A look at the extraordinary prevalence of big cat breeding and ownership in the United States, an industry filled with strange stories and unscrupulous characters (warning: for those watching the Netflix documentary Tiger King, spoilers abound).
The story of a queen who battled colonial invaders as well as domestic and familial politics, and in doing so shaped her country’s history.
The cartography of fantasy worlds, from Westeros to Middle Earth and beyond.
The second instalment in the extraordinary life of Josephine Bonaparte that takes her from marriage to Napoleon to Empress of France.
Behind the scenes in the silver service catering world.
Written in an informal, irreverent style, a profile of a woman who would live an extraordinary life, from growing up in Martinique to surviving the Revolution, to Empress of the French alongside her husband Napoleon.
A pair of jovial scientists seeking to prove the existence of a ninth planet make for a great double act as they scale a mountain in Hawaii to access one of the world’s most powerful telescopes and search the night sky. The author does well to draw out the nobility in their potentially unachievable quest, which could seem quixotic were it not built on such extraordinarily advanced mathematical and astronomical theory.
The first instalment of a two part look at Catherine de’ Medici’s storied life, running from her birth into one of the most powerful families in Europe, to a precarious position as an unpopular Dauphine of France, pleading her fate with her father-in-law Francis 1st.
A piece examining endlings, the final members of species, and human attempts to progress with something that was previously only referred to in science fiction novels – “De-extinction”.
Stephen Greenblatt, Professor of the Humanities at Harvard and Shakespeare scholar, examines the author’s preoccupation with politics, and more specifically with tyranny and how it comes about.