The backstory to FX's Shōgun

Plus: Monopoly's forgotten left-wing origins |

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By Made by History / Produced by Olivia B. Waxman FX’s new series Shōgun generated lots of buzz even before the first two episodes aired on Tuesday. As the show unfolds, it will be interesting to track whether it hews closer to James Clavell’s 1,200-page novel, which sold a whopping 30 million copies, or the 1980 miniseries, which was also a hit but generated criticism from fans of the book and historians. Adam Clulow explores the two very different stories in Made by History . The miniseries cut one of the two major plot lines, turning an epic about Japanese politics into a love story. It also provided no subtitles, leaving viewers in the dark during Japanese dialogue — part of a plan to enable them to comprehend no more than the main character, English pilot John Blackthorne, could understand. Read more here about why Clulow was looking forward to the remake.

HISTORY ON TIME.COM Why the Kremlin Tried to Obstruct Alexei Navalny’s Funeral By Ani Kokobobo / Made by History In a repressive Russia, funerals have long been a forum for expressing discontent with the regime. Read More » The History of Self-Immolation as Political Protest By Solcyré Burga and Simmone Shah Aaron Bushnell's protest of the Israel-Hamas war is part of a long history of self-immolation as protest. Read More » Monopoly's Forgotten Left-Wing Origins By Marc Palen Marc Palen details how one of the world's most popular games had surprising anti-imperialist origins. Read More » The 12th Century Library Thief Who Anticipated Today’s Hackers By Katherine Churchill / Made by History Library stealing has been a business for centuries—and has often led to changes in how we safeguard collections. Read More » History Casts Doubt on the Strategies Cities Use to Attract Big Retailers By Johnathan Williams / Made by History The retail industry has long benefited from government support, but retailers—not local taxpayers—took on most development costs. Read More » How a Surprising Supreme Court Case Bolstered Conservative Education By Devan Lindey / Made by History Although the Supreme Court upheld Title IX in Grove City v. Bell (1984), conservative colleges found inspiration for getting around regulation. Read More » The History That Explains Today’s Shortage of Black Midwives By Anika Nayak / Made by History Understanding the origin of this disparity is key to addressing the shortage of midwives of color and making the profession more diverse. Read More »

FROM THE TIME VAULT This week in 1971: James Taylor J. H. BRESLOW The Mar. 1, 1971, cover of TIME magazine “[H]e is driven by many contemporary idealistic concerns—about nature and its misuse, about wealth, about manipulation of people. ‘Nothing is wrong in making as much bread as you need,’ he says, ‘but there are things wrong in making more bread than you need.’ To help ease that guilt, he has lately taken to giving away some of the proceeds from his public concerts—to, among others, the Hopi Indians. ‘I wish I were really part of the environment, part of the land,’ he says, ‘instead of a successful Caucasian.’ He is proud of his accomplishments, though, and will admit that ‘I like success almost as much as I dislike it.’” Read More » This week in 1987: Bette Midler GREG GORMAN The Mar. 2, 1987, cover of TIME “Bette tries to be both tickled and modest about her mainstream celebrity. ‘I really don’t even feel I deserve all this,’ she says earnestly. ‘I have been a very lucky girl. Now I’m working and doing good work and loving it. I’m not going to say ‘Woe is me.’ I can’t. I’m too happy that anybody noticed I had any talent at all. But I would make a wonderful Lady Macbeth. I’ll wear a pair of platform shoes or something.’” Read More » This week in 2009: Kate Winslet Cover Credit: PHOTOGRAPH FOR TIME BY BRIGITTE LACOMBE. INSETS, FROM LEFT: GERALD HERBERT/AP; MARK RICHARDS FOR TIME The Mar. 2, 2009, cover of TIME “‘I come from a long line of real cart horses,’ says Winslet the day after the lunch. ‘Very stoic, insides-made-of-iron people. So I can take any s___ you can fling at me. I can cope with any workload. I can deal with lack of sleep. I can multitask like you've no idea. But two weeks ago, I actually had a panic attack.’ She leans forward on a sofa in Mendes' production office in Manhattan's shabby-glam Meatpacking District and smiles. ‘My first one. I didn't know what it was! It was a little like when your water [breaks], and you think, Did I just pee a bit, or is this it? I called my sister and said, 'I can't breathe, and I feel like I've got a brick on my chest and I'm seeing funny, and it sounds like everyone's talking to me in Hebrew.' She said, 'Yeah, that's a panic attack.’” Read More »

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