27 h. ago As Trump rewrites even America’s history, institutions have two choices – submit or find ways to resist | Charlotte Higgins

The Smithsonian’s museums have been ordered to root out ‘divisive narratives’. It’s part of a pattern: the battle lines are now clearIt has come to this: we are now in Ministry of Truth territory. In Washington DC, the Smithsonian Institution, the US’s ensemble of 21 great national museums, last week became the subject of an executive order by President Donald Trump. “Distorted narratives” are to be rooted out. There will be no more of the “corrosive ideology” that has fostered a “sense of national shame”. The institution has, reads the order, “come under the influence of a divisive, race-centered ideology” that portrays “American and Western values as inherently harmful and oppressive”. The vice-president, JD Vance, is, by virtue of his office, on the museum’s board. He is charged by Trump to “prohibit expenditure” on programmes that “divide Americans based on race”. He is to remove “improper ideology”. The order is titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History”. George Or...

Politics

51 h. ago ‘It reminds you of a fascist state’: Smithsonian Institution braces for Trump rewrite of US history

Normally staid historians sound alarm at authoritarian grasping for control of the premier US museum complexIn a brightly lit gallery, they see the 66m-year-old skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus rex. In a darkened room, they study the flag that inspired Francis Scott Key to write the national anthem. In a vast aviation hanger, they behold a space shuttle. And in a discreet corner, they file solemnly past the casket of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old Black boy lynched for allegedly whistling at a white woman in the US south.Visitors have come in their millions to the Smithsonian Institution, the world’s biggest museum, education and research complex, in Washington for the past 178 years. On Thursday, Donald Trump arrived with his cultural wrecking ball. Continue reading...

Politics

4 d. ago Trump executive order on Smithsonian targets funding for ‘improper ideology’

JD Vance to lead plan as Trump says there’s been ‘concerted’ effort to rewrite US history with ‘distorted narrative’Donald Trump revealed his intentions to reshape the Smithsonian Institution with an executive order on Thursday that targets funding to programs with “divisive narratives” and “improper ideology”.The president said there has been a “concerted and widespread” effort over the past decade to rewrite US history by replacing “objective facts” with a “distorted narrative driven by ideology rather than truth”. Continue reading...

Politics

8 d. ago Mysterious Spanish rock carvings could rewrite human history in Europe

Carvings may predate oldest known cave art by 100,000 years, researchers say

Politics

9 d. ago Ukraine’s clandestine book club defies Russia’s push to rewrite history

Risking discovery and even prison, teenage readers meet in secret to discuss texts that Putin’s troops are trying to eraseIt must be one of the most dangerous book clubs in the world. Before they can feel safe enough to talk about poetry and prose, 17-year-old Mariika (not her real name) and her friends have to first ensure all the windows are shut and check there is no one lurking by the flat’s doors.Informants frequently report anyone studying Ukrainian in the occupied territories to the Russian secret police. Ukrainian textbooks have been deemed “extremist” – possession can carry a sentence of five years. Continue reading...

Culture

3 w. ago Mystery Solved? Is this the only portrait of tragic teen Queen Lady Jane Grey?

Compelling evidence that a 16th-century painting depicts Lady Jane Grey – the monarch executed in 1554 – in a stunning discovery that rewrites Tudor history

Politics

3 w. ago Archaeologists find lost city that rewrites ancient Rome's collapse

The excavation of an ancient Roman city has rewritten the history of the fall of Rome, archaeologists say. This previously overlooked settlement actually thrived as the Empire crumbled.

Politics

3 w. ago Scientists find the oldest impact crater on Earth – and it rewrites the history of our planet

Scientists have found the oldest impact crater on Earth – and it changes our understanding of our planet and the origins of life.

Science

3 w. ago Ancient skeleton found in remote cave could 'rewrite human history'

Archaeologists in a remote Thai cave have uncovered the oldest human skeleton ever found in the country, which could rewrite the history of South East Asia

Events