HistoryExtra Long Reads

This year has seen Donald Trump retake the US presidency, repeating his vow to ‘make America great again’. But he’s not the first to wield such a slogan, as this Long Read written by Phil Tinline explores. Back in the 1980s, Ronald Reagan stood for election with the same promise. Did he deliver?HistoryExtra Long Reads brings you the best articles from BBC History Magazine, direct to your ears. Today’s feature originally appeared in the March 2025 issue, and has been voiced in partnership with the RNIB. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Fortune telling was all the rage in the 16th and 17th centuries, and practitioners would stop at nothing to tap in to the supernatural. This Long Read written by Martha McGill tells a story of Highland seers, tarot cards and encounters with the spirit world.HistoryExtra Long Reads brings you the best articles from BBC History Magazine, direct to your ears. Today’s feature originally appeared in the February 2025 issue, and has been voiced in partnership with the RNIB. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It was a moment of possibilities, dislocation – and dread. This Long Read, written by Dan Todman, tells the story of the 1.5 million urban Britons evacuated to the countryside at the start of the Second World War.HistoryExtra Long Reads brings you the best articles from BBC History Magazine, direct to your ears. Today’s feature originally appeared in the February 2025 issue, and has been voiced in partnership with the RNIB. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Slavery, exploitation and racism. These tragedies have long dominated histories of Africa. But there’s another way to tell this story. And, as this Long Read written by Luke Pepera explains, it’s one that puts Africans right at the centre of their continent’s extraordinarily rich and vibrant past.HistoryExtra Long Reads brings you the best articles from BBC History Magazine, direct to your ears. Today’s feature originally appeared in the February 2025 issue, and has been voiced in partnership with the RNIB. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

King John’s sealing of Magna Carta at Runnymede in 1215 is one of the most feted moments of the Middle Ages. Yet, as this Long Read written by David Carpenter explains, it was in fact a charter issued by his son 10 years later that became fundamental to England’s history.HistoryExtra Long Reads brings you the best articles from BBC History Magazine, direct to your ears. Today’s feature originally appeared in the February 2025 issue, and has been voiced in partnership with the RNIB. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Marco Polo’s adventures in Asia earned him lasting fame. But are his accounts of these travels essentially works of fiction? In this Long Read, historian Peter Jackson investigates whether we can trust this medieval travel-writing superstar.HistoryExtra Long Reads brings you the best articles from BBC History Magazine, direct to your ears. Today’s feature originally appeared in the January 2025 issue, and has been voiced in partnership with the RNIB. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The experiences that radicalised Guy Fawkes and his gunpowder plot co-conspirators into violent extremists sound all too familiar today. This Long Read, written by Lucy Worsley, tells a story of religious clashes, state-sanctioned torture and comrades-in-arms willing to die for the cause.HistoryExtra Long Reads brings you the best articles from BBC History Magazine, direct to your ears. Today’s feature originally appeared in the January 2025 issue, and has been voiced in partnership with the RNIB. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In early 1944, the Allied advance in Italy was brought to a halt at a rocky outcrop called Monte Cassino. This Long Read, written by historian James Holland, explores how flawed leadership was to blame for the bloodbath that followed.HistoryExtra Long Reads brings you the best articles from BBC History Magazine, direct to your ears. Today’s feature originally appeared in the January 2025 issue, and has been voiced in partnership with the RNIB. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Celibacy barely merits a mention in the Bible. Yet, by the early Middle Ages, it was being celebrated as a shortcut to a seat next to God. In this Long Read written by Diarmaid MacCulloch, we explore Christianity’s long love affair with sexual abstinence.HistoryExtra Long Reads brings you the best articles from BBC History Magazine, direct to your ears. Today’s feature originally appeared in the Christmas 2024 issue, and has been voiced in partnership with the RNIB. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Explore the tumultuous reign of Ptolemy XII, whose disastrous rule set the stage for Cleopatra's tragic fate. Delve into his extravagant lifestyle, which contributed to Egypt's decline and instability. Discover the internal strife among the Ptolemaic dynasty and how political treachery, local dissent, and Roman influence shaped his authority. The narrative also highlights the legacy left behind, focusing on Cleopatra's rise as co-regent amid the turmoil that plagued their kingdom.