During a visit to Memphis, Tennessee, a few years ago, I was struck by how much of our culture originated in this Mississippi River port. The birthplace of rock’n’roll is famous for its beginnings, but the events at the city’s Lorraine Motel on 4 April 1968 brought one great dream to an end. When Martin Luther King was gunned down that day, the shock waves were felt across the US – and indeed the world – such was the strength of his conviction that, some day, all men and women will be equal. Our cover feature this month looks at the events that led to perhaps his most powerful speech, in front of a quarter of a million people in Washington DC. The story begins on page 27.
Far further back in time than the 1960s, we bring you a complete guide to the Crusades (p35), the complex series of medieval holy wars that raged across Europe and the Middle East. And further back still, we uncover the events of the Battle of Gaugamela (p62), when Alexander the Great took on the might of the Persian Empire.