The Most Terrible Polar Exploration Ever: Douglas Mawson’s Antarctic Journey
A century ago, Douglas Mawson saw his two companions die and found himself stranded in the midst of Antarctic blizzards.
January 27, 2012 |
By Mike Dash
Hit by a Bus, How Ben Hogan Hit Back
The champion golfer was critically injured in 1949—and went on to the most dominant phase of his career.
January 25, 2012 |
By Gilbert King
Prohibition’s Premier Hooch Hounds
Izzy Einstein and Moe Smith were so good at undercover work, a newspaper said they could disguise themselves as "breaths of air or unconfirmed rumors." But their success came back to haunt them
January 10, 2012 |
By Karen Abbott
The Prime Minister who Disappeared
In 1967, Harold Holt went for a swim off an Australian beach and never came back. By law, no official inquest could be held without a body. Soon the whispers of conspiracy began.
January 04, 2012 |
By Gilbert King
Friends in the House, Hostility at Home
Coya Knutson won a seat in the U.S. House in 1954 but was undone by a secret she brought to Washington
December 29, 2011 |
By Gilbert King
The Story of the WWI Christmas Truce
It has become one of the great legends of World War I. But what really happened when British and German troops emerged from their trenches that Christmas Day?
December 23, 2011 |
By Mike Dash
The Great Dissenter and his Half-Brother
John Harlan championed racial justice on a hostile Supreme Court. Robert Harlan, a freed slave, achieved renown despite the court's decisions
December 20, 2011 |
By Gilbert King
Behind Enemy Lines With Violette Szabo
She was young, married and a mother. But after her husband died in battle against the Nazis, she became a secret agent for the British
December 06, 2011 |
By Gilbert King
Making the Rounds With Santa Claus Smith
For six years, an elderly tramp toured the U.S., paying those who helped him with checks for sums of up to $900,000
December 05, 2011 |
By Mike Dash
The Man Who Busted the ‘Banksters’
Deceitful loans, self-dealing, unseemly tax avoidance—Ferdinand Pecora exposed it all after the financial collapse of 1929 and helped create a more transparent system
November 29, 2011 |
By Gilbert King
The Monocled World War II Interrogator
Robin "Tin Eye" Stephens became known for "breaking" captured German spies without laying a hand on them
November 23, 2011 |
By Gilbert King
The Mystery of the Five Wounds
The first case of stigmata—the appearance of marks or actual wounds like those Christ received during the Crucifixion—was recorded in 1224. Hundreds of cases have followed. But this phenomenon has not been fully explained.
November 18, 2011 |
By Mike Dash
History Heroes: Marc Bloch
The scholar created a whole new way of looking at history, but found time to fight in two World Wars–latterly, aged 60, as a leader of the French Resistance
November 10, 2011 |
By Mike Dash
The Skinny on the Fatty Arbuckle Trial
When the million-dollar movie comedian faced a manslaughter charge, the jury was indeed scandalized—at how his reputation had been trashed
November 08, 2011 |
By Gilbert King
Sabotage in New York Harbor
The explosion on Black Tom Island packed the force of an earthquake. It took investigators years to determine that operatives working for Germany were to blame
November 01, 2011 |
By Gilbert King
Remembering Henry Johnson, the Soldier Called “Black Death”
Henry Johnson suffered 21 wounds and rescued a fellow soldier while repelling an enemy raid in the Argonne Forest in 1918 but died 11 years later a forgotten man
October 25, 2011 |
By Gilbert King
The Battle of Broken Hill
While Great Britain and the Ottoman Empire were fighting World War I, two Afghans opened up a second front in an Australian outback mining town 12,000 miles away
October 20, 2011 |
By Mike Dash
Anger and Anarchy on Wall Street
In the early 20th century, resentment at the concentration of wealth took a violent turn
October 04, 2011 |
By Gilbert King
Willem de Kooning Still Dazzles
A new major retrospective recounts the artist's seven-decade career and never-ending experimentation
October 2011 |
By Mark Stevens
Long Live the King
A single gunshot rang out in the king of Siam's bedroom in June 1946, ending one reign and beginning another. Uncertainty over how it happened has persisted ever since
September 28, 2011 |
By Gilbert King
