HistoryExtra Long Reads

In the Middle Ages, the bearing and raising of children defined women’s lives. But, as this Long Read written by Elinor Cleghorn explains, there were women who had other ideas and boldly challenged attitudes towards motherhood.

Today's feature originally appeared in the April 2026 issue of HistoryExtra Magazine, and has been voiced in partnership with the RNIB.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From Romulus’s open-city policy to Claudius’s reforms, citizenship was used by Rome as both a reward and a weapon. As this Long Read written by Shushma Malik explains, it enabled the burgeoning empire to build power and define identity.

Today's feature originally appeared in the April 2026 issue of HistoryExtra magazine, and has been voiced in partnership with the RNIB.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It’s 80 years since the war victor and ex-prime minister Winston Churchill delivered his ‘Iron Curtain’ speech, sounding the alarm for a perilous new age. The speech, given as tensions with Stalin soared, is among the most famous in modern history. Yet, asks this Long Read written by Richard Toye, has it been misunderstood?

Today's feature originally appeared in the March 2026 issue of HistoryExtra Magazine, and has been voiced in partnership with the RNIB.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Dark or brunette? Fair or swarthy? A paragon of beauty or a refined charmer? Our picture of Henry VIII’s ill-fated second queen has become distorted over five centuries – but new research by Owen Emmerson and others comes closer to revealing her true appearance. This Long Read, written by Owen, explains more.
Today's feature originally appeared in the March 2026 issue of HistoryExtra Magazine, and has been voiced in partnership with the RNIB.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The 20th century was a golden age for organised crime groups. This Long Read written by Ryan Gingeras reveals how gangs from the Sicilian Mafia to Mexico’s cartels capitalised on political chaos, economic upheaval and mass migration to spread their tentacles around the world.

Today's feature originally appeared in the March 2026 issue of HistoryExtra Magazine, and has been voiced in partnership with the RNIB.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Shakespeare and his peers served up hearty helpings of diverse dishes and ingredients – many of them spiced with forgotten meanings. This Long Read written by Sam Bilton reveals how food allusions illustrate five key themes of everyday life.
Today's feature originally appeared in the March 2026 issue of HistoryExtra magazine, and has been voiced in partnership with the RNIB.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

By 1889, Jack the Ripper's grisly murders had sparked terror throughout London. So when the mutilated body of a woman was found beneath railway arches near the Thames, a coded alert was dispatched to warn metropolitan police divisions: "Another Whitechapel." But her killer wasn't Jack. Following her recent BBC Two series, this Long Read, written by Lucy Worsley, investigates the horrifying crimes of the Thames Torso murderer.

Today's feature originally appeared in the February 2026 issue of HistoryExtra Magazine, and has been voiced in partnership with the RNIB.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

How do civilisations collapse? That was the question at the heart of Edward Gibbon's The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Two hundred and fifty years after it was published, this Long Read, written by Guy de la Bédoyère, argues that Gibbon's magnum opus remains a landmark in the writing of history.

Today's feature originally appeared in the February 2026 issue of HistoryExtra Magazine, and has been voiced in partnership with the RNIB.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Extremism was on the march across continental Europe in the 1920s and 1930s – yet Britons chose a different, more moderate path. This Long Read, written by Alwyn Turner, explores why Britain largely tuned out the strongman theatrics and held to a more moderate course.

Today's feature originally appeared in the February 2026 issue of HistoryExtra Magazine, and has been voiced in partnership with the RNIB.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

1066 is synonymous with the battle of Hastings. Yet while Duke William of Normandy was launching his conquest of England, the rest of Europe had its own crises to contend with. This Long Read written by Charles West takes us on a tour of the continent during this dramatic year.

Today's feature originally appeared in the January 2026 issue of HistoryExtra Magazine, and has been voiced in partnership with the RNIB.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices