Employing a unique literary method that blurred the genres of oral history and documentary prose, the Nobel Prize for Literature winner told the stories of a traumatized people.
Back in 1965, bodies of victims of the anti-communist massacre floated along the Brantas River in Kediri East Java.
Wibowo Djatmiko/Wikimedia Commons
In a watershed moment for Indonesia’s history, the deadly 1965 anti-communist purge transformed Indonesia from an independent Asian nation in the midst of Cold War into a pro-Western country.
Ukraine’s president Petro Poroshenko with Barack Obama in 2014.
EPA/Jacek Turczyk
On July 6, the South Carolina Senate voted to remove the Confederate flag from the statehouse grounds. In the past white-on-black violence has led to real change - but under specific conditions.
In case of conflict, call in the US cavalry of course.
EPA/Adam Warzawa
American Presidents tend to use the commencement address to address the audience outside than within the graduation hall. This changes though if they go on to a second term.
When Australians hear about Foreign Minister Julie Bishop’s dire warnings and counter-terrorism raids, they could lose historical perspective on the threat posed by Islamic State.
AAP/Mal Fairclough
Dire government warnings and counter-terrorism raids in our suburbs paint a picture of the worst threat Western nations have ever faced. A little historical perspective is in order.
Notions of the ‘right to know’ forced Hillary Clinton to defend her use of a private email account as secretary of state - a far cry from the days when citizens didn’t even know how their representatives voted.
EPA/Andrew Gombert
The idea of the right to know as the ‘lifeblood of democracy’ is a surprisingly modern development. And in an age when transparency is prized, privacy and secrecy can still be justified in many cases.
In a candid 1962 conversation with a Guardian editor, President Kennedy unpacked his views on Cuba, the Soviet Union, and nuclear war. What can Obama learn from him?
History is not just a few facts to be memorized.
Greg Wass/Flickr
History is not a ‘thing’ to be memorized, as some in the Oklahoma legislature might believe, but a living process, to be understood in all its complexity.
Despite a cease fire, military activities continue in Ukraine.
Gleb Garanich/Reuters
The latest instalment of wildly popular videogame Call of Duty, Advanced Warfare, shows the narratives of today’s games can reveal the motives behind real-world politics. Over the past decade, fictional…
Obama announces the biggest Cuba policy shift in 50 years.
EPA/Doug Mills
In the United States and Cuba’s strained relationship over the past 50-odd years, certain key flashpoints stand out: the Bay of Pigs incident, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and many more. December 17 2014…
A soldier stands guard in Sevastapol, now under Russian control since the annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in developments that some fear mark the start of a second Cold War.
EPA/Zurab Kurtsikidze
Bloodshed in Europe and the Middle East against the backdrop of a breakdown in the dialogue between major powers is of enormous concern. The world is on the brink of a new Cold War, some are even saying…
For some, it began with a tap on the shoulder at Oxford or Cambridge. Now recruitment for British intelligence occurs via newspaper and online advertisements and aptitude tests through websites. Despite…
Das Boot, The Hunt for Red October, The Bedford Incident, We Dive At Dawn: films based on submariners’ experience reflect the tense and unusual nature of undersea warfare – where it is often not how well…