The 1969 groundbreaking Civilisation series took viewers on an extraordinary cultural tour through the centuries. Lisa Kerrigan examines its origins and later influence on television documentary.

Skeletons unearthed from the ruins of the ancient city of Copán in Honduras have yielded clues to the collapse of the Mayan civilisation. Copán, now a Unesco World Heritage site, thrived during the ...

THE idea that we are living in a historic, even apocalyptic, age exerts a powerful pull on the human mind. Eschatology – the theology of end times – is a religious concept, but crops up in many other ...

This By-invitation commentary is part of a series by global thinkers on the future of American power—examining the forces shaping the country’s global standing. Read more here. THE ALARM about ...

This article picked by a teacher with suggested questions is part of the Financial Times free schools access programme. Details/registration here.

In this month's cover story, we meet Earth's Guardians; a team of scholars working to protect the planet from existential threats. Read more: Meet Earth's Guardians, the real-world X-men and women ...

When she was a mere sprout of 14, Mary Beard tuned into the first episode of Sir Kenneth Clark’s famous BBC documentary, Civilisation, and felt a “slight tingle.” “It had never struck me,” she wrote ...

First broadcast in 1969 across 13 episodes, Civilisation took viewers on a tour through 13 countries and back through many centuries, all guided by Lord Kenneth Clark as he expounded, with ...