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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
The Great Tea Race of 1866
At the height of the sailing era, four of the world's fastest clippers raced to be first home from China to London with the season's precious early cargo of tea
December 15, 2011 |
By Mike Dash
A Chess Champion’s Dominance—and Madness
As a young man, Paul Morphy vanquished eight opponents simultaneously while effectively blindfolded
December 12, 2011 |
By Karen Abbott
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
A Mischievous St. Nick from the American Art Museum
The 19th-century artist Robert Walter Weir took inspiration from Washington Irving to create a prototype of Santa Claus
December 2011 |
By Owen Edwards
Henry Morton Stanley's Unbreakable Will
The explorer of Dr. Livingstone-fame provides a classic character study of how willpower works
December 2011 |
By Roy F. Baumeister and John Tierney
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
The Civil War: 8 Strange and Obscure Facts You Didn’t Know
Amid the vast literature of the Civil War, it's easy to lose sight of some of the stranger facts, coincidences and quirks of character
November 15, 2011 |
By Karen Abbott
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
America's 19th Century Highway: The River
A new exhibition of American wonders underscores the debt our country owes to its waterways
November 2011 |
By Daniel Walker Howe
The Woman Who Bested the Men at Math
Striving for academic honors meant risking infertility and madness, Victorian scientists warned women. Then Philippa Fawcett triumphed in the toughest challenge of them all
October 28, 2011 |
By Mike Dash
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
America’s Forgotten Landscape Painter: Robert S. Duncanson
Beloved by 19th-century audiences around the world, the African-American artist fell into obscurity, only to be celebrated as a genius more than a century later
October 19, 2011 |
By Lucinda Moore
The Daredevil of Niagara Falls
Charles Blondin understood the appeal of the morbid to the masses, and reveled when gamblers took bets on whether he would plunge to a watery death.
October 18, 2011 |
By Karen Abbott
