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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
Naval Gazing: The Enigma of Étienne Bottineau
In 1782, an unknown French engineer offered an invention better than radar: the ability to detect ships hundreds of miles away
October 13, 2011 |
By Mike Dash
Edison vs. Westinghouse: A Shocking Rivalry
The inventors' battle over the delivery of electricity was an epic power play
October 11, 2011 |
By Gilbert King
In Search of Queen Victoria’s Voice
The British monarch was present when a solicitor demonstrated one of the earliest audio recording devices. But did she really say "tomatoes"?
October 06, 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
Dahomey’s Women Warriors
For the better part of 200 years, thousands of female soldiers fought and died to expand the borders of their West African kingdom. Even their conquerors, the French, acknowledged their "prodigious bravery."
September 23, 2011 |
By Mike Dash
Score One for Roosevelt
"Football is on trial," President Theodore Roosevelt declared in 1905. So he launched the effort that saved the game
September 20, 2011 |
By Karen Abbott
Gavrilo Princip’s Sandwich
Was it really a lunch-hour coincidence that led to the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo in 1914—and, by extension, to the great global catastrophes of the 20th century?
September 15, 2011 |
By Mike Dash
What Paul Robeson Said
After the singer and activist spoke at a Soviet-sponsored peace conference, he was reviled in the United States. But was the most widely reported version of his remarks accurate?
September 13, 2011 |
By Gilbert King
Pablo Fanque’s Fair
The showman whom John Lennon immortalized in song was a real performer—a master horseman and Britain's first black circus owner
September 08, 2011 |
By Mike Dash
