Civilization is back. But it is no longer the preserve of “Renaissance man” or of “the West,” or even of literate societies. Civilization is a way of talking about human history on the largest scale.

Annalee Newitz is the author of “Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age.” But the historical record shows that reports of the end times always turned out to be wrong. “Barbarians” didn’t ...

The history of humanity was anything but inevitable. Although the Universe created the conditions and ingredients that made our existence possible, it was only a series of unlikely events that ...

Western civilization arose in Greece in the 8th century BC, when some 1,500 city-states emerged from a murky, illiterate ...

History is filled with powerful empires that seemed invincible until they weren't. Between roughly 1250 and 1150 BCE, major ...

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Russell has a PhD in the history of medicine, violence, and colonialism. His research has explored topics including ethics, science governance, and medical involvement in violent contexts. Russell has ...