Cultural

Maxim Gorky was revered over the lifetime of the Soviet Union as the leading artist and intellectual associated with the 1917 Revolution. But did he really approve of Lenin and the Bolshevik experiment? 

David Ellwood discusses America's cultural take-over of Europe in a seemingly innocent Italian 1950s comedy called "Un Americano a Roma". The comedy features a hapless hero whose attempts to Americanise himself mirror Italy's struggle to handle a clash of cultures after World War II.

Anne Laurence takes a look at a history course which compares the cultures of 17th century Britain and France.

As Luang Prabang, Laos' former royal capital of South East Asia becomes the latest addition to UNESCO world heritage sites, Cherry Barnett explores its significance.

Robert Pearce looks at a turning point in the history of mentalities, when the way Britons perceived themselves and others changed forever.

Before the mid-1800s many Americans did not dream of Christmas at all. Penne Restad tells how and why this changed – and played its role in uniting the US in social cohesion.

Modris Eksteins on how the Hollywood treatment of Erich von Remarque's book describing the Great War 'from the other side' impacted on a Europe traumatised by slaughter and fearful of its future repetition.

Painting, sculpture, photography, poster art, architecture, pageant - all were used by the totalitarian regimes in the 1930s. We review a selection of the images from the Hayward Gallery exhibition.

David Elliott looks at how Mussolini, Stalin and Hitler used culture to their own ends and how the ramifications of this has continued to the present.