Philosophy and ideas
Aldous
Huxley: Prophetic writer
In Brave New World, Huxley created a society where babies were engineered
to a specific social status and happiness was controlled by drugs.
- Athens: The truth about democracy
Examination of how the democratic Greeks were also slave owners and empire builders. Includes the article 'Who killed Socrates?' - Battle for the Holocaust
Jewish historians look at how understanding the Holocaust has changed since the end of World War II, and ask whose agenda is being served by the proliferation of museums, memorials and commemoration events. - Cities and disaster
An examination of the calamities that befell seven cities: London (1666), Lisbon (1755), Chicago (1871), San Francisco (1906), Tokyo/Yokohama (1923), Florence (1966), New Orleans (2005). - Class quiz
Class has always been important a vital ingredient in British society. Through this quiz, you will find out what many famous writers and others have had to say about class, and how it has affected the British and its history. - Decoding Da Vinci
Using The Da Vinci Code as a starting point, this website investigates three controversial mysteries: secret societies, codes and symbols, and the sacred feminine. - The Girl with X-ray Eyes
The battle of beliefs and the appeal of visionaries throughout history, from Greek myths to the Cottingley fairies. - Hello Culture
What is culture and how does the past impact the present? Here is a ‘grid’ of 160 entries that allows users to experience the heyday and remnants of Romanticism. - H
G Wells: Visionary novelist
Wells forecast 20th-century society so accurately that he has been dubbed 'the man who invented tomorrow'. - The Holocaust
An umbrella website covering all aspects of the Holocaust of World War II, including a chronology (1923 to present) and information on victims and survivors, war crimes trials and later controversies. - Howard Goodall’s Big Bangs
Goodall examines five momentous turning points in musical history and asks what they mean for us today (Channel 4 Learning). - Howard Goodall’s Great Dates
Goodall shows that great pieces of music are not freak accidents of genius but the direct products of their time, place, culture and politics (Channel 4 Learning). - Isaac
Asimov: Writing machine
A prolific writer and widely considered a genius, Asimov went on to write over 500 books, but is best known for his science fiction. - Kill or Cure
Timeline charting medical discoveries and events related to animal testing over the last century. - Mahatma Gandhi
Indian national and spiritual leader who preached non-violence but was killed by an assassin. - Martin Luther King
African-American civil rights leader murdered by an assassin’s bullet. - Mao Zedong
Communist dictator whose rule – and whims – led to disaster for the Chinese. - Masters
of Darkness
The barely believable stories of four men – John Dee, the Marquis de Sade, Rasputin and Aleister Crowley – whose sexual escapades, obsession with magic and radical ideas earned them the fear of their contemporaries and a place in modern culture. - Lenin
Father of Russia’s Bolshevik revolution. - What the Papers Said
Newspapers give a contemporary slant to historical events: Chartists, Great Exhibition, Suffragette movement, World War I, Russian Revolution, Treaty of Versailles, General Strike, Cold War, Vietnam War (Channel 4 Learning). - World of Ideas
Part of A Guide to the 20th Century, this covers Communism, liberalism, Fascism and Nazism and more.
