Revolutionary leader Che Guevara has a complicated historical legacy

The famous image of Che Guevara was captured by accident

Alberto Korda wasn’t aiming for Che Guevara when he snapped one of the most reproduced photos in history. This longread traces how that fleeting moment became a global icon—later commodified across pop culture, fashion, and advertising.

See a timeline of the Cuban Revolution

A small rebel force toppled Batista through a series of unlikely breaks, including a decisive 1958 ambush in which Castro’s fighters seized an arms train bound for Santa Clara. This timeline charts the revolution’s causes, key turning points, and enduring legacy.

Read the New York Times 2016 obituary of Fidel Castro, the defining figure of the Cuban Revolution.

US intelligence allegedly pursued more than 600 schemes to assassinate Fidel Castro

From exploding cigars and poisoned Cohibas to an infected scuba suit and plans to drug a TV studio with LSD, this account catalogs the CIA's strangest—and consistently unsuccessful—attempts to kill Fidel Castro over decades.

Hear about the US role in the Cuban Revolution—and the blowback it caused

Against long odds, Fidel Castro launched a socialist revolution just 90 miles from the US and kept it alive for decades. This 10-part podcast traces Washington's pivot from early support to an obsessive campaign of sabotage and hundreds of alleged assassination plots.

Fidel Castro first launched the Cuban revolution on a small yacht

Fidel Castro's regime has lasted almost seven decades. That story began on Dec. 2, 1956, with the landing of a small yacht—dubbed the Granma—with 82 soldiers and Castro himself, as his onshore allies attacked military and government installations in advance of their arrival.

A 3-minute look at Gandhi’s life, activism, and global influence

This video traces how a single incident launched Mahatma Gandhi’s nonviolent campaign against British rule, helping end the Raj. Archival images and footage show how his methods later shaped leaders like Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King Jr.

The Cuban Revolution, from 1953 to 1959, overthrew the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista and established the first socialist state in the Western Hemisphere.

Meet Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space

In addition to being the first human in space, Yuri Gagarin was a charismatic propaganda icon and a diplomatic headache for the West. This article examines why his image—and legacy—endured long after he died in 1968.

Camus was once a communist, but eventually disavowed the ideology

The writer belonged to the French Communist Party and the Algerian Communist Party in the mid-1930s, but he was eventually expelled for refusing to downplay objections to French colonialism. By the time he published "The Rebel," he was vocally anti-communist, believing it was a utopian ideology that often relied on violence.

US–Cuba contentious relations began long before the Cold War

Long before the revolution and missile crisis, US involvement in Cuba stretched back over 150 years—rooted in slavery, sugar, and shifting imperial ambitions. This short video traces how cycles of intervention and neglect shaped the island’s modern history.

Pre-revolution Cuba was prosperous—and deeply unequal.

See photos from the day Havana fell

When news broke that Batista had fled on New Year’s Eve 1958, photographer Burt Glinn rushed from Miami to Havana without an assignment. His iconic images—tanks in Old Havana and tearful reunions—captured a nation celebrating, uncertain, and on the brink of radical change.

Sartre eventually denounced communism

The French philosopher was a long-time ardent supporter of communism and the USSR. He finally spoke out against the movement with the 1956 Soviet invasion of Hungary, saying that the move was "made possible by 12 years of terror and imbecility."

An obituary of Salvador Dalí that captures his complicated reputation

Dalí left a complicated legacy, including controversies around his reported sympathy for fascists, abuse, and even necrophilia. Further, Dalí lost respect from people within the art world for being a sellout. His 1989 obituary captures the public ambivalence felt toward the surrealist superstar.

Who was Maximilien Robespierre, leader of the Reign of Terror?

This 28-minute podcast details the life and death of French revolutionary Maximilien Robespierre, who was killed by the people he previously led in 1794. Robespierre is considered the leader of the Revolution's Reign of Terror, a period of intense...

The CIA once tried to poison Fidel Castro's milkshake during the Cold War.

Watch a conservative icon interview Allen Ginsberg, a figurehead of the Beat Generation.

Camus and Sartre had a public falling out over communism

The two were close friends, sometimes collaborating throughout the 1940s, but the release of Camus' 1951 book, "The Rebel," led to a schism over differing views on communism.

Picasso's 'Guernica' protested the bombing of a Basque village

By 1937, Picasso's fame and influence had already made him a legend. Yet an unprovoked war crime in Guernica, Spain that same year—where 25 bombers dropped 100,000 pounds of bombs and explosives on civilians—inspired one of his most moving works.

The US tried to overthrow the communist government in Cuba—and failed

In 1961, the US backed an invasion of Cuba by anti-Castro exiles, aiming to spark an uprising against the communist government. The operation collapsed within days, embarrassing the US and pushing Cuba closer to the Soviet Union.

Picasso’s legacy is often intertwined with his personal relationships

Family revelations and quotes show the legendary artist as both tender and cruel, and his fame and romantic advances sometimes had disastrous effects on those around him.

Explore the material culture of socialist Cuba

Even the objects of everyday life were politicized under socialism. This catalog of Cuban artifacts, collected between 1959 and the fall of the Soviet Union, reveals how revolutionary values infiltrated the most ordinary of items—from cocktail coasters to cologne.

Pope Francis and his distinctive approach to leading the Catholic Church

Pope Francis, born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, was known for promoting social and economic justice rather than just traditional moral teachings while he led the Catholic Church. During his papacy, he exhibited a more open point of view towards historically controversial matters related to marriage, sexuality, the priesthood, and celibacy—and not without criticism. Reflect on his legacy and how he changed the church in this video.

See the list of alleged communists Orwell gave to the British government

In 1949, Orwell provided a list of communist sympathizers to a British anti-communist propaganda unit, naming figures like actor Charlie Chaplin and writer John Steinbeck. When it was made public in 2003, some called Orwell a government informant, though others blamed his tuberculosis, which would take his life a year later, while others blamed his romantic interest in the woman who asked him for the names.

The mysterious details of Stalin's death

The 73-year-old dictator of the Soviet Union died March 5, 1953, officially from a stroke, on top of nearly a decade of significant medical issues. But evidence suggests the longtime leader might have been poisoned less than a week before at an intimate gathering of Stalin's closest confidantes and advisors. Explore the current evidence for Stalin's alleged murder here.

Since the revolution, approximately 1.4 million Cubans have fled to the US

Although Castro initially enjoyed broad support after toppling Batista in 1959, nearly 2 million Cubans chose exile in the years that followed. Most settled in the US, while others dispersed across Latin America and Europe, shaping migration patterns that persist to this day

Watergate's anti-Castro Latino burglars believed they were fighting communism

Among the Watergate burglars, Virgilio González, Bernard Barker, and Eugenio Martínez were Cuban American anti-Castro exiles who believed they were combating communist influence in the United States.

The FBI investigated John Steinbeck, believing he might be a communist.

'Bonnie and Clyde,' the 1967 film starring Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway, was the first major American movie to feature graphic violence.

Director Arthur Penn used the then-new Squibb technology, which triggered realistic and bloody bullet wounds, to portray graphic violence, at the time a taboo in American cinema.

Explore 100 years of communism across the globe, from the 1917 October Revolution to North Korea's modern nuclear defiance.

Explore the fraught relations between the United States and Cuba since 1959

From the Cuban Missile Crisis and decades of economic embargo to President Obama's normalization efforts and President Trump's reversion to "maximum pressure," US-Cuba relations have fluctuated between hostility and fleeting diplomacy since Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution.

How the Guy Fawkes mask became iconic

The Guy Fawkes mask, popularized by the film "V for Vendetta," is now one of the most iconic visual symbols in recent history. Learn about the mask's origin and adoption by protest movements in this brief piece. The movie presents an anonymous,...

Goya's 'The Second of May 1808' inspired Picasso's 'Guernica'

Goya’s painting commemorated Spanish resistance to Napoleon’s armies, making it a notable part of both the history of Spain and the romantic movement. But it took scholars over a century to realize the impact it had on Pablo Picasso, whose own anti-war work, “Guernica,” used Goya’s painting as a reference.

Andy Warhol, explained

Andy Warhol wasn't just an artist—he was a cultural force. From his early days working as a New York illustrator to managing The Velvet Underground and creating experimental films, Warhol blurred the line between art and commerce, leaving a legacy that changed pop culture forever.

Camus died in a car crash, an act some believe was orchestrated by the KGB.

Lord Byron lives on through the Byronic Hero trope

Brooding introspection, rebelliousness, and a troubled past define the Byronic Hero, named after an archetype made famous by Romantic poet Lord Byron. This video dives into the romantic rebel's origins, why he’s so compelling, and how the character type persists in modern media.

Garry Kasparov, former world chess champion, is a critic of authoritarian regimes

World champion from 1985 to 2000, Kasparov was politically outspoken during the Soviet era, clashing with authorities over censorship and restrictions. After retirement, he became a leading Russian dissident and fierce critic of Vladimir Putin, eventually fleeing the country in 2013.

Guerilla warfare was a significant part of the success of the Americans

Francis Marion, also known as the Swamp Fox, was a Patriot general who used guerrilla warfare tactics in the Carolinas during the Revolutionary War’s southern campaigns. Also called “maneuver warfare,” the approach focuses on disorienting the enemy and exploiting their weaknesses while avoiding their strengths.

Conspiracy theories persist around Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1968 assassination

Despite multiple investigations—including FBI inquiries and a 1979 House committee report—questions and conspiracy theories have continued to surround the 1968 assassination of Dr. King long after his assassin’s conviction.

Watch Ken Burns' documentary series on the American Revolution, which tells its story through the lives of soldiers, civilians, enslaved people, Native nations, and international allies.

The facts of Truth's life and legacy are still debated by historians

Historians have challenged the accepted biography of Truth—questioning whether she actually ever said "Ain't I a Woman?" and arguing that generations of activists have claimed Truth as a symbol at the expense of accurately understanding who she really was.

Woody Guthrie was briefly a member of the Communist Party USA, but he was kicked out for 'lack of discipline.'

Cocainenomics

How did Pablo Escobar rise up out of the Medellin barrios to become the CEO of a $4 billion business? This immersive look at the global drug trade spawned by the notorious drug lord, who at his peak controlled 80% of the cocaine supply in the US. This deep dive includes visualizations showing how logistics of drug smuggling evolved over the years and traces the economic impact of the industry.

The US intervened in Latin America to block communist influence during the Cold War

Fearing Soviet expansion, the US intervened across Latin America by backing coups, funding right-wing regimes, and supporting anti-communist militias—most notably in Cuba, Chile, Nicaragua and Guatemala.

The American Revolution became a template for a colonized world

The robust and radical transformation during the American Revolution created a template for dozens of future independence movements. Its key ideas of republicanism, individualism, and equality inspired revolutions in France, Haiti, Ireland, and more, paving the way for the broadly democratic world we know today.

Picasso was one of the 20th century's most influential artists

The artist is recognized as one of the inventors of cubism, which simplified figures and scenes into flattened geometric shapes and imagined arrangements. The movement spurred new styles in response and led to increasingly abstract art. Styles like futurism, dada, De Stijl, and art deco were built on the simple forms, abstract ideas, collage, and found objects of early cubism.

The exile and return of Charlie Chaplin

In 1952, amid accusations of communist ties and a threatened reentry ban during the Red Scare, Charlie Chaplin left the US and chose exile in Switzerland. Two decades later, he returned to accept an honorary Oscar, receiving a 12-minute standing ovation—the longest in history.

The FBI tracked Woody Guthrie's politics for years, amassing an enormous file that was only discovered many years after his death.

Largely considered to be the inspiration for Gordon Gekko in the movie 'Wall Street,' Ivan Boesky was one of the most high-profile white-collar criminals and faced a $100M fine for insider trading in 1986.