H. G. Wells

Could the separation of the Revolutionary War have been patched in the late 19th century? Some powerful men tried...

Born after the Civil War, he turned himself into its most powerful witness—and modernized the American novel.

How the turn toward “precision” combat promoted endless war.

Sweeping the human story into a cosmic tale is a thrill but we should be wary about what is overlooked in the grandeur.

When editors believed their magazines could change lives.

Superman et al were invented amid feverish eugenic speculation: what does the superhero craze say about our own times?

A story of how Louis Wain single handedly made cats adored by Victorian society through to modern day.

The uncanny realism of Orson Welles’s radio play crystallised a fear of communication technology that haunts us today.

Physicist and writer Leo Szilard was vital to the creation of the atomic bomb. He also did everything he could to prevent its use.

He was said to have gone into decline, but his story is one of endurance—even of unlikely triumph.