'S POWER GRID
India’s power sector has been targeted by hackers in a long-term operation thought to have been carried out by a state-sponsored Chinese group, a U.S.-based private cybersecurity company detailed in a new report.