history
A New Syria?
The challenges facing Syria today are connected to three previous beginnings: the fall of the Ottoman Empire at the end of World War I, independence in 1946 after World War II and the fall of European colonial empires, and the birth of Hafez al-Assad’s regime in 1970.
Dictators and Dry Bones
The powerful figures of the 21st century seek control over humanity’s greatest equalizer — death. It is just this kind of grandiosity that Franciscan monks were trying to tackle when they built the Chapel of Bones at Evora, Portugal.
How Anti-Fascism United French Women Pacifists With Tunisia’s Independence Movement
In the 1930s, a group of French women pacifists in Tunisia fighting against fascism began to see the oppression of French rule up close — and became allies of the country’s independence movement.
The Forgotten Photographs of Iraq’s Yazidis
Buried for 90 years, a cache of Yazidi photographs has become a bridge between the Iraqi community’s past and today.
Ground Control: How Pepper Spiced Up World Trade – With Lydia Wilson
Once the most valuable spice in the world, pepper sparked global trade, conquest and empire-building. This episode of In Focus follows its journey from ancient India to European power struggles over “black gold.”
How To Kill Subversives and Get Away With It
America’s role in war crimes in Colombia decades ago may shed light on how far the Trump administration could go to subvert U.S. and international laws pertaining to the use of military force against civilians at home.
Environmental Disaster and Hopeful Revival in Central Asia
The dried-up Aral Sea tells a story about decisions made in the past, but it is also the site of countless choices in our present: what kinds of economies we prioritize, what forms of nature we value and what we want our future to look like.