The Rise and Fall of Nikola Tesla and his Tower
The inventor's vision of a global wireless-transmission tower proved to be his undoing
February 04, 2013 |
By Gilbert King
Everything Was Fake but Her Wealth
Ida Wood, who lived for decades as a recluse in a New York City hotel, would have taken her secrets to the grave—if here sister hadn't gotten there first
January 23, 2013 |
By Karen Abbott
War and Peace of Mind for Ulysses S. Grant
With the help of his friend Mark Twain, Grant finished his memoirs—and saved his wife from an impoverished widowhood—just days before he died
January 16, 2013 |
By Gilbert King
Take a Tour of Victor Hugo's Paris
As a film version of his Les Miserables hits theaters, consider traveling in the French writer’s footsteps
December 24, 2012 |
By Nina Fedrizzi
White Gold: How Salt Made and Unmade the Turks and Caicos Islands
Turks and Caicos had one of the world's first, and largest, salt industries—which led, indirectly, to their becoming the only tropical jurisdiction to have a pair of igloos on their flag.
December 14, 2012 |
By Mike Dash
The Day Henry Clay Refused to Compromise
The Great Pacificator was adept at getting congressmen to reach agreements over slavery. But he was less accommodating when one of his own slaves sued him
December 06, 2012 |
By Gilbert King
Crockford’s Club: How a Fishmonger Built a Gambling Hall and Bankrupted the British Aristocracy
A working-class Londoner operated the most exclusive gambling club the world has ever seen
November 29, 2012 |
By Mike Dash
Madame Restell: The Abortionist of Fifth Avenue
Without benefit of medical training, Madame Restell spent 40 years as a "female physician"
November 27, 2012 |
By Karen Abbott
The History of Pardoning Turkeys Began With Tad Lincoln
The rambunctious boy had free rein of the White House, and used it to divert a holiday bird from the butcher's block
November 21, 2012 |
By Gilbert King
The Early History of Faking War on Film
Early filmmakers faced a dilemma: how to capture the drama of war without getting themselves killed in the process. Their solution: fake the footage
November 19, 2012 |
By Mike Dash
Geronimo’s Appeal to Theodore Roosevelt
Held captive far longer than his surrender agreement called for, the Apache warrior made his case directly to the president
November 09, 2012 |
By Gilbert King
The Fox Sisters and the Rap on Spiritualism
Their seances with the departed launched a mass religious movement—and then one of them confessed that "it was common delusion"
October 30, 2012 |
By Karen Abbott
Sophie Blanchard – The High Flying Frenchwoman Who Revealed the Thrill and Danger of Ballooning
Blanchard was said to be afraid of riding in a carriage, but she became one of the great promoters of human flight
October 18, 2012 |
By Gilbert King
What (or Who) Caused the Great Chicago Fire?
The true story behind the myth of Mrs. O'Leary and her cow and how the scapegoating ruined one woman's good name and spawned a folk song that would last for decades
October 04, 2012 |
By Karen Abbott
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.
September 20, 2012 |
By Gilbert King
The Unknown Story of "The Black Cyclone," the Cycling Champion Who Broke the Color Barrier
Major Taylor had to brave more than the competition to become one of the most acclaimed cyclists of the world
September 12, 2012 |
By Gilbert 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
September 07, 2012 |
By Gilbert King
The Neverending Hunt for Utopia
Through centuries of human suffering, one vision has sustained: a belief in a terrestrial arcadia that offered justice and plenty to any explorer capable of finding it
August 28, 2012 |
By Mike Dash
Where the Buffalo No Longer Roamed
The Transcontinental Railroad connected East and West—and accelerated the destruction of what had been in the center of North America
July 17, 2012 |
By Gilbert King
Daughters of Wealth, Sisters in Revolt
The 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
July 10, 2012 |
By Gilbert King
