Crime
The Silence that Preceded China’s Great Leap into Famine
Mao Zedong encouraged critics of his government—and then betrayed them just when their advice might have prevented a calamity
The Copper King’s Precipitous Fall
Augustus Heinze dominated the copper fields of Montana, but his family's scheming on Wall Street set off the Panic of 1907
The Blazing Career and Mysterious Death of “The Swedish Meteor”
Can modern science determine who shot this 18th century Swedish king?
The Ugliest, Most Contentious Presidential Election Ever
Throughout the 1876 campaign, Tilden’s opposition had called him everything from a briber to a thief to a drunken syphilitic
“Murder Wasn’t Very Pretty”: The Rise and Fall of D.C. Stephenson
The Grand Dragon of the Klan and prominent Indiana politician had a vicious streak that had horrifying consequences
The Smoothest Con Man That Ever Lived
"Count" Victor Lustig once sold the Eiffel Tower to an unsuspecting scrap-metal dealer. Then he started thinking really big
Daughters of Wealth, Sisters in Revolt
Gore-Booth sisters, Constance and Eva, forsook their places amid Ireland's Protestant gentry to fight for the rights of the disenfranchised and the poor
Surgery, Security and Sales: The Future of Closed-Circuit Television
Just as people were experimenting with the uses of broadcast TV in the 1930s, so too were they envisioning ways to utilize closed-circuit TV in the 1950s
The “Latin Lover” and His Enemies
Rudolph Valentino fought a long battle against innuendo about his masculinity right up until he died. But now he seems to have won
The Ax Murderer Who Got Away
In 1912, a family of six was murdered by ax in the little town of Villisca, Iowa. Might these killings be linked to nine other similar crimes?
The Romneys’ Mexican History
Mitt Romney’s father was born in a small Mormon enclave where family members still live, surrounded by rugged beauty and violent drug cartels
The Case of the Sleepwalking Killer
The evidence against Albert Tirrell was lurid and damning—until Rufus Choate, a protegé of the great Daniel Webster, agreed to come to the defense
Edgar Allan Poe: Hollywood’s Favorite Mad Genius
Tracing the work of the famed writer through movies
Theodore Roosevelt’s Life-Saving Speech
When a would-be assassin shot, the 50-page manuscript and metal eyeglasses case tucked against Roosevelt's chest absorbed the blow
The House that Polly Adler Built
She entered the brothel business without apology and set out to become the best madam in America
Murder in Tibet’s High Places
The Dalai Lama is one of the world's most revered religious leaders, but that didn't prevent four holders of the office from mysteriously dying
“Kipper und Wipper”: Rogue Traders, Rogue Princes, Rogue Bishops and the German Financial Meltdown of 1621-23
It is tempting to think of the German hyperinflation of 1923 as a uniquely awful event, but it pales in comparison to what happened in the 17th century
The Ottoman Empire’s Life-or-Death Race
Custom in the Ottoman Empire mandated that a condemned grand vizier could save his neck if he won a sprint against his executioner
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